interesting people of our time. >> only on al jazeera america. case dropped. the international criminal court says there is not enough evidence to take kenya's president to trial for war crimes. ♪ hello, and welcome to al jazeera. i'm marian, live from our headquarters here in doha. also ahead, he speaks his mind, and has never served in the mill tear, barack obama names ashton carter as his pick for the u.s. secretary of defense. russian weighs in on the syrian war and tries to reignite talks. and seeds of changing ghana.

controversy hangs over festivities. ♪ the case against kenya's president for crimes against humanity has collapsed. prosecution at the international criminal court failed to gather enough evidence to take him to trial. he was accused of masterminding post-election violence in 2007 and 2008. >> reporter: the case included charges of crimes against humanity, murder and rape. prosecutors at the international criminal court spent four years investigating kenyatta's role in the violence which killed more than a thousand people and displaced tens of thousands. the judges ruled there was simply not enough evidence to take ken y -- kenyatta to trial.

the prosecution cited kenya's government refusal to hand over evidence. kenyatta supported one party, and think violence took on ethnic dimension. kenyatta has always denied any involvement in the killings. the icc accused him of having links with an outlawed group. but what happened in the kenyatta case will no doubt be a blow to many of the relatives of those killed and who want those responsible to be held accountable. u.s. president barack obama has nominated ashton carter as his next secretary of defense.

he is never served in the military and is widely viewed as a technocat. >> his record has spanned more than 30 years as a public servant and regarded as one of our foremost national leaders. he was at the table in the situation room, and by my side navigating complex security challenges that we were confronting. i relied on his expertise and judgment. if he is approved he will be obama's fourth defense secretary. patty culhane takes a closer look at his background now. >> reporter: the outgoing secretary of defense was basically fired. the white house didn't really try to hide it, despite this

awkward hug. the prior advertise for the position have changed, they say. the islamic state of iraq and the levant is now the focus. >> as we consider the next remaining two years of the president's term in office, another secretary might be better suited to meet those challenges. so they are replacing hagel with ashton carter, a man who never served in the military. hagel down played his removal. >> i think leadership comes with a responsibility of also knowing when it is probably a good time to let someone else come in and -- come in behind and pick up where you have left off. >> reporter: carter is very familiar with the massive machinery that is the pentagon. under president barack obama he was the chief weapons buyer and then second in command, known for demanding results and a

fierce intellect. he has two degrees from yale. his doctorate is from harvard. in 2006 he publicly urged president bush to bomb a launch pad in north korea before a missile test could be conducted. he is known for speaking his mind, but secretaries of defense under this president have complained they weren't really listened to. analysts don't believe carter can change that. >> in terms of having an impact on brood policy, i don't think he is in that position. if chuck hagel wasn't, he certainly won't be. >> reporter: carter is expected to be confirmed by the senate, but if the experience of the last three secretaries of defense are any indication, getting the job right be the easiest part. u.s.-lead air strikes in

mosul have killed fighters from the islamic state of iraq and the levant. at least nine gunmen died in an an an insult. a further four fighters were killed in a secondary strike. many minorities used to live in the area before isil took over. meanwhile isil has launched an offensive to retake iraq's largest oil refinery. the iraqi army denies that isil fighters are in control of the city. the oil refinery was taken by back government forces just a few weeks ago. to syria now where a battle is underway for the border town of kobani. it has been 82 days since fighting erupted between these two sides. bernard smith reports. >> reporter: there doesn't seem to be much of kobani left to fight for. nearly three months of air strikes, mortar fire, suicide

bombs and street fighting have reduced large parts of this town to rubble. most civilians are long gone. many would have trouble finding their homes if they koim back. but these kurdish fighters are dodging isil snipers along front lines. >> translator: it's a true we haven't made a major advance in kobani, our fighters make progress every day, but it's slow because the situation is difficult, but the slow advance is deliberate, as we prepare for a major advance. >> reporter: there are air strikes every day. at least 16 around kobani in the first four days of december. compared to 11 around all of the rest of iraq under isil control. kobani became symbolically important. now both sides are locked in a battle that has a lot to do with

trying to preserve or enhance reputations. >> reporter: isil has pored fighters into kobani. this was a recent suicide car bombing at a border crossing. the victory for isil in kobani would be trumpeted as victory over the u.s. but isil lost 50 fighters in this one failed assault. and the kurds are also struggling to make headway. >> translator: we have enough weapons to eliminate isil, but it will take a long time to completely clear them from here. street fighting is really tough, we can only advance by clearing one house at a time. >> reporter: the u.s. and its coalition partners are unwilling to involve their troops in combat in syria, they prefer to train so-called moderate fighters in neighboring countries, but that has yet to get going. but now the kurds with help from the iraqi peshmerga must fight

their own battles. taking you to somalia now where we have breaking news coming in to us of at least ten people who have been killed in two suicide bombings those explosions taking place in the western city. we'll bring you more details as they come to us. still ahead for you here on al jazeera, australia revives a controversial immigration law that critics call a shattering blow for ally sum seekers. plus -- two, one, and lift off. at down. >> better late than never. nasa launches a rocket that one day could take us to mars. ♪

teach for america is supposed to educate poor children. >> schools where kids need grade teaching the most. >> can unprepared teachers make a difference? >> why are we sending them teachers with 5 weeks of training? >> the cast sytem is alive and well in america >> a city divided >> this is the third shooting in 24 hours in baltimore >> raveged by violence... > for any black community it's always been a recession >> can a community break the cycle? >> the way the game is rigged... they can't win... >> fault lines, al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> today they will be arrested... >> ground breaking... they're firing canisters of gas at us... emmy award winning investigative series... baltimore anatomy of an american city

only on al jazeera america ♪ >> welcome back, you are watching al jazeera. the international criminal court's case against kenyan president has collapsed. also charges have been dropped after prosecutors could not gather enough evidence against him. u.s. president barack obama has nominated ashton carter as his next secretary of defense. if confirms he will be obama's fourth defense secretary and nearly three months of air strikes, mortar fire, and suicide bombs have reduced large parts of the syrian city of kobani to rubble. it has now been 82 days since fighting started between isil and kurdish forces there.

meanwhile diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis inside syria have all but stalled, though that could be changing. russia wants to help revive the political process. zana hoda reports. >> reporter: it has been almost four years of fighting and no one has been able to bring about a divisive victory. the russian government has stepped in to try to revive the political process to end the fighting. >> translator: now russia is at the forefront of efforts to restart talks. there is no russian initiative as such, but the international community is moving towards finding a political solution. there is a willingness. the russians and americans are talking. >> reporter: this is a prom nept opposition figure he once headed the main opposition in exile, the syrian national coalition, the snc before resigning out of

frustration. last week he was invited to moscow. >> translator: what russia is doing is providing a venue for opposition members from various groups to sit down and come up with a united front. whoever is ready to join hands to save syria, it is their right to join, and i believe the friends of sir are will agree. >> reporter: there were direct talks in geneva earlier this year, but two rounded ended with no agreement. at the time the opposition was representing by the snc, now some reports suggest that the u.s. agreed that other groups could event the opposition in future talks, and this time ark, president bashar al-assad doesn't have to step down before negotiations begin. >> translator: we all know a transitional government can't happen overnight, but there needs to be a clear agreement between the regime and the opposition, with a clear timetable for a hand over of power. >> reporter: there is no guarantee that moscow's efforts

will be able to stop the war, but there is a need for political reconciliation in syria. not just to stop the bloodshed, it will also help in the fight againstst islamic state of iraq and the levant. for the first time since the fall of the berlin wall, the german party born out of the old communists has a state leader. he won the election as premier of one of the former east german states. tim friend reports. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: he was jubilant. victory in the second round of voting. but according to the german chancellor, carl marx, the father of communism is back in office. he is deeply aware of his parties communist anti-[ inaudible ] and memories of the hated east german secret

police. >> translator: me and my cabinet will personally approach people who have been done injustice. who's lives were destroyed. we need to make up, not divide. >> reporter: his party rules here in coalition with the greens and the center left. enough votes to win the premiership. angela merkel's christian democrats have held sway, but their popularity plummeted after allegations of corruption. their leader is alarmed by his success. >> translator: as you have seen, thousands of people have protested because they fear the oppression of the past will be carrying the responsibility for the future, and this on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall. >> reporter: this is where he will take office in a short while. he might well take angela mer call's comparison with karl marx

as a compliment. but he has to make things work in a time of relatively high unemployment. views are split about his premiersh premiership. >> translator: it is a mess. >> it is good -- >> translator: i think it is good, because the red-agree coalition has triumphed, and it will be good for the people. >> reporter: political servers in this germany say the landscape has been changed fundamentally here. if this coalition succeeds, similar groupings with the left party could emerge elsewhere. but the communist legacy and old wounds are still felt acutely. an elderly man has been killed in eastern ukraine after a residential neighborhood was shelled. witnesses say the man was walking home with his wife when a shell fell nearby spraying

them with shrapnel. ukrainian and pro-russian forces have abagreed to observe a truce on tuesday dubbed the day of silence. security forces detained a number of protesters in egypt. demonstrators came out on to the street in several towns after friday prayers. tensions are particularly high after the acquittal of the former president over the deaths of protesters in the 2011 revolution. al jazeera continues to demand the release of its three journalists jailed in egypt. they are appealing against their convictions. peter greste and mohammed fahmy were each sentenced to seven years in prison. baher mohamed was given an additional three years for having a spent bullet in his

possession which he picked up at a protest. egypt's security forces have started the second phase of its buffer zone expansion in the sigh that peninsula. they are extending the zone an extra 500 meters. the army has started destroying homes in the area. the eviction process for people living there began in october. australia is reintroducing a controversial temporary visa for refugees. at the moment all asylum seekers who arrive by boat are held in processing camps. andrew thomas reports from sydney. >> reporter: in afghanistan this man ran a human rights organization, and did work for the american government. when his brothers were killed, and he was shot in the leg, he fled to indonesia and then on a rickiet boat to australia. that was in april 2013.

he was held in a detention center before being released on a bridging visa. his life since has been in limbo. not allowed to work,lying on a subsistence income. he and 30,000 like him will now be put on what is called temporary protection visas. they will be allowed to work, but the criteria by which the claims are assessed will be stricter, with few rights of appeal. most are likely to be sent back to the countries from which they fled. stral -- australia's government is unapologetic. >> not only the government has send a message to the smug ellers to end their business forever, but it has sent a strong message from parliament. and that is something that will further strengthen our country's

borders. >> reporter: the government made concessions all children currently held in detention sen tlers be released, but using that as a bargaining chip has angered those who weren't won over. >> i am appalled, many people in this country tonight would be appalled. using children as hostages is never okay. and only a sociopath would do it. >> these kids have been sitting there for 15 months, and you want a pat on the back? you have got to be kidding yourselves. these kids could have been out 15 months ago. >> reporter: most children of asylum seekers are held on an island. they may be tough but judged by their own criteria of stopping the boats, the government policies are working. members of the government like to say that that stops people from drowning at sea when

overloaded boats sink, but their policies have a human cost too. people living in the capitol of the maldives have no fresh water supply. the only desay len nation plant has been damaged by a fire. india has started to air lift fresh water in. 130,000 people have been living in the capitol and have been rushing to buy bottled water. attacks by gunmen in indian administers kashmir have killed several soldiers. >> reporter: what was once a sleepy border post became a battleground. at 3:30 on friday morning, heavily armed men stormed a military camp in a village close to the line of control between

india and pakistan. several members of the security forces were killed, along with a number of gunmen. >> last few days [ inaudible ] interaccepting the terrorists, and eliminating them. so i think it's a [ inaudible ] increased interception by army. >> reporter: more attacks soon followed. on the outskirts of the capitol and in south kashmir after an election rally. some security analysts say separatists fighters are trying to undermine elections currently underway across the state. >> after the second phase when again there was an over a 70% turnout, i think that's when panic bells must have started ringing that they need to do something to ensure that the elections, the credibility of the elections is called into question. >> reporter: india's prime minister is due to address a rally in the state on monday,

ahead of more voting next week. thousands of soldiers have been deployed, but the concern now is whether they will be able to ensure the safety of voters. now [ inaudible ] space capsule has returned to earth just a few hours after it was launched. it made his splash downin california, after hitting its high point above earth. andy gallagher joins us live from florida. a few hiccups at the start, andy, but a landmark test flight for the orion. >> reporter: engineers are saying that this mission was basically flawless. i have just seen a bunch of astronauts hugging each other, smiling, slapping each other on the shoulder. it could haven't gone any better for nasa from the launch to the splashdown, all of the tests

went well. it was a fairly short but extremely vital test. it went through a belt, for a radiation test, and went out 14 times higher than the orbit of the international space station, then it turned around and came back to earth. that was another vital test of the heat shields. then the orion craft came down at incredible speeds and was slowed down to basically nothing at the end by 11 parachutes, and landed off of the coast of mexico, and was recovered by the u.s. navy, so there is an extreme amount of happiness here, but this is a long process to getting astronauts into deep space. engineers will spend the next few months pouring over all of the information.

so it really is, i think for nasa the beginning of a new era, because in a few year's time orion will have four astronauts on board, and the plan is to take the astronauts to near-earth asteroids, and eventually to mars. >> thank you andy gallagher. tens of thousands of people are leaving their homes before a typhoon hits the philippines. the powerful typhoon has gusts of up to 230 kilometers an hour. it is set to hit the city where thousands were killed by typhoon haiyan a year ago. china has condemned rich nations for not doing enough to he help do more to fight global

warming. it's the last major round of discussions before next year's paris summit which will set guidelines to cut global emissions after 2020. in ghana people are celebrating farmer's day, but controversy is also hanging over these festivities because a new bill is being considered by the parliament that will anow the commercialization of genetically modified seeds, and that is stirring debate. >> reporter: this man has an organic farm. he grows all kinds of vegetables, including maze. he is against legislation going through parliament that he thinks is designed to introduce genetically modified seeds on a commercial scale. >> it is not the pressure of bringing gmc's, it's the pressure of let's find solutions to the problems within the sector. bring in those seeds and they'll rot. bring in their seeds and their [ inaudible ] no this, no that.

>> reporter: these scientists in northern ghana, have been conducting gmtrials. at the moment they are growing [ inaudible ] and cotton. >> the quality as improved. and the farmers exposure to the hazardous insecticides is also reduced. >> reporter: the trials are funded by multinational seed companies. anti-gm campaigners say the bill gives too much power to these companies. >> in terms of seed and soil technology, in terms of water technology, we have it, and our farmers understand it. improve on [ inaudible ]. that is the offer we're making. depending on [ inaudible ] breeders outside who will come and support our farmers to produce the [ inaudible ] that we produce, in which we have to say and they control [ inaudible ] seed. >> reporter: the minister in charge of crops says his anti-gm

critics are missing the point. >> it is a technology that is available. it is a technology that is safe. it is a technology that can enhance our productivity. let us add it to the basket of options that are open as technologies to our farming system, so that farmers can have the opportunity to choose what seeds that they want. >> reporter: but will shoppers be able to choose? as a consumer there is no way to tell the difference between a gm crop and a conventional crop like this cotton. so will they be given the information to make an informed choice. ghana has no firm plans on the labeling of gm products, leaving it another question mark over this contentious issue. but those in favor, say the introduction is inevitable, and it's about giving farmers and the public options. remember you can get the

latest on all of our stories on our website. the address for that, aljazeera.com. you'll find comment and analysis as well as video on demand, it's a all there. aljazeera.com. do check it out. >> the wonder of the world's forests... is often found in the creatures that live in them. but the most rare and precious of animals are increasingly falling prey to poachers. the u-n now classifies the trafficking of exotic wildlife... as second only in scale to the illegal drug trade... so vast and lucrative is this black market underworld.... that authorities say its driving more species than ever into extinction.