syrian activists say five civilians are killed in a gas attack near damascus. you're watching al jazeera live from doha. also on the program the battle for ramadi. iraqi forces say they've recaptured more than half of the strategic city from i.s.i.l. one survivor is recused 60 hours after land slide cover buildings in southern china. leading the change, cape town is

recognised for its efforts in combatting global warm iing. we begin with syria where there are reports of a gas attack thattive killed at least five crave i can't answer. medical sources think that zaron gas, one of the world's most lethal chemical weapons, was used. 30 people have been injured as a result of the alleged attack. in june 2014 the international watchdog opcw said the last of syria's chemical's weapons had been shipped out of the country for destruction. amnesty international says russia's air raids in syria has killed hundreds of civilians and should be considered as a war crime. there have been attacks between

september and november killed many. the latest air strikes are believed to be carried out by russian jets have killed at least 35 civilians. the attack took place at a busy market near damascus. >> reporter: they can barely believe what has just happened. air strikes thought to have been carried out by russian war plains have flattened a busy market full of people. in the moments after the attack, panic sweeped through. there are dead bodies everywhere and people are rushing to find survivors. they check if this man is alive. he is not, so they move on looking for injured people to help. this is the town of bazina in the damascus countryside.

people who live here say fighting between syrian government forces and opposition fighters has been nonstop for two months. they say the syrian regime is trying to break the deadlock with the help of russian air strikes. >> translation: this is from the regime of bashar al-assad. this is what's happening to us. where are you muslim brothers? where are you? >> reporter: russia began bombing syria in september. it says its targeting i.s.i.l., but the institute for the study of war, a u.s.-based think tank, says the russian air campaign has mainly hit syrian opposition groups. >> translation: the russian and syrian air strikes on eastern area, especially on dumar, have increased recently. they pretend that they're targeting the terrorists but most of the people killed are women and children >> reporter: these are the scenes that people of syria have become familiar with. what started as an uprising

against the government has long descended into civil war. that cycle of violence is played out across the country for almost five years now and killed at least 200,000 people the father of little boy who drowned while fleeing syria has pleaded with the world to open its doors to refugees. this image of three-year-old washed up on the turkish beach highlighted the tragedy. he died along with his brother and mother as they tried to make the crossing to the greek island. his father has recorded a message to be broadcast on television on christmas day. >> translation: (speaking in a

foreign language with no translation) iraqi forces say they now control more than half of ramadi after mission to retake it from i.s.i.l. iraqi intelligence estimates there are only around 300 left. the army claims to have advanced to the center of the city driving fighters out of many residential areas. >> reporter: it has been

described as the final assault to recapture ramadi from i.s.i.l. the iraqi military says its troops are moving in on the center of the city. the provincial capital of the mainly sunni unwar province has been under i.s.i.l. control for months. for weeks the forces have been trying to reach the main government complex. ramadi is an urban battleground and progress has been slow. i.s.i.l. is fighting back using suicide bombers. it is not know how many men the armed group has in the city, but iraqi intelligence believes there could be up to 300. there are also civilians trapped inside and there are reports of casualties. the iraqi military dprop leaflets days ago calling for people to leave by i.s.i.l. are apparently stopping them so they can use them as human shields. i.s.i.l. stormed ramadi in may.

at the time much of iraq's western province was already under the arm group's control. ramadi's fall was an embarrassment for the iraqi government. the iraqi army didn't put up much of a fight and withdrew quickly. months later they're back on the front lines and iraqi spokesman says the fight is being led by iraqi's special forces and para military groups are not taking part. sunni tribal forces are involved >> there is a big support from the coalition air forces. there is big support from fighters also. they are good coordinated and they attack i.s.i.l. from area they didn't expect it. i think by the weekends everything will be gone as planned, yes they will retake it. >> reporter: ramadi is a strategic city. it is on the doorstep of the capital baghdad and it connects to jordan and i.s.i.l. controlled territory across the

border in syria. taking ramadi was i.s.i.l.'s biggest victory this year. losing it would be a setback. this battle is a test for the u.s. strategy for relying on iraqi ground troops in fighting i.s.i.l. victory here is not just about defeating i.s.i.l. it will determine if the shia led government in baghdad is able to win over anwar's community a 19-year-old has been pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed building. a huge pile of construction waste smashed into buildings in an industrial park. adrian brown is following the developments for us from beijing. >> reporter: so against all the odds, rescuers have found one man alive after this deadly mud slide. he is 19 years old and a migrant worker from the city of c harks

nngking. when rescuers had reached him, he had been under debris for more than 60 hours. his pulse was feeble and his voice weak but he was able to give his name and the name of another nearby who was found to be dead. at the rescue site itself scenes of frantic activity on wednesday morning. there are 4,000 rescuers taking part in this operation and they're backed up by dozens of mechanical diggers. police meanwhile have raid the offices of the company that managed the dump with respect all this waste had been stored. he is a deputy general manager. what happened on sunday was that heavy rains caused this mound of soil and construction waste, a mound that was actually more than a hundred metres high, to come powering down on an industrial complex where there were also worker determine trees. more than 70 people are still

missing. local media reports say that a local government report had identified problems at this site a number of months ago and in its words had warned of a cot strove-- warned of a catastrophe and that is what happened now 66 people are still missing in sea after a boat capsized in central indonesia. it happened on saturday. three people have been confirmed dead and 41 others have been rescued. emergency svmss say stormy waters caused-- services say stormy waters caused the accident. a ruling on the future of cigarette packaging will make health warnings more prominent across the e.u. it allows member states to introduce stringent rules and tobacco companies have been fighting that. >> reporter: as more and more countries crack down on smoking, many of these iconic logos will

soon vanish from the shelves. australia led the way three years ago with stark warnings and brand names written in standardised lettering. the australian government said the moves cut smoking rates by 15%. from next year under new european union nation 65% of each packet will go covered in warnings leaving much less room for logos >> there is good evidence that health warnings do work in terms of deterring young people from taking up smoking and helping adult smokers to quit. text warnings are fine up to a point, but picture warnings are much more powerful >> reporter: the u.k., ireland and france are going beyond the e.u. directive. like australia, they're also introducing plain logoless packaging early next year, something the tobacco giants are determined to fight. several leading companies all filed lawsuits here he high

court in london, a verdict is expected in january. they also appeal to the european court of justice in electi-- lu violate freedom of expression. the tobacco companies were not immediately available for comment by pro-smoking lobby groups will say it will have little effect >> it is basically mountain pornography. some are-- pornography. we know the brand for 30 years. i smoke it because i enjoy it. >> this is a man who spokes marlborough cigarettes >> reporter: in the past they advertised their products freely. people were encouraged to smoke at breakfast. after sport. even in the shower. >> try one of these new cigarettes >> reporter: today most countries have banned tlvks tobacco ads replacing them with

hard-hitting health warnings >> every 15 cigarettes you smoke will cause a mutation >> reporter: it is believed to cost the economy around 20 billion dollars a year in reduced productivity and treating disease. if struck down in the court, the u.k. will have to rethink its tough strategy, but with turkey and canada also set to introduce plain pa packaging, tobacco companies are feeling the squeeze more to come on al jazeera. zimbabwe's government threw white farmers off the land, but now the beneficiaries of that policy are feeling the squeeze. >> to be in this business and believe in it, you have to be a pessimist by nature u.s. investors are flocking to put their money into trailer parks.

the top stories. activists are accusing the syrian government of carrying out a gas attack near the capital of damascus. at least five civilians have been killed and dozens in june. in june 2014 the international watchdog said the last of syria's chemical weapons had been shipped out. iraqi soldiers are fighting to recapture the city of ramadi from i.s.i.l. the military says it's advanced into the center of ramadi and now controls more than half of the city. the european court of justice is said to rule on the future of

cigarettes packaging. tobacco companies have been fighting a new directive allowing member states to introduce stringent rules on top of an e.u.-wide standard. afghan police say 570 soldiers have joined security forces battling the taliban in helmand. they're trying to recapture the town of sangin which fell on monday. it is an important town because it produces opium and was a taliban stronghold. police chief says at least 60 taliban fighters were killed over night on tuesday and four military personnel have also died. the afghan government has confirmed british soldiers have arrived in helmand. it is said a small number of u.k. personnel have been sent in an advisory role. >> translation: a group of british forces has been deployed

in helmand to participate in the support mission. me will support and help forces as advisers and they will not participate in the military operations. military operations is the task for afghan security forces thailand's prime minister has reaffirmed his commitment to restore democracy by 2017 the military is consistently delayed planned elections saying the country isn't stable enough. the general took power in a coup last year ending months of political turmoil. 2008 global financial crisis is still being felt by millions of people in the u.s. many families were forced to give up their homes when they couldn't afford to pay their mortgages and moved into mobile homes in trailer parks. around 20 million people in the u.s. live in mobile homes. that's about 6% of the population. almost a quarter of those living in mobile home are retired and

household income is only hassle the national average. rob reynolds on this story. >> reporter: on the road to potential profits. investors are flocking to take a crash course on buying up trailer parks. about 20 million people in the u.s. live in low cost mobile home communities. demand is high and as more parks are bulldozed for other developments, supply is dwindling >>. what is happens is athat the rates are going up. people are being squeezed out >> reporter: he leads a three-day seminar which he calls mobile home university. he is a millionaire and owns 140 trailer parks and is expert at squeeze squeezing money out of poor people >> you have to be a pessimist in nature to be in this

business. you have to put all your eggs in a basket that the economy is going out >> reporter: he tells them to tear out amenities like playgrounds and to raise rent as high as possible without forcing residents to leave >> there's no regulations on what you can raise rent to at all. so basically the park owner is free to raise as much as he wants >> reporter: investors are eager to get in on the bandwagon on >> from a management standpoint they're awesome. they have a very good return on the money, better than an apartment buildings with less management >> reporter: if you have to live inexpensively in the u.s., a mobile home park is one of the best ways to go. a used trailer can cost a few thousand dollars, payable in instalments and the ground rent in a mobile home park like this one averages around $250 a month. many trailer park residents earn minimum wage or are disabled or are elderly living on fixed

incomes. 72-year-old bill says he can't afford to live anywhere else. >> it is easy to move from one town to another when you have a trailer. >> reporter: as the bus tour continued it was shadowed by protesterers denouncing the hard edged business practices mobile home university preaches >> these companies are coming in and raising the rent rapidly, far greater than we've ever seen before. they are making massive profits on these communities, but they're also displacing a lot of people >> reporter: some of the biggest names in u.s. finance, including mullty billionaires warren buffet and zam zell are making large amounts of profit, proof there is a lot to be made from the pennys of the poor a group of women in peru is trying to take the government to court. they among the more than a quarter of a million women who went through sterilisations under a national campaign in the

1990s. a report from southern peru. >> reporter: it has been nearly 20 years and these women have stayed together working and entertaining themselves, surviving their pain. under them, they all underwent sterilisations. they say they were forced into it along with thousands of other women in poor indigenous communities. the women from the region of the southern peru are among thousands who say they were blackmailed, harassed or lied to as they were taken by force in the operating rooms. most were illiterate. some thought they were going for free health check ups. >> translation: two nurses forced me into an ambulance and then they locked me in a room and asked me until when are you going to give birth like a pig. >> reporter: in 1996 the

government launched its sterilisation campaign aimed at bringing the birth rate down to half. the health authorities say that the women have consented to the operations. amnesty international says more than 270,000 women were sterilised in the four-year campaign. these women not only suffered the shock of being sterilised without their consent. many of them were then rejected by their husbands and by other people in their communities. >> translation: we were marginalised from community activities. now we want justice, reparation and life insurances for our families. >> reporter: the victims' lawyers want to prove that it was a state policy and not individual cases of malpractice. >> translation: the question is not whether these are gross human rights violations, but what is the responsibility of the masterminds in these types of crimes and what is the former

president's responsibility in implementing a state policy to control birth rates. >> reporter: the government has recently passed a law to ridge terre all victims, but amnesty international is demanding that it should adopt a clear policy of reparations. prosecutors have more than 2700 separate cases under investigation in a process lawyers say will take years. they want prosecutors to move ahead and take one test case to court to set a precedent for the rest of the victims. for years women around the country have fought for their rights and they will continue to demand justice no long it takes and no long they might be in this fight somalia is no longer a failed state. that's according to the outgoing representative for the u.n. secretary general in country. nicholas kay says while the situation is fragile, somalia is

recovering. he says it has stablised politically over the last three years. a car bomb last wreak killed three people. hundreds of thousands of farmers in zimbabwe have been slapped with higher taxes. they were resettled on land seized from white owners, but the high costs of managing it has left many struggling. many fear they will lose their property. >> reporter: this man is already paying land tax to the rural district council. he is one of about 300,000 new farmers who have been resettled on land seized from white farmers. >> the government is wanting us to may. spending the last two years, the farmer was the one to survive. they need some payment >> reporter: the new additional land tax is between $3 and $10

per hectare. individuals with more than one thousand hectares of land could end up paying tens of thousands of dollars in annual rent >> we wish that the level of rent be reduced so that the farmer remains viable. >> reporter: resettled farmers with permits and 99 year leases have been warned they could lose their farms if they don't comply with the new legislation. some farms are not being utilised. the new farmers who are struggling say high electricity costs, low crop prices and lack of access to bank loans is to blame for their under performance >> i think it is a way of domestically immobilising resources. i think countries are going that route as way of increasing the revenue base in the country. i think it's positive.

it will also result in the intensification of land use in zimbabwe. >> reporter: he doesn't agree. this season he is planting on 12 hectares of land. he says the seeds and fertilizer will cost him more than $20,000. money he is still trying to raise. he worries he and many others will not be able to pay the land taxes the united nations has recognised cape town as one of ten cities worldwide leading the fight against climate change. the city is carrying out several projects to cut emissions and has focused efforts on helping the poor. from cape town our correspondent reports. >> reporter: high winds and heavy clouds over table mountain for residents on the outskirts of the city usually a signal of a dusty day ahead, but 40,000 low income homes in areas like this were built without

ceilings, worriesening the impact of bad weather. this man has been living in one of them for 15 years. her home is one of the first to have a ceiling installed installed >> translation: in the winter it is very cold. it was better to be outside. >> reporter: she says the new ceilings cut her electricity consumption by half. the project is part of the drive by the city to combat climate change. over the next two years 8,000 homes will be upgraded. >> reporter: down the road several other units are being fitted with insulated ceilings. it is to be seen cuts. fighting climate change will benefit the most desperate. cities will have to catch up very fast because the worst thing about climate change is heating the poor people-- hitting the poor people the most. 80% of the people living in

africa are poor and living below a dollar a day. when the droughts came and the floods came, those african cities will be hit hard. the city has several other projects on the go to protect the environment, including the support and installation of solar panels on the roofs of businesses to generate clean energy, with excess electricity being fed into the city's grid. water management devices have been installed in low income homes as part of the drive. while water is free, it is limited to 350 liters a day, but some groups say that has hit the most needy >> this drive for kind of water conservation/saving is a burden that poor people carry rather than industry mining, agriculture, wealthier households. that is where the savings in water and electricity should really be targeted first. >> reporter: but for residents here, the city's commitment to

developing a sustainable environment has for now made life a little more comfortable well down. if you want to find out more about the stories that we've been featuring in the bull ten, why don't you go to our website, al jazeera.com >> when i became aware of my surroundings, there was no electricity. it was quiet then. >> the land was wide. no dust. nothing but green grass, tall green grass, so pretty. it used to start freezing,