they say they have taken high ground. it is also close to the mountains are thousands from the minority community flee because of let's get more from sue. on the face of it a significant victory, but what do we know for sure? >> we know for sure there was a military build up. we drove through right from the mountains across to the length of northern iraq, just two nights ago. and we saw a build up of

the military hardware, of various troops along that rout. however, it wasn't an enormous amount of military build up, and this is why you have to be slightly cautious as to what the president and the peshmerga are saying here. they are saying that 8,000 peshmerga are pushed a distance of 700 square kilometer whose is just south of the dam area, all the way to the syrian border. they are taking towns and villages isil have controlled for a long time, along the way. they are saying they have taken the mountain range, which is where the main military base is. and that they can issue down on to that base, and indeed, they have even stretched along the three mountain ranges all the way to the main mountains which is where we were, which has been besieged now since the summer, in which fighters have been pushing on for many many weeks. the peshmerga have been

telling us they are running out of ammunition, and they are on the back foot, so to say they can take this whole ground, is an extraordinary achievement, if it is the case. they say they have killed 1,000 isil nighters, but does that say they have pulled back into the community, and is waiting until they want to areappear and strike back. >> you have come back from the singa points, why is it so important? what is it like up there? >> it is important because it is right on the border, a at very high position.

they know if they have that high ground, they can fire down on any force pushing up to that area. so it is a crucial area they have been trying to hang on to for the peshmerga, of course, for the volunteer force, it's much more personal, if you like. they have seen their communities being ravaged by fighters over the summer, when many have had to be airlifted off that mountain, 10,000 still on that mountain. and the forces there were telling us, we were there, that it's personal, that they are desperate, to win back the land that they have been living on for centuries. we head to the top of the mountains with the man in charge of the force. this is their fight and their land. they have brought weapons and ammunition, but it is far from enough to hold back fighter whose launch

attack. inside the range. to get to his own village, we passed the towns and villages now controlled by ice skill. homes that the volunteer force are determined to take back. just two-kilometers from the front line, an hour before we arrived a truck had driven up to the edge, packed with explosives. we thought well against them, and they didn't get into the village, and it was on target. his commander says he had left the mountain, who u.p.s. proked more weapons and revealed the push on the mountains was eminent.

i just came back where i asked for support. he gave us word he would get them as soon as possible. i'm sure we would drive them out of the whole area. >> not today, we are soon under attack with five more falsing within 30 meters of his home. the push surrounding the mountain can't come soon enough. we are advised to leave, but with isil surrounding, we have no choice but to climb up the mountain, the five-kilometer uphill hike. >> . >> we are walking up the mountain, because the town has just gotten under too much fire. we can see flumes of smoke already. they appear to be aiming at the church that we were filming at. >> the fighters hold their ground for now, the forces are now pushing on isil to the east and north of the mountains. the villages held to take

before they can help. win back their land. including that main mountain range, and they say they are now going to be able to get aid and ammunition up to those forces up there, i think the main question is they may manage to push through, but can they hold it, if in fact there was a backlash. >> some dramatic stuff there, thank you very much indeed for that. now, pakistan's army chief has signed a death warrant for six people convicted of terrorism, in military courts just a day since the president ended the moratorium on the death penalty. the last execution was in 2008. 81 of those are terror

related offenses. another seven teen thousand people are being prosecuted under terrorism laws. and camall, the government acting very quickly here, this is the first wave of death warrants that have been signed, presumably we can expect more. >> absolutely. and that also we have heard that they secretaries of the provinces as well as the inspector generals of police, and the provinces have been told, to get ready to execute those criminals who were awarded the death penalty now. interestingly, they signed the death warrants for six of those terrorists according to the military, in the attack on headquarters

those were signed by the military chief. there will be several executions across the country. >> but the taliban has said that it will retaliate if these death wants go ahead, if these executions happen, is the pakistani government for more? that's an excellent point, because that is a matter of concern, because pakistan had earlier warned the government, that if they were to carry those out, that there would be a wave of retribution. today already, with the security alert that was announced that of the possibility of more attacks oen the schools and of course the government was now bracing for a blow back. earlier when the military came in the middle of june, and whole country was basing for a blow back, now it appears that with this step taken by the government, and it must be understood that moratoriums you were

talking about was put in mace unofficially, by the president in 2008, so a significant development. >> and what about people in the pakistan? are they happy to see death warrants executed. >> absolutely. because for the last several yearsle dr.s, murders have been getting light sentences. the military was also complaining that most of the prisoners that they produced before the civil courts were released simply sometimes because the judges were too afraid they would be retribution against them, so now it appears that there was no other choice, because it was tremendous public pressure on the government to say if you have people who are killing innocent people, school children, and there is no buenative action, there is no law so obviously that fit into the equation as well. >> thank you for that.

india has been held in a pakistani prison for more than five years. now he is being released on bail. we have more from uh in deli. indian intelligence believes his group plained and trains ten gunman to attack several targets across mumbai in 2008. a court has now released him on bail. india's government is four rouse. >> he has been granted bail, which is very unporchal. i think it shouldn't have happened. all evidences are enough to convict him, and the pakistan government should appeal against his in the upper court as soon as possible. the attack is still vive nid the minds of indians, it lasted about 60 hours.

and left 166 people dead, and more than 300 injured. anyone who is responsible for a mascaraed, is obviously -- >> i think they should learn from the present case. where so many children have been massacred. until they take action, it is impossible to stop it. >> leaders are now pressuring to take a stand. more to come here on the news hour, including errors of a new boko haram attack. more than 100 women and

children are kidnapped. the u.n. calls for 8 billion dollars to help the millions of syrians effected by the war. could young cure ban players be the future of major league baseball russian president vladimir putin has given a defiant message on the economy. after weeks of crisis. speaking at his end of the year news conference, he says the currency will rebound, and the economy will recover. it's been hit by the falling price of oil. in the a separatist uprising in ukraine. >> our economy we overcome the current situation. how much time is needed. i believe two years and the worst scenario, and after that the growth is imminent because of

foreign economic situation will change putin also spoke about the crumbling currency. >> the current situation -- while we also understand that we have not done many of those things we plan to do, to diverse fighter our economy over the past 20 years. >> and on ukraine, putin says he was hopeful of a peaceful resolution i hope we will be able to reach dialog, to settle the situation. >> rory was at the press conference and sent us this. >> for anyone looking for signs that vladimir putin is a worried man, a chastened leader, well, there weren't any, oh than maybe the length of the prez conference itself. in previous years this has run into five hours, this was very brisk. now vladimir putin says that russia does find

itself in tough economic times. but he wouldn't call this a crisis. he said and that russia would bounce back within the next couple of years. regarding the geopolitical situation, he believes that russia is only looking after it's interest. it is not an aggressor on the world stage, he paints russia portrayed russia as a bear, a proud animal, occupying the tiger, the wilderness of siberia, and he says what are they trying to do to this bear? are they trying to chain it up? are they trying to force it into a corner and remove it's fangs, what do they want? do they want us just to be a stuffed bear so for vladimir and other russians as well, he is a leader who is standing up for rights and interests on the world stage nothing more and nothing less in berlin, german chancellor has been delivered her state of the union address, she

said western sanctions would remain until russia respects the ukrainian sovereignty and engangs in talks. >> we want to face the challenges. but we cannot travel this path alone, it is up to russia to accept our offer of dialog on the bases of the valuing of lasting peace. as long as we have not achieved this, sanctions will remain unavoidable. >> simon, leaders keep to cashry on with this policy, even though there is big concern about russia's economic crisis. >> yes. that seems to be pretty well coordinated. where they understand we will not focus most of their discussions.

sticks certainly many of leaders arriving today reaffirming what we heard from the german chancellor, we need to keep the pressure on, and by coincidence, the re's of this latest sanctions against russian interests in crimea. businesses won't be doing any investing or tourism, and certainly no oil and gas trade. that was expected, so yes, there is as clear a sense that we understand here in europe that there must be a long term solution involving new talks, but until the russians change the behavior, and we haven't noticed that yet, the sanctions will be maintained or even increased. it also hurts other economies. as long as this confrontation continues.

>> about the state of the current russian economic crisis. she said in particular, it's not good for anyone, i don't think that many o.u. leaders think their sanctions have much to do with what has happened in russia in the last few days. but this concerns. they do a lot of business, but russians ban on e.u. food imports is hurting certain sectors of the european economy. but i think the feeling here is that it is a

price they can pay, that haven't seen angry french farmers on the streets the european union is doing a lot financially, to soften the blow of that. the longer it goes on the tougher the price will be. the arm ad group has killed at least 32 people in nigeria, and kidnaps many others, it says more than 180 people including women and children may have been taken. the attack of the village earlier this week. and a nigerian court marshal has sentenced 52 to death by firing squad for refusing to fight. the soldiers were found guilty of a number of charges including assaults and cawardes. previously, they have reported been outguns by the group, they have complained of not having enough ammunition or food.

>> the verdict on the 54 soldiers who have been accused of running away or refusing to fight the boko haram insurgency has grown some criticism. even now there are reports of the military are underequipped and ill equipped to fight the boko haram insurgency, and that the fighters are more motivated than the army, we are seeing in the last few months that the fighters have taken turkey out of the territory, although the tide is gradually turning as the military continues to record victory after victory. now this is all happens at a time when they are escalating of violence and then we attack on our mosque in congo, where hundreds have been

killed. so suspected finders. and then there are issues of attacks on various isolated villages and towns in the northeast, the reenter dr. one, of course, is the attack on the town, where more than 30 people have been killed and 180, as many as 180 people mostly women and children have been ask ducted. will it be enough to turn the tide, we -- the next few weeks or the next few months will decide that. as boko haram has deployed we have seen how it had deployed several across the region, and female bombers as well to attack targets at random. >> in the country on wednesday. hundreds of fighters ambushed the base, which is located near the

border with nigeria, at least one sol was killed. not cheer how many fighters were killed when they returned to nigerian soil. >> this' been fighting inside kenya's parliament. the police now have the power to detain people without trial and restrict the media. nicole johnston reports. >> those against it tore it up. some got so upset that fights broke out. it was also in sham pers outside. police dragged protestors away. >> this bill is competely unnecessary. more that they are trying to put -- give of themselveses are basically to clamp on people's freedoms.

>> the government says it needs new laws to fight terrorism. >> anybody willing to move an amendment, should be prepared to come and be orderly. if they are not willing to move, we shall go back, under the bill, it extends the time that people can be detained without charge from three months to a year media can be fined for printing material "likely to cause fear or alarm." and a covert operation can be outerrerred without the court approving it. >> former journalist says the bill is a backward step, more than 20 years ago, police beat him up in this building for reporting on the trials of political distants. >> if this bill is passed i think all the freedoms that we have under the new constitution would be like a flush in the

toilet. it is that clear. last year the mall was attacked. it was revenge for the army operating in somalia, at least 67 people were killed. and this month, the gunman killed 36 nonmuslim workers near the north eastern town. kenyans want the insecurity to end, but many are worried political freedom could be lost on the way. nicole johnston, al jazeera. >> director of amnesty international in kenya, joins us now live, thank you very much indeed for being with us, this is a highly controversy bill, isn't it? it gives the police sweeping powers to detain and hold suspects for long periods of time, without trial. >> i mean the whole

process is problematic, there's the process question including people not having time to sort of see what had been taken on from the public consultations. that were carried out this week, there's the redesign of the security architecture, and moving away from what we had agreed upon, in our constitutional process, that intelligence is just about intelligence, gathering and analysis now they have powers to stop and arrest, even though a slight amendment was moved forward, saying their right would be essentially justified about them taking them to a station. there are a lot of pretile detention concerns. there are fair trial concerns. there are still rights of privacy concerns with the bill, and fund mentally, this -- all these changes don't really address the drivers of insecurity within the country. so yes, a lot of concern. >> it was interesting to see the pictures coming out from the parliament,

the opposition lawmakers up in arms over this. be uh the ruling party is saying look, this -- we have to do this to improve security, does this go any way to improving security or is it just an infringement of civil liberties and media freedom. >> everybody is concerned about secure in the country, but people are also concerned about making changes operational changes that directly address the problems with provision of security. and in some ways the bill does address that in terms of trying to enable a better flow through of intelligence, through to operational units. in terms of enabling a better vertical to the ground sort of command chain of command, but it goes far beyond that scope. it brings security services back under the purview of the executive.

>> including the u.s., u.k., always raising concerns. does this damage the international standing. >> is one whether kenyas is concerned about the international standing at this point. i think they feel when it comes to counter terrorism, that particular western governments have very little leg to stand on. yeah, i think they feel they can get away with this. >> thank you for joining us, good to get your thousands on this. still to come here on the news hour, how havana and

washington's new relationship is bringing the u.s. in from the cold. and a lift off to the biggest ever rocket, can it herald the start of a new space exploration? plus, all the sport for you to publish or not to publish that's the question facing people's top executives andy will be here with that story, after the break.

>> now available, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. a global perspective wherever you are. the major headlines in context. mashable says... you'll never miss the latest news >> they will continue looking for survivors... >> the potential for energy production is huge... >> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app,

available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now primetime news. >> welcome to al jazeera america. >> stories that impact the world, affect the nation and touch your life. >> i'm back. i'm not going anywhere this time. >> only on al jazeera america. forces they are taking high ground. the main and military based in the area. and to the besieged mountain. russian president has given. the sungarsy will rebound, and the economy

will recover. only days since the prime minister ended the moratorium. survivors of the pakistan school siege had been recounting the horror of the attack. where the nursing not only physical injuries but psychological stars as well. he is now in hospital bed fighting for his life. she is trying to combat her worst fear. >> when i heard my shot was shot, i ran to the school in a panic. he tried to calm me down and say mom, don't cry, i am okay, even though he is bleeding i am proud of

my son, he is such a brave boy. and to call his family by phone. in the same while a 12 grader who was shot in the groin, and had his left earshot. they still have fresh memories of the attackers. >> to get on the head, and have -- wounded in

the attack, ten were brought here. one of them died on the first day, and three are still on life support. >> the families aren't even allowed to see them. outside the families of the winded students gathered to show their anger. they blame the army and the government for having failed to maintain security in public places. and no amount of visits can calm the parents. and even sending them to the parks is unthinkable. we can't afford to surrender, he tells me.

police are investigating three alleged murders. the claims concern an alleged pedophile ring, involving power people in the 1970's and 80's. police in london say as man accusing of being abused are saying that three boyses were also killed. two car bombs in western yemen have killed at least ten people. and the arabian peninsula has claimed responsibility. the attack happens just hours after the government. >> a victory of sorts for the prime minister. it's been over a month since may formed the

cabinet, but getting parliament to approve it is not easy. >> the party of the deposed president stood firm. the general people's congress says the government agreed on several recommendations beforehand. they cannot implement any sanctions that violate laws and institutions. many were these conditions as the means to protect the president against possible u.n. sanctions. the transition of the process since it all started in 2011. from the government has another problem to deal with. on wednesday, prime minister threatened to resign in protest against gunman storming the oil company. the government is struggling to rule as rebels control much of the country including the

capitol since september. the backing of the president who enjoys influence of the tribes and the military. houthies control most of yemen's north and headed south out of the traditional strong hold. they raided state institutions, sacked officials and now control military bases. corruption and the spread of terrorism, and to get fair representation in the government. but critics say the arm is funded which wants to seize power, and further the cause in the region. they have many challenges but events are pushing them closer to the integration and civil war.

they have been fighting for control of a military airport in the east of syria. five soldiers have also died. fighters have say they have regained controls parts of north eastern aleppo. this is a crucial battle for opposition fighters. they overlook the only road with towns close toe the turkish border. they go to the rebels. >> on the first day of fighting with about 18 building under our control serious second

city has been an urban battleground for more than two years. over recent weeks the syrian military has been closing in on rebel supply routs around the city. they also lost territory in the northeast, and to the front syria's al kade do branch in the northwest. confirm that the fighter jets arrived there recently. rebel fighters have seized control of the camps, the counties is

asking for more than $8 billion to help some 18 million people effected by the war in syria. they want the funds as early as next year. and refugees outside. nick spacer has more from a conference in berlin. >> the german foreign minister opened the conference by calling syria the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. top united nations officials and ambassadors from countries surrounding syria paint add picture of infrastructure, and social services under severe strain because of the influx of millions of refugees. >> 1.4 million, which core late to a quarter of jordan. iraq is also thankful for the humanitarian

assistance it received to help the refugees although it falls short of what is needed. >> as is launching a new approach. and bringing together development aid. >> people of the come possibility is now needed in order to get syria ready to receive back the refugees. we need to work for sure in this components in order to try to reduce the economic impact, in the neighboring countries. >> the new initialtive requires eight preponderance $4 billion in spending. last year the u.n. only got a little over half of the money it asked for, but the hope is this time there will be more money coming up because of a lot of lit be spent on development, and donor countries like to spend on development, because

it has long term visible effects. >> the u.n. officials say providing aid to the neighbors does not mean refugees will stay refugees. just that something must be done to help the host countries and syria, so that the whole region doesn't suffer more. for it to work, donor countries will have to put up the money at another conference, sometimes in 2015. the united nations says it is the worst humanitarian crisis worldwide. the needs are great. up to 11 million syrians require help. not just those who live outside the country, but those that have been displaced within syria. it isn't only food that they need, and jobs. they need to educate the children.

here in lebanon, 500,000 are of school age. and only 25% are enrolled in school. we are at bun of the informal school sets up by the united nations, there's 50 of them scatters across the country, each one enrolls about 350 students so as you can see a lot of children are not being educated and lebanon can only do so much. this country is appealing for help. the government wants $2 million to help 2 million people, 1 million are syrians and 1 million are lebanese. so it isn't just this crisis not just effecting syrians it is effecting lebanese as well. a lot have lost their jobs because syrians work for cheaper wangs, so there's a lot of social tensions as well. so lebanon needs help, the refugees here need help, one. wasn't million are registers but it is believed that there are hundreds of thousands more living here and most of them realize that they are not heading home any time soon on behalf of

the palestinians since palestine is an on serve tore the u.n. and not a full member state. we will continue to remain open in order to make this draft a solution a success until a final resolution is reached laying the foundation for genuine negotiations the palestinian territories before 2017. they say the declared should also be a national home for uses.

this led to war between five countries and israel. in 1949, the fighting p sos but thousands have become refugees. and palestine was divided into three parts. israel, the west bank, and the gaza strip and the west bank, of course, palestinians have -- so as the palestinians make their latest push, they have been ganging reaction in the occupied west bank. >> for more than 25 years no had had been in the jewelry best. into historic palestine. but many still want

israel to withdraw from territories it sees in the 1967 war. he is asking the u.n. security council to set a time line for the government to return to those lines. he is not convinced that will ever happen. i can make a map of dots i just can't make it small enough for what they want for us. >> the plan has angered the israeli government. condemned the proposal. which is in part why they are seeking the resolution. aimed at setting a time line for the end of the israeli occupation. >> even if the resolution is passed nothing will change. >> trying to secure a

negotiated settlement for more than 20 years, now, though, they believe that the best way to establish is through a binding agreement that is recognized internationally, but it is unlikely that this latest resolution will pass the council and some say it may everybody be impossible. >> al jazeera continues to demand the release of our three journalist whose have now been in prisoned for 355 days. were jailed on false charges of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood. they are appealing against their convictions. still to come here, in sports south africa takes control of the first test with the west indies and we will be here after the break with all of that action.

cod feel less isolated. explains from ben necessary airies. >> a photo of that sums it up. the president welcomes with ohm arms to a new regional organization, of every country in the caribbean, except the united states and canada. more than 50 years after washington called for the expulsion of communist cuba to the organization of american states it has

become isolated from it's neighbors. the highly unpopular u.s. economic embargo, a thorn that has diminished the leadership in the americas. that's why renewing ties. >> south american leaders gathered here for an economic summit. applauded the announcement and what some describinged as the audacious move. and while it will not iron out all the differences between washington and it's neighbors it could as one put it signal a new beginning. i want to recognize president obama for his pave gesture. for ordinary cubans renewing ties signals the beginning of the end of a cold war that has marked their lives.

and while the economic embark go won't be lifted just yet, the easing of restrictions will have a major impact on the country struggling to play. which will help the people of cuba, who suffered an embargo for more than 52 years. >> the next suspect will be held in april, and for the first time in more than half a century. leaders from the every nation in the americas, without exception, will be able to sit at the same table. having to deal with the fall out of michael

garcia. allegations of corruption surrounding the bid process for the next two world cups. only a summary of the report has so far been published and with that full document should be made public, is now being discussed. garcia quit on thursday, saying he lost faith in fifa's leadership. here is our sports correspondent. >> it came on the eave of fifa's executive committee meet canning is taking place now. where they will lead to vote on whether to make his report fully published, fully transparent, that's what he says he wants, but it appears that he doesn't have confidence that they will make that vote, and even if they do, too much damage has been done

whether he feels that the full report can be published and it will be taken. it is most likely to been on friday. what kind of situation in here, if they say yes, that's not straight forward. they need to be very careful. if they say no, they say well, there's the latest cover up. >> they will stay on it to the national coach, facing accusations of match fixing in spain. the mexican is among 41 people. was in charge at the time. >> they to australia. >> we hope that you understand that he is not a criminal suspect yet. and they are now looking into the circumstances before they decide whether they will go into a formal investigation or

not. >> they claim they died as a result of a beating and not as the consequence of being hit by a projectile. he died followed an al jazeera lead. now the normalizing of cuba, could have a big effect on the landscape of professional baseball. and until now, cuban players wanting to take up -- with major league baseball. had to defect from their country, they have a rich baseball culture, and 19 cubans in the mlb this season, well, earlier we spoke to a baseball historian, he said regardless of any changes they will be reluctant to allow the players to

leave. >> they are trying to survive and it has abilities been totally independent of major league baseball. it is an extremely important institution. they focus their baseball on a strong team. they have started to send some of their bettest players to play in japan, but under the condition that they come back and play in cuba during the winter, so they maintain their own strong league. the problem is that major league teams when they sane these players to contracts are not going to allow them to go back and play a full season in the winter in cuba. because of concerns about injury, because they don't want a player playing year round and being tired out, they

don't let players go back to the dominican either. so this is the stumbling block, that doesn't really have anything to do with the embargo. including bernie has been meeting in geneva, as yet, no details of any new deal have been made public. thanks to donations from fans and sponsors. >> we are going to be there next year, regardless. but we still think the way things are being done right now is wrong, and we would like some changes to happen. they have put themselves in a great position on day two of the first test against the west indies.

unbeaten on 65. >> that is your sport for now. the biggest ever rocket, including an unmanned capsule which could one day send astronauts into space. the country's send a man mission to the moon in the coming heres. heavier communications satellites in september, join the u.s. russia, and theeu in successfully sending probes to orbit. and that's it for this news hour. from all of this here in doha, bye for now.