♪ iraqi forces launch a big offensive to retake the city of ramadi from i.s.i.l. ♪ hello i'm nick clark and this is al jazeera live from doha and also coming up, on the program the greek parliament votes to recognize palestine as a state in the presence of abbas. afghan government forces advance in the bid to push taliban out of the southern district of sangin. [chanting] under pressure, india's parliament debating a bill

seeking harsher punishment for juveniles accused of serious crimes. ♪ so then the iraqi military advanced to the center of the city of ramadi in a major offensive to flush out i.s.i.l. fighters and military fighters say there have been casualties in fighting in the south of the city. the army reports they surrounded the city from all sides and seized anbar providence earlier this year and northern ramadi 14 security forces and tribal fighters killed in an i.s.i.l. suicide attack and we have a member of parliament from anbar providence and says ramadi could well be captured by the weekend. >> midnight the offensive to retake ramadi by the iraqi forces and very huge progress toward the center of ramadi and

the iraqi forces, they are doing very good progress. there is a sense from i.s.i.l. in some areas on other bases but the special iraqi forces are doing very good progress and even slowly but it's very good progress and we hope in the next few days they will retake on ramadi. there is i think support from the coalition airforces and the patrol is supportive and the attack was good coordinated by the iraqis and they attack i.s.i.l. from areas they didn't expect it and it's from areas they don't think the iraqi special force will come from this area.

so i think by the weekend with the plan, yes, they will retake it. >> to give it some context ramadi is the capitol of anbar iraq's largest providence and it was important for i.s.i.l. for supply lines from syria to iraq and bring weapons from the strong hold of raqqa through mosul to ramadi. the city is just 110 kilometers west of the capitol baghdad. now the greek parliament voted in favor of recognizing palestine as a sovereign and independent state. the resolution is a symbolic gesture that is nonbinding and palestinian authority abbas was present for the vote in athens and now the 137th country to recognize palestinian statehood and we report now from athens. >> reporter: when you hear the words of president abbas hailing this moment as a historical one

it gives you an idea how the palestinians really feel about it. but the president abbas also said that he feels proud to be at the greek parliament and also says the relations between greece and the palestinians is historical and very, very closed. now of course with the palestinians it's also important to keep the momentum going because over the past year the british and french have called on governments to recognize palestine as an independent state. now it is not expected because it's nonbinding resolutions and therefore the governments are not expected to follow suit and recognize palestine as an independent state. >> government forces continue to fight taliban in afghanistan southern helman district which fell to the taliban on monday. afghan forces have captured a few out posts but the main city

is still under taliban control and the latest attempt by the group to hold territory they have taken since nato ended combat operations nearly a year ago and the taliban currently controls 29 of the 398 districts in afghanistan and have taken four in helman providence and produces most of the world's opium and it is used by international forces in the past. in september the taliban seized the capitol kunduz providence and held it for two weeks. a leading human rights lawyer in china guilty of disturbing t public order and hatred and given a three year prison term and arrested after criticizing the chinese government. >> reporter: china's judiciary rarely has a surprise verdict but this was unexpected so in a way was this, apologizing for the comments that landed him in

court. he is now effectively a free man and had been facing up to eight years in jail after being found guilty of provoking trouble and inciting ethnic hshg atred and charges he denied and his posts got him in trouble and poked fun at the leaders and criticized government in tibet and shinging and his trial opened a week ago journalist and diplomates were man handled outside the courthouse and sun porters risked arrest by just being there. china state controlled media did not report the beginning of the trial but t.v. remarks were first to rochesterieport it and reprieve. >> moving to the law and do not have a perfect record with rule of law and we have a rule of politics and law but the over

all trend is clear and moving the right direction and may take months and years and decades. >> reporter: among supporters who include the artist there were mixed feelings and welcomed his release but article -- argue it was injustice to hold him in prison for 20 months. >> translator: caused not to recognize this even though he has been given suspended sentence from a legal perspective he has been legally punished and the future cannot be a lawyer. >> the fact he has been found guilty and given a suspended sentence is kind office a slightly positive given the context but it's important to indicate he never should have been detained and yet he committed no crime and the evidence they had against him was very flimsy. >> disqualifies him from practicing law and the strict conditions of his release mean he could be returned to jail if he provokes authorities again, adrian brown, al jazeera,

beijing. rescuers have dugout the first body from a massive land slide in the city and more than 80 are missing after a mudslide from over filled waste dump smashed into 33 buildings burying some an ordered an investigation in it in a booming place from hong kong. dozens pulled from the sea in eastern indonesia after the ferry they were on sank in story waters and at least three people are known to have died and rescue officials say there is little hope of finding the 74 missing and carrying crew members and 110 passengers. ionia upper house debating amendment to the juvenile justice law and follows public outcry over the release of the youngest conflict of the gang rape and murder of a student in 2012 and allow juveniles to be tried as adults for serious crimes and the victim's parents are present at the discussion in parliament and we will go now

live from new deli and what is the latest? >> yeah, nick, we are not seeing any clearcut decision in terms of even how the debate is going on the one hand we are hearing lots of calls from the opposition for more thought and more time for this particular law, these amendments need to be looked at more deeply given the social ramifications they will have on the other hand we have also heard from those who have been in support saying that it's not an ideal law but it's a good law and it needs to happen now. i should broaden this though in terms of wider commentary of what is happening today, they have people and said after the 2012 gang rape, rape laws were introduced new laws but they were not good enough and not strong enough, let's not make the new juvenile justice act another one of those situations, not make it a populus law that

the politicians have decided to ride with, let's be more considered and that will be something that goes well through the next few hours in terms of a theme for the upper house of parliament. >> right and extremely important issue in india and drawing a great deal of interest around the country. >> it has and it's not just in terms of the youngest of convict of the 2012 gang rape who was released over the weekend. it's not just because of that. it's because it once again brings into question how far has india come in three years when it comes to sexual violence and what has been done with why these issues continue to be so prevalent across the country, what is happening in terms of awareness, what is happening in terms of education, not just of women and others in society but the perpetrators themselves and what is going on in terms of economics and development which all of these issues filter into why sexual violence is so

prevalent so it's a huge issue across the country and one that has been very closely watched. >> thanks very much indeed in new deli. meanwhile there has been a verdict in another rape case in india where one of the accused was a juvenile at a time of the crime and seven others sentenced to death in the northern state and juvenile is facing a separate trial and mentally challenged women from nepal was gang raped and murdered in february and the woman with was in india for treatment. still ahead on the program how gold and diamond sales are fueling the conflict if the central african republic. living in fear in the rebel held yemen capitol. ♪ bring your family and friends together

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♪ top stories on al jazeera, iraqi military advances to the center of ramadi in a major offensive to flush out i.s.i.l. fighters and army surrounded the city from all sides in an operation that started at midnight and i.s.i.l. seized anbar providence earlier this year. parliament in greece voted in favor of recognizing palestine as an independent state and it's a symbolic gesture as it's nonbinding. [gunfire] it is the fourth day of fighting between afghan forces and taliban in southern helman providence in the sangrin district fell to the taliban on monday. forces loyal to yemen's government fought their way in a providence surrounding the capitol and the closest since

houthi rebels seized it last year and monday u.n. sponsored peace talks ended without agreement but will resume next month and we have this report. >> reporter: pro-government forces on offensive and taken control of the mountains overlooking sanaa close to the town a houthi stronghold and houthi rebels took control of sanaa 15 months ago and fighting to all lee the international president abd rabbuh mansur hadi to return to the capitol. >> translator: fighting is now on going in that direction, on the right of the junction near the popular resistance fighters are there on the hills by the junction. >> reporter: there are pro-government gains to and heavy fighting 50 kilometers from the saudi border and on retreat through and in the central government

pro-government fighters have taken control of a houthi training camp and want to control this area because it has most of the oil and gas reserves. >> translator: we are following well fought military plans and god willing our advances continue in the right direction to the beloved sanaa. >> reporter: the world health organization says almost 6,000 people have died in this conflict. the u.n. says almost half of those are civilians, peace talks in switzerland last week ended without agreement to bring the civil war to the end, the two sides agreed to meet again next month. richard martin, al jazeera. well the u.n. will hold a briefing on the dire humanitarian situation in the coming hours and aid organizations say four in five yemenis need life supplies and cities under siege and food and medical supplies in short supply and we have a story of one sanaa

family. >> reporter: but hind this gate the family used to feel safe. their home in the district of sanaa was their castle. for the past year their lives have turned up side down. >> translator: here most of the families and people in towns and villages are worried about safety of their children. >> reporter: he sent some of his children away to safety, his family lives in constant fear. >> translator: there is fear inside and outside the house and inside we fear the house may collapse and outside we fear a bombing because of the ongoing war. >> reporter: at the market near the house vendors have set up rows of fruit under colorful umbrellas, the city has been under the control of houthi rebels since february. the seat of government has moves to the southern port city of aiden. >> translator: the country and people have been damaged. we used to be able to sleep at night but now my seven children live in fear, the situation is

getting worse. >> reporter: he used to make ends meet working two shifts a day as a guard, now he works only a few hours a day bringing home $93 a month. >> my salary is insufficient especially after the closer of factories and companies and because of lack of resources and all revenue, the middle class people live in a dire situation. >> reporter: like many of his neighbors his only hope is that peace negotiators can succeed, that life returns to normal so that his family can be together again in their own safe corner of the world. paul with al jazeera. amnesty into national accuses security forces in burundi of systematic killings and saying they killed 87 people after three military bases were reportedly attacked by gunmen and insisted they were enemies of the state and we have more now from the capitol.

>> reporter: the burundi government has refuted allegations under amnesty international report saying that it was not security forces that cut out the killings on the 11th of december, that day which is seen as the most violent day since the crisis in burundi began in april. and john claude the deputy presidential spokesperson said that it was the rebels who had carried out the attack on civilians in for example where people were found dead, the street some of them shot execution style and said it was them in the cause of fighting the security forces who ended up killing the civilians and amnesty has a different version to the events the government is detaining of that and it says that security forces has an attack on three military bases and some suburbs of the town

dragged people out of their homes and killed them on the streets before coming back later to pick all the bodies and took them to a new destination. amnesty international calls the killings as a horrific illustration of the growing human rights crisis in burundi and cause for urgent international actions. >> in bakino-faso arrest warrant for blaze and it's over his alleged role in the murder of ex president thomas in 1987 and was killed during a coup that brought him to power, earlier this year an autopsy on a body believes to be his showed it was riddled with bullets and reports suggested since he was executed and took power in a coup in 1983 and had philosophy of marches and led him to be saying the

murder was the biggest in history and now accused of being involved in the murder is believed to be living in the ivory cost after last year attempts of change the constitution to extend his 27-year rule. human rights groups say gold and diamond sales are being used to fuel conflict and trying to keep them off the market but gold is proving much more difficult to trace and al jazeera went to visit a gold mine in car and we have more. >> reporter: everyday at 7:00 a.m. these men come to dig for gold in one of the world east poorest countries. and he started working in the human mine a year and a half ago after his father was killed in the civil war. >> translator: the income here is good. some of us collect money so we can go back to school. others just want to save enough to be able to return to their

villages and have a comfortable life. >> reporter: the war which started three years ago between muslim and christian malitia costs thousands of lives and the fighting has stopped but divisions are deep between communities and here muslims and christians work side by side. >> translator: i work here with my three brothers for three months and it's the only chance to feed our family. >> reporter: creates a small amount of jobs is part of a bigger problem and human rights groups say rebels from all sides are using mines to buy weapons and fund their operation. >> now in the west of the country where you have a diamond industry that has kept on paying antibalika fighters for protection or for the simple operation of their mines and also in the east where you have several groups mainly muslim rebels who have used mines such

as the mine near bumbari to fund operations in the country. >> reporter: in the mine sells 15 kilograms monthly with a profit of $350,000 a month and they exported half a million carats of diamonds in 2013. the same year it was under the kimberly process which permits the sale of what is known as blood diamonds from conflict zones and work at the mines never stopped and treaties make it possible to trace blood diamonds it's impossible to trace pressure metals such as gold. >> it's difficult to trace where gold comes from especially once it has been melted. >> reporter: deny running the mines or exploiting minors and refused to be filmed and for them and other workers towelling in tough conditions they are just trying to put food on the table for their families, al

jazeera, in the mines. a grand jury in the u.s. state of texas decided not to indict anyone in the case of a black woman found dead in her prison cell. sandra bland arrested in july for allegedly failing to use her car's indicator and the 28 year old hanged herself with a plastic bag after three days in jail, family and others questioned that question and bland's death is one of cervical incidents that raised questions about how police treat african/americans. panama's supreme court has issued arrest warrant for former president ricardo accused of ordering illegal wire taps on 150 people including politicians and businessmen and he claims he has done nothing wrong and is a victim of what he calls political persecution. hatety postponed the presidential election and supposed to take place on sunday and now moved to january and none of the 54 candidates in the first round in october secured a

majority, results of poll denied following accusations of fraud and violent protests in the capitol port au prince. as it reaches 11 year low the motorists enjoy the lowest prices in years and it has drastically slowed down drilling activity in the united states yet production is still flooding the market, tom ackermanman has more. >> reporter: oil fields of north dakota a bonanza for businesses and jobseekers alike but since then crude prices fell less than half and now it's a bust for workers. >> not the best time for someone to come because it's pretty slow and by the end of this month no more construction. >> reporter: the number of active oil rigs in north america has declined by more than 60% in the past year, the oil glut is also taking a toll on companies that found themselves unable to

cover their heavy capitol costs with cash flow and dozens of them filed for protection this year and if crude prices fail to recover in 2016 the casualty count could out number the 60 north american drillers who failed after the 2008 financial crisis. yet even as saudi arabia drives global prices lower keeping up its own out put american companies are barely slowing down their production. >> average production this year will still be above 9 million barrels per day so the drop off is not viewed as precipitous. presumably the expectations are that over time we will probably see a slow reversal of that drop off. >> reporter: for more than 30 years the u.s. has banned all crude oil experts on grounds of national security but last week president obama signed legislation that will let american crude be sold again on markets, a move that supporters say will not only give american producers a new out let as one

u.s. senator from the state of texas contends. >> by lifting the ban the u.s. can help offer our friends a chance to diversify their energy supplies and enhance their energy security and avoid people like vladimir putin the opportunity to use oil and gas and energy as a weapon. >> reporter: even while the u.s. is the world's top crude producer it still depends on imports from canada and saudi arabia to satisfy all its needs. so long as those countries keep their taps wide open the glut is expected to reap big savings for american motorists and make life even more difficult for its drillers, tom ackerman, al jazeera, washington. lions in africa to be placed on the endangered act and hard to bring trophys back to the united states and have been lobbying for the change which gained momentum after an american dentist shot and killed

cecile the lion and here is the report. >> reporter: he became an international hate figure, internet was so abuse he had to close his practice for several weeks and on a hunt in zimbabwe he shot and killed a lion ce cecile. >> there was a meeting they held with leaders in nairobi and advocate for trying to protect wildlife in africa. this is an issue that is a particularly important issue in africa and so this is something that we are obviously aware of. >> now the u.s. government says" lions in central and west africa will come under the protection of the endangered species act and under consideration for years and make it hard for trophy hunters to import head,

paws or skin. >> they have enormous impact in terms of the focus of the american public and putting on trophy hunting and relevant over all and cecil's situation is not unique and there are hundreds of lions every year being killed by american trophy hunters and evidence we documented going back to 2011 when we submitted our petition. >> joins france after the death of cecile the lion and will bring in tighter legalization in 2017. more than 40 airlines stopped employing hunting trophy and introduced by the u.s. cannot stop it abroad and hoping the measures will reduce the number of lions being killed in the name of sport. al jazeera, washington. >> chefs have been building a ginger bread and raising more for the organization and who are working closely with refugees in aleppo and hope the cause behind

the 8 x 8 meter edible town will encourage people to be generous this christmas. all right let's just nudge you in the direction of our website, al jazeera.com is the address, all the news we have been covering right there, al jazeera.com. dictator, talks to me. plus rum wars on the streets of havana. you'll meet a cuban rum runner with a thirst for black market booze. the war in syria is approaching the five-year mark. and the international community is ramping up efforts to end it. over the weekend the united aptions security council