and we show you like no-one else can. this is our american story. this is america tonight. expanding the mission. we're at war. we're using the light of the finest fighting force of the world between secretary ash carter says more u.s. to forces are heading to iraq to fight i.s.i.l. american sympathizers, a report on who is supporting i.s.i.l. and how the group lures its

converts. act of faith. parents of 43 misterying mexican students dismantle their camp after a new screesive unit is to begin. financial crisis, apuerto rico warns there's no money left for future loan payments. good evening. this is al jazeera america. we begin in iraq where the special forces is based. the pentagon says the number of those forces is about to grow because it will deploy what it calls an attack to carry out strikes against iraq an syria. another country, the german cabinet proved a plan to provide

support to the members of the u.s. led coalition. that needs to be approved by law makeser. president obama is urging turkey and russia to redirect their energies towards i.s.i.l. he warned the kremlin against getting bogged down in civil war the way it did once in after afghanistan. >> reporter: the united states is intensifying the war in iraq and syria in the hope that it will eventually lead to talks of peace. next, in full coordination with the government of iraq, we're deploying a specialized expeditionary force to assist forces to put more pressure on i.s.i.l. these special operators will over time be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture i.s.i.l. leaders. that creates a virtuous cycle of

better intelligence which generates more targets, more raids, more momentum. >> reporter: the military says when they find an i.s.i.l. leader, the teams will go into syria to get hem and then get out, adding more special forces will be sent into the region as they find local forces capable of fighting and more military arid wear is moving into the syrian conflict and they many come painted with many new flag. germany's cabinet has agreed to send in reconnaissance planes and troops with a promise they won't be used for combat. a plan to send britain's jechlt f jets for bombing mission. president obama said how he described it ending. it begins with all parties, including russia, agreeing on a list of fighters. the next step a cease fire between those groups and forces loyal to president bashar al-assad. it's possible, given the

existing accord that the parties have agreed to, we will start saying at least pockets of cease fires in and around syria. that may mean, then, that certain opposition groups no longer find themselves subject to either syrian or russian bombing. they are then in a conversation about politics. >> reporter: but there's a problem with that conversation. the u.s. coalition says it has to end with assad out of power. russia doesn't want that. president obama thinks that could change in the coming months and that can could be true if the balance of pour shifts on the ground in syria the iraqi army has sir rounded romadi which lies past

here. the government troops have teamed up with several militias aimed at retaking the city. lawfuls were dropped into the city warning civilians to leave. i.s.i.l. fighters are preventing them to do so because they want to use them as human shields. joining us for today's developments on capitol hill and in paris do you go olivenf. he watts director for iraq. good evening. evening let's start with these new increases in troops heading to the region. they will raise the total of u.s. forces there above the 3500 or so the president has authorised. how much of a difference will this still fairly small increase make?

forces in there for some time now, but for whatever reason they've not done very many things. they did the road accident raid in syria and huwega. we saw them if with the kurdish forces, that moved into sinjar. that's all we've seen. now they're announceed and public and we will hear from them more and start getting into this cycle that the secretary talked about among the notable exchanges at the hearing, carter was twice asked if the u.s. was winning the war against i.s.i.l. he dodged twice by saying the-- dodged saying the u.s. will win. what do you read into that?

surrounded romadi. the iraqis are moving up towards mosul. we are seeing progress but we want to see it faster, and these deemployments and other developments can do president obama was contradicted in saying that i.s.i.l. kass tactical but not strategically contained. is there a disconnect between 1600 avenue and the pentagon?

territory. there is zero chance of i.s.i.l. moving south and grabbing baghdad or going up to the north. those are things we were worried about summer before last, in 2014. that's into the the table any more. as they've demonstrated, they have this network tlaugt the world that they can activate at various places or just energise these lone wavilys. behr bsh wolfs the president demand that turkey close 60 miles of its border. we have known for a long time that was happening. the administrative strays also talked about going after the economic infrastructure of i.s.i.l. only recently did it attack i.s.i.l. oil trucks. where has the administration been and why this didn't happen

before?

turks alie, and for that matter we were bombing groups that are supported in al-nusra and other extreme islamist groups supported by our gulf allies. there are huge disconnects in what all the major powers want to happen in syria to say it's complicated is an understatement an junto statemented. pleasure - in syria the government and armed rebels have agreed to a cease fire in the city of homs. they will start withdrawing from the district next week. it is the last part of homs still under rebel control. after that humanitarian aid will be allowed in. the united nations brokered the deal. outside that cease fire zone doctors without borders says one of the hospitals it supports has been targeted by government forces using barrel bombs. four bombs were dropped on saturday killing 7 people and

injurying 47 afters. after an initial blast three more followed that seemed to target the first responders. across the border in lebanon a big prisoner swap a year in the making was completed today. it was the result a complex deal between syrian rebels, the lebanese army and i.s.i.l. rob matheson reports, the family members says that the most important thing is their their loved ones are home >> reporter: back in the arms of their familiess, 16 lebanese soldiers freed by al-nusra front, the result of a delicate prisoner exchange which took a year to negotiate. >> translation: we thank all those who helped our release and we call on our government to take the same steps to negotiate the rest of our comrades.

>> reporter: they have been released by the lebanese government. it's not only al-nusra who had taken hostages. in all 30 personnel were captured in the summer of 2014. four were executed, one died of injuries. nine others remain in captivity. they're being held by i.s.i.l., a group which is at war with al-nusra. the lebanese government says it's doing all it can to secure the release of the remaining hostages >> translation: we have a tarring, a big forth that is a real challenge. i mean, the military personnel being captured by i.s.i.l. and we need to free them and liberate them for the sake of lebanon, for the sake of our nation. >> reporter: mondaying these released was the former wife of i.s.i.l. leader. she insists, though, she had nothing did with him.

>> translation: they said i am the wife of him. i have been divorced for seven years. he was not the leader at that time. i want to go to turkey and i will once i get my passport issued. i will be in beirut then i will go. >> reporter: meanwhile the families of those released, some of whom have been camped in centimetre beirut for months spoke to al jazeera about their release. >> translation: i can't withhold my happiness. what i have to say is thanks to god for their safe return. we hope we will see them soon. >> translation: their return was a dream for us and thank god it happened. we thanked everyone who worked to secure their release. >> reporter: tuesday's release will ease pressure on the lebanese government which has come under increased criticism since the soldiers and policemen were captured. it may also boost the standarding of al-nusra front presenting them as a group that

countries and governments could potentially strike deals with. rob matheson in istanbul five people were injured in a pipe bomb blast. turkey has been on high laurelled since more than 100 people were killed by two suicide bombs in october. it is not known who was responsible for today's blast. the u.s. government is scaling back its embassy operation in mali going forward it will only provide emergency services. all nonessential personnel have been told they can leave the country. officials will say they are worried groups of target u.s. citizens. americans were warned not to with be in public places. still ahead on al jazeera america, americans recruited by i.s.i.l. what a new report reveals about the number of people trying to join the group abroad and who they are. also human rights watch calls for a criminal investigation of

president george w bush and some of the highest ranking members of his administration. for the c.i.a.'s torture of people rounded up in the wake of the september 11 attacks.

four people have been arrested in the former soviet republic of georgia for being involved why i.s.i.l. weapons were recovered as well

as i.s.i.l. flag, audio. some 550 are said to be involved with i.s.i.l. for today's in context segment we look at a report by george washington university on i.s.i.l. recruitment in america. 250 have attempted to travel to join i.s.i.l. and 900 active investigations are ongoing against suspected i.s.i.l. followers. the study finds 71 people have been arrested on charges relating to i.s.i.l. since march 2014. 56 this year alone. of those charged the average age is 26 and a vast majority 86% are male. half of them attempted to travel or travelled overseas. about a quarter of them were involved in domestic plots here in the u.s. 55% were arrested thanks to informants and uncover agents. - did 55%.

the author of the director of program on extremism at the center for cyber an homeland security is joining us from dc. very good to have you with us. what was striking to me about your report is the diversity about the i.s.i.l. supporters in the u.s., not just registrationally and ethnically, but the son of a boston police officer, to a single mort, a 15-year-old boy. that has to be a huge challenge for homeland security. absolutely. the diversity from a socio-economic point of view, to age, ethnicity, regional diversity. all those issues. profiling is an absolutely pointless exercise here. what is the common trait here is that all of these individuals are active online, or the vast majority of them, and they try to develop some kind of link to i.s.i.s. that's where most of the

investigative actions do take place for law enforcement monitors in that space. we have a lot that are active in that they're keyboard warriors many of the keyboard warriors are women. yes. only 14% of the people charged are women, but when we look at who is active on line, i would say around 30% are women. necessity tend to be-- they tend to be the most prolific writers on line another challenge is the vast majority of the people you've looked at are home-grown threats. yes, absolutely. the large volume or majority are individuals born and raised in the u.s., 40% are converts to islam, again from a variety of backgrounds. white african american, latio, justish. even though who-- jewish.

you name it. people that born into the muslim faith, are second if not third americans raised here. there's not one with a refugee background and most people are, in fact, american you found 40% of the i.s.i.l. recruit are younger reason 21. i know you also found that many are motivated by the outside governments atrocities. how are they being recruited. is it on line?

in person recruitment as well. the question for us is what is the attraction in the end of i.s.i.l.? why would a young woman or boy go and choose to leave the comforts of mainstream u.s. a and head to the streets of raqqa?

it is a comebacks of all factors you have a series of suggestions also on-- comebacks of all factors we appreciate you zoning us tonight. tomorrow-- joining us tonight. we will look at i.s.i.l.'s role in modern day slavery. a report was issued on torture. the group want officials from the george w bush administration held accountable. >> reporter: this is too serious a crime to ignore. >> reporter: laura pitter is the chief author of the human rights watch report and it is clear where she substantives on the c.i.a. untags techniques. that the bush administration sanctioned and put in place after the 911 attacks the state sanctioned global program whereby men were abducted from all over the world, put in secret detention and tortured >> reporter: the practices

detailed in a heavilied ted report released by the nature a year ago-- senate a year ago, exposure to extreme temperatures, isolation and others. >> reporter: the c.i.a. program was far more brutal than people were led to believe. >> reporter: california senator fought to make the report public it shows that the c.i.a.'s actions a decade ago are a stain on our value and on our history >> reporter: human rights watch says no-one has been held accountable. it wants a criminal investigation into nearly two dozen former bush administration officials, including president bush, vice present cheyey, george ten entity, john ashcroft and condalisa riot. april prosecutor has been looked

in charges. it wants an apology to victims and offer compensation. in a statement the c.i.a. told al jazeera it has acknowledged "did the the program had shortcomings and the agency made mistakes". they also pointed out that the justice department previously investigate "and decided not to initiate criminal charges". >> reporter: president obama as one of his first actions in office banned these interrogation techniques, but some of the 2016 g.o.p. candidates have defended the practices and even embraced them. would i approve water pouring? you bet your arse i would. in a heart beat >> reporter: that concerns human rights watch which says accountability is critical to send a message to other

countries and future u.s. presidents. without clear signal that what happened was criminal, there's a danger in this could happen again police in kenya say a leading university should have gotten approval before conducting a security exercise that turned deadly. a staff member was killed and 20 others injured during the surprise drill. they heard the sound of loud bangs and saw people pretending to be attackers, many panicd. that caused a stampede. kenya has experienced a wave of attacks since its troops joined the fight against the al-shabab four years ago. puerto rico makes a payment on its debt. coming up why the territory is urging a plea for help. also the battle against hiv. we will talk to one of the

world's top aids researcher about why he thinks today is the most hopeful worlds aids day yet.

[ ♪ ] welcome back to al jazeera america i'm antonio mora. coming up in this half hour of international news, the government promises that made the parents of 43 missing students break up a protest camp that was made last minute. first, the american mint. the mayor of chicago fired the police superintendent saying he lost the public's trust. coming a week after dash cam video showed a white police officer fatally shooting a black teenager. embattled volkswagen takes a hit in savings following the emissions cheating scandal. down 25%. volkswagen admitted the fittings from 11 million diesel cars were

fitted with software that cheats emissions standards. today is a giving day across the u.s., and facebook founder and c.e.o. zuckerberger gave bid, saying they'll donate 99% of facebook shareses to charity. they are worth $45 billion. the donations will be given over the course of their life-time to commemorate the birth of their daughter. puerto rico made a debt payment, $345 million. but default may be unavoidable according to the governor. come january 1st. it must make a bigger payment. nearly a billion. robert ray joins us. good to have you with ugs. pink's governor testifies. what is the team prepared to do to make the payment in january.

>> they are doing everything they can. they are negotiating with the bond elders. she is literally flying back to new york to erick portillo, back and forth -- puerto rico to work it out. the main action that they are calling for is for congress to give them a pathway to chapter nine bankruptcy. the puerto rico government. we heard the government say they have done everything they possibly can. >> there's no more chances. a day of uncertainty for the leader. the governor told the senate judiciary committee hearing in washington that the cost of congressional action will be catastrophic for the u.s. territory. >> a distress call from a 3.5 million american citizens that have been lost at sea since

1996. it's your choice whether to answer. in this regard. this call from the people of puerto rico. >> back in puerto rico, the beach is packed. tourists roam the area, and government officials try to explain how bad the situation is. >> you authorized the transfer of money today so that this did not go into default. how much, and to whom? >> around $354 million was transferred to the trustee with the government development bank. >> reporter: melba is the president of the puerto rico's government development bank. she has been a key player in the negotiations with creditors, holders and investors, but says congress must clear a path for restructuring and chapter nine.

>> realistically is anyone in congress listening to what you have to say, and do they care? >> you would be surprised. we are hope. -- hopeful. we can't say definitely will it happen. many industries are looking run down, as businesses close and people are living in poverty. thousands are leaving the island for the mainland every month, looking for better opportunities, while necessities like electricity and water are at risk. we caught up with victor suarez, the island's secretary of state. how concerned are you guys. ? seems like you are playing russian roulette. >> very concerned. what do you do if congress doesn't act? >> we have a plan to restructure debt. we will continue the negotiations. we need the legal framework to do it. >> in washington.

governor, in his day before congress for a plea. >> this is a distress call. it is serious. we are running. we just run out of cash. >> puerto rico owes 1 billion. a daunting amount. looking for help from debtors and congress. >> see the politicians putting on the game face. they are trying to be as helpful as possible. >> they have no other choice. they fear for them and the people, the 3.5 million people that live on the island. >> as you mentioned. because of the economic woes. some people are leaving. they can move to find better jobs, for a better life. is there a sense of how many are leaving? >> first of all, you are right.

puerto ricoans are americans. some of the controversy down here, a lot of people are not sure why there hasn't been action up in d.c. because they are literally americans. and unfortunately, there are thousands of people that are leaving the island every month. if you look at the past decade. 300,000 people have left to places like florida, chicago, new york. what that is doing here on the island is shrinking the tax base. a tax base that - listen to this number of. a third of the people on the island have a job. 45% of the people on the island are working, living in poverty. so how do you fix an issue like this that has developed over so many years by trying to convince bondholders up in a wall street office that you guys need to wipe out the loans, wipe occupant the debt and then try to talk to -- wipe out of the

debt and then try to talk to congress and say we need this clearance, restructuring, pocket of chapter nine. this is so complicated. really is complicated by the island's status. vicente reynes in san juan a u.s. marine is behind bars after being found guilty of killing a transgender woman. he was sentenced to 6-12 years for the murder. he is in an american-held committee inside the philippine military's national headquarters. the case reignited the debate over the presence of the u.s. military in the philippines. many residents want the bases removed. >> israel's national broadcaster reported that a bomb attack was prevented on israeli troops in the west bank. reports suggest some level of cooperation. despite a wave of violence that erupted in mid-september. earlier on tuesday, the israeli

army shot and killed two palestinians that tried to carry out stabbings in the west bank. they attempted to stab a pedestrian. several hours later the army reported a woman stabbed a shoulder near a jewish settlement. the families of 43 missing students ended the government protest for now, and agreed to stop occupying the road outside the presidential palace, after meeting with the investigators. a new investigative unit has been created. not all personalities have faith in the government, especially because some politicians have been implicated in the disappearance. >> the mexican government thought that because of new commitments we'd keep quiet. we want to tell everyone that this continues until we find them. they lied to us for a year and two months, we are not going to allow another lie. >> the college students were

abducted a year ago after being caught in the middle of a shoot out between a drug gang and police. >> a report on the airasia jet crash shows it was not bad weather, but a plane fault that set off a catastrophic number of event. al jazeera's correspondent has more. >> reporter: more than 11 months after the crash, investigators revealed the final minutes of the fight. when the alarms kept going off for a technical failure of the computer system. the pilots took the decision to turn off the automated protection decision, forcing the pilots to fly the plane manually without computer protection, which is where it all went wrong. >> the air bus rolled left and white and almost flew vertically. the copilot that flew the plane failed to take control during

the system failure and upset scan. >> the pilot was trained. the second accommodation to provide method basically to prevent something out of it. >> that's what he did. >> yes. that's what's p what happened. >> reporter: the statements center investigators from the national transport commission, pilots go out for training, flying manual in a so-called upset condition. traditionally the commission never points fingers. but the message to the pilot is clear. >> it took rescuers more than two months to recover 10 # of the 162 bodies from the remains of the jet at the bottom of the sea.

this woman lost her 24-year-old son. the body was recovered five days after the crash. to her the outcome of the investigation doesn't make difference. >> no human being would make this mistake. i am sure no one wants to fail in his work, he must have done his best. >> following the accident. air bus included retraining for pilots in their manuals, and the technical failure that caused the alarms to sound has been put in all the airbus planes. investigators insist that airasia should improve the way the aircraft are painted today is world aids day. 34 years after the first patients were diagnosed, they are not battling the disease.

37 million are living with h.i.v., 2.6 million are children. there were 2 million new infections in 2014. 34 million died from age. thousands took to the streets to raise awareness of the virus in china. a small group marched along the great wall. participants said aids is seen as an immoral homosexual disease. in thailand the in the of teenager dying in the asia pacific region has doubled. one in seven infections was among 15-19-year-olds. u.n.i.c.e.f. says young people don't know they have h.i.v., because tests require parental consent. >> activists require red balloons. the company diagnoses a case every 20 minutes. it's seen a 50% increase in new

cases. in south africa, a community engagement programme is taking information about h.i.v. and aids for those at high risk. teens are now getting more information about aides from their peers. >> a group of teenagers meet in johannesburg neighbourhood to talk about issues in their homes. >> on average, young people in south africa are becoming sexually active at the age of 15. many in this age do not like - don't understand what is h.i.v. nowadays people go doing it right. and know they are so young to do that. they met opinion. our personalities talk about things, afraid it will go in the long way.

>> the counsellor meets young terse like these. it is important to share information in a conservative society. >> we will see why it's so comfort. to disclose and talk to us. if we talk. they judge us. they will say "no, no, no, you shouldn't ask one, two, three." possibility will focus on the studies. there were some that walked the streets to spread awareness. the work faces constant battles. according to research, overall understanding of h.i.v. and aides and south africa declined by close to 20% between 2008 and 2012. during that time h.i.v. prevalence rose by 2%. >> it's been 50 years since south africa reviewed the policy. >> where we made it's a lot of

progress, and at some point we slowed down as a nation. public and private sectors. >> the department of basic education is bringing it into schools and is reviewing the structure of life classes aimed at giving guidance. >> it has gone down. the lack of knowledge and understanding of h.i.v. has dragged down the level of condom use in our country. >> reporter: the research council says the debate on how to deech children about sex -- teach children about sex and education should be adapted with the times. the director of the national institute allergy and infectious diseases at the national institute of health - he has been at the forefront of research and joins us from

bethesda. good to see you. let's start with the good news. you have written that progress in the battle against h.i.v. are making this the most hopeful world aids day ever. why? >> because we have schools right now. that are validated. that we could see a turn around of trajectory, where we end the epidemic. that's not going to happen this year or next year. we are on the road to that. there's no excuse now not to implement many tools that we have. the prevention tools and the treatment tools. we have proven by good clinical trials that they work. there's no doubt about that. the science has spoken, it's clear. we need to do it. >> it's been proven in a lot of bays. life expectation si in the

united states with those treated with antiretrovirals, and those trited are unlikely to transmit it. you had great progress in stopping transition from mother to maybe by, how soon till we get to the near eradication we are talking about. >> it's impossible to predict because it depends on things like global commitment to get it done. there's a lot of issues. if you look at who is infected in the united states. 30% of infections come from people that do not know that they are infected and are infecting someone else. an interesting statistic is 63% of infections come from people diagnosed with h.i.v. but they are not in care.

it's not only scientific. it's implementation to get people infected into care. people at high risk that are not infected to do things like condom use or taking a pill once a day. so the prediction of when it can happen is going to relate to the effort about how we get these done. vis-a-vis the accessibility of care. >> the bad news, aside from what you said. when you put at it worldwide. aides is leading the suffering. 1 million died of it. 2 million infections. it's a developing world crisis. 50,000 now cases. 142,000 w.h.o. and the european region, the most in a year. that is true. there are parts of the world

where things are getting better. 90-plus% of h.i.v. is in the developing world. 67% are in sub-saharan africa. we have made great strides. it has invested over the last several years, billions and billions of treatment for prevention and care. as have the fund to fight aids, andrew turnbull and malaria. we are not where we need to be. we need to do that to put the pressure on by implementing the programme that we know works. >> do we need testing in the united states for example, and how about funding. are you getting as much funding as you need. >> we have a significant amount of money for research. the m i.v., and my institute, the infectious disease

institute. 10% of the budget is for h.i.v. aides. we need more. i'm not going to say we don't need more money. we do more. there's enough to get the job down. that's important. we made advances. we need to condition to make more advances. >> congratulations on the advances that you made on the world aids day. it's good of you to join us and share them with us. >> good to be with you. >> china's president is on a state visit to zimbabwe. ahead the close relationship, why some are skeptical. and smog are choking parts of china, what it means for every day life.

now our global view segment, a look at how news outlets across are world are reacting to various event. the jerusalem post are criticizing john kerry and leader of the arab faction in israel's knesset, calling him an extremist and radical and washington should meet with a moderate voice from the israel-arab population irish times writes david cameron's push for a vote in parliament to begin air strikes

in syria is a savvy political move, contrasting it to tony blair, putting the responsibility of the decision on the country's shoulders, not just his and his parties. in an op ed, in the guardian, they try to bridge the gap between cameron and his opposition. we should talk to i.s.i.l. the guardian peace argues that neither will work without the other. a combined plan is needed. >> chinese president is needed. they arrive in the capital city. greeted by zimbabwe's president. in recent years they looked as a source of loans. funding several projects. critics say the deal may help

the debt, but not ordinarily people. >> it won't have the effect of improving the economy for the ordinarily citizens. the deals are not known by the people of zimbabwe. after the meeting they hope to see more cooperation. talk of unity at the paris climate summit. despite the fact that global agreements could not be reached. the 200 countries are working on a text the the biggest obstacle is coming up with billions needed to push from fossil fuel to greener energy. >> one of the biggest topics was production in china. the smog was so thick that authorities ordered schools to

keep their students inside. adrian brown is there. >> reporter: in paris, they are talking about how to save the planet. in beijing, they are trying to breathe. snog thick enough to see. many call these conditions crazy bad. it's been like it since sunday. some are oblivious to the threat. >> it doesn't make a big difference whether you wear the mask. how much can it help you. you can't wear the mask all the time. even if you are in the room. the smog can still get in, it's impossible to wear a mask for 24 hours. >> schools are open. but many parents are keeping their children at home. ed to . >> today the school is open.

my son does not feel well and has a sore throat. the pollution has been bad. >> here, it's not safe. the red light on the air purifier indicates a high level of pollutants in the room. beside her home a reminder of a reason why the child can't venture outside. the coal-fired power station providing heat to the power block. the worsening air quality spurred an increase in damage et cetera. offering advice and dark humour. in one part of beijing, a government monitoring station recorded a meeting of nearly 1,000. anything over 100 is considered unhealthy to at-risk groups, such as the elderly, as mattics and children. china is a leading emitter of greenhouse gases. it's hoped they'll peak by 2030.

that means we could have more days like this, or worse. >> that's it for this international news hour on al jazeera. i'll be back with more news in 2 minutes.

good evening, i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america. keeping a promise. the pentagon follows through on a commitment to fight i.s.i.l. many in congress are not sold on a plan out of a job. the mayor of chicago fires a police chief after a year after a murder charge against an officer on the road again. congress approves a