jordan confirms one of its pilots has been captured after its plane was downed over syria. ♪ you are watching al jazeera live from doha. also ahead, iraq's kurdish fighters push towards the center of sinjar, taking back more territory from isil. a fire fight between israelis and palestinians leaves one palestinian man dead. and another shooting in the u.s., it happened in st. louis, missouri, not far from the last incident. ♪

the jordanian army says one of its pilots have been capture by islamic state of iraq and the levant. it happens after an air raid in syria. the pilot's family has confirmed his identify. u.s. and coalition airplanes have conducted hundreds of strikes against syria and iraq since the fight against isil. they have been bombing sites in syria and iraq. but since december, 97% of the air strikes in syria have been carried out by the united states alone. mark kemet, is former assistant secretary under president george w. bush.

he spoke to us about how the military is trained to deal with these incidents. >> the king of jordan is a special operations soldier, his father flew aircraft as well. i think coming into the coalition. jordan fully understood that there is a chance one of their pilots might have been brought down, and sadly that's what we're seeing here, but i don't think it's going to have an effect on the coalition going forward. the entire air force is trained to pick up a downed pilot as soon as possible after the airplane goes down. clearly that didn't happen in this case. now the pilot has to use his own personal training to either evade and escape, which he was unable to do, now he's going to take the training he received as a pilot to resist his captors as much as possible. peshmerga forces were able

to push back islamic state of iraq and the levant during an attack on a village. the kurdish fighters were able to prevent isil from taking the village. elsewhere, kurd irk -- kurdish forces are able to regain ground. they are pushing to reach sinjar center. last week they opened a corridor to help thousands from the yazidis community escape. but for some families the help came too lay. they kidnapped 3.5 thousand women and girls earlier this year, the families fear their loved ones have been sold as sex slaves. >> reporter: whenever this family comes together their discussion is dominated by their missing daughter. the 7 year old was kidnapped by

isles fighters four months ago. >> >> translator: our village was the first to be attacked. my daughter was one of those taken. >> reporter: this man fears his young daughter has been sexually abused by isil fighters. in another tent we met this family. in all their extended family has had nine members kidnapped by isil. >> translator: we don't want anything else from the kurdish government, or the united nations all we ask is to return

our kidnapped relatives. life in camps like this one have become a reality for members of the asee dee community. they are struggling to cope with loss of relatives. this is the manager of the camp for displaced yazidis. he says they are traumatized. >> translator: some of the women here were raped and tortured. these people watched as their loved ones were killed or taken away. huge crimes have been committed against them. >> reporter: most of the yazidis in these kemps say they have no desire to go home. even if their towns are retaken from isil. 38 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in southern bagdad. 13 iky soldiers are among the

dead. a suicide bomber blew himself up when seouleders were queueing up to receive their salaries. more than 50 people were injured in the attack. israeli forces have killed a palestinian man along the gaza border. the israeli army says their guards came under fire by snipers. the u.n. special envoy to libya says warring factions have agreed to hold a new round of peace talks next year. meanwhile fighting is continuing. >> reporter: running battles in libya's second city of benghazi are intensifying. between forces loyal to renegade renegade general and rebels. they say war planes have bombed the city. and with heavy clashes reported

in the center of the city. the u.n. special envoy have met members of the two rival government. >> translator: we will now allow the collapse of the state institutions, we need the backing of the international community, but not to violate the libyan sovereignty. >> reporter: diplomats suggest that groups have agreed to meat on january 5th. part of the plan is to announce a ceasefire, form a new government, adopt a new constitution, and disarm rebels. they have two governments and parliaments competing for legitimacy and control. there was a new parliament and

government that forced the existing government to retreat. but the supreme court invalidated the election of the parliament. previous u.n. efforts to get peace talks started have failed. it is not clear if other powerful militias are invited to the new peace talks. some suggest without them the talks will fail. >> translator: the revolutionaries are an integral part in this equation, and without them i don't see the talks will succeed. if they are excluded it will complicate the situation. >> reporter: the u.n. says 120,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. at least two people have been killed in a bomb attack in pakistan. police say a bomb was placed outside of a shop in the city. at least 14 people have been

injured. a cycle of violence is unfolding in northeastern india where at least 60 people have been killed by gunman from the bodo tribe. the murders took place in two villages ins a sam state. there have now been revenge attacks. >> reporter: authorities had always feared that yesterday's attacks would escalate into tit-for-tat violence between the tribal community targeted yesterday, and the bodo community. and it seems we are seeing that play out on the ground now. we're getting reports that members of the community have targeted bodo, they have killed some and burned their homes as well. on the side of the tribal group, they have also suffered a number of casualties during a protest

against yesterday's attacks it seems that some of them have been shot in police fire as they clashed with security forces. the police have blamed a breakaway faction of the national democratic front of bodoland attacks. and they say it was part of an operation that was underway to flush out the rebels. and now it seems that the bodo rebels attacked specifically targeted the tribal communities because they were worried that they were working with security forces to give them information and intelligence on where their rebel hideouts were. there has been yet another fatal police shooting of a black teenager in a suburb of the u.s. city of st. louis. a berkeley police officer shot and killed the man outside of a petrol station. hundreds have gathered at the scene to protest.

>> we do not believe that there was any shots fired from the suspect. the suspect was arm a 9 millimeter high point. shehba has the latest. >> reporter: police released surveillance footage that they say backs up their account of what happened late on tuesday night in this petrol station. they say the video shows antonio martin drawing a gun on a police officer. who discharged his own weapon. the second person fled the scene. the video is far from conclusive, the incident in the top left-hand corner of the screen. and it hasn't help those who are lacking in trust of the police

force, whether it be this incident or the shooting of michael brown. the questions also are being asked why the police officer was not wearing his body camera that had been issued to him earlier in the week. why the dashboard footage wasn't being recorded, and whether we will see more footage now to give a more transpair rent account of what actually happened. still ahead in this half hour, from a war zone to carnegie hall. we meet the syrian refugee who has become a piano prodigy. and milking the rewards of diplomacy. how cuban farmers could benefit from warmer ties with the u.s.

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al jazeera america morning news every morning 7 eastern only on al jazeera america ♪ welcome back. you are watching al jazeera. here is an update of our top stories. the jordanian army says one of its poll lots has been captured by isil after his fighter jet was downed. iraqi kurdish forces are gaining ground in their attempts to reclaim the town of sinjar. they are pushing to reach sin yar's center. and there have been protests in the suburb of the u.s. city of st. louis, of the shooting of

another black teenager by police officers. canada hopes to bring in 1300 refugees by the end of this year. but daniel lak reports that target isn't likely to be met. >> reporter: outside wintery suburban montreal. inside this apartment, reminders of syria, his paintings adorn the walls on a table a hand-written journal of family history. they came to canada earlier this year. they fled syria in 2012 when the eldest son was detained and released by the army. it was the toughest decision of their lives. >> he got out of the prison, you know, i feel we have just, you know, a little hope. okay? that i have my family beside of me. that's good. but from this time, okay, i decided to leave this area.

>> reporter: canada has pledged to resettle 1300 syrians by the end of this year. 200 sponsored by government, the rest by private groups. by last month less than 500 had come. >> we have lobied a lot with parliament, and the answer we often got is that canada is proud to resettle one out of ten refugees, but not when it comes to syria. when it comes to syria, you have been extremely difficult, extremely conservative numbers, and the obstacles are just too many. >> reporter: the opposition in parliament says the conservative government is wrecking canada's image as a haven for those flees war and persecution. >> when will he keep his promise. >> the immigration minister said canada is meeting its targets and will do more, although no details are given.

in the refugee camps, frustration is growing among the canadian church groups that primarily provide private sponsorship. >> if we don't come up with special programs and -- and increase of the number of refugees we have for -- that will definitely change the image of canada and canadians and the canadian government. >> reporter: safe here now, this family hopes more syrians can join them in refuge. but for now the relief that they are not longer at risk, outweighs their longing for home. the u.n. warns that the conflict in syria is destroying large parts of the world cultural legacy. almost 300 such places have been looted, damaged or destroyed in the three-year war. the u.n. looked at 18 areas in syria with histories that

stretch back to the dawn of civilization. it found 24 sites have been destroyed and 104 have been severely damaged. it is threatening the future of syria's heritage. >> our colleagues have stated all right, the consequences are very, very grim, because basically this amounts to erasing from our collective human kind memory entire portions of our history. >> reporter: this is what the city looked like before the war. this is what is left after more than three years of fighting, and the ancient border city is more than 2,000 years old. this satellite image was taken in 2011, and here it is in 2014. >> it's not about bombardment only, and targeted explosions,

it's also about looting archaeological sites of great importance like the site of [ inaudible ], you know, which -- with [ inaudible ] the was invented. like the site of [ inaudible ] where there are important roman mosaics that were looted. >> reporter: some of the most extensive damage to cultural sites have taken place in the city of aleppo. with no end to the war in site, more of syria's heritage may be lost forever. ukrainian officials have arrived for talks in minsk with pro-russian separatists. peter sharp has more. >> reporter: they failed to agree on a lasting ceasefire when they met in minsk three months ago. they are hoping this christmas eve gathering will finally bring peace to the region.

in eastern ukraine, nearly 5,000 people have died since march, in fighting between ukrainian government forces and russian-backed rebels in the region. on tuesday further shelling was reported. on wednesday ukraine's prime minister knew where to lay the blame. >> translator: russia is not fulfilling the minsk protocol. russian terrorists are there and it is necessary to take them out and give them the possibility of living normal lives. >> reporter: but kiev opened the door to possible membership of nato. it angered the kremlin. but there are compelling reasons say analysts in moscow for kremlin to seek a deal with ukraine. >> if we see another outbreak of violence in ukraine, and restart

of hostilities then the west would be quick to interpret this as alleged russia's enrollment, and that would obviously involve new round of sanctions, new hiccups on the cold war, which actually we don't need. >> reporter: the talks broke up without reaching a formal agreement. they'll resume on friday. it has been three months since they met in minsk, and since then more than a thousand civilians and troops have been killed. much will now depend on whether the envoys can reach a more lasting agreement this time. peter sharpe, al jazeera in moscow. when the asian tsunami hit tyland in 2004 it devastated the

area. >> reporter: ten years since they first met, these are friends for life. karen mcfarland is a retired policewoman from london, this woman runs this bar and guest house in south thailand. the asian tsunami brought them together, and the tenth anniversary is a chance to realize how far they have come. >> translator: we walked out and i saw so many dead people. horrible deaths everywhere. i was very traumatized. one whole month after the tsunami, i could not close my eyes because i only saw dead people. >> reporter: the snapshots show the devastation. of the thousands who died here, nearly as many were foreign tourists as thai people. >> it has impacted on the entire world. and it wasn't just local people, it was international. there were people in this area

from every part of the world, so it needed to be an international effort. >> translator: what we were most afraid of back then is if there were no more tourists here, what would we do? >> well, the tourists are back, and when you talk to people about the role of recovery, it turns out it's not just about dollars and cents, but also about the links between people that inspired them to help each other to win a hard-fought recovery. right after the tsunami there were literally only a few trees left standing. but tourism has provided the means by which ordinary people and governments showed their support. >> translator: the tsunami damaged us badly, but we have made so many good friends for life. the tsunami only happened once.

we can fix the house. we can fix our mind so we're not stuck in the past and we keep on living. >> here we are ten years later, and people have traveled from all over the world to be here to get together again, and it's just beautiful. isn't it? >> reporter: undaunted and united, they rebuilt even better than before. >> happy ending to a horrible story. >> yes. the economic tide may soon be turning for cuba now that the white house says it will renew ties with the island. cuban farmers are hoping this will bring more money to areas outside of tourism spots. >> reporter: the sun has barely risen off of the horizon, but this farm family is already hard at work preparing to cultivate the land. being a farmer is difficult in

cuba. he says the type of cows on the island produce less than half of the milk of similar dairy cows in the united states, but he can't buy them because of the embargo. but the embargo has also meant no access to farm equipment, fertilizers or tools. >> translator: here we have very little technology to develop our farm. >> reporter: it means farmers are continually improvising to help make it work. >> translator: now if we need pesticides, we'll have the power to ask for it. they will ship it, and we'll have more development in all of the countryside. >> reporter: look around and you can see how much it might help. spending some time on this farm, and you get a sense of how stuck in time they really are. he is cutting sugar cane right now, but with no proper trucks or anyway to transport it to the other side of the farm, they just load it into this.

this is the same system they have been using for generations. the same system for over 100 years. but citizens cannot import private goods, including farmers who want to buy equipment abroad. the government says it is meant to prevent anybody from having an unfair advantage. >> translator: this agreement with the u.s. is significant, and an important leap forward, but the cuban government also needs to do their part. >> reporter: but for now, at least some optimism prevails. >> translator: you give me a peace of farm machine, and i'll give you beans. we can exchange business now. >> reporter: and down the road, back at the rodriguez family farm, that's exactly what they want as well, expecting the benefits of the u.s. friendship to reach the countryside as fast as anywhere else.

al jazeera continues to call for the release of itself journalists peter greste, mohammed fahmy, and baher mohamed have now been imprisoned in egypt for 361 days. they were falsely accused and convicted of helping the out lawed muslim brotherhood. they are appealing against their convictions. a teenage refugee from syria will soon be performing at carnegie hall. >> reporter: to hear him play, you would think he had been doing it for years. ♪ >> reporter: but this 16-year-old from syria only started playing the piano 18 months ago. after he and his family fled to turkey, he came to the academics institute. his teachers were so impressed with him in his first class, they awarded him a scholarship.

his skills have quickly brought him to national attention in turkey. thanks to a personal intervention this month from president erdogan, he and his family now have citizenship, allowing him to travel and to enter several musical competitions. >> translator: i represent turkey. i'm quite happy because i live here now, but i'm sad at the same time, because syria does give me such chances. >> reporter: at home, he still plays the accordion, a reminder of his earlier life in syria, but now his site -- sights are set on a different world. soon he will play at carnegie hall in the u.s. he loves the music of russian composers because he feels like

he belongs to him. his teachers believe he is good enough to be in their company. a reminder that you can keep up to speed with everything that we are covering on our website, the address is aljazeera.com. >> let us bow our heads for a word of prayer. our father and our most gracious god. as this family, the murdough family and their friends, as they gather, we ask that you send your comforter, your holy spirit, your guide, to be with them. >> queens, new york. jerome murdough's family is laying him to rest. four months ago, 56-year-old