>> hello, i'm lauren taylor with the news hour live from london. coming up, they're calling it the final assault. iraqi forces center in ramadi try to recapture from the city of ill. the u.n. says most of the attacks hitting yemen are from saudi-led forces. india toughens rape laws for juvenile offenders. the number of refugees

arriving in europe passes 1 million in one year. >> and in sports platini questions the credibility of the court that banned him. he said he has been targeted only because of his a ambition to become fifa president. >> the iraqi military reported progress in the islamic state of iraq and levant in ramadi. iraq's government said its soldiers are advancing on the city's center where it'sest mitted 300 isil fighters remain. isil has held ramadi since may. the launch of the kurt operation. the first objective was to cut off supply lines. progress has been slow because the iraqi government wants to rely on its own troops and sunni tribes rather than shia militia

. [ explosions ] >> it's been described as the final assault to recapture ramadi from isil. the troops are moving in on the center of the city. the provincial capital of the mainly sunni anbar province has been under isil control for months. for weeks they have been trying to reach the main government complex. but ramadi is a main urban battleground. isiprogress has been slow. it's not known how many armed men iraq has in the city but it could be up to 300. there are also civilians trapped inside. they dropped leaflets calling on people to leave. but isil is reportedly dropping them so they can use them as

human shields. isil stormed ramadi in may. at the time much of iraq's western province was already under the armed group's control. it was an embarrassment for the iraqi government. iraq did not put up much of a fight and withdrew quickly. over the months the fight has been led by iraqi special forces and paramilitary troops are not taking part. but sunni trial forces are involved. >> there is a big support from the coalition air forces. there is a big support that the attacks was coordinated, and they attack isil from areas they didn't expect. i think by the weekend everything goes. >> ramadi is a strategic city. it is on the door step of the

capital baghdad. and taking ramadi was isil's biggest victory this year. losing it would be a set back. this battle is a test of relying on iraqi ground troops in the fight against isil. ramadi is significant land. winning here will determine if the shiite government will be able to win over the sunni. >> this is a big challenge for the iraqi security forces. how they're going to deal with the civilians. some forces said before 4,000 are in ramadi, and they could not get out of the city. and the fighting will continue inside ramadi. it seems that there is no clear plan, and there is no obvious plan by the iraqi security forces of how to protect the civilians. now everyone is talking about

the land and ho there is no clear plan of a safe route for civilians, thousands of families, to let them get out of the city. this is a big challenge for the security forces. but unfortunately it seems there is no clear plan for security forces to keep thousands of people how to keep them out of the city. everybody is warning about a catastrophe might happen in ramadi because thousands of people are still inside the city. >> the u.n. security council has heard a disproportionate number of attack on attacks on civilians in yemen. 2700 civilians have been killed since march in airstrikes targeting houthi rebels. and more than 21 million people are thought to be in need of help and many are on the brink

of famine. at least 2.3 are mal 2.3 malnourished. here is some of what the high commissioner of human rights told the security council earlier. >> i have observed with extreme concern with high concentration of civilians as well as the perpetuation for civilian infrastructure, why all parties in the conflict. disportionate amount at the heart of the conflict. >> this meeting comes on the heels of face-to-face peace talks between the warring parties in yemen, and with

another round of peace talks scheduled to take place on january 14th. despite the pace talks the fighting is continuing and so is the terrible impact the fighting has been having on civilian. the council took the opportunity after taking a briefing from the special envoy, to make their voices heard. in the past they only heard the briefing and then went on to talk behind closed doors. everyone spoke publicly about the international communities desire to see the situation in yemen resolved soon and to capital eyes on the momentum of these a peace talks. they also invited, the council invited representatives from the humanitarian affairs department and the high commission of human rights speak at this meeting. and the fact that most of the damage seems to be coming from the saudi airstrikes and the

saudi-led coalition, i think there is an effort here to put some pressure on the parties to make sure that they enact that cease-fire and live up to that cease-fire agreement and come back to the talks willing to negotiate and willing to strike a deal. there are so many serious issues that remain between them, but the international community's patience seems to be wearing thin. the united states and other countries have backed the saudi coalition, which is backing president hadi in yemen, but that support does not seem unlimited given the concern about civilians that are being raised by the u.n. repeatedly with the humanitarian situation there so dire. >> kristen saloomey, thank you very much, indeed. for more information inside yemen. the head of mission in yemen. just returned from the country and joins us live now on skype from amsterdam. thank you very much, indeed, for

joining us. you've been there recently. tell us how difficult life is for ordinary people in yemen at the moment. >> you have to realize that it is a little bit ironi ironic passing a resolution that allow for the starred of air campaign and validated it after it starts. now people are waking up to the fact that this is having a huge humanitarian impact. people are frightened to get to their next meal. there is no access to healthcare as most hotels will have to shut down. and that stands as well with the same security council resolution were last april which de facto led to an embargo of the country and therefore lack of supplies getting in to the country. fueling what is necessary to obtain clean drinking water in

yemen because of the shallow wells. therefore, people are not able to get clean water. food is not being supplied in enough county. this is a country that imported 90% of the food before the conflict. and because of the shut down of commercial trade in into the country because of the fighting there is immense suffering by the yemeni people and it is an affront to call this an improv improvement of the situation because those calling for it are in part responsible for it. >> there is a truce under way although both sides accuse the other of breaking it in some places. >> well, in general the humanitarian assistance is not up to the standards. we expect a large scale emergency.

in the month of march when the fighting started most agencies left the country and they've not been able to scale up the activities for the few who decided to return. for us, we've been able to send convoys in the last few days, but it has been through negotiations and at check points and in most difficult areas that include the city of taiz, we have not been able, yet, to reach hospitals, the few remaining hospitals inside the area of the city. the cease-fire has been looked at quiet simply at ground level who see officials who are disconnected from the reality and their suffering, discussing, let's say, high level politics whereas their day-to-day life is on the drink of disaster. >> i suppose there is perhaps an element of hope attached to the possibility that there might be peace where there are talks, but

those ended without a breakthrough. they're now being postponed until mid-january. what do people there want to see from those? >> i think the main point, and the violence has to stop. in many ways it is the violence that is causing the suffering. it is the violence that is causing the displacement. there are ways to pressure the main actors in the conflict. there are ways to act on the supply of weapons. we have to return. there needs to be experienced aided workers deployed by the united nations but for now realistic concerns related to the ability more can be done, and more should be done in the coming weeks or we'll see a

deterioration if it was not already the case that it was desperate. but the deterioration that has a high impact of more tanty. the numbers can go high very quickly for the civilian who is are in the middle of this conflict, which they feel very disconnected from. >> thank you. india's parliament has approved amendments to the juvenile justice law allowing 16 to 18-year-olds to be tried as adults for serious crimes. the public outcry over the release of the youngest person convicted of gang raping and murdering a medical student in 2012. >> can while this latest juvenile justice bill has been passed, there is a long way to go in what is in contents is

implemented on the ground. this bill goes to the president of india who will sign off on it, and then it will be determined by the governor of india to fashion laws and put in place to be used by the legal system. it is really important to note here that while the release of the youngest convict in the 2012 gang rape case once again brought to life juvenile justice in india, these laws will not be applied retrospectively to this case or any other case that has been before implemented. there have been debates on this issue. on one hand, those in support of this law said it is now better than never, and india needs stronger deterrents to make sure that young offenders do not commit crimes of such nature. on the other hand, those who have been skeptical said that we

need more time and that quickly developed laws are not necessarily good laws. the debate will continue in the upper house. >> the fate of a top lawyer found guilty of inciting ethnic hatred after criticizing china's government. and new rules on cigarette packaging. >> o under the knee. >> and in sport the nba game that was no laughing matter for this player.

>> nato ended come back separations in afghanistan nearly a year ago. >> we have been able to capitalize on the fact that the government has been busy sharing power. and as the winter is approachi approaching, it will put more pressure on the government and current administration. the leader of the tap ba ban--taliban, he needs to prove that he is the man to follow, easy the leader, and he has command of the taliban.

it is a well-trained army. it has the manpower, the firepower. they can take on the taliban. >> the human rights lawyer in china has been found guilty of disturbing public order and inciting public hatred. he was given a three-year prison term. he was arrested after criticiz criticizing china's government. >> china's judiciary rarely delivers a surprise verdict, but this was unexpected. this man is now effectively a free man, and he had been facing up to eight years in jail after being found guilty of provoking trouble and inciting ethnic hatred, charges he denied. it was his posts on social media

that got him into trouble. they poked fun at china's communist leaders and, and criticized policies in the troubled regions. journalists and diplomats were manhandle outside of the courthouse. china's state-controlled media did not report on the trial. they focused on the sentence rather than the reprieve. >> i personally don't think we have a perfect record in terms of rule of law. however, the trend is clear, we're moving in the right direction. although it may take months, years or decades. >> there were mixed feelings. they were happy for his release but argued it was an injustice to hold him in detention.

>> even though he has been give a suspended sentence, when he was criminally punished. >> the suspended sentence was good, but it's an indication that he should never have been detained. he committed no crimes. the evidence they had against him was very flimsy. >> the guilty verdict disqualifies pu from practicing law, and he could be returned to jail if he provoke the authorities again. >> the greek parliament will recognize palestine as a state.

>> the unanimous vote urged the government to recognize palestine. >> the greek parliament has gone through the procedure to recognize palestine, and to make every diplomatic effort to give credible peace between the two sides. >> the resolution was prepared by a series which enjoys a majority. president mahmood abbas welcomed the resolution. >> we work towards a two-state solution. we call on countries who have not recognized the state of palestine to do so now, to proceed with recognition now. >> but the resolution is not binding, and the greek government is unlikely to adapt

it. prime minister stipar as met with president abbas on monday. greece has economic and military ties with israel. some people say that this move is an appeal from those who support palestinians. >> i am in favor. but i'm in favor of keeping diplomatic relations with israel. is it possible? yes, i'm in favor. >> the vote is symbolic and the resolution is non-binding for the government.

this will give palestinians hope that the recognition is a step closer. >> palestinians in the occupied west bank is raising money to help rebuild homes. at least ten houses have been torn down. it's part of a decades-old policy of demolishing homes of palestinians accused of attacking israelis. >> these are the ruins of what was a home. demolished by the israeli military earlier this month. the rest of the buildings was also badly damaged, making large parts of uninhabitable. this woman said she does not

know why she and her young son is being punished for a crime they didn't commit. >> my husband is in prison. he's probably worried sick about us. >> since october there has been a wave of violence across israel and the occupied palestinian territories. 120 palestinians and a dozen israelis have been killed israeli has cracked down on the violence, and ordered the demolition of homes of palestinians acuesed of attacks. palestinians are raising money to help rebuild the homes. many hearsay they were motivated to help. >> the idea was fueled mostly because of lack of official

response. but a few days later officials got involved, and that really encouraged us. >> israeli's tradition of demolishing palestinian homes has been called illegal, and it is not new. from 1967 to 2005 hundreds of homes in the occupied territories were demolished as a pun heavy measure but ended in 2005 after senior military leaders said it didn't prevent violence and was legally questionable. >> prime minister benjamin netanyahu brought back housing demolition as a policy two years ago after the killing of israeli settlers. in the last few months alone ten homes have been reduced to rubble. still that has not brought any slowdown in the violence. if it's meant to have a deterrent effect, it does not appear to be working.

>> european court of justice is about to rule on the law of cigarette packaging. the u.k. ireland and france are forcing tobacco companies to replace all brand logos can stark health warnings. >> as more and more countries crackdown on smoking many of these logos will be banned from shelves. australia said that the moves have cut smoking rates by 15%. 65% of passaging will be covered in logos. >> there is evidence that health warnings do work in helping smokers to quit.

but picture warnings are much more powerful. >> but the u.k. ireland and france are going beyond the e.u. directive. like australia they're introducing plain, logoless packaging, something that the tobacco giants are determined to fight. several leading companies all filed lawsuit here in the heart of london. they appealed to the european june claiming the white labeling of cigarette packaging violates freedom of expression. the tobacco companies were not immediately available for comment. but hobby groups said that changes will have little effect. >> as far as i'm concerned its medical pornography. >> we know the health risk. we know what we're doing.

i smoke because i enjoy it. >> in the past tobacco companies advertised freely. showing people smoking at breakfast. after sport, even in the shower. today most countries have banned tobacco television ads. >> every 15 cigarettes you smoke will cause a mutation. >> ismoking costs the british economy $20 billion a year in treating diseases much more than the $14 billion that the government makes by taxing the industry. if struck down the u.k. will have to rethink its tough strategy, but with turkey and canada also set to introduce plain packaging tobacco companies are feeling the

squeeze. >> much more coming in the news hour. signs of apartheid remain. and toxins and human waste. and in sport more subject for the world's top tennis players.

clear... concise... complete. >> hello again. the top stories here on al jazeera. the iraqi military is reporting progress in its fight against isil in ramadi. soldiers are advancing on the city center. can government forces continue to fight in taliban in the southern helmund province. the u.n. security council has heard how many attacks on

yemeni civilians are coming from saudi-led forces. >> pro government forces are on the offensive. they've taken control of the mountains over looking sanaa close to the town, a houthi stronghold. they've taken control of sanaa. >> on the right of the junction the popular resistence fighters are on the hill. >> there are pro government gains. there has been heavy fighting 50 kilometers, the houthis are

leaving weapons and other equipment as they go. in the central province, pro government fighters have taken control of the houthi training camp. both sides want to control this area because it has most of yemen's oil and gas reserves. >> we're following military plans. >> the "world health organization" said that nearly 6,000 have died in this conflict and nearly half are civilians.

>> there is now more of an emphasis on controlling borders. >> you say that countries are doing too little to help refugees that are coming in on the shores. that some of the provisions to get to europe are still inadequate. >> well, exactly. essentially they're left to fend

for themselves. and to make this journey threw greece threw the balkans to germany where the majority of refugees would like to go. the countries are feeling economic pressures of their own and are not set up to cope with this conflict. >> what about policies, how well are they working? >> well, they're not working at all. we have a very controversial decision to settle or i should say relocate 160,000 refugees already in europe mainly from italy and greece to other member states. but it's the unwillingness on the part of other member states to make it happen.

solve them sign up willingly, and others are outvoted and forced to accept it. but a lot of refugees themselves don't want to go to the baltic states, poland, or czech republic. some countries there is a shortage of refugees willing to go there. many have their heart set on going to germany, sweden and those kinds of countries. that's not sustainable. >> thank you very much. human rights groups say there are processes in place to trace diamonds in the off market but gold is hard for trace. >> every day at 7:00 a.m. these men come to dig for gold in one of the world's poorest

countries. this man came here to work in the mine after his father was killed in the civil war. >> the war was started three years ago between muslim and christian militias cost thousands of lives. the fighting has now stopped, but the divisions run deep between communities. however in this mine the muslims and christians work side by side. >> i work here with my three brothers for three months now. it is the only way to feed our family. >> human rights groups say that rebels from all sides are using mines to buy weapons and fund their operations. >> now in the west of the country where you have a diamond

industry that has kept on playing anti-balanc anti-beleka fighters and also in the east where you have groups, mainly muslim rebels, who have used mines to fund their operations in the country. >> and the mines sells 15-kilo grams of gold molly. making $150,000 a month. it has come to be he known as blood diamonds. international treaties make it possible to trace blood diamonds, it is difficult to trace gold. >> it is difficult to trace back where gold comes from,

especially once it's been melted. >> militia leaders deny running the mines or exploiting miners, but for workers toiling in such conditions they're just trying to put food on the table for their families. >> the u.n. children's agency believes 1 million children are not going to school because of the brock attacks. 2,000 schools are closed. others have been destroyed by boko haram fighters. the group means "western education is forbidden," and started it's cause in 2009. tens of thousands of migrants in sows africa live in ha hotels left over from apartheid era.

>> a bed for less than $3 a month. for this man who is unemployed, and he has a wife and child to support, this is the only option. they share this tiny room in the township with two other families. >> we wish for a bigger space to live with our families. >> about 22,000 people live at these hoste will, s, enduring cramp, poorly maintained housing. after months of violence the police patrol the area 24 hours a day. their resources are stretched. over the past 18 months more than 50 people have been killed in and around the hostels. people say hit squads are responsible for the deaths. some believe the killings are politically motivated. former community leader says he fears for his life. he fled after he was shot last

year. >> i had to flee. there have been many people sh shot. >> the hostels were under apartheid for migrants from other regions across africa. they were designed to keep black workers in urban areas segregated from white people. two decades after apartheid is abolished the hostels linger. >> the hostels in a sense is the worst part of apartheid. the anc for a long time had the policy of panting to get rid of the hostiles. has--hostels.

>> the government said wants to convert all hostels into housing by 2019. it said by then it aims to put 5.5 million new residential units. south africa heads to local elections next year and there is fears that tensions around the hostels, if left unchecked, could escalate. >> protesters have clashed with police in argentina during some of the first violence under the new president march receipts sow macri.

>> licenses to grow marijuana will begin. >> to allow for the medical use of cannabis does not go against our international commitment to control drugs or policy in fighting drug trafficking. >> in 1990 the caribbean government carried out a campaign in sterilization of indigenous communities. many say they were bullied and did not have their consent. we have reports from southern peru. >> it's been nearly 20 years, and these women continue together surviving their pain. back then under the government they all underwent

sterilization. they say they were forced into it along with thousands of other women in poor indigenous communities. the women in the region of southern peru are among thousands who say they were black mailed, harassed or lied to, as they were taken to the operating room. some thought they were going in for free health checkups. >> they locked me in a room. >> in 1996 the government launched it's sterilization program aimed to bring birth rates down. the health authorities would later say that the women have consented to the operations, and more than 270,000 women were sterilized in the four-year

campaign. >> these women suffered the shock of being sterilized without their consent. many of them were rejected by their houses and by other people in their communities. >> we were marginalized from community activated. now we want justice and reparations for our families. >> the victims' lawyers want to prove that it was a state policy and not individual cases of malpractice. >> the question is not whether these are gross human rights violations. what does the present president's responsibility of this policy to control birth rates. >> peru's government has recently passed a law to register all victims. amnesty international is demanding that it should adapt a clear policy on reparation prosecutors have 2700 separate

cases and the lawyers say it will take years. they want prosecutors to move ahead and take one test case to court to set a precedence for the rest of the victims. for years the women around the country say they have fought for their lights and will continue to fight for their rights no matter how long it takes and no matter how lonely they are in this fight. >> more than 32 trillion liters of toxic materials flow in the u.s. each year. we have reports on how the government is trying to clean it up. >> the river runs through some of the poorest areas in washington, d.c. it's sediment of toxic chemicals is a warning to those who take to its waters. this shallow water way is a

particularly bad area of toxic dumping. but. >> toxic metals, and chemicals. >> the 2012 study found widespread local consumption but it's not the chemical run off, but it's raw sewage. washington's 19th century subterranean pump system reaches capacity on particularly in rai rainy days. and waste flows into the river each year. so the city is building more tunnels. >> on the other side, when the

tunnel is completed it's hoped that 98% of the combined sewage will be diverted from the river. >> property prices are already rising in gentry flying neighborhoods as the risk of flooding from the sue after system debates and hopes grow for a cleaner river. for environmentalists the question is why did it take two lawsuit to stop the flow of sewage. >> there is a real shame if the communities who have been deprived of a clean river all of these years from pushed out and were not able to enjoy the benefits and there is signs of that happening. >> the concern is that higher rainfall models that take in account the climate change were not part of the planning. even using the old models will still flow into the river when the tunnels are completed

in 2025. and toxic storm run off won't cease beyond that. >> it won't nobody our lifetime. the district is telling us that they can't do better than finishing by 2154. >> these measures deal with the flow into the river and not any clean up. there is no time frame for that. as they said, try not to fall in. al jazeera, washington. >> still to come, find out how barack obama is preparing for life after the white house. we have details in sport.

>> going to sport now. here is andy. >> thank you so much. well, michel platini has questioned the credibility of the ethics committee and accused the committee of sleeping for four years. both michel platini and sepp blatter are appealing their bans. in an interview with french media michel platini said what was the fifa ethics committee doing between 2011 when i was paid and 2015? was it sleeping? was it suddenly wakes up and yes, it wakes up in a fifa election year when i'm a candidate. it's amazing. well, the appeal process gives the frenchman little chance in time to stand for fifa elections. it has received the backing of

its country's sports minister. >> he's a determined man who wants to defend his honor first, and he wants to defend a certain idea of world sports and in particular football. i think he'll fight to the end. but the problem to the end will be after february 26th after they decide to name a new fifa president. >> one of the big stories this season has been the rise and rise of left of city, strongly tipped by many to be relegated. central to that success has been the algerian international morris has scored 14 goals and is quickly attracting the attention of bigger clubs ahead of the january transfer window. >> stay with us. he wants to stay with us. we want to keep him. that's it he had to improve. and improve him and improve the team. improve the team? why he want to go away.

he's a king here. >> a senior official in the governing body body will step down from his job as he's investigated by the ethics committee. he's accused of discussing the plan of naming the russian in elite e-mail suggesting we now need to be smart about releasing names. in the nba the atlanta hawks beat the portland trailblazers in what was a pretty painful night for one of their players. this player was not smiling too much after the game after a nasty collision. >> oh, right down to the knee. >> that saw him losing a tooth. he said afterwards he felt the tooth in his sock to make sure he didn't lose it.

serena williams and djokovic has been named the world champions for 2015. williams wins the award for the fourth year running and sixth time over all. and the 34-year-old won the first three grand slams of the season just missed out on a calendar grand slam. djokovic also picked up three grand slam titles the australian open, wimbledon and the u.s. open. new zealand captain brandon mccallum has announced he'll retire from crick in february. the second test of new orleans' test series against australia will be his last. but before exiting the international stage he's set to make some history by becoming the first man to play 100 consecutive tests. he scored over 6,000 test runs making new zealand the second highest test scorer. >> i've been incredibly lucky.

i spent most of my adult life as a captain and it gave me the opportunity to play with a great group of guys, the best in the country. not many get the opportunity to do that. >> not all of us plan for our retirement as we should, but the u.s. president looks to be ahead of the game. president obama using his vacation in hawai'i to sharpen up his golf skills. here he is on the 18th at the mid pacific country club. obama has played more than 250 rounds of golf since taking office in 2009. >> okay, plenty more sport for me later. that's it for now. i'll hand you back to lauren. >> i love the tooth in the sock story. plenty more any time on our website. the address for that is www.aljazeera.com. that's it from me, lauren taylor. we'll be back in just a moment with another full round up of the day's news. bye for now.

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>> they're calling it the final assault. iraqi forces storm the center of ramadi trying to recapture the city from isil. >> i'm lauren taylor. also coming up. the u.n. hears most of the attacks on yemeni civilians is coming from saudi-led forces. india toughens rape laws in the case of juvenile