the news continues next from doha. this is al jazeera. ♪ you are watching the news hour, live from our headquarters here in doha. iraq's prime minister arrives in ramadi just a day after the army says it has retaken the city from isil. the death toll mounts in pakistan after a suicide bomber attacks a government building. heading to prison, the former israeli prime minister will serve a year and a half behind bars on a bribery conviction. the former strong hold of a

deadly group, we go with the nigeria army to see what has happened to what was once boko haram's most fortified base. ♪ welcome to the program. iraq's prime minister is in the city of ramadi in the province of anbar, the scene of a strategic victory over isil. they recaptured the city on monday and flew the national flag over government buildings. earlier in baghdad, he said he is confident isil will be defeated in the year ahead. >> translator: if 2015 was the year for liberation, 2016 will be the year of the end of the presence of isil on iraqi soil. we are coming to liberate mosul, and it will be the final blow to isil. however, a spokesman for the

u.s.-lead coalition against isil says the ramadi offensive isn't over yet. >> there's still plenty of work to do in ramadi. we still need to stabilize the remainder of the euphrates river valley and work on the tigres river valley. they still have the ability to fight and do harm. this is going to take time. >> reporting live for the news hour out of our bureau in washington rosiland jordan is following that story for us. why is the u.s. a little bit reluctant to saying job done? >> reporter: well, peter what they are looking at is trying to make certain that the iraqi military is going to be capable,

not just of pushing isil out of key areas, but also capable of actually preventing isil from returning to those locations, and making it possible for the local government to reestablish control. of course one of the things that the iraqi military is tending to is trying to clear the city of bombs and other explosives that could prove deadly to the citizens of -- of ramadi. but this is a significant step ahead for the iraqi military because, remember, back in may when the city fell, there had been a lot of criticism that the iraqi military simply didn't have the stomach for the fight, so this is vindication, as it were, for the iraqi military that the government and military leaders have proven that they are willing to actually go in and do the hard work of reclaiming their territory from

isil. >> when we talk about that feeling there in washington that the iraqi military didn't have the stomach for the fight, they undoubtedly upped their game, but is there a sense at the pentagon that that is because they trained themselves very well, or sit down to the training and u.s. air support? >> reporter: well, there is a very well understood theory going ahead, that without the u.s. providing additional training, additional advise, additional support to the iraqi military the country just isn't capable of providing for its own military. and that was discussed deeply here, did the u.s. leave iraq

too soon. they left in 2011, because the iraqi government wasn't willing to provide it the legal protectives it needed to stay in the country. so we saw a degradation of the military in that time. that said, the u.s. is very keen that it's the iraqi military that leads these operations; that is in control of these operations, and that you don't have what some officers are calling an americanization of this fight against isil. the u.s. is very much aware that people want their troops to come back from iraq, and so they are trying to basically walk that line between providing support that's needed and doing the fighting themselves, peter. >> briefly, ros, if you can. there is this sense coming out of baghdad, next stop mosul. is that the feeling from the u.s. officials and the pentagon as well. >> they are saying eventually

mosul will be in the iraqi military's sights. but they are saying there is a lot of work that has to be done before any sort of wholesale offensive can be launched against isil in mosul. as we heard a couple of minutes ago, there is still a lot of other military that needs to be reclaimed and basically reestablished as being under the iraqi government's control. they are taking this one step at a time, and u.s. military officials are stressing that the fight against isil can't be achieved in just a matter of months, they say this is going to really be a year's long fight because isil made such an impressive and deep in roads into these communities in western and in northern iraq. >> ros, thanks very much. now to pakistan where at least 22 people were killed today, 42 others were injured in an explosion targeting a

government office in the northwest. a suicide bomber targeted a center issuing id cards. >> reporter: the attack was timed to cause maximum devastation. the government office issuing identity cards was packed with people. there was chaos in the moments after the bomb exploded. police say it was a suicide attack. many were killed and many more were injured. >> translator: there was a blast in the office around 2:00, around 100 people were injured and around 20 have been martyred. >> reporter: i was offering my prayers in my house when the blast occurred. it was a huge blast. when i came running here, there were dead bodies. >> reporter: the attacked in the tribal area bordering afghanistan. a group once linked to the pakistani taliban has claimed responsibility. attacks by its fighters have

declined over the past year, in part because of an increase in military operations. the explosion comes two days after the head of pakistan's army was in kabul for a meeting with the afghan president. they were trying to restart talking with the taliban. >> what pakistan is trying to do is to persuade them to engage in political negotiations with the iran government instead of fighting this insurgency in afghanistan. so pakistan's focus today is that there should be some sort of political settlement between the afghan government and the afghan taliban. >> reporter: although both governments have been adopting a new approach towards the armed group, it appears there are many fighters who are committed to continuing the chaos. china has come to nepal's aid as it struggles with acute fuel shortages.

$1.5 million worth of fuel will be given to nepal as a grant. in october china signed a deal with nepal to import petroleum products. the former israeli prime minister has been sentenced to 18 months in prison in a bribery court. the ruling partially reversed a lower-court verdict, in which he was sentenced to six years. >> reporter: the hearing was brief, but the ruling was clear. he will become the first israeli prime minister to serve time in jail the supreme court ordered the 70 year old to serve 18 months in prison. he has initially been sentenced to six years in prison by a lower court after he was first convicted in 2014.

the real estate deal remains deeply controversial, and was approved while he served as mayor. the supreme court found he was not involved in the main aspects of bribery in the case, and that's why they reduced his sentence. he welcomed the verdict. >> translator: a large weight was lifted from my heart when the supreme court decided to acquit me of the main charge. >> reporter: he is going to jail for accepting a bribe of around $15,000 for separate real estate project that was always approved while he was mayor of jerusalem. he maintained his innocence. >> translator: no bribe was ever is offed to me, and i never accepted one. i repeat this today. i suspect the verdict of the supreme court judges. >> reporter: he served as israeli's prime minister from 2006 to 2009, he was a

relatively popular leader at the time, but as his caseworked its way through the legal system, there was increasing demands by the public that he serve time in jail, saying israeli politicians are treated far too leniently by the courts. he still faces a potential sentence in prison, over allegations of fraud and making illegal payments to an american businessman, while the supreme court has yet to rule on that case, his legacy as the first israeli prime minister to be handed a prison sentence is cemented. the chief palestinian negotiator has responded to a new report that israel plans to build a new 55,000 settlement units in the occupied west bank. the report bases its find that

-- findings on government data. it would end all hopes of establishing a palestinian state. he is also calling on the international community to reconsider its relations with israel. >> what is needed are two things, number one for the palestinian, for the plo is to immediately implement the decisions of the palestinian central counsel. secondly, we need to immediately knock on the door of the security council to have the motion resolution to that effect that not only the illegalalty, but also to declare that these actions are absolutely a violation of international law and to hold israel accountable. that's what is needed now. if the worst than this is the

american congress have motioned legislations that those who will [ inaudible ] settlement products will be subject to punishment by the united states, and if the international criminal court opens an investigation, there will be declared a terrorist organization, this is a very dangerous time when the u.s. has allies for fighting terror in the region. defeating terror in the region, requires us to end the occupati occupation. >> this is a military system of control and a distortion of the international legal and humanitarian system and intervenes or it is up to the palestinians to say that's it. that's it. and when the palestinians say that it will not be bound -- because israel has rallied over the agreements.

it means this situation has gone to undergo a very drastic change, and it might lead, which israel is building up to, a situation of chaos, a breakdown of law and order which means a breakout of violence. israel has warned brazil it faces diplomatic consequences if the country doesn't accept its choice of ambassador. the previous ambassador left brazilia last week, and the israeli government said that brazil risked degrading bilateral ties. settlements in the west bank are insell under international law. coming up later on this program, after what was considered ebola ground zero, guinea has been declared ebola

free. and stranded cuban migrants are allowed to continue that journey to the u.s. and manchester city get ready to face lester in the english premiere league. ♪ four people have died in a landslide triggered by the heavy rain in brazil. it happened in the southeastern state of sao paulo. among those rescued a one year old girl. flooding have forced thousands of people in four south american countries to make shelter. the argentina president says

climate change is partly to blame. >> reporter: the situation is stable now, that those needed to be rescued in this city are already located in safe areas, however, it continues to rain here, and that could cause the water to rise up once again. still there are entire areas of this city completely under water. there are shelters scattered all around concordia where people are being given food, water, medication, we have seen lots of very poor children in terrible situations here in concordia. right now authorities are trying to cope what could come after all of this. this is the summertime in this part of the continent. it is very, very hot and humid, lots of mosquitos and we're told lots of snakes. >> and those images reflected

across the region, because it's not just where you are. it's brazil, paraguay, and uruguay as well. >> reporter: that's correct, and experts are saying this is the cause of the el niño system. but there is not only lots of rain, but also the amount of water coming from paraguay, from brazil, that has caused the flooding in this city. everything is related. and what green peace, for example, has said is what makes the situation even worse is the forestation, that at least 2 million hectors of wood have been cut down since 2007. and that is what is making the situation much worse. in the united states a big storm is moving through the midwest bringing snow and strong winds. there have been heavy snowfalls

in wisconsin and illinois. almost 3,000 flights have been canceled due to the bad weather. the world health organization has declared guinea free of ebola. there have been no new infections for 43 days. the outbreak was first reported in guinea in march of 2014. 2,536 people died. 4,808 in died in lie -- liberia. the world health organization declared it clear of ebola in may, but seven weeks later more cased were reported. the search for vaccine against ebola is far from over. >> reporter: every time this person come to the lab for

testing, they wonder, which one of them has been injected with the experimental ebola vaccine. one was given a placebo, the other a trial vaccine. scientists are still looking for a cure against the highly contagious and fatal ebola virus. >> reporter: at first my family and i were scared. the doctors reassured me. it's my way to contribute to the fight against the virus. >> reporter: volunteers are not injected with ebola but with a genetically modified safe version of the virus. then researchers give them two experimental vaccine, one to stimulate their immune response, the other to boost it. the idea is to enhance the body's immune system all together so it can fight the virus on its own. >> translator: like any other vaccines we expect some side

effects such as fevers or headaches. we closely monitor volunteers. our priority is to ensure their safety. >> reporter: it only takes ten to 15 years to get a vaccine approved. this is unprecedented and scientists and researchers say it is justified because of the scale of the ebola outbreak, and that the virus is still lurking in the environment, so it's still a threat for people in west africa. according to the united nations, ebola infected 28,000 and killed 11,000 in west african alone. the vaccines are tested on chimpanzees known to carry the virus in the wild. some have developed a natural immunity, but a third of the world's population of chimps have died from the virus. scientists still don't know how the virus jumped to humans. the outbreak has generated fear

and an unprecedented nation response. the battle against ebola is one they see as their own, and so far the vaccine they are testing is working. nicklas hawk, al jazeera. doctor mcbrennan is the ebola coordinator and response director for the world health organization. he says the international efforts to combat the disease have been positive. >> the process of developing the vaccine has been almost unprecedented. by the time the most effective vaccine thus far developed was successfully trailed in guinea. it demonstrated that it was efficacious, and until the time of introduction it was less than six months, and this represented tremendous international collaboration. we have had plenty of challenges with the outbreak, but the development of an efficacious

vaccine and the progress made on other important tools, new dying nos -- diagnostic tools and new therapeutics have been some of the positives. central american nations have reached an agreement to allow migrants stranded in costa rica to continue their journey towards the united states. the migrants can now bypass nicaragua. victoria gatenby reports. >> reporter: around 8,000 cuban migrants have been stranded in this camp for more than a month. the migrants are trying to get to the united states. central american countries have been holding talks in guatemala on how to resolve the crisis. they agreed that the cubans will fly to el salvador where they will be bussed to the united states. >> reporter: the first guarantee

was for mexico to first allow these people to pass through its territory. and the second was them not to be any cost for guatemala. >> reporter: the cuban's journey has been long and complicated. many flew direct to ecuador, which doesn't require cubans to have see sas -- visas. but they were stopped in nicaragua, which is a close ally of cuba's. any cuban who makes it on to u.s. soil is allowed to apply for residency. but with improving relations between the u.s. and cuba, many cubans worry that might change. >> translator: it's important for the united states and cuba to work together. they are at the center of this issue. along with ecuador. >> reporter: the cubans are expected to restart their journey next week, and realize their dream of making it to the united states. hundreds of syrians trapped by the intense fighting in two parts of the country have now

been relocated. people have arrived in rebel-held territory in idlib, and shia regime supporters in the village of idlib have adrived in damascus. while pro-assad fighters have moved as well. the war on syria has forced many people to take grave risks trying to reach the safety of europe. among them was a 3-year-old who's body was washed ashore in turkey earlier this year. some of his family members have now reached canada. >> reporter: at vancouver international airport, these syrian refugees arrived. >> thank you, canada. thank you, everyone. >> reporter: but this is misery

mixed with joy for this family. another brother lost his life and two sons trying to get to greece. they drowned off of the coast of turkey in september. t the images of his body caused outrage around the world. and it thrust this syrian-born hairdresser who has lived in canada since 1992, into the international spotlight. >> it changed my life. [ inaudible ] is nobody. just a normal person. it's not easy. it's the most emotional, the hard thing i ever done in my life. since the tragedy in september, she has traveled abroad with the human rights

group. a go-fund me page set up by a friend will help her and her husband with expenses as they move mohamed and his family into their home outside of vancouver. he will work as a barber in the salon, and as this family adjusts to a new life, her joy is tempered by nearly five years of war in her native country and the reverberations throughout the region. >> enough already. enough suffering. enough people dying. i want to tell the world stop the war. >> reporter: canada is expected to accept 50,000 syrian refugees by the end of 2016. allen schauffler, al jazeera, vancouver british columbia. you are watching the news hour. still to come on this program, we'll look back at some of the biggest events of 2015 through the eyes of five families. plus battling some of the

worst winter conditions scandinavia has to deal with. and in the sports news find out who stole the spotlight from king james. ♪

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meets humanity. ♪ top stories for you here on the al jazeera news hour. iraq's prime minister is in the city of ramadi, in anbar province. the iraqi military recaptured key parts of the city on monday, and flew the national flag over government buildings. in pakistan, at least 22 people have been killed and 42 were injured in an explosion targeting a government office in the country's northwest. local police say a suicide bomber targeted a center, issuing id cards. israel 's top court has reduced the former prime minister's prison time to 18 months. he had been earlier sentenced to

six years. breaking news for you coming us to out of washington, we're getting word that an isil leader with alleged links to the paris attacks ringleader on november 13th of this year, has been killed in syria. you will remember the paris attacked 130 people died, 368 were injured. it happened about 20 past 8:00 in the evening. so many people. there was a stand-off situation. the u.s.-lead coalition has killed ten islamic state leaders over the past month. the pentagon saying in a briefing that is either just ongoing or just finished, they are saying that an isil leader with established links to the ringleader of what happened in paris has been killed as a consequence of one of those

u.s.-lead coalition air strikes. we'll get you more on that as soon as we can. let's stay with the top story. a senior fellow at the center for international governance organization says ramadi is a key testing ground for the iraqi government. it's a lot easier to concur than it is to hold on to this territory, and definitely abadi has been wanting this victory. the loss of ramadi was a huge blow to the iraqi forces, but more important was a real stain on the military that has become the iraqi forces. can it hold on? that will remain a challenge. will it be able to regain the legitimacy of the people on the ground. many of those places have people who have feeling very isolated from the central government, and

abadi, unlike his press -- predecessor, who really isolated the people, he is really trying to regain legitimacy on the ground. >> he said after ramadi iraqi forces will now head towards mosul. that's another strong hold of isil. do you think it will be a similar fight? or will that be a more difficult fight? >> it is definitely going to be a more difficult fight. mosul is a city of 2 million. it is primarily all arab and sunni, but it has many minorities as well. it's a huge challenge to overtake mosul, which we know there's about approximately 5,000 isis fighters. in the case of ramadi it may have been 300 to a thousand at a

most. but this is a testing ground for the idea of having iraqi forces in combination with sunni tribal forces to create this, i think, popular, bottom-up type of liberation force, and quite different than -- really important here, tikrit, which was liberated from isil but was a disaster because of the use of shia mobilization forces that created a lot of havoc on the ground. >> describe the decision to not use the shia paramilitary forces in terms of ramadi. >> this is vital. the mobilization forces or population mobilization forces these are basically iranian backed trained forces. they are gangs. they are not professional military. they don't have allegiance to iraq, they are not being trained in that professional sense of an army. they are hired help so to speak,

mercenaries, so they didn't necessarily follow the nationalistic aspirations of an army, which is meant to contain and maintain legitimacy on the ground. so it's not about destroy and concur, it's also about what happens after you concur, in ensuring that they treat the citizens on the ground fairly in their wake. at least 30 people have been killed in attacks in any northeast of nigeria. two suicide bombers struck a market. in neighboring borno state gunmen opened fire and detonated explosives in a mosque. no one has claimed responsibility. but boko haram is suspected to have been carrying out the latest wave of attacks which come ahead of a government deadline. the nigerian president has given his military chiefs until december 31st to defeat the group and maintain the

significant progress it has made. al jazeera is been given require access to what was once a boko haram base. >> reporter: on patrol with a nigerian military in the heart of boko haram's former strong hold. this forest is mired in myth. it fills many nigerians with dread. it's a vast territory seized by boko haram. a new government and military leadership took over this area. it is now declared that the group is no longer dominant. it is becoming more peaceful, a better place than it used to be. we believe for every second, every minute, every day, things will continue to improve. still, the military is stepping up operations, mopping up and securing areas, they have

recaptured. no area has seen a string of bombing like this area behind me. this area has been pounded from the air for several months, and we're told it's not safe to go in there because of continuing military operations, and land mines planted by boko haram fighters. on the road to the area, one of the most devastated towns. our military handlers took us through areas of destruction. >> translator: i don't think the army is going to stay here for a very long time, due to the defeat. because boko haram is no longer to stay. >> reporter: another school occupied and ravaged by the group before the military chased them out. in fact girls who were taken from this town long before the [ inaudible ] were abducted. >> translator: for two years

this 70-year-old fisherman couldn't go to the river, but now his new fish traps are ready to be laid. >> translator: life was tough, but now we can go to the river and [ inaudible ] and things are getting better and better. >> reporter: things have improved, but fear remains as boko haram has carried out a series of suicide bombings recently. like many people in the northeast, mohamed knows the fight for stability may continue for sometime to come. al jazeera, northeastern nigeria. >> a researcher on war and conflict in the u.k., he specializes on boko haram. so the premier in nigeria, setting a deadline of december 31st. he must surely have been overly optimistic here. >> well, in a way i thought the government was very, very

optimistic believing that defeating boko haram and everything will be fine. but now we have seen there is more to be done. now this is expected to go on for as long as possible, butter think the military need to be more careful, more vigilant and make sure the coordinated attacks like we have seen in the last 48 hours are not allowed to keep going on like that. >> how do that do that? how do they achieve what they need to achieve? >> well, there have been -- i mean, look where we were before this government came in, and where we are now, you know the military have done a lot. they have been able to secure a lot of places -- i mean taken over places that boko haram occupied in the past and then they are securing those places. what i mean by saying they need

to do more is to make sure that they do not leave any space for boko haram to come in and carry out the kind of attacks they have been carrying out. and also they need to make sure that they meet with people own the ground, because you don't know with boko haram, people can hear things that are happening that are unusual, and inform the military, so they need to work with people on the ground to make sure that when plans like that are on the ground, they need to listen to them. >> how do they do that? you are saying they should work with people on the ground. to do what preski -- precisely. >> they need a lot of intelligence gathering. what people on the ground should -- we have civilian task forces that have been working with the military. they are from the communities. the government needs to work with these kind of peoples to know when strange things happen. because boko haram doesn't just

fall from the air. they are people from within these communities, and they make sure they pass for people -- like the lady who went into a house with bombs on her house. and people need to be more careful when they see strange people coming in. a woman being stopped from wearing [ inaudible ]. a lot of people are protesting. but i think if it means something that will help people to forstall attacks like this, then they should contact the government, not necessarily keeping away completely. that is the alternative to [ inaudible ]. governments should talk to people more. >> many thanks. okay. let's go back to that story that has broken since we have been on air this hour. the killing of an isil leader with alleged links to the paris attacks, ringleader, november the 13th. rosiland jordan following that story again for us out of washington. ros get us up to speed. what do we know.

>> reporter: apparently this man who was described as a group leader inside isil was killed in one of ten air strikes lead by the u.s. coalition in recent days, and without giving more details the pentagon -- excuse me the operation inherent resolve spokesman indicated that this person did have ties to the man said to be the ringleader of the paris attacks a few weeks ago. but we don't have much more information about this. much of the briefing underway right now is focused on the iraq's military's efforts to retake control of ramadi from isil, but they have noted that this person was targeted in an air strike. this was not the result of any direct combat by either iraqi forces or by any of the 3500 or so u.s. military advisors who

have been deployed to iraq in recent months. >> so this was a targeted air strike based on intelligence, so they were specifically going after this person and his associates, do you think? >> that is correct, peter. the idea is where the u.s.-lead coalition believes that it has credible intelligence and a very low risk of endangering civilians. they are going to launch these air strikes to go after parts of the isil leadership, and one other point which colonel warren made was that going after the isil leadership in many ways going to debilitate isil's ability to maintain control of the territory, which is claimed not just in iraq, but in neighboring syria as well. they also noted this is being done in tandem with the ongoing air strikes against isil's infrastructure, against its military equipment, against its

oil facilities, which arrested from the control of both iraqi and syrian government leaders, basically trying to dismantle the entire infrastructure, but he did caution that isil has not been more tally wounded. the head of the snake has not been formally severed. >> are we talking about syria or are we talking about these people on the ground in iraq? >> reporter: we're talking about people in iraq for the most part. and that's because the u.s. can work with iraqi forces who are on the ground who basically can call in these air strikes. it's much more difficult to do so in syria, because the u.s. us does not have the same kind of working relationship with members of the syrian opposition who have been for the most part focused on fighting against the government of president bashar al-assad. so that makes it much more

difficult to call in air strikes when they don't -- especially if they happen to be in populated areas. they don't have any way of verifying that they are only going to go after the people that they want, and not inadvertently kill civilians who happen to be nearby. it's much easier to do these kinds of air strikes against the leaders, because there are people on the ground who can say don't hit here, here there. so this is the point they are stressing at the moment, peter. >> thank you for that update. you can get more on that story, on aljazeera.com. and we'll continue to bring you the latest when we have it. russian state tv says a number of migrants are stranded on the border with finland. more than 40,000 refugees have traveled to finland this year.

before we get into the pros and cons of the legal argument, just to be clear on this one, we're talking about just about as far north in europe as it is possible to go. the weather up there is pretty bad. >> i think it is about minus 15 sill -- celsius at the moment. >> over the past couple of days, one has been aware of people being allowed to cross the border, but curiously they have been given bikes by the people who get them across the border. they have to cycle across the border, and yet now we're saying the border is closed? >> yeah, officially, the decision was -- was made to protect the safety of the asylum seekers themselves as it would be apparently not be safe to ride a bike across the border in the cold finish winter weather,

and as the border crossing sites are mainly designed for cars. it was however also said that the aim is to avoid so-called illegal migration to finland. the key here is that seeking asylum is a human right. amnesty has been pushing finland and the e.u. to create safe routes for asylum seekers and refugees, and these new measures actually seem like an attempt to close off one safe route for those wishes to seek asylum, which is obviously worrying and shameful. >> there's never much love lost between your countrymen in finland, and the people across the border in russia. but are we saying explicitly that the finish authorities are working with the russian authorities to seal the frontier?

>> i can't go into that in detail, unfortunately. i don't know. but -- but it definitely seems as though the finish authorities are now trying to tighten the procedure in the border to avoid the asylum seekers getting here. >> so we are talking about, what, tens or hundreds of people who are still on the russian side of the frontier. are they in effect marooned there at such an inhospitable time of year, or are they going to have to head back from where they came? >> i don't personally know about that exact situation at the border. there are said to be some tents of asylum seekers at the moment there. during this year, there has been about 600 asylum seekers that have come from russia to finland, this is not a main

border crossing to finland for the asylum seekers. there has been about 30,000 in finland this year, but most have come from the swedish side. >> we have to leave it there. many thanks for your time. >> thank you very much. [ inaudible ] families of 43 students who went missing in mexico are protesting. as part of our series one year, five families, natasha ghoneim visits the family of one of those students. >> reporter: school became unbearable for 8-year-old angel, everyone knew that his father was one of 43 university students who disappeared last year. at school people chipped away at his hope that his father would return by telling him he was dead. >> translator: my friends, even

my teachers made jokes about me. >> reporter: angel changed schools, but the torment for him and his family has no end. the young male students went missing when they tried to hijack buses. it is common among students who need transportation, usually for protests. in september, the mexican government announced that a drug gang massacred them, burned their remains and through them into a river. an independent investigation concluded there was no evidence to support that theory. allegations that police and drug gangs colluded to cover up the truth persists. >> translator: we have been looking for him, and we are desperate knowing he is not with his family. >> reporter: the family's faith in the government is shattered, but more than a year after he disappeared their faith that he'll come home to them remains. >> translator: we know that the students are alive.

we have received anonymous tips that they have been seen and are being forced to work. >> reporter: his family wanted him to have a better life than what a tiny flower farm would provide. his father was forced to sell land to support the children. when allison sees a helicopter she says the police took my father. but for now all the family can do is pray of his return and continue their efforts to expose the truth. natasha ghoneim, al jazeera, mexico. okay. as is the way with these things, we're getting a drip drip drip of information coming to us out of the pentagon. an isil fighter, we understand in iraq, not in syria, but in iraq, has been killed, and there

are established connections between that individual following on from a targeted raid who has lost his life now, that individual and the ringleader of the paris attacks on november 13th. and we're just picking up that he has been identified as a 27-year-old native of the suburb of paris. he is a suspect in the attack. 130 people lost their lives on that night when that attack took place. isil claiming responsibility for it. it was the theater, and also the whole area, and he has also believed to have fled to syria in november. whether it was before or after the attack on november 13th, we don't know. of course the attacks were orchestrated in brussels, perpetrated in paris, the french president declaring a state of emergency. that's all we know on that story so far. you can get more, of course, via

the website, aljazeera.com, and you can also talk to us on facebook and twitter as well. we will continue to work that story for you. still to come here on this program, we'll tell you who did manage to concur the most treacherous downhill race of the season. ♪

♪ as promised time for sports news. >> peter thank you so much. manchester city can return to

the top of the premier league if they late manchester city. the captain is likely to miss the game after a recurrence of a calf injury against is underland on saturday. >> they have important place, very good moment with high performance, was not easy for him, to beat liverpool, that's why we were -- had confidence that when we had to play with them, maybe we can reduce the gap if we beat sunderland. so now with have an important game. we have to play 63 points more. that's why i today that [ inaudible ] will never win the title. >> lester are a point behind arsenal. manchester united are sixth after a 0-0 draw with chelsy. the manager says he won't be walking away from the club.

>> of course i am concerned, but i'm much more concerned to prepare my players, and that is what i'm doing. and that i read things in the press, these are lives not based on -- on facts. when the players are fighting for me, i always stay, because that is the most important thing. and that you are seeing today. >> south africa have been set a target of 416 in the first test against england in durban. half centuries helped england post 326. south africa are currently 136 for four in their second innings and require another 280 runs. in the nba the cleveland

cavaliers beat the cleveland suns handing them their sixth win in a row. lebron james had 14 points and 7 assists in the games. but kyrie irving sank a 3-pointers with just seconds left in the game. cleveland winning 107-97. [ inaudible ] has won the toughest downhill event of the season in italy. 12 skiers failed to finish the course. pete took a heavy fall less than 30 seconds into his discent. even though he crashed out, he'll still manage to maintain his fourth spot in the overall standings. thanks very much. our colleagues from london will have these latest stories for you next.

we're all back tomorrow at the same time. see you then. ♪

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what we did in ramadi, we will do in mosul. iraq's prime minister's pledge to wipe out isil in his country's northern strong hold. ♪ the last few minutes there has been confirmation that the u.s. air strikes in syria have killed a number of important isil leaders. hello, you are watching al jazeera live from london. also in the next 30 minutes. more than 20 are killed in pakistan as a suicide bomber targets a government office in the northwest. the sentence on bribery charges have been