♪ french fighter jets strike against i.s.i.l. targets in northern iraq. ♪ this is al jazeera live from doha and also on the program hundreds of thousands seek shelters as typhoon hagpit strikes and arrived in iriguay. and huge rain forests are being harvested illegally. ♪

french fighter jets have bombed the i.s.i.l. held town in northern iraq and several strikes over the past through days killed dozens of fighters there and pershmer gshg a forces are ready to launch a ground offensive and dominick reports. >> reporter: fighters in the hills above and from the positions they can look down on the village that is controlled by i.s.i.l. and since it fell a few months ago more than 70,000 people have left to escape the violence, now the pershmerga want to take it back and the plan is based on a combination of air strikes and ground attacks. on friday dozens of i.s.i.l. fighters were killed in bombing raids, on sunday coalition planes came back and carried out a second operation. [bomb sounds] the vent coalition rates were

effective and more than 40 i.s.i.l. fighters were killed and forced i.s.i.l. to leave 17 locations and ready to progress and storm the village when we get the order to do so. >> reporter: and the significance stems from the closeness to i.s.i.l.'s stronghold in mosul. the pershmerga believe if they can take control of the village they will be much nearer to mosul. equally they believe that reason will make i.s.i.l. fighters do whatever they can to retain the village. >> translator: one of the most important keys to mosul and one of the city's suburbs and we are worried because i.s.i.l. places ieds in village's and towns before leaving them and according to information hundreds of ieds have been left in the village. >> reporter: and the population was once diverse, but not since i.s.i.l.'s occupation. now the pershmerga home to end

that, dominick cain with al jazeera. activists say they attacked sooil fighters with chlorine gas and says forces used the gas to repeal an i.s.i.l. assault on the dara base killing at least 68 fighters. security forces in saudi arabia have arrested 135 suspects on terror charges and said 26 are farmers and arrested in various parts of the gulf kingdom and accused of helping groups and harming the stability of saudi arabia. now, to the philippines where typhoon hagpit is pounding with torrential rain and winds 100 kilometers an hour and hundreds of thousands of people have sought emergency sheltered located on higher ground and the pictures from the international space station show the massive scale of the weather system over

the philippines and as scott reports some communities are worried about the damage they will discover once the storm has passed. >> reporter: this is edison just three weeks standing next to the radio his family connection to the outside world and news of the typhoon hagpit and edison and mother are here with one thousand people huddled in the hallways of this government building. mostly women and children came from villages near the provincial capitol. >> three families from the village came to the shelter and it's noisy and full of loud children and we always evacuate for every typhoon because our house might be blown away. >> reporter: two days beforehand fall thousands were directed to shelters like this. with the typhoon like this is government here says it's all about preparation and something he knows very well and because of that he is confident his province will have zero casualties. >> we have been preparing for this for the past 20 years

because over the past 20 years this province achieved zero casualty in 18 of the 20 years and every year we have a typhoon. so we have made it a religion essentially. >> reporter: the governor is worried about the economic impact to his province mainly from the strong winds of the slow-moving storm. even though they are not as strong as last year's typhoon they will stay longer and ripping down electricity lines and destroying property. this is the only place open in the market and to the owner it was a risk worth taking. >> translator: we are afraid of typhoon but have to continue working to earn something and heard reports it would be as bad as hyan and we put rocks on our roof. >> reporter: the governor is confident that people are prepared no one will truly know the damage to the community caused by typhoon hagpit until the sunrises on monday morning,

in the philippines. the government says it learned from the devastating storm hyan which had 10,000 people dead or missing last year and al jazeera andrew thomas had an update from the food distribution center in manila. >> reporter: 10,000 packages of food aid and it will be distributed through the country and we have people helping to organize the effort and a lot of criticism of the typhoon hyan typhoon from last year, are you improving the system this time around? >> wrel, we have already improved our position with goods and our field offices all over the philippines are provided sufficient funds for them to have family food and preparation in the different towns, provinces so we are capable to

provide food to the possible victims of the typhoon. >> reporter: we are right here by manila's airport and this is one of many this time around and it's not centralized here, is it. >> we have two production hubs and one is national operation center which is this center and we also have a major production center who is responding to the needs of the nearby regions, regions five, six, seven and eight. and aside from that the nearby regions which will not be effected also prepared for the region that will be effected by typhoon would have augmentation with respect to the distribution of family food. >> reporter: with this moving so slowly across the county how do you get the food in because flights cannot get in to affected places and the storm is

above there for long periods of time and people can't wait for flights so how will they get this? >> our field officers especially in the zone area have already propositioned their family food and have sufficient stock to answer the need of the families that will be affected by typhoon hagpit and the need of this division allows how by reducing food and we have 54,000 family food packs prepared and we are targeting to produce around 140,000 within the next 24 hours. >> reporter: six prisoners held more than a decade at the u.s. military prison at gitmo are linked to al-qaeda and the president agreed to resettle the men on humanitarian grounds. let's go to andy gallagher who is live from miami, andy what is the significance of this

release? >> well, this is the largest release of detainees in the weste western hemisphere since it opened in 2 now 2 and 4 sierrans and one palestinian have now arrived at hospital and we have that confirmed by a colleague in south america but this is not just a reflection of u.s. placing detainees from gitmo and the paperwork to actually release these six men has been waiting on a desk for years and official is blaming chuck hagel for not signing it but how hard the u.s. has found to place these people. they are arriving in iraguay and settled in muslim communities and it's an act of humanity. >> detention facility at gitmo shut down at barack obama had promised.

>> reporter: well, i think that is the big question and we all remember back when barack obama came to office that he signed executive order with great flushish promising to close it down and six years later and the facility is still open and this is a reflection how they are finding it and difficult to place detainees in adoptive countries and now 136 people left in the facility, 19 released so far this year and i think we will see them trickle out in the months and years to come. >> andy gallagher live from miami, florida. they identified the body of one of mexico 43 missing students, it was among the charred remains by a garbage dump last month after gang members admitted to the killings the government said. >> reporter: this trash dump is where remains of alexander were found and it is the site where mexico attorney general says drug gang members killed and

burned all 43 students soon after they went missing in september and so far seen in this picture is the only student who has been identify but in the coming days more remains may be confirmed as those of the missing students. >> translator: the conformation of identity came as families of the other missing students had gathered at the capitol. >> alexander. >> reporter: alexander, he was found dead today and it has been confirmed that it is him. >> reporter: the announcement comes more than two months after the students were attacked by local police in the city here and allegedly under orders from the local mayor and they were then handed over to members of the warriors united drug gang and mayor and his wife fled soon after the students went missing and were arrested last month in a dingy apartment and a dozen

arrested so far and grave sites and focused attention on the wider issue of 30,000 people who disappeared since 2006 in mexico's raging drug violence. protests marches call on president to resign. they say the attorney general and the interior minister long knew about the colusion but the federal government let the problem fester for years. they wrote a facebook post of the student who has been killed and says his death is not in vain and protesters keep the pressure up on the government, adam in mexico city. still ahead on al jazeera, desperate to leave, we report on

the plight of iraq's vulnerable people as war rages around them plus a film banned by singapore government sponsors a debate on censorship. >> a deal went against they're own government >> egypt mismanaged it's gas industry >> taking the country to the brink of economic ruin >> this is because of a corrupt deal to an assigned to basically support two dodgy businessmen

an israeli one, and an egyptian one... >> al jazeera exposes those who made a fortune betraying an entire nation >> you don't feel you owe an explanation to the egyptian people? >> no...no.. >> al jazeera investigates egypt's lost power on al jazeera america ♪

♪ welcome back, the top stories on al jazeera, french fighter jets have bombed the i.s.i.l.-held town in northern iraq, several strikes over the past three days have given 50 i.s.i.l. forces and pershmerga forces are ready for a ground offensive. 700,000 people have been moved

to safety in the philippines as typhoon hagpit comes to the east coast and one person confirmed dead so far. and six gitmo prisoners are in uraguay and accused them of being linked to al-qaeda and the president agreed to resettle the men on humanitarian grounds. iraqi and kurdish forces say they need urgent help to save thousands of people still trapped in the mountains and the group has been there months after fleeing i.s.i.l. fighters but now winter is setting in and their situation is becoming more desperate and we have an exclusive report from the ir iraq/syria border. >> reporter: cold and hungry and desperate to get off the mountain and fled the fighting in the summer and now are living in tents further up the mountain with dwindling food and supplies

and the battle getting closer and only so much help it can bring and for some it's a hard decision and this mother escaped with two of her children leaving three dehind and we are told this woman escaped from i.s.i.l. fighters. the flight off the mountain is risky. with i.s.i.l. routinely firing on helicopters as they leave. the commander and pershmerga general have come down to report to the kurdish president. >> translator: every hour that passes is crucial. it's urgent, i'm worried about the civ civilians who are in a dire situation. >> translator: i'm asking the international coalition and in particular the u.s. but also everyone who cares about this injustice to help. because winter is coming and more people are desperate. >> reporter: the general says a joint force of volunteer fighters and kurdish soldiers

are protecting as many as 10,000 people. and he and his family escaped but fear for those left behind. >> translator: our people need clothes because they are freezing and food because a thousand families are trapped. this is urgent. we need planes to get people off because the weather is freezing. >> reporter: with the weather still good the helicopters load up again. they are making as many flights a day as possible and take as much aid as possible to the sin sinjar mountains and it would be so much quicker if they had larger transport planes before winter closes in. without coalition help little chance all can escape the cold and the fighting, pershmerga

airforce are doing what they can but many of these people will be left to fend for themselves once winter starts to bite. sue with al jazeera, fish harbor on the iraq/syria border. security crying to cross iraq where shia muslims are celebrating the end of the 40 days of mourning for the profit grandson and soldiers and vehicles are positioned on the route to the shrine and have been attacked by sunni groups in the past. investigation in the killing of palestinian civilians during attacks on the gaza strip and human rights groups accuse of targeting civilian infra fracture and war crimes in july and august and most of them soldiers were killed. reports say a "washington post"

journalist held in i ran has been charged, the post says it's not clear what charges have been filed against the chief jason and he was arrested in july with his wife and fellow journalists. she was released on bail in october. according to the committee to protect journalist by the end of 2013 at least 35 journalists have been jailed in iran and turkey imprisoned more and most are iran and not foreigners and he is yet to bring campaign promise to bring change in favor of free speech and i spoke to an i ranian journalist in tehran and asked why the president's promises appear to remain unfulfilled. >> the judiciary is independent of the government and nothing say in the decisions at the judiciary and i know as we mentioned there are journalists

in prison here in iran and it's difficult to defend the media in the countries and sometimes unacceptable and i understand that and no job security and the first is the last mistake and there is a fine line between success and failure as a journalist in this country and i do accept that no doubt about it but at the same time it's difficult to defend. >> reporter: briefly the 35 journalists we mentioned, those who are behind bars, what are they being accused of? >> yeah, that is another good question, if you talk in general terms and you don't mention a name, you don't poke accusations against a certain individual nobody is going to come after you but these people specifically went for instance and talk about corruption they name names, they come up with names, they come up with company names, politicians and these politicians take matters into

their own hands and it becomes a personal matter and they go and complain against these specific or certain individuals or journalist and have to face the consequences and how it is. it's difficult to defend these people because they break the media law and when you do that you are responsible. >> reporter: how do they break the media law, just to clarify things again, in the case of the washington post journalist for instance the washington post said he was fully accredited to work in iran and the government never explained why he was detained in the first place four months ago, how did he break the law? >> let's face it, the judiciary is a fair organization here. the judges are fair and not listen to the security officials to come up with accusations against a certain individual, it doesn't matter if they are from america or from here so let's not accuse the judiciary of not being fair, that is not the

case, the thing is when the people come to the country as journalist there are set rules they have to follow and they cannot for instance go in a university or that university and start terrorizing people or start filming, they need proper papers and permission to film and need permission to conduct interviews. they don't have it and think just because they have a visa, working visa as a journalist they can go anywhere they want and they break the law and i work here and after 15 years i'm not allowed to go where i like as journalist to conduct interviews with a stranger or start filming and it's not happening and people know they have broken the law. >> reporter: and al jazeera continues to demand the release of our three journalist who have been held in prison in egypt for 344 days, greste and fahmy and mohamed jailed on helping the out lawed muslim brotherhood and appealing against their convictions. north korea has dismissed

allegations it was responsible for a cyber attack on sony pictures. >> i'm agent lacy with central intelligence and the cia would love it if you could take him out. >> reporter: set to release a comedy about a plot to assassinate un and it shut down computer systems and they say it could have been the work of supporters. the 25th singapore festival is underway with works around the world and say the event will help develop the local film industry but it comes amid a controversy over the banning of one film and rob mcbride reports from singapore. >> this is something when we first come to this country. >> reporter: the film that has caused offense, the singapore would love it as a documentary features 1950s and 60s exiled abroad and the government ref e

refused to allow release and say it gave unbalanced view. >> they took the view it was self serving and that he was on inconvenient facts and all. >> reporter: he objected to the ban preparing to open this year's filling festival he is no stranger to censors and he had a film for allegedly being racist. >> the artists in singapore tend to be quite gutsy and doesn't necessarily put us off, it means we have to keep pressing for change. >> reporter: debate of censorship comes as singapore prepares to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of independence and just the right moment say opponents of censorship to reexamine the city's past with complete openness but the surge that will accompany next year's celebrations may not be

conducive to greater freedoms. it's 15 years since singapore got the speaker corner for freedom of expression but it is just as likely to be used for cultural events as anything political. ironically singapore has just provided a platform for other people's politics. artists from the middle east attending the city's art fair have been displaying work that would cause offense back home dealing with resent events. >> there is one outside the country to show and to make a listen of what has happened and other possibility to express and say usually people in the streets cannot say. >> reporter: unexpected message for singapore visitors to take away with them, robert in singapore. a doctor who contracted ebola treating patients in sierra leone returned home and

he spent 16 days in a hospital where he received experimental treatment and now free of the virus and one of 256 cuban doctors and nurses who traveled to west africa. now the preservation of the rain forest is considered central in the battle against global warming but in peru where the climate change conference is held illegal logging is continuing at unprecedented rates and nick reports from the peru amazon. >> reporter: illegal logging is so commonplace in the rain forest he doesn't care about us filming him doing what he does. stealing trees from forbidden areas with impunity. >> it's illegal.

we shouldn't really be doing this. the police make us do all this paperwork and have to pay them off, they constantly put up obstacles. >> reporter: and this is where his trees go, three hours boat ride away, the sawmills of the town here. much of the timber end up in the u.s. and china, trees, 100 years old and more destined to become someone's hardwood floor or garden table. the logging trade here is a world of forged documents and fate invention on a massive scale and the world bank estimates 80% of peru's total timber exports are harvested illegally. that is 8 out of 10 of these trees elicit. one after the other the sawmills stretch three kilometers along the river bank and trees supposedly taken legally from concessions but, in fact, cut

from protected forest. >> translator: these markings are official codes for permits that the forest authorities give out to transport and sell wood. >> reporter: they are all fictitious? >> mostly they are fictitious. >> reporter: the environmental investigation agency found the forging of paperwork and corruption is imdemic. >> nobody has been sanctioned for this, none of the feel people and we have names of the people involved in dock -- decemb december -- documentaries and nobody has been invested. >> reporter: logging is very bad news for global warming and suck up c 02 to survive to elaborate carbon emissions but this of course has entirely the opposite effect and here we are a little more than an hour's flight from a climate change

conference in lima, nick clark, al jazeera, peru. and reminder that you can keep up to date with all the news all the time on our website al jazeera.com and latest on our top stories there of course. four officers pounce odd eric garn neve garner for resist a grand jury found no reason to indict. michael brown was shot after an encounter with a missouri police officer that began with an argument. are police train today lower the temperature or raise it. it's "inside story." ♪ ♪