. >> setting aside their differences to improve relations. the leaders of the china and japan meet for the first time in two years. you're watching al jazeera live from doha. also coming up, fighting for baiji. iraqi forces try to break i.s.i.l.'s home over the biggest oil refinery celebrations in catalonia as millions vote for independence, but the road to self-discrimination is still long. waiting for answers - dutch

investigators want to start retrieving the wreckage of mh17 in ukraine we begin with a landmark meeting in beijing, where chinese president xi jinping and japanese prime minister shinzo abe held talks for the first time. the leaders met on the sideline of the asian pacific summit. it's seen as the first step to improving relations between the asian superpowers after years of hostility. the two largest economies have been caught up in a territorial fight as well as regional rivalry. let's go to adrian brown, joining us from beijing. we saw some signals of a thawing of relations with this meeting, but the body language suggested otherwise. >> absolutely. those pictures show just how

awkward president xi jinping was when he shook hands with shinzo abe. the japanese prime minister seemed more relax. president xi jinping seemed to have the expression of a man saying i'm only here because i have to be. it's a step forward, but the encounter departments that's level of host -- democrats that there's a level of -- demonstrates that there's a level of hostility. after the handshake the two men met for around about 20 minutes. we don't know what was said. after shinzo abe said it was an important step forward. this is the first time the two leaders met. in two years shinzo abe came to office in december 2012. president xi jinping just a month earlier. things have really begun - things began to deteriorate when the japanese government started

to nationize a group of islands that are claimed by china, but administered by japan. that is not all. in december last year, mr shinzo abe visited a war shrine in tokyo where the war dead are honoured and japanese wore criminals are honoured as well. this really kind of poured oil on to the flames. now it seems the two countries decided to take a step back. why? both the economies have been hurting and japanese investment in china has found off significantly during the last six months. apart from this very significant meeting between japan and china - or the leaders of japan and china, what sells expected to happen in the summit today? >> well, i think the fact that the japanese prime minister and chinese president met illustrates one thing - china wants consensus at this apec.

it's an important deal for china, they want to project this message to the people of china - hook, the world leaders have come to china to meet president xi jinping. china is pushing a number of ambitious projects and it's about increasing economic investigation in the asia pacific region. china wants to tout a new bank which would rival the international monetary fund and the asian development fund - something the united states has misgivings about, which is why it's not signing up. china outlined huge infrastructure plans for central asia and china. it wants to expand the rail network to reach the mediterranean. china signed a gas deal with russia, russia is going to be - china will buy around about $40 billion of russian gas over the next couple of decades, and that

money sorely needed by russia as economic sanctions continue to bite. >> we'll comeback to you for an update during the course of the day. adrian brown there speaking about the event at the apec meeting in beijing we move on and bombs struck three afghan cities in the capital kabul. a bomb went off there near a university, wounding three people. south of the city in eastern loga province, a suicide bomb attack at a police headquarters killing seven officials, and in jalalabad three police many were killed by a bomb planted in a rickshaw. >> the iraqi army said it reached the center of the energy oil city of bayie. fighters cap jurd baiji in june. iraqi troops are trying to break the siege by i.s.i.l. on the biggest oil refinery.

the groups surrounded the refine ray and stopped production there much the u.s. is sending troops to iraq in a fight against i.s.i.l. president obama said american forces will be there to assist the iraqi army. rosalind jordan explains from washington d.c. >> reporter: president obama told the c.b.s. public affairs nation "face the nation", that he is not doubling the number of u.s. troops in iraq as a recursor to a ground war. he said that he was making good on his administrations promise is expand the capability of the iraqi military. >> now what we have done is rather than just try to halt i.s.i.l.'s momentum, we are in a position to go on the offense. the air strikes have been effective in degrading i.s.i.l.'s capabilities and slowing the advance that they were making. now we need iraqi ground troops

that can push them back. >> on the same programme, the former president george w. bush talk beside his war in iraq, and his decision back in 2003 to launch a ground war against saddam hussein's government. mr bush told the interviewer that it wasn't so much that he was trying to avenge his father's reputation. of course, george h.w. bush led the war into iraq, back in 1991. i guess i was responding to the gossip that works arrived the political circles. clearly there was one thing in mind, and that was to finish the job that his father did. his dad decided not to go into baghdad after routing saddam hussein out of kuwait. the reason why is that wasn't the mission he stated. i went in there as a result of a very changed environment because september 11th. and the danger we were concerned

about is the weapons would be put into the hands of terrorist groups that would make the attacks ever 9/11 pale in comparison. >> one thing that george bush would not address is whether he believes that president obama is handling the counter situation? iraq appropriately. of course, for the current president, his task is to convince members of congress and the american people that the strategy for trying to confront and defeat i.s.i.l. in iraq and syria is the right one as is his call for spending more than 5 billion to carry out the mission we have some knews that's just come in, there has been an explosion at a school assembly in north-east nigeria, we are told that the blast occurred at the government comprehensive senior science secondary school in potterscum. in yobase -- yobe state as the students waited to hear the

principal's address. an explosion in north-east nigeria, at potiskum. we'll bring you more information as we get the details of that explosion. we move on to yemen now, and the country has a new government, but not everyone is backing it. the ruling general people's congress and shia rejected the new administration. 30 ministers, and abd-rabu mansour hadi was sworn in on sunday. he appealed for support from the yemeni people. formation of the new government is part of a u.n. brokered deal, signed by the houthis after they captured the capital in september. >> there has been heavy shelling on the outskirts of the eastern ukranian city of donetsk. the violence threatens is 2-month-old ceasefire. at least 4,000 people have died in the conflict in eastern ukraine. >> a memorial service will be

held in the netherlands for an air disaster that touch the nation. the ceremony will pay tributes to the malaysia airlines plane that crashed over eastern ukraine in july. 298 passengers were aboard flight mh17, and they died, 193 were dutch. let's go live now to simon mcgregor-wood, who joins us from amsterdam. no doubt, a sombre mood in netherlands. take us through the event of the memorial. >> well, this is the principal national memorial for flight mh17, which, as you say, was such a - it was an extraordinary connection to the dutch nation, given the huge number relatively speaking of victims who were dutch. it will take place here at this conference center on the outskirts of amsterdam.

it will be started by the dutch prime minister and be attended by the king and queen. there'll be 1600 relatives of the dutch victims in attendance. several of them will read out, which will be the most moving part of the ceremony, all 298 names of those aboard mh17, who perished, and then the event will close with a minute's silence, and the sounding of the last post. it will no doubt be an extremely emotional event. it is hoped also an opportunity for the relatives of the dutch victims to come together and find some soltice for what will be a national stage. >> as you say, a lot of families, and those that lost families and friends in the crash will be looking for closure from the memoriam.

there's a lot of frustration over the investigation, which i believe is ongoing. >> the morning process goes on. it's four months since the tragedy took place. there may be some degree of emotional closure with this event, but there's so many unanswered questions. the investigation has not started in a serious way. the dutch prime minister was in malaysia, and australia last week, and called yet again for an independent investigation to be launched, and, in fact, ultimately people want justice and compensation for their relatives, and that implies the need for a legal process, the people responsible for bringing the jet down to be tried, and of course for many, many years, potentially away from that, given the nature of the conflict on the ground in eastern ukraine where the terrible incident took place. we are aware of the accusations against rebels in eastern

ukraine, supplied or perhaps not by russians with the technology that may have brought down this aeroplane - they deny it. the terrible problem is there has been no opportunity for investigators to get to grips with the crash site. none of the wreckage has been recovered. except the two black boxes, there's a huge amount of work, and the continuing uncertainty, for a relative it must be difficult to see when a real closure takes place. >> simon, we'll come back to you during the course of the day as you cover the mh17 memorial, thank you south african police launched a formal investigation into claims that the president zuma used taxpayer money for personnel purposes. $23 million was spent on upgrades to mr zuma's homestead. the president said he had no knowledge of the work, which included the construction of a swimming pool, visitors center,

and an ampitheatre still to come on al jazeera - families wait for justice after south korea's ferry disaster that triggered national outrage. and a military operation in pakistan's north-west displaces hundreds of thousands of people from their home.

welcome back. here is a kick look at the top stories on al jazeera. chinese president xi jinping,

and japanese prime minister shinzo abe held the first face to face meeting since taking office. the meeting on the sidelines of the apec summit is seen as being the first step to improving relations between the asian superpowers a memorial service will be held in the netherlands for the plane that crashed over eastern ukraine in july. 298 peppingers aboard mh17 died. more than half were dutch. >> the iraqi army says it reached the center of the northern oil city of baiji, trying to break a siege by the fighters of the biggest oil refinery. i.s.i.l. captured baiji during an advance across northern iraq 90 of ballots have been counted. results show more than 80% of voters favour a split. as claudio lavanga reports, more than 2.75 million went to the

polls, a strong show of support for a break away. >> depending independence on the day millions voted for it. on sunday night catalans in barcelona celebrated a symbolic, yet historic victory. throughout the day more than 2 million answered questions. do you want catalonia to be a state. do you want is to be independent. most voted yes to both. >> given the conditions in which we had to do this, it's a very impressive number. the stay in catalonia could have had a normal, good or very good result. and it was a dealt success. the vote was unofficial. the catalans hope this was a rehearsal for an independence referenda in the near future. >> translation: i'm 80 years old.

i have been fighting for independence. i went see it. i don't care, my grandsons will. >> reporter: not everyone here flies the flag of independence. >> i consider myself catalan and spanish. the catalan government cares more about dividing a nation than stopping cuts to the educational health system. >> reporter: the spanish government dismissed the vote as political propaganda. analysts say there may be no turning back. >> the problem with concessions from the central government is that catalonia has considerable powers. so there's not really much else to offer. on the other hand, the nationalist in kat visualised -- catalan visualised, saw the promise land. it's difficult that they contend themselves with anything but independence.

>> given the overwhelming turn out organizers say they feel they had a moral victory. >> independent reporters didn't know that even they they voted in their millions, it will not have a binding effect on the status of catalonia. least as they claim they want the right for an official referendum on independence. >> germans have been commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. to mark the occasion 8,000 balloons were released where the berlin wall stood, dividing east and west germany. white balloons were released one at a time, to symbolize the breaching of the war by crowds of protesters. filipino peacekeepers leading the west african nation will be shipped to an island off manila,

where they'll be monitored for symptoms of ebola. troops will be monitored and spend 21 days in quarantine. a diplomatic editor reports. keeping the peace in liberia, but not for much longer. filipino troops have been in the country as part of the u.n. mission for over a decade. now because of the threat of ebola, they are pulling out. no other country is offering to take their place. liberia is the worst hit country. 6,500 cases of ebola, half the total of 1300 cases across the worst affected parts of west africa. for now, other countries with troops in liberia are staying put, but they are concerned. >> we have more than 500 troobs in liberia. we have a hospital here. so we ignore it.

we are not alarmed or panicked. we have taken adequate measures to keep our troops. all the three countries most affected by ebola - places that were casing huge challenges. u.n. troops - still needed in liberia, a troubled country after a devastating conflict. the u.n. peacekeeping nation may have closed a year ago, but it's a nation suffering from the aftermath from its own civil war. and guinea is a poor country with coups and conflicts in its past. >> reporter: this is not just about the emergency created by ebola, but with about the threat of breakdown. the crisis of this magnitude, the horrible situation can at any time give rise to a breakage in the law and order, and in the

stability of the country. as i said, the institutions are still not very strong, and the strains are enormous. the u.n. security council and general assembly will be meeting in the next few days to discuss the ongoing ebola crisis. james bays, al jazeera of the united nations. in burkina faso, the chairmanman of the african union is due to meet. the president blaise compaore was forced from power. on sunday opposition and community leaders met to discuss the details of a transitional government. in mexico police are charging the national palace. activists are demanding answers as to what happened to 43 missing students, coming after the government announced suspects confessed to killing

the students. adam raney has this update. >> reporter: there has been a wave of protests in mexico on saturday, into sunday. it's a response in part to attorney-general's announcement on friday that he has suspected alleged killers of 43 students in custody. he held a conference on friday in way he played grisly tapes of evidence, of what appeared to be remains of some of the students, and also of confessions by people admitting that they took part in the killing of the 43 students. strangling or shooting them dead. the attorney-general went on to say that they are considered missing until they prove the identity of the remains. it's a double message. on one hand he is saying "we have people that conconfess to the killingsment at the end the press conference he ended in an abrupt, formal and rude way of

"enough, i'm tired." it caught the tension of mex caps and spurred anger on saturday and sunday. there were people carrying a hashtag symbol, carrying hashtags saying i'm tared of the killings, tired of 37,000 missing. tired of impunity, tired of there being no justice. we had on sunday the arrival of the capital, of hundreds of protesters that walked from the estate, and south-west mexico, where the students went missing after they were abducted by local police who happened them to a drug cartel. the attorney-general tries to show the investigation is moving forward, he touches a raw nerve of mexicans by showing insincerity to the personalities and those that cared most about the student. >> a verdict on dues in relation to a ferry that capsized.

prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the captain and crew members. the court's decision will bring little comfort to the families of the vic times. >> their numbers -- victims. >> reporter: their numbers dwindled, groups coming from over south korea, drawn by a tragedy that touched the national psyche. >> translation: as korean citizens, we have to come to pay respects to the victims and their families. >> reporter: sweeping out of the port, these are some of the grieving family members that make a trip to the site of the wreck. for them, justice will mean a guilty verdict. he could get the death penalty. the crew faces lesser sentences. mobile phone footage shows the passengers, most youngsters,

remaining below decks at the insistence of the crew. the grief and pain here has ebbed as most of the bodies are recovered and families returned home. just a few relatives remain at the town's gymnasium way had ban turned into a dormitory. the court case will provide them with little consolation. >> translation: i don't think the death penalty solves anything. families here don't have any emotions left. we are numb to the trial. >> reporter: what will ease their pain, the recovery of their loved one's bodies looks less likely with time. resting upturned in waters with strong currents, the search of the wreck is limited to a few hours per day. with the seas getting colder and the chaps of a vessel breaking up, that is harder to maintain. there is now growing pressure to end the search and raise the

rec. after that, what happened here, and the memory of it will play on the national conscience a military operation in pakistan's waziristan region displaced hundreds of thousands of people. the numbers internally displaced has reached 1 million. some feel the government as turned their back on them. >> these are the latest victims of a military operation dubbed and going on in the khyber agency. hundreds of thousands are likely to be affected by the renewed fighting when the military moved into that area. the real emergency is the plight of the people who were given no warning and told to leave their homes without their belongings mented most are sitting in the open. it is winter here in pakistan,

and they need urgent help. >> translation: we left our homes due it the military operation. now we do not have food for the family, there's no help from the authorities. >> reporter: the only hep provided is on a limited scale, and only from some organizations. the government that made promises to help these people have not been able to deliver. the government, it seems, is not interested. >> translation: the government has completely failed to provide hep and assistance for displaced home. despite the claims. >> reporter: at the time the military is busy in another operation in north waziristan, leading to the displacement of over 800,000 people. if you combine that with a number of people displaced from the khyber agency that, will go beyond the million mark. it's an emergency that pakistan

needs to tackle, and tackle as soon as possible if you would like to find out more about that and the latest news and analysis, you can go to our website and visit aljazeera.com. hi i'm lisa fletcher, and you are in the stream. today are men the oppressed gender, we take you in a world where american men believe that they are the disadvantaged sex. they claim that rape is used as a scam, fuelling controversy. their movement is growing later, why fed-up dads are mobilizing across the country, demanding their right to be in their child's life. hear why they leave courts and the justice system are stacked against them.