con fronting isil. the kurdish peshmerga forces foil an attack near sinjar. ♪ ♪ welcome to al jazerra i am in doha. also coming up, france prepares for the funeral of one of the charlie hebdo cartoon assists killed in last week's attack. an american man has been arrested in the u.s. for allegedly plot to go attack the capital building. two climbers in california make history by scaling a peek hire than the world's tallest building without any climbing

tools. ♪ ♪ we begin in iraq where fighters belonging to the islamic state of iraq and the levants have launched a series of attacks, 16 peshmerga fighters were killed, several others injured during an attack on the mosul dam. also fighting in as eastern province and sinjar west of mosul renewed fighting there between isil and peshmerga forces. it comes as the top u.s. official leading the fighting says more time and training is needed to retake mosul. >> we expect that we'll see the effectiveness of this force improve over time. and ultimately that they'll be able to take back the population centers and the municipalities. it's important that it be done in the right measures. it's important that we have all of the pieces in place when that time comes. it's important that it's done in

a deliberate manner so that the planning is, in fact, accomplished in the kind of detail necessary and it's done in conjunction with the support that we have from the coalition. >> let's bring in jane who is in baghdad for us. jane iraqi and u.s. officials had already said that the battle for mosul would be an extended military campaign. but really, do we have anymore indications as to the time scale as to when they will be ready to go in? >> reporter: according to general allen's comments this is not a country or iraqi security forces that are ready for a major of course i have. offense i have. he made clear that the u.s. would be deliberate about this along with its coalition partners and before they launch an offensive from mosul, for instance the isil strong hold, they need probably trained forces now just in the very beginning stages, they need a plan for reconstruction. they need a police force for stability. and he says they will need a

plan for what happens after. humanitarian assistance, without all of that. it's clear that the u.s. is not going to be on board for any major operation of that kind. >> the u.s. are in no rush to go in to mosul until they think they are ready for it. is the government on board with that? >> reporter: well, the prime minister said as yes recently as tuesday after meeting with general allen that he wanted the u.s. to increase the tempo of the air strikes and they have really made a difference if you look across the country despite the fighting and isil moving back in to some areas iraqi forces have really been able to take baca back a lot of territory. now, in the center of iraq and south of baghdad, they have been able to do that. as our colleague mohamed atowdow reports with the help of show huh militias.

>> reporter: there is no let up in the flow of young men joining the ranks of iraq's shia militias. this training camp is the first stop for all new recruits, it's here that they receive their military training before being sent to the front lines to fight alongside the struggling iraqi army. >> translator: we are like any regular army, we are supporting the security forces forces and in some cases this militia is better trains than i i'm, we will soon be liberating all iraqi territories from isil. >> reporter: most of the iraqi shia militias are front in respond to calls by spiritual leaders for a religious war against isil. they have sent an effective fighting force helping the army break sieges and tack back control of territory from isil. >> translator: the pfm have a wonderful characteristic that the iraqi army doesn't have, and that's strong religious

doctrine, en thus i can't enthusiasm and determination. isis has its own corrupt doctrine but we have what it takes to fight back. >> reporter: shia militias now control huge areas in iraq. there is a sense that the shia militias may be hard to control. they are accused of human rights violations including killing prisoners and sunni and displacement of sunni families. but their support is a immediate concern for the us and its allies. iran is believed to have sold millions of dollars worth of hardware and weapon to his iraq. it's also dispatched hundreds of military advisers to assist the shia militias. and it's believed this is to sends a message that it is indeed iran and not the united states that is baghdad's biggest ally in the fight against isil.

mohamed adow, al jazerra northern iraq. >> reporter: apart from the shia militias and allies and kurdish fighters in iraq, the other big element of sunni tribal fighters and that's what the united states and iraq are still trying to get together the support of the tribes which will be a crucial element in fighting isil in the vast west of this country. myriam. >> jane, thanks very much. live for us there in in baghdad. i want to bring you pictures now from the german capital berlin where the german chancellor angela merkel is addressing about events in pair iparis, we are expecting her to speak shortly. this comes after what we saw widespread international condemnation in events there. merkel took part in a rail of leaders from right around the world on sunday. 10s of thousands gathered to express their solidarity in the

french cap capital. and then a little bit earlier on angela merkel earlier on this week condemned marginalization joining a muslim rally in germany condemning the anti-islamic movement in the country. so anyway, we are going to hear from her in a little bit later. in france a funeral is set to take place on thursday. he was an artist and caricaturist. he will be late to rest if paris. he was one of 12 people who died in the shooting. outside the office, people are continue to go pass by and pay their respects. the first edition of charlie hebdo since the attacks went on sell wednesday has quickly sold out. it features the profit mohamed on the cover page and struck out protests in turkey. it says it printed the cartoons

as a gesture of solidarity. and in the philippines around 1500 people there demonstrated in manila against charlie help dough's cartoons of the mohamed. french president is bringing together voices from around the arab world. it was plans before last week's attacks. on wednesday he addressed french troops on the aircraft carrier which is setting off to the middle east, he says france must show great determination against terrorism and armed groups like al qaeda and isil must be tackled head on. a 20-year-old man has been arrested in the united states for an alleged plot to attack the capital building and kill government employees. the fbi arrested christopher lee cornell in the state of ohio

earlier on wednesday patty culhane has more from washington d.c. >> reporter: we have a few more details because of the court filings in this case, apparently christopher cornell started a twitter feed under an alias a criminal this trouble with the fbi and told the fbi on this twitter feed there were supports supports -- statements in support of isil. where he talked about a plot using pipe bombs to target the u.s. capital building where congress meets phao*ets and then to open fire on them with some automatic weapons. it's not clear that he actually ever built pipe bombs butt fbism says wednesday he moved to an ohio gun store and bought two semiautomatic rivals, 600 rounds of ammunition and that's when he was arrested. it's not clear that this was in fact a plot directed from overseas because he gives conflicting statements. one time saying al qaeda had signed off on it.

and goes on to say isil will not sign off on the mission but they want to do it in support of isil. so it's not at all clear that he actually did have contact overseas but it is clear that he has been arrested on some very serious allegations of planning to target the u.s. capital building. a u.s. drone strike has killed at least six people in pakistan the attack took place early on thursday morning. pakistan launched a major operation in the region in june to drive out fighters. mean. meanwhile taliban fighters are fighting in the northeast. the conflict has lasted for nearly a month now. surprise are low and more than a thousand families have been forced to flee. jennifer glasse reports. >> reporter: some of these refugees walk six days across the rugged landscape of the province to get here to safety. last month the taliban attacked villages near the pakistani boarder and were caught in the middle. >> translator: the taliban took

over our areas then the government started shelling. there was lots of fighting and planes were bombing we couldn't stay there anymore. >> reporter: some of the villagers did fight back. and were no match against hundreds of taliban fighters they say included pakistanis. even those who didn't fight left left. >> translator: the government they don't want the people to leave. neither did the taliban. but the people whose houses are destroyed had to leave. >> reporter: and they had to leave everything behind. now they are living in crowded squalid conditions with anyone who had space. here four families, 20 people in all, share one room. >> translator: hour children are hungry our men are not here. some are wounded. the aid you have given us has been taken by people, by opportune assists from other villages. >> reporter: but in the capital officials say they are doing their best. workers are taking surveys and

giving out sensuals as quickly as they can. the displaced say it's not fast enough and not getting to them. >> they are register everyone by name and give aid. they should not give it to the elders of the trial. >> reporter: hits brother was killed in the fighting saying he barely got out alive. >> we walked out of our house with anything, we didn't even have to time bury our brother. >> reporter: some want the government to donate lands for the displaced. local officials say it could be risky having them in one place in case the taliban want to take revenge on the civilian that his fought against them. jennifer glasse, al jazerra kabul. still to come on this half hour on al jazerra. driving under discrimination, we'll tell you why one measure under russia is coming under fire plus. >> reporter: i am adam raney on the canals of mexico city. coming up a store on a threatened species only found in

these without that's could hold a secret to saving human lives. future. >> then john seigenthaler breaks down the issues. >> we need to know what's going on in our backyard. >> plus, objective analysis and live reports from across the nation and reaction from around the world. the state of the union address. special coverage begins tuesday, 7:00 eastern. right here on al jazeera america.

welcome back, to al jazerra. let's take i through on you top stories now. there has been renewed fighting between isil and peshmerga fighters near sinjar and the mosul dam. the top american official fighting there says more is need to retake mosul. the first funeral is set to take place on thursday in paris

an artist and caricature artist. an alleged plot to attack the capital in u.s. and kill government employees and the fbi arrested him in the state of ohio earlier on wednesday. now, the international committee of the red cross is warning of a growing humanitarian crisis in northern nigeria. boko haram left more than 2,000 people dead last week are two play. amnesty international has leased satellite images showing the scale of the destruction left by the armed group. this photo was taken before the attacks. and you can still see the greenish that muched roofs. but then in the second image which was taken off the attack, the green is replaced by dark brown. indicating the homes have been burnt to the ground. in this picture right here, defense red dots represent vegetation in a neighboring village after the attack, the vegetation is gone, a long with the houses.

amnesty international's daniel explains what these pictures mean for the area and the people living there. >> the satellite images that we have gathered show that the town and the town next two it were seriously affected by the boko haram attack that happened last saturday. the town next to the first town was almost completely destroyed in the attack. the video -- the satellite imagery shows that more than 3,100 structures were damageed in the attack. these are people's homes their shops and they will not be able to be used again. so this satellite imagery really corroborates the testimony that we have been hearing from many eyewitnesses in the northwest about the scale of the attack. the satellite images are from immediately best attack and four days after. by comparing the images, we can see in very high resolution the extent of the damage that was done.

we can see the that houses were completely raised to the ground in the attack. even though it's a very densely populated area, we were able to show that more than 3,700 buildings were destroyed. we can look at the densely populated area, we can see people's homes and shops. and in the images from the second of january the day before the attack. and comparing them against the 7th of january a few days after, we can see some of the buildings were completely destroyed by fire in the attack. palestinian president mahmoud abbas has completed tenures in office. his time has been defined by negotiations but now he seems to have a change in strategy. stefanie deck takes a look at dierker takes a look at the highs and lows over the past deck said. >> reporter: he was elected to the office after the death of arafat the popular leader of the people. it wasn't easy for a back no for

armed resistence and yes to completing a palestinian state through dialogue. >> he believed if we kept our side of the commitment, the international think community would put pressure on the israelis to follow suit. >> reporter: so a back maintained his mission of talking for peace but sometime stickily he faced problems early on. hamas won the legislative he lexes in 2006 through a democratic vote but there was conflict and hamas forcefully took over the gaza strip the following year, abbas and his party saw it as a coup. >> he lost gaza, if it was i yasser arafat within minutes he could fly to gas arc he would travel to gaza, he would go to gaza and embrace everybody and paid everybody and appointed everybody and closed the gap. abbas wouldn't do this. this is not his personality and he has too much influenced by many internal and he can certainly factors to keep it split. >> reporter: but regardless of

internal divides arc bass continued with the peace process and after a few years of little progress the talks resumed in 2010. they came two years after war in gaza that killed many. the first of what with be three wars during abbas' presidency. there time there was renewed hope israel imposed a 10-month moratorium on construction. that freeze didn't last long and the talks went nowhere. in 2013 brokered by the u.s. secretary of state, john kerry there was an achievement to release prisoners held before 1990 through but the last group was not released. >> looking back he can say i tried by damn best. i complied with all the commitments and the requirements. i was as patient as could be. i have satisfied all of the expectations of the international community. i maintain i immaterial beckham

security. >> reporter: abbas signed international conventions and had symbolic success with a host of european countries recognizing the palestinian state. the result of last year's war in gaza saw increased pressure israel. but still didn't translate in to any concrete action. a resolution calling for a timetable of talks and an independent palestinian state failed to pass in the united nations security council. and so abbas applied to what israel always feared. the international criminal court, a total change in strategy from negotiations now political and legal international pressure. >> his legacy is the statehood. that's why he is forcing today i am the man that brought you recognition of 138 states. i am the man who challenging washington and tel aviv for ending occupation. >> reporter: president abbas' commitment to negotiations hasn't always been popular among palestinians especially when people didn't see anything change on the ground but he

enters his 11th year in office with a new strategy and one that's so far proven popular among palestinians, stefanie dekker. al jazerra. al jazerra continues to demands the release of its three journalist who his have been in prison now in egypt for more than a year. peter greste, mohamed fahmy and bahar mohamed were wrongly accused of broadcasting false news and helping the outlawed prussian limb brotherhood. an appeals court in cairo has ordered a retrial. they have been in jail for 383 days lawyers for peter and mohamed have filed requests for them to be deported from egypt. pope francis is on his way to the philippine on his the seconds leg of his week-long trip in asia. he's expected to attract crowds rivalling the 5 million people that greeted pope john paul ii ii in 1995. inch officials saying it is a nurse and i compassion trip. he plans to meet survivors of typhoon haiyan that claimed 7,000 lives in 2013. russia says trans section

and you'll transgender people will no longer qualify for driver's licenses. the government says it's tightening medical requirements from drivers because there are too many road accidents. but human rights activists have condemned the move and the game community says it feels increasingly threaten of the. pete are sharp reports from moscow. >> reporter: a 35-year-old moscow lawyer and human rights activist. she was born a man but underwent transgender surgery to become a woman. maria says the government is now enforcing a new wave of puritan cal and ultra traditional values. she says she suddenly found herself in the frontline. >> translator: when i first read about this law, i didn't think it would affect me. but then three or four days later i understood that it may affect me. people are afraid and there are certain stereo types people don't want to fight for their rights and confront the government because it would make them take out their anger on us. >> reporter: and for good reason. the game community in russia has

found itself under growing threat in the last two years. rally have his been broken up violently, protesters arrested. and new anti-game legislation introduced. the russian government appeared to climb back on wednesday saying having psychological behavioral disorders was not necessarily a precondition for disqualification. but human rights watch says the slay badly framed and has nothing to do with safe driving. >> you see certain categories that are included that appear to be well, that appear to have nothing to do with road safety whatsoever. say gamblers, for example what does gambling have to do with road safety or voyeurism, what does it have to do with road safety? nothing. they have probably been included by mistake. >> reporter: many were unware of the new law but there was broad

agreement if it was to be enforced civil liberties would be infringed. >> translator: of course sexual my or at thises and transgender people should be able to drive. they have the same rights that should not be inning infringed. >> translator: this is completely ridiculous. the psychological and physical categories listed in the law have little do with reality. >> reporter: but the ban is not just about transexuals those vertically challenged individuals shorter than 4'9", or 150 cent meters, please step in the back. you will be joined by compulsive gamblers schizophrenics, voyeurs, exhibitionists, oh, and, of course, amputees, just part of the russian government's solution to safer driving. peter sharp, al jazerra in moscow. leader of spain's catalonia region has called for elections to gauge support on for a future independent state. they want to split from the rest

of spain but madrid insist on his that any vote on independence is unconstitutional. nasa has confirmed there is no evidence of an ammonia leak on board the international space station. astronauts were evacuated from the u.s. side of the space station and moved to the russian section on wednesday nasa believes the leak was a false alarm. so these are live pictures coming to us now from berlin where angela merkel is addressing speaking about events that took place in paris we know that she was at a rally on sunday, leaders from right around the world joining the march along with 10s of thousands in paris and across that country to condemn what happened. she was there in paris and a little bit early ore this week, quite interesting that the german chancellor actually also spoke out against sorts of growing anti islam sentiment if you can call it that inside

germany, she condemned the marginalization of muslims and said she joined a rally that took place at the brandenburg gate in berlin. let's join now neave barker is there listening what she's hay been saying? >> reporter: just before she arrived there was a statement from the head of the german parliament who gave a simple comment, that we are not intimidated a. after that the entirely group stood for a minute of silence angela merkel then took to the stand and began by saying how shocked she and the german people were. she repeated that the germany was together in solidarity with the french people. she said that security in france also had a clear-cut effect on the security here in germany. the two nations stand together, that their values, attitude

towards freedoms were very similar. and that their histories had been intertwined over the years. she also listed at length lots of different examples where ordinary people have been affected by extremism of all different kind. dating all the way back to the second world war. but now she called on german society to stands united to reevaluate its own sense of national identity, particularly as we see the rise of anti-islam movements in the east of germany, particularly in the city of dez dresden. >> all right neave thanks very much brinking us the latest from berlin where the chance her is addressing. now, two climb nurse california have made history by scaling the peak of yosemite national park's el captain rock without losing climbing tools

they cheered with joy after rink the top of what many consider the world's most difficult rock climb. the summit is higher than the world's tallest building in dubai. they were free climbing. meaning they only used harnesses and ropes in case of a fall other, wise they had to rely on their own strength to climb the nearly vertical wall. >> really i would say relief is stronger emotion than pride. i have been proud of him for a long time. you know, the whole world is just learning about the person that i have known for his whole life. so i have always been proud of him. >> as a matter of fact, one of the guys, his finger was sawed off, used to be a carpenter so he's actually only climbing with nine fingers and i think that's just amazing to just the integrity and the fortitude. right. so this is the website everything you need to know all the story that his we are covering right here the address for that is aljazerra.com. there you will find comments and

analysis that takes you behind our headline stories also got blogs from our reporters on the ground all around the world. do check it out. aljazerra.com is where you need to go. . >> in the same stretch of days muslim radicals killed 16 people in france and hundreds in nigeria. the two very different killings got two different reactions. in one case mobilization and worldwide condemnation. in another case, a shrug? it's inside story.