>> the cia admitted it. >> "freeway - crack in the system". only on al jazeera america. 21 christians are freed by isil in syria but over 200 are still being held prisoners. ♪ ♪ hello, i am jane dutton. other stories making the news on al jazerra north korea fires two missiles in to the sea as the south begins joints military drills with the united states. netanyahu arrives in the united states as israel's relations with the white house sink to a new low. >> reporter: i am lucia newman where hundreds of thousands of activists have come to show their support to prison christina kirchner as she

delivers her last state of the union address. isil has freed 21 syrian chris tans but the armed group is still hold be captive more than 200 from the minority community in syria. they were abducted in syria's northeast. some of those freed were welcomed at a church. let's go to zeina holder. whatkhodr.what are learning? >> reporter: undoubtedly it's a relief for the community that was really worried about the fate of the more than 200 syrian christians who were captured last week by isil. but what we understand from activist is his that the 21 syrians were released after facing a court a court -- an islamic court an isil islamic court. they were forced to pay a tax

leveed on nonmuslims. this is what activists are saying. it's very difficult for us really to independently confirm what is happening there. but they are also worried about the dozens of others that remain in captivity. they have been taken to a strong hold that isil has. they don't know if these people will be killed. they don't know if some of them have been killed. they don't know whether they will also be taken to court and have the possibility of paying money before being released. but what we do understand is that the arab tribal elders, in this province, are trying to mediate, try to talk to isil to see whether or not they can secure the release of these people even if the possibility of a prisoner swap. >> zeina, where are we when it comes to imposing some sort of ceasefire in the country putting a stop to the fighting? we are waiting to hear what the u.n. envoy to syria achieved if anything at all. >> reporter: yes, we are waiting for the u.n. reaction, stefan

has been for months now trying to finalize ideal for some sort of freeze in the fighting in syria's largest city aleppo in the north of the countries rich. it's a divided city the west is controlled by the government, the east controlled bite rebels. yesterday the opposition said we reject the initiative altogether for us, what we want is a comprehensive solution. they said if he doesn't come up with a solution that involves bashar al-assad leaving power the syrian president leaving power. those responsible for war crimes taken to junction they will not sit down and talk with the u.n. envoy. now what does this mean? the initiative from what he understand is that they are still going to sends a fact-finding mission to aleppo today as planned. but it's clear that there is no progress. >> thank you for that, zeina khodr. let's go to a developing story now out of iraq. the army has begun a major

offensive to retake sadam hussein's hometown of tikrit from isil. let's talk to jane arraf she's on the line from baghdad. i know this information has just come out. what are you hearing about it, jane? >> reporter: well, prime minister abadi announced that the operation had been launch and this is, jane, a big test of the iraqi ability along with its coalition partners foreign and domestic to actually take back large centers from isil. tikrit, of course, not just the hometown of sadam hussein but an isil strong hold. it was one of the cities that they seized very early on after they took mosul and one of the place that his we have inflicted the most damage. more than 1,000 young military cadets unarmed were killed there. by isil. the families here are still looking for their bodies. so apart from being a major military operation, there is a lot at stake here, critically in terms of public sentiment and this will not be an easy fight by any means.

jane. >> jane, thank you. a bomb blast in egypt's south city has killed two people. five others injured including a soldier, the bomb went off near a police station. it's unclear who is behind the attack. some senior democrats including vice president joed by en are threatening to boy coyed benjamin netanyahu's speech to the u.s. congress. israel's prime minister arrived to washington on sunday. he's using his visit to argue against any nuclear deal with iran. now a report. >> reporter: delegates to this year's conference of the u.s.' most powerful israeli lobby group, a pac were greet booed a small resolute group of protesters. and the police were deposited to keep these opponents to the israeli government policy outside on the freezing pavement. in recent weeks opposition to the israeli prime spinster has surfaced elsewhere in washington. amongst pal sinces who have always been his staunch

defenders. his decision to address congress without consulting the obama administration has led to a rare debate about the nature of the u.s.-israeli relationship. had inside the conference hall however, there seems to be a real attempt to gloss over any differences. the u.s. politicians were on hand to give the people what they wanted. >> as we negotiate with the iranians they have toppled four arab capitals what would they do with sanctioned relief money? do you think they would build schools and hospitals? given their behavior today, they are like i to invest in their military too ridiculous more havoc. >> reporter: last year the u.s. secretary of state we little the foreign poll at this judge. on sunday john kerry asked israel for the benefit of the doubt in its negotiations with iran and emphasized the u.s.' closeness to israel. >> i was reviewing the record the other day, we have intervened on israel's behalf in the last two years.

more than several hundred a couple of hundred towns in over 75 forums in order to protect israel. one group published this full-page at verdict in the new york times. it attacks susan rice, and suggests a divide between her and the u.s. am ambassador to the u.n. samantha power both are speaking on monday at apac. such shows of disrespect to the obama administration has incident identified opposition no benjamin netanyahu within the democratic party. it remains unclear how deep of a shift is occurring in washington. only some 30 have said they will not be attending the address to congress on tuesday. al jazerra washington. 10s of thousands of people have rallied in moscow. what was originally planned as an opposition show of strength

against the kremlin turned in to a memorial march for murdered opposition leader boris. rory challands reports. >> reporter: he hoped sunday's rally would be a reenergizing of russia's dispurchase it'sed opposition movement. certainly the crowd was vast. bigger than any anti-kremlin march for years. but he was not here to see it. and his murder arguably is the main reason so many people came. >> translator: we came to protest because they killed a man. a man who was telling the truth. we think the authority options actions are a travesty of justice a man white sox killed for telling the truth. >> translator: i came because boris was killed and not only because of that, because we need to fight. we cannot live like this. i look around and i want to shout. people i love you.

>> reporter: boris' face was everywhere. the bullets that killed him said this banner, were meant for all of us. but also present were thousands of russian flags. a political statement itself in an era when opposition leaders like boris are vilified on tv as traitors and fifth column assists. it has surprised many people that such a huge opposition rally has been allowed to take place right in the center of moscow. usually these things are kept on the outskirts of town, so maybe the kremlin is thinking that grief and sorrow are more manageable public emotions than political anger. and despite some anti-putin chanting, this was a somber event. mostly quiet and well behaved. but included in the 50 or so arrests, a ukrainian m.p. detained on suspicion of involvement in a march that killed at least 40 pro-russian demonstrators. big anti-kremlin marches are a

rarity these days with freedom of assembly so tightly controlled by the authorities. the challenge for russia's opposition now is whether it can turn the emotion generated by the murder in to a reenergized push for political change. rory challands, al jazerra moscow. rescue teams in afghanistan were able to reach some remote villages on sunday after a massive avalanche. bulldozers and other machinery began clearing roads that that have been cut off for more than a week. one of the villages hit boot an latch of villageers dug know from under crushed houses looking for body. local people say 22 people have been killed there and four wounded. australian, i i want near and malaysia are testing a new method of tracking aircraft over the indian ocean. on how long them to be located every 15 minutes.

the new technology is under trial nearly a year after malaysia airplanes flight disappeared with 239 people on board. south korea's military said north korea has fired two short range missiles in to the sea. they flew for about 500-kilometers before entering the water it's been seen as a protest against joints military drills by south korea and the u.s. military. >> reporter: when two countries are technically still at war any show of force makes people nervous. every year without fail, south korea's military shows off its fire power in drills like these. and every year without fail, north korea responds. this time it got in early launching two short range missiles before the south korean drills even began. >> translator: this is a deliberate provocation seen as

an armed protest. we are ready to respond immediately. if it takes provocative actions our military will react firmly and strongly so north korea will regret bitterly. >> reporter: they landed in the sea off japan's coast. hitting zero targets. but it was enough to bait tokyo as well. >> translator: north korea's missile launches are a major problem. from the point of view of safety issues for flights and shipping vessels but also a trans stkpwrepbgs of the six-party talks. we have lane wered a severe condemnation of north korea. >> reporter: but threats don't always work on pyongyang, it says the joints military drills are a reversal for invasion. and within hours of that statement, peace campaigners gathered outside the u.s. embassy in the south korean capital, condition determining both sides. >> translator: we are against all military actions taking place in the korean peninsula if the exercises to pressure north

korea and they retaliate a state of war similar to what happened in 20003 will once again be a reality. >> reporter: right now neither side wants to be seen to back down. and although the war of words is likely to be just posturing peace is unpredictable here. al jazerra. still to come on the program, two young to mar marry young girls say no to marrying. and fighting for ancestral land a violent standoff-y standoff erupts in columbia.

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>> tuesday. did the police fail misty upham? >> if somebody did something to my girl, i need to know that. >> was is a case of discrimination? >> we had no help from the police. >> a family pleads for answers. "stolen sisters", an "america tonight" special report. tuesday, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

here say reminder of front stories on al jazerra. isil has freed some christians. isil it still holding captive more than 200 people from the minority people in syria. a major offensive launched to retake tikrit from isil. the offensive includes fighters from shia that litsch as fightingshia militias fightingalongside the government. some are planning to boy death netanyahu's talk speech to congress. he is said to argue against any deal with iran. christina kirchner was heckles during her state of the union address. she's facing increasing

criticism after a prosecutor accused her of covering up an investigation in to the 1994 bombing i've jewish center, lucia newman reports. >> as she prepared to address congress to the very last time. not a visible hints of distress that christina kerr, her and her government have been under. this since the my steer yeah death of the prosecutor who accused her of trying to cover up iran's alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of the jewish community center. three hours in to her speech she lost her composure when opposition deputies held up signs alluring to the bombing. >> translator: i have always talked about this and asked for justice. i have accused the intelligence services of trying to cover it up. i don't need anyone to come here and talk to me about it. >> reporter: in response to last months massive march honoring

the dead prosecutor hundreds of thousands of dead activists surrounded the congress building to show their support for their president accused of undue inter fans in the justice system. activists from pro-government trade unions, political parties parties and grassroots organizations were brought by bus from all over argentina. >> translator: in the late 1990s i had no job my family was hungry, after 2003, the arrival of nestor and christina kirchner gave me back neidig at this at the dinner table. >> reporter: christina knows her legacy is at stake. her popularity has been plummeting. years of double-digit inflation rising crime and corruption charges against her per closest business partners and her vice president have taken their toll. yet she made no mention of her government's shortcomings, boasting instead as politicians do of her achievements.

opinion polls indicate that more than half of argentines especially the middle class reject her handling of the economy and her confrontational style. yet her supporters see her as the champion of the have nots. christina kirchner cannot run for president again but her political party and coalition can. and so this demonstration is is a way of saying, we are more, we are the majority. a kind of opening shot for this year's election campaign. kirchner claims she leaves her country in better shape than it's ever been in, eight months argentines will say whether they agree at the polls. lucia newman, al jazerra,. to colombia now where 40 people have been wounded in violence between an inning doubling us tribe and security forces in the southwest of the country. the tribe say four sugar cane plantations are part of their ancestral land and they refuse to leave.

a report from near the town. >> reporter: a violent fight for lands. armed mostly with sticks and stones runs of inning taj does men in southwest columbia have faced the police rubber coated steel bullets and gas canisters. the government wants them out of these sugar cane plantations that they have occupied. they claim them as their own and part of never fulfilled reputations for a police massacre in 1991. >> translator: we want the government to satisfy the agreements made with our community. we are asking for 20,000 heck teres of lands deliver to us 5,000-hectares every year for the next for you are years plus assistance to implement productive problems for the commune 2u6789 at least 40 people have been wounded in the clashes, four of them with serious injuries. on sunday they reached a temporary truce but they say

they will not leave unless their demands are met. protesters say the expansion of huge single-crop farms have deprived them of land pushing them deep are up in to the mountains and leaving them with no option but occupying a territory they consider their own. >> translator: the government knows that 70% of the area in the mountains where we live is made of forests and water sources that can't be intervened. while these lowlands that belong to our ancestors have been taken over by the sugar cane industry which is poisoning the land and starving us. >> reporter: at least 800 riot police and soldiers have been sent to the area to evict them. many are stationed here in the farm's central building. the police commander accuses of protesters of throwing a homemade grenade at the police. and while he understands their claims on parts of the lands he says occupying private property cannot be condoned.

>> we hope this issue can be resolved through dialogue and negotiations. but while the indigenous people continue to occupy the ground illegally, our constitutional mandate is to reestablish the status quo. >> reporter: a delegation of co local is traveling to the area to try to broker ideal. in the meantime more people are arriving, setting up camps and makeshift kitchens. getting residence toyota long haul of a fight that seems far from over. uruguay's new president has been sworn in for a second time. he last took power 10 years ago. vasquez urged people to work together to improve public education, health and housing and he's promising to maintain the world's first state-run marijuana marketplace. 20 years ago more than half of the women in bangladesh were

married bite age of 15. today that number is 17%. but as this report shows the battle against child marriages is far from over. >> reporter: not too long ago 13-year-old's payments came to her and said they had found her a husband. the groom to be was middle aged, had criminal cases filed against him and his previous two wives had runaway. a few years back the wedding might have gone ahead. but she turned to the center for mass education and science. a nongovernmental organization that is working to end child marriage. >> translator: the man asked me if i wanted to get married and i said no. then he told my parents he would marry me anyway and said that he would come pick me up the next week and my parents said that was fine, that what i thought didn't matter. i started crying and said no. and then i came here and asked for help. >> reporter: the ngo has created a network 1500 people across the country troy keep a watch for potential marriages in their

neighborhoods. this team of 50 in this area is one of the most successful ones. in the last two years no child marriages have been reported in six of the villages they cover. but despite the progress, there are risk to his fighting a deeply entrenched tradition. >> translator: the parents sometimes attack us. a few days ago when we went to stop a wedding, one of the guardians tried to chop me with a machete when the police came the local elders complained to them about me instead. >> reporter: financial pressures often drive parents to marry off their children. nina's father is a recovering heroin addict without an income. her mother works as a made at an aunt's house, she says it will help her family if they no longer have to worry about providing for her, and that's not the only factor. >> translator: of course it's better to get her married before she is older otherwise people will talk about what she's up to. they'll start saying she's an unmarried girl being seen with boys. it's better to get her married and preserve our dignity.

>> reporter: she, however, is defiant. she says if her parents can't provide for her, she'll do it herself. she's train to go sew clothes and dreams of starting her own business insisting she will learn to stand on her own feet before she considers getting married. bangladesh's success is in no small part to government and ngo effort today raise awareness among parents helping them realize that child marriage isn't the best long-term option for their offspring but as seen in this village. the most progress has been made in places where the children themselves have worked up the courage to start saying no. al jazerra bangladesh. automatic schools in liberia must reopen on monday or face fines. as the number of new ebola cases dramatically decreases, they have been closed for nearly seven months in a bid to stop the spread of the deadly virus. many schools reopened last month, but the ones that were used as treatment centers needed more time before welcoming

students back. the government says frosting students from the virus is still a priority. ebola has killed around 3,800 people in liberia. nigeria's president is vowing to win the war against boko haram. as he prepiers for elections later this month. goodluck jonathan denies mishandling the campaign against the armed group who have killed thousands of people. he gave an exclusive i interview to our cropped next correspondent in lagos. >> reporter: with less than four weeks to go until election, president goodluck jonathan promised voters he will defeat boko haram. >> we must end it. i am telling you the stages, first is to take over oil territories. we take over all the territories that they are holding they are becoming weaker, now we'll

improve monitoring. the technology to monitor the activities. and then we'll begin to pick them and, of course, frustrate the activities. inning. >> reporter: and the president denied accusations his government has mishandle the boko haram situation. >> it's not a question of mishandle being. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: president goodluck jonathan is standing for rewill he he can, it was postpone today six weeks. we asked him whether the election date could be moved again? >> i don't think so. i think the elects will be conducted. the national lexes will be on the 28th of the month. i don't see why we should be postponed again i am quite impressed with the successes. i will win the election. >> reporter: if you don't will i step aside? >> what? >> reporter: i said if you don't win this election, will you bow out gracefully. >> by default.

somebody wins the elect, of course. i will go to my village. the country is not. [ inaudible ] i want. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: there are fear that his could be election-related violence, more than 800 people were killed during the 2011 election. >> i am not happy. it's primitive. it's very, very unexpected and we are doing everything to reduce it. we need to. [ inaudible ] architecture. to handle this elections. otherwise this country will go in to an unnecessary crisis. nobody's ambition. whether they want the president of the country or governor of the state or whatever. what. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: and many nigerians say all they want is a fair and peaceful vote and an end to the boko haram attacks. al jazerra lagos. lead nurse northern mali are

yet to sign a preliminary peace deal to end frye fighting. other rebel groups have signed the deal. but they want further consultation saying its demands for greater political control haven't been addressed. the unites nations and the european union are overseeing those talks. authorities in chile have issued a yellow alert due to increased activity from the volcano. around 9,000 residents surrounding the volcano have been told that the area might have to be evacuated. the volcano which lies 650-kilometers from the capital santiago spewed out small jets of lava from its crate ore sunday. experts believe a larger eruption is possible. the mayor of the nearby town has urged people to remain calm. that's the end of that bulletin. but remember you can always keep up to date by logging onto our website. i just want to draw your

attention to some of the live picture that his we are getting coming to us from moscow in russia. it's about those what were originally demonstrations against the kremlin that has turned in to a memorial march. you can see lots of flowers laid for the murdered opposition leader.