only on al jazeera america . >> president sisi vows to defend egypt two days after the attacks in sinai. >> hello you're watching al jazeera live from london. iraqi kurdish fighters say that they've biten off a multi-prong attempt by isil to seize the oil city occur kick. [ yes, we can ] >> the party boosted by greece's

victory. and in chad the africa union agrees to send a joint force to take on boko haram. >> egypt's president says the country faces a long hard battle after one of the bloodiest attacks on the security forces for years. sisi was speaking after meeting top military officers following thursday's attacks in which 45 people were killed. he announced a new joint force to combat armed groups operating in sinai. the attack was claimed by a group pledging allegiance to the islamic state of iraq and levant. >> this is very tough and very bad, this will take a long time. the egyptians are now paying the price. the sons of the army, the sons

of the police are all paying the price for the sake of this country. we will never leave sinai. we'll never leave sinai to anyone else. sigh knee issinai is ours, and we'll die for it. >> the egyptian court has banned the group hamas and listed it as a terrorist organization. ruling was denounced by hamas as a dangerous political decision. >> this is a dangerous precedent by all means. this is a political decision that has nothing to do with the judiciary or legal procedure. this verdict was issued in a very hasty manner and in a state of confusion andage station

after after the attack in sinai. we always supported their stability. >> we're just getting news now new fighting with reports of mortar attacks against security forces. the bureau chief for al jazeera arabic he joins us live now from doha. first of all do we know any more about the attacks. news has just broken in the past few minutes. >> yes just a few minutes actually many attacks by we can say militant against army forces. many attacks actually. the egyptian army moved a lot of his troops towards this area, and now we can see there are

clashes. there is the militant group and the egyptian army, and the security troops in sinai. you know, it comes after hours only maybe after president sisi's speech about this long-term struggle or war against the state of the egyptian and the terrorist groups. it comes after confirm president sisi has said that this will not be stopped easily. this is long-term and it's a very dangerous struggle, and he said that he warned many times--actually the attacks attacks--these attacks up to now, we don't know if there is

any that were killed or injured in these attacks or not but still it's very early. this actually means that there may be as many the only security-police solutions is in the enough to end this war or latest struggles. as you may know the egyptian political parties and the the big writers are calling for a political process to end this struggle but as we follow thee groups say this is very dangerous. there are no negotiations with these groups. he didn't end it, but he mentioned to a group that everybody who knows what we can

say the political groups he wanted to talk about. >> let's talk a little bit more in more detail about president al sisi' strategy. we heard from an egyptian court that they banned the armed wing of hamas. that could be a coincidence but reading between the lines what do you think is the egyptian government's strategy right now? >> actually, the strategy of the government is to continue fighting with this group. as i mentioned president sisi clearly mentioned that this war group directly targeted the muslim brotherhood group. he spoke you of the group that

is mentioning and some official people in egypt and the government. clearly many media presenters, which is they are already you know presenting the governmental situation and talks, they are talking--they are attacking from the beginning in the last two days attacking muslim brotherhood group and hamas. and the decision of the court today, you know, hamas is also not so far from this. although it's from--it is from the league of nation. >> our cairo bureau chief speaking to us from doha for

this story. thank you. jailed al jazeera journalists peter greste, who has been held in an egyptian president for 399 days wrote an open letter in which he talks about the difficulties of fighting for his freedom. he was wrongly accused with two other al jazeera journalists with colluding with the muslim brotherhood. he reflects on the egypt's highest appeals court which ordered a retrial four weeks ago. he wrote:

>> at least ten people have died in explosions in and around the iraqi capitol. a car explosion killed three people and nine others killed at another explosion at a sheep market. two soldiers were killed after their army patrol was targeted in a bomb attack north of the capitol. the violence comes as iraq's prime minister was hosting a security summit in baghdad. haiderhaider alba bad bady said that the government is hoping to create an united front against isil. staying in iraq, kurdish forces known as peshmerga say that they've pushed isil fighters out of kirkuk. it seized it in june when the iraqi army abandoned their

position. and kirkuk has come under repeated attacks from isil fighters hoping to take over the oil fields. >> in the heart of kirkuk, in broad daylight the islamic state in iraq and the levant made its presence felt. three armed men dressed in black detonated a car bomb outside of of a hotel before storming the empty building. the attack on friday destabilize the security situation in this northern city. it was part of an coordinate the assault that involved isil fighters attacking peshmerga positions west and northwest of kirkuk. peshmerga told us that they ended the siege after a two-hour gun battle but the armed men preferred to detonate their explosive belts instead of being capture. edcaptured. it was a fierce fight that

caused chaos in kirkuk's city center. they say that isil's objective was to capture kirkuk, it failed to do that, but it managed to send a message. kirkuk has long been a dangerous city. over the decades various people have laid claim to this oil-rich region. friday's attack was not the first isil has tried to take control. >> we know that they want kirkuk. we've been telling supporters that it's only a matter of time been kirkuk will be theirs. >> it was an aggressive attack. the worst in months. >> isil attacked us from many directions. at the beginning they were able to surround us, and we lost our positions. >> kurds have since managed to recapture most areas including

a small oil field. but that was only possible with the help of coalition airstrikes. the peshmerga are facing a well-armed enemy and isil's offensive here has still not ended. al jazeera kirkuk. >> well, across the border in syria, isil says its retreating from the border town of kobane because of shelling and the deaths of its fighters. the group posted a video on social media showing launching rockets near kobane. one of the fighters is then heard saying that he does not feel that the retreat is a loss but a precaution. kurdish fighters have been targeting isil and the town since october. a new video appears to emerges. it puts further pressure on the

jordanian government which is to negotiate a prisoner swap deal for isil for one of their pilots. the deadline for the swap passed with no word on the jordanian pilot. his family says they have not been told if negotiations are continuing. japan is trying to secure the release of another hot hostage a journalist taken last year. they tell us that talks with isil are deadlocked. thousands of supporters of the spanish left-wing party podemos has rallied in the capitol madrid. the movement, which literally means "we can," is hoping to break the two-party system in spain with this year's election. we have reports from madrid. >> reporter: yes, we can. that famous political slogan has become the rallying call in

madrid too, they all came out in the winter sunshine. >> we must follow greece. because we can't go on like this. >> as you can see there are a lot of people here, and what these people want is change. the government we have at the moment is lying to us. >> reporter: officially this is a march for political change in spain. it's also a show of strength by podemos. a new partying shaking up the establishment. >> reporter: people here want people to know what podemos is against, what is less clear is what policies it will pursue.

ordinary people are sick and tired of an austerity program which in their view is causing more hardship. >> we're dreaming, but we take our dreams seriously. in greece they did nor in six days than many governments in many years. >> reporter: this is the biggest rally in spain in recent times. if this many people show up at the elections it may be just a matter of time before the party is has the president. >> ukraine's peace talks fail to progress again. we hear from separatist fighters on why they won't lay down their arms. >> i'm in miami florida. we're not at its sundance film festival but we'll highlight the

work of filmmakers here whose stories have made it to the silver screen.

>> sunday night. >> 140 world leaders will take the podium. >> get the full story. >> there is real disunity in the security council. >> about issues that impact your world. >> infectious diseases are a major threat to health. >> "the week ahead". sunday 8:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> just hours earlier egypt's president announced a new force to combat the force in the sinai pension after an attack on thursday. peshmerga say that they've

pushed isil fighters out of kirkuk. it was seized in june when the iraqi army abandoned its positions. thousands of supporters of the spanish left-wing party rallied in the capitol of madrid. the group wants to repeat the success of the starapisa matter. >> leaders have agreed to sent 7,500 troops to fight boko haram in northeastern. nigeria. the troops will come from five west african nations. it's news comes hours after a major battle between chad's army and boko haram fighters of the cameroon town. it killed more than 120 fighters in the confrontation. a convoy of soldiers and military vehicles were sent into cameroon from chad to help deal with the growing threat of the armed group. chad is struggling to cope with the influx of refugees as

thousands of civilians have fled into chad from nigeria. we have the story. >> reporter: on the shores of lake chad, the crisis formed by boko haram is laid bear beyond nigeria's borders. these are some of the victims of the group driven from the villages of the northeast. western chad is now their home. the camps here are quickly filling up as hundreds of refugees cross the border daily. >> we've seen a massive influx of nigerian refugees from chad. more than 11,000 people have arrived during this period. the majority of the refugees are civilians. >> the refugees also include members of pro government militia. this man is one of them.

>> they try to kill our people. they attacked, and the ability to tack attack, the nigerian military do not fight boko haram. they just runaway. >> the needs are immense. aids agencies are providing food and shelter. others like the international red cross are helping people track down missing relatives. >> my husband brought us here and then returned home. his brother was killed by boko haram, and he had to check on the family. the village was attacked again. i don't know if he is dead or alive. >> aid workers warn nigeria that there is a crisis in the making with the potential to destabilize the region. for now national attention is

not on the refugees but how to stop boko haram's campaign of pillage and bloodshed. >> well, the crisis in northern my year gentleman was the focus of a two-day africa-union summit. the leaders of 44 nations also discussed the various security threats on the continent and the fight against ebola. >> as widely expected, a regional force to fight boko haram. they have called to raise corns on the resurgence of conflict in counties like egypt libya mali democratic republic of congo and others.

something else was noted kenya was pushing for the creation of an a human rights. now the idea is for the court to try african cases instead of firing them to the international criminal court. remember kenya's president's case was recently withdrawn from the icc prosecution but the vice president case is still ongoing. four people have been killed in the latest violence in yemen. at least three people died in fighting between the military and southern separatists in lage province. one soldier was killed in the bomb blast in the southeast. three others were injured. >> there are protests against shia houthi rebels. these are demonstrations in the south of the country. houthies who have taken over the capitol used live ammunition to break up protests

in sanaa. efforts to continue after the it's president and government resigned. ukraine's representative had accused the separatist officials of delivering ultimatums and undermineing the contacted group meeting. the main members of the group met at a state residence in minsk. meanwhile inside ukraine battles between the army and pro-russian separatists have killed 15 you rainan15 ukrainian soldiers in the past few hours. we have reports on men who refuse to lay down their arms. >> reporter: many of these men never even held a gun until a few months ago. most of them live in a town close by, which we're not naming

for security reasons. some have known each other all their lives. we're close to the town, with the group of men who describe themselves as soldiers of the donetsk people's republic. they're about to go out to the front line now. men, women and children are dying in this conflict on both sides almost every day. these men explain why they refuse to lay down their weapons. >> we're fighting for our motherland. the ukrainian military is destroying our land and killing our families. we don't need their government. we just need to save our homes. >> they say they will never give up the territorial gains they've made against the ukrainian military. >> no one is retreating. no one is moving from their positions. i will defend our land. >> repeated efforts at maintain maintaining a truce means little to these fighters. they say they've sacrificed too

much ladder to what they say is a homeland, culturally, linguistically close for russia than ukraine. >> the truce talks are useless. if they wanted to finish these conflicts they would leave our land and the war would end. >> close by artillery fires towards the ukrainian army a few kilometers away. fighters take us to a school in town they say was hit by two grad rockets. the people we spoke to in the presence of the fighters, at least, say that they support the separatists' cause. >> my kids are ukrainian but i was born in russia. my youngest son is a separatist fighter. i want to tell that goat poroshenko that if you want people to be living in basements, well, you've got it now. we're the victors. we've already won. >> in the hospital we find 13-year-old ata. just one of thousands of

civilians injured or killed on both sides of this conflict. >> we ran into the basement and the shell hit the entrance of the building. pieces of shrapnel injured my hand. i was shouting for my mother. >> back at the base the men stop their tanks. they move out to fight and defend what they describe as a homeland and a political right. al jazeera eastern ukraine. >> at least 13 people have been killed in a fire in a plastics factory in the bangladesh capitol da dhka. many fear there may be more trapped. three movies made for the sundance film festival were made in miami city. >> they're making more than just

popcorn in miami these days. across the city, filmmakers are editing, writing and planning the next local festival to showcase their work. films like papa machete the story of a farmer and expert in fencing, has been asked to play at the sundance film festival. it was produced by local filmmakers who say that the city is gaining a new found reputation. >> for the first time you're seeing independent miami stories that are authentic to our neighborhoods being told, and being respected on a world stage. that's very exciting. >> and in miami it's a big neighborhood that reflects a diverse population. >> you want to pull that out there? >> the machete's writer, who is originally from barbados, said that making films here is an opportunity to undo you stereotypes ofundo stereotypes

of the region. >> it's so of much more nuanced and so this is everything to me. >> i feel great about this. i really do. >> in all three made in miami movies that were selected to play in indians a small but important step for miami filmmakers. >> miami will take over new york or los angeles as a film-making city but it is reflecting a unique and diverse community and that's significant. >> beautiful things about independent filmmaking in miami. >> for those who have helped to fund and encourage miami filmmakers this month's sundance is seen as a turning point. >> we have local filmmakers telling local stories to the local community but they are stories that resonate worldwide. >> from sundance, then, it's

likely these films will go on to reach a global audience, helping to put both the filmmakers and miami on the map. al jazeera, miami, florida. >> and you can get much more on our website www.aljazeera.com. >> a new business is rising in america's rocky mountain west. and sales promise to be brisk. >> i want to get $100 bucks dj shorts and $100 bucks of the tahoe. >> this past january licensed shops in colorado began selling recreational marijuana to anyone 21 years of age or older. >> whoo that smells nice >> prices range from $14 to $25 a gram. >> what's the difference between the ultimate. i need the kemba and the kemba