talk to us on twitter and facebook. come back, we'll have more "america tonight" tomorrow. >> iraq's prime minister declares victory and tikrit is near as forces advance on the center of the city. hello, you're watching al jazeera live from doha. i'm folly bah thibault. also ahead. protests continue in ferguson after two police officers are shot. narendra modi becomes the first indian prime minister to visit sri lanka if over a century.

in over a century. >> the iraqi deposit is now confident that victory in tikrit is just days away, the iraqi military has been advancing on several fronts. on wednesday forces recapture some neighborhoods only leaving some patterson of the center city in i.s.i.l. hands. >> about 3,000 rake soldiers and police have been attacking positions held by i.s.i.l. as they try to reach the city center. they are backed by 20,000 militia men and sunni tribes tribesmen. suicide bombers and booby trapped buildings is slowed then

them down. stopping i.s.i.l. suicide bombers in a vehicle from reaching a baker barracks. the forces are triumph ant. ant. >> thank god. we dead mated their car bombs. >> in baghdad veterans have been queuing up, an organization by iraqi artists. >> should participate in this blood donation campaign. this is a simple thing i offer to my country. >> reporter: elsewhere in the capital, the prime minister said forces fighting i.s.i.l. had made huge gains but also had to protect civilian life and property. >> translator: there are infiltrators who want to

undermine our victories. therefore, very woo issued strict orders to the army and the popular mobilization forces. >> while the government is insisting the forces are advancing in tikrit, the battle goes on. nah diem baba, al jazeera. >> all relates to a recent video released by i.s.i.l, in which a 12 or 13-year-old boy apparently shoots dead a 19-year-old palestinian man who's been accused by i.s.i.l. of being an israel spy. now, the video also shows another man speaking in french, and he is the subject of the investigation which the french authorities announced.

they say he is going to be investigated for a series of terrorism charges. there are also unattributable reports that apparently french judicial sources suspect that the man may have some kind of links to a gunman, mohamed morah, who three years ago killed seven people in and around the southern french city of toulouse. >> and i.s.i.l. has accepted the pledge of allegiance from nigeria's boko haram. in an audio posted online, the caliphate has now expanded to west africa. a number of towns in northeastern nigeria. a u.s. drone strike in algeria has killed a member of al shabaab. car was hit near the town of

badir. 67 people died in the westgate attack in 2013. relative calm has returned to the streets of ferguson missouri after the shooting of two police officers wednesday night. a candlelight vigil asked for peaceful protests. al jazeeraal jazeera's coulombal jazeera'sal jazeera's kristin saloomey reports. >> stopping traffic until they get the reforms they want. >> we got some things that are good and necessary like reforms but justice is not experiencing

the trauma or experiencing accountability with the people who initiateor perpetuated the trauma and we haven't had that yet. >> st. louis county police are investigating what happened right outside of headquarters. >> this is an am are bush is what it is. you don't understand it's coming and you are basically defenseless. >> those who gathered outside the police department had mostly disperse and ten the gun shots. >> a cop got shot. >> this is an account of a photojournalist who had been packing up when the fire rang out. >> once we dug down we saw the cop was shot right next to us. >> reporter: two police officers were shot, one in the head. had this to say. >> not someone trying to bring healing to ferguson. this was a damn punk who was

trying to sow discord in an area that's trying to get its act together and trying to bring together a community that's been fractured for too long. >> and the family of michael brown were add adamant that this would not affect their campaign. peaceful and nonviolent movement that has emerged throughout this nation to confront police brutality and to forward the cause of equality under the law for all. a recent department of justice report did find evidence of systemic racism in the ferguson police department. but now after a peaceful night of protest the focus is once again on injured police officers and finding out who shot them. kristin saloomey, al jazeera

ferguson. pair accused of smachg through asmashingthrough a security barricade. allen fisher reports from washington. secret service doing its job but just last week, service which attracts scandal acknowledge secret service agents left a party and drove their car into a barrier which had been set up because of a suspicious package. they wanted to arrest the two agents to see if they were over the legal limit. the senior agent decided they should be sent home. the inspector general of the department of homeland security will take over the investigation.

almost a blind eye looking over the secret service. one under investigation is one mark connolly, and george ogilvy a supervisor in the washington home office. another in a long line of embarrassments of the secret service. a woman ran a temporary barrier in the white house. a man jumped in white house fence armed with a knife fought off two dogs and got into the building itself before being stopped. in january a drone was found on the white house lawn. there needs to be a change in culture and better vetting. >> if they are coming to the secret service they need to get rid of any anticipation of reliving their juvenile teenage years and feeling it is part of their virility. no the secret service is not

about sex not about booze not about playing football in the lawn. it's about protecting the president of the united states with that kind of dignity and decorum that's fitting to the office. >> joseph clancy was appointed by president obama just last month to take control of the secret service. this is the first test of his leadership and a test of whether things are changing with the organization which should never gain attention for doing its job. allen fisher, al jazeera washington. >> trade and investment are expected to top the agenda of the visit of narendra modi to sri lanka. >> after he assumed the office as president of this country.

basically exchange of visits the sign of thawing relations between two countries. things had been tense between india and sri lanka china had stood beside the government, that have i lan ga govern staying close to china and raising concerns within the region particularly neighbor india. but here we've seen that sri lanka has been sort of very proactively building bridges again and trying to foster that warmth once again. here we saw a very warm welcome for state visit of the prime minister. he's got a very sort of a packed schedule over the next two days. president, prime minister addressing parliament here in colombo later on this afternoon. as well as paying respects at a thrvetionnindian group the first by

any indian leader. a sign of the times and a sign of the emerging warmth between these two countries. >> still ahead on the program. a ceasefire in name only, both sides in ukraine conflict bracing for a new military offensive. and a giant in the world of fantasy literature has died. we look back at the life of terry congratulate crach crachet. >> dangerous... >> we have shackles with spit bag... >> they're still having nightmares >> if you can't straighten out your kids... >> they're mine >> al jazeera america presents camp last resort on al jazeera america

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>> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's movers and shakers. >> we will be able to see change. >> gripping... inspiring... entertaining. "talk to al jazeera". only on al jazeera america.

welcome back. the top stories on al jazeera. the iraqi government says it's confident that victory in tikrit is just days away, the army is pushing towards the center of the city as they try to drive out i.s.i.l. fighters. activists in ferguson missouri are holding a candle light vigil calling for peace. and indian's prime minister is visiting sri lanka narendra modi is the first one to do so. 2.9 billion to help syrians caught up in the conflict. with the war entering its fifth year, many in besieged areas are in need of food and harder for

aid to help them. bernard smith reports. >> reporter: from the moment they're born, most syrians are reliant on foreign aid. the difference between life and death. but now as i.s.i.l. has emerged to take command of some areas in syria, security concerns make it difficult to get aid through. >> we say it's a slinging humanitarian corridor, a common phrase. it's just more difficult to get supplies from here to there. and for sure, going deep inside syria. where we were able to get fairly easily get into dirazor and the governor that's on the east side of the country. now that road is treacherous. it's very, very danger are you of russ. >> dangerous. >> but not just aid getting through, will not allow help to

be sent to i.s.i.l. controlled areas. they fear it will be funneled to i.s.i.l. fighters. ma'am ot scale of aid needs ofmammoth scale of aid needed in this country. >> when you say help, they needed bandages, they needed cotton or baby milk sometimes they owould ask would ask for it. >> it's gone from providing cotton bandages and baby flick to what now? >> basic larger items. >> the u.n. is appealing for $2.9 billion to help 12 million

syrians, more than half the population crossing borders here and turkey and iraq and jordan into areas that have become most difficult in the world for aid agencies. >> donor fatigue is a real concern but without those donors and the aid group they help, syria's next education would have no help. bernard smith, al jazeera on the turkey syria border. egyptian government may have provided arms to syria. when abdel fattah al-sisi was prime minister of egypt. if broken it would have have gone

against a directive. >> egypt's economy is in trouble. even with oil shipments and cash grants from gulf states it it needs around $60 billion of foreign money which it's hoping to raise at the economic investment conference at sharm el sheikh. >> he has cut energy subsidies and increased taxes. the comments that sisi made earlier this week will do little to convince people he's sympathetic to the struggles of ordinary egyptians. >> translator: even if we don't have to eat. even if we starve ourselves. we build our nation. and yes we rebuild our nation.

>> reporter: more than four years on from the revolution many people already don't have enough to eat. around one in four people live on less than $2 a day. slums have grown. and so has unemployment. tourism used to account for around a fifth of egypt's economy. there are some signs visitors are returning. but the numbers are nothing before the 2011 revolution. and this won't help attract tourists or investors. there have been a string of bomb attacks. this latest one killed two and injured 30 people. >> ieds diminishing risk rather than a writing risk.

>> and then there's a crack down on dissent. since the removal of president mohamed morsi in 2013. success at the investment conference could move the attention away from these security and political issues. an improved economy would also bring some stability and hope. and it could boost the credibility of the sisi presidency both at home and broad. abroad. nazanine moshiri, al jazeera. ukraine's government, skirmishes continue on a daily basis in eastern ukraine despite the truce between the government and the pro-russian separatists. john hendren reports.

>> as daly daily rifle fire breaks the silence of the ceasefire,. >> we are breaking on a razor's edge. >> provoking a new enslawt. >> in this issue ukraine is culpable. lead the situation to explode in an instant. >> reporter: do you have reason to believe that that might happen? >> translator: yes certainly. it hasn't just happened once or twice over six months. we've had many civilian casualties. >> reporter: so all it would take is for one more mortar to land here in the separatist area of donetsk than a launch of assault. they too expect an assault and they are convinced it is prowrgs

separatists who will launch it. are -- pro-russian separatists who will launch it. each side accuses the other of violating the ceasefire and the ban on heavy weapons. but both seem to agree that it is rebel forces seen here training this week, the rebels say they want the ceasefire the ceasefire to hold. the u.s. intelligence force create a land bridge from russia to crimea, annexed by rudd last russia last year, or break away republic of transnistria, in most ambitious and least likely

scenario, could take all the eastern ukraine to the river a plan to require at least 90,000 russian troops. >> more likely to break the ceasefire. whereas the government forces in kiev have more to gain now by focusing on rebuilding the economy, rather than focusing so much on the eastern parts of ukraine. >> reporter: a renewed conflict with further rattle the already traumatized residents of eastern ukraine and loudly lamented the conflict but done little more than watch the crisis unfold. john hendren, al jazeera donetsk, eastern ukraine. >> the government was criticized for being unprepared and covering up a number of people who lost their lives. al jazeera's harry fawcett

reported in the days immediately after the disaster. 19 months later he returned to try and find more answers. >> the river that runs through is a trickle now. the destruction it left in the summer of 2013 is still visible. we arrived four days after the flash flood to a town full of grief and anger. they were accusing the authorities of covering up the true extent of the death toll. another person has tried to talk to us to tell us what he believes has really happened here. once again the police are stopping us from talking to him. so in 19 months we have come back to find out what really happened here. on the 24th of august, 2014, 30 were dead, 58 missing. it never released another figure. li do dodu said, that is a serious

underestimate. >> translator: i know this place very well. >> she said then officials reassured people the water would flow past the town. she lives in a free apartment far superior from her old home. but she hasn't changed her story. >> they didn't expect that the flood would be so big. nobody told us. if they had the damage wouldn't have been so bad. >> reporter: the nearby village suffered similar damage but no one died here. the difference officials told us, a concerted effort to get people out of danger. there are two things we have heard at this second visit to nan ko chen. they complain of a lack of a warning, an evacuation order. a community used to dealing with flooding since it didn't know

what was coming its way. so the emergency was minimized to escape punishment. he insists that they did warn residents. how many died here? >> translator: i know nothing of this. >> reporter: you don't know how many people died in your own town? >> translator: i'm in charge of construction, all this talk of death toll, i have no idea. >> reporter: after weeks of rain in 2014, nan co chen was hit with half a meter in one day. officials stand accused of doing too little to save lives and hiding the number of deaths. after our inquiries it never thought it should be made public

until now. harry fawcett, al jazeera. >> emergency services say cyclone pam could trigger landslides. already caused damage to kili-bati and the solomon islands. mount suriabo has spewed ash. poor visibility and access roads around the tourist sites are closed. the british fantasy author terry pratchett has died. fought a much publicized campaign against alzheimer's. >> irreferent observer ever human nature.

he is most famous in his disc world series. transrateed into 37 languages. with sales topping 85 million copies. he was britain's best selling author in the 1990s until surpassed with j.k. j.k. rowling. while diagnosed with early onset alzheimer's. he talked to al jazeera on the matter. >> i would like assisted dying in this country for shall we say those cases which are not yet -- which might not be considered controversialcontroversial.

>> in his final moments he remained eloquent. he announced his death on twitter saying, terry followed it under the endless night then followed by two words the end. >> more news on aljazeera.com. >> flash point ferguson ground zeer who is right, who is on. it's in the eye of the beholder. life. >> every single person, there was a weapon, my weapon, and losing my weapon meant losing my life