we are not afraid. indonesians holding a vigil outside of the jakarta cafe attacked on thursday. ♪ it's good to have your company, you are watching al jazeera live from london with me david foster. a call for action through the top shiite cleric urges the government to do more to stop sectarian violence. a mobile clinic is sent to madaya. the u.n. says 32 people have died in the town in the last 30

days. six are critical ill after a medical trial goes wrong in france. and a u.s. water crisis, people who live in a city called flint are given bottles by the national guard after high lead levels are found in their drinking water. ♪ indonesian police say they have identified four out of five of the jakarta attackers. they are searching for a man that they believe is the top suspect. he is linked to islamic state of iraq and the levant. step vaessen has more. >> reporter: police say they evidence that an exconvict who

has joined isil in syria may have planned the attack. >> he has also the chief in -- in the mission. he is the one basically, you know, prepare this mission. in jakarta. >> reporter: the alleged leader is still on the run. three others were arrested, suspected of plotting an attack. analysts say an estimated 120 indonesians have been trained. >> translator: they have training camps. they have been to sir and fighting as war lords in the jungle l. with have information they have received money from isil through uyghur people in china. >> reporter: this has been described as an intelligence failure, stricter anti-terrorism laws have been discussed in

parliament. but the government says it would rather focus on what is called soft approach. >> look at u.s. experience in afghanistan, iraq, and somewhere else. with the hard approach, it does not solve the problem. it even make, you know, the situation become much worse. >> reporter: indonesian's largest muslim organization with more than 40 million members has called isil as an enemy of islam. they are planning a peace rally this weekend to condemn isil. >> reporter: terrorists are our own common enemies. the enemy of the indonesian people, of the indonesian state. terrorism is against humanity, against religion, especially against islam. >> reporter: authorities are conducting raids in self-part -- several parts of the country, hoping soon to announce some significant

arrests. and people who live in jakarta, well, they appear determined to show that they won't allow themselves to be scared by what has happened. wayne haye is there. >> reporter: there was no sign of fear at the site of the attack after five men came here armed with guns and explosives. instead people came to the area, outside of the shopping mall for a peace rally. >> this country is strong. this country is not weak. we are united that indonesia is a multi-cultural place, and because of that, it's not easy to shake us. >> reporter: it's too early for defiance, though, for family members caught up in the violence. the names of the injured listed outside of hospitals. there is an increase in security in some areas close to where the attack happened, but this sprawling city has largely returned to normal.

there has been a strong rejection of this attack by indonesians, particularly on social media with hashtags like brave jakarta, and we're not afraid. eddie has been cooking on the streets for ten years. he says he refuses to be scared away. >> translator: i'm a bit concern because the attack was very close, but there's nothing i can do. if i don't work, what can i do. >> reporter: the solidarity that has been shown is something people in jakarta say they haven't seen before. >> i think this is a mark of defiance, we want to show we are not threatened. we have not afraid of this intimidation by terrorists, and that's why you see an outpouring that is not coordinated, but people are just here. >> reporter: for now the people here say they won't be defeated. wayne haye, al jazeera, jakarta.

♪ iraq's top shyite cleric is urging his government to do more to stop sectarian violence. on monday a cafe was bombed north of baghdad. the attack was claimed by isil. apparent reprisal attacks have since been reported on sunni mosques and businesses. the grand ayatollah delivered this message through a representative. >> translator: few days ago, the town in the province witnessed terrorist attacks and rewill gettable attacks on several mosques and houses of civilians, which will definitely have dangerous consequences. as we strongly condemn these attacks, we place full responsibility on the government security forces.

>> mohammed jamjoom has more from baghdad. >> reporter: f after the week in which the flames of sectarian were fanned once more, the top shiite religious cleric delivered a message in which he condemned the wave of violence, and also laid blame at the feet of iraq's government for not doing more to prevent these types of attacks. the violence started on monday when isil members bombed a cafe. the next day started seeing reprisal, tit for at the attacks in which sunni mosques and shops were fire bombed. it has only gotten worse these past several days. because of sectarian lines deepening, the ayatollah decided to address it in hisser is month on friday. one of the great concerns is

that if sectarianism gets worse, analysts worry that will effect the fight against isil. iraq security forces trying to dislodge control of key towns in this country from the hands of isil. iraq security forces still have to try to take back mosul as well, and also there has been clashes in and around the tikrit area these past several days, a time of great concern when this violence is only causing more people to worry. the world food program has been told that starvation has killed 32 people in mie -- madaya in the past month. unicef has also described terrible conditions. >> reporter: the bombs and guns come and go, but hunger has been constant for many in this town. now for the first time in months, people in madaya are

getting outside help. truckloads of food, medicine and doctors are streaming in. although for many it's too late. community workers say hunger has killed more than 30 people in the past month. >> translator: when we entered madaya, we heard of children in need. we hoped we could get them out of madaya to be taken care of in our centers. >> reporter: that will require permission from the forces that cut off the town in the first place. fighters supporting syria's president, bashar al-assad, have controlled madaya for months. until now it has been hard to a verify activist videos that accuse the government of deliberately starving its population. it's the same government that is now allowing foreign aid workers in. what they found across syria may be evidence of war crimes by both the government and by the

rebels. >> u.n. teams have received the scenes that aunt us all, women, children, and men who are little more than skin and bones, severely malnourished, so weak they would hardly walk. >> reporter: hear more trucks full of wheat flower head to shiite villages this time held by rebel groups. their people are also said to be starving. while there may be some relief from hunger, it's not clear whether those who let them starve will ever be punished. germany is closely looking at as many 400 potential isil fiers. the number of such people returning to germany from syria and iraq is on the rise. the number of people leaving germany to fight with groups such as isil is actually

falling. although there has been a simultaneous rise in the number of fighters returning home. six people are critically ill after a federal trial in france bent horribly wrong. the health minister has traveled to investigate what has happened. one of the patients is said to be in a coma and brain dead. participates were taking a drug developed as a painkiller, and the development of that drug has been suspended. jacky rowland joins me now live from paris. i think the health ministry has had a few things to say in the last 15, 20 minutes, jacky. what is that? >> reporter: she has. she has been giving more details of this horrible accident that took place. six people directly affected. you already mentioned one was pronounced critically dead.

but we're also hearing that at least three of the others risk suffering irreparable brain damage as a result of the tests. there were apparently 90 people in total who had been administered the molecule, and there has been an emergency number established to allow people to call in, and the authorities are offering free testing, mri scans for anyone who has been involved in taking any dose of the drugs at all. but these six people have thus far taken the biggest dose of this drug. these were the first people whoever had the drug tried on them. up until now, the drug had been tried on animals on chimpanzees apparently, and also in labs on petry dishes on human cells. but clearly an absolutely

disastrous result. the minister was saying this was really an unprecedented accident in terms of medical trials here in france. >> what can you tell us about the company that makes this drug, and the rumor that this was linked to cannabis, which has been refuted. >> reporter: well, the company making the drug is a portugal-based company. i think what is also important to look at is the company who actually were carrying out the test. the portuguese company, and the company here in france is called biotrial, they are a france-based company that carrying out tests for largely foreign drug companies. hiring this clinical testing company to carry out their tests. we are hearing that the active

molecule, the element, the substance is a cabniod substance. the health minister is insisting there was no actual cannabis in the drug. the canabanoid substance is a substance that exists naturally in nature. but it was this particular element that was being tested, and this is obviously the element as well in smaller doses which had been taken as i said by a further 90 volunteers who are being urgently contacted by the authorities to say come forward and be tested, because clearly there is a very serious worry that they too could suffer serious side effects as a result of taking doses of this

substance. >> the other confusion is other the similarities. we thank you for that. jacky rowland in paris. thank you. still to come here on al jazeera, hours of the west africa ebola outbreak is confirmed over, a new case is confirmed in sierra leone. the next commander in chief is standing on this stage. >> heated exchanges between the republican presidential hopefuls ahead of the first primary elections. ♪

the headlines, a manhunt is underway in indonesia, as police try to track down a man they believe coordinated thursday's attacks in jakarta. iraq's leading shiite religious authority is urging the government to do more to stop sectarian violence. this is after a cafe was bombed north of baghdad on monday. people in the syria town madaya have told officials from the world food program that 32 people have starved to death there in the last month. kenyan troops have been killed in an al-shabab attack in somali. kenya has given no indication of the number of casualties, but an app shabab spokesman says their fighters have killed at least 63

troops. our correspondent sent this update. >> reporter: the attack in southwestern somali, not far away from kenya, a group of al-shabab fighters are said to have carried out the attack. residents told al jazeera that they saw kenyan soldiers fleeing from the camp, some of them in vehicles, some of them on foot, and they say they saw many bodies. al-shabab fighters are said to have taken from the camp arms and ammunitions, and taken away vehicles belonging to the kenyan defense forces. it's not the first time al-shabab have attacked kenyan forces. this is the fourth time in two years they have carried out this type of attack. they want to show they are still

a force to reckon with, despite losing some of their major strong holds and main sources of revenue. they also want to use these attacks to rearm themselves to get arms and ammunitions from these bases because they no longer have access to the sea ports which they used to used for rearming themselves. a new case of ebola has been confirmed in sierra leone, months after that country was declared to be free of the virus. the victim was a 22-year-old female student. she potentially exposed 27 other people to the disease. living in a house with 22 others, she was treated as an outpatient at hospital as well. it was a day ago that the world health organization said west africa was effectively free of ebola, and all known chains of transmission have been stopped.

the epidemic killed 11,200 people over three years. >> there are teams on the ground through the ministry of health, supported by international partners, and right now there is work being done to see who could have been exposed and to make that sure that all necessary measures are being done to stop this flairup. and this really reinforced the message that these countries are facing risk of new cases coming, so the job is not over, flairups are possible, and we have to be ready to respond. 12 academicings have been arrested in turkey for denouncing military operations against kurdish people in the east. all of the lecturers are accused of what the government calls

terrorist propaganda. they were calling on ankara to stop massacres in the southeast. in egypt at least five activists have been arrested after the uprising that toppled mubarak from the presidency. the muslim brotherhood have been labeled now a terrorist organization by the egyptian government. now to yemen, and there houthi fighters have been released a minister and four others in what is said to be a goodwill gesture ahead of peace talks. despite a delay in the next round of talks, the u.n. special envoy says he is making progress. >> translator: i contend to you that the release of the people have been secured. they have been held for the past

few months, and i have received this morning, official confirmation of the release of the group. the minister of defense and three others. global markets have taken a beating as the price of oil continues to fall. wall street opened down with the s&p index falling to its lowest level since august. the dow jones index was 2% down, that was after similar falls across europe and asia. plunging oil prices is the main factor. the michigan governor, rick snyder, is asking the country's president, barack obama to issue what is called a emergency major

disaster declaration after a drinking water crisis in the city of flint, michigan. people have been lining up for bottled water handed out by the u.s. national guard. high levels of lead have been found in the city's drinking water. let's go live to john hendren in flint. you know, a bit of background here. this was after they switched to a cheaper water supply? >> that's right. flint used to get water from the city of detroit. it thought it would be much cheaper to get water from the flint river right here in town, so it switched a couple of years ago, and that is when everything went wrong. apparently there was an anti corrosive agent that should have been added to the water, and what happened is that water and it away at the pipes, lead leached into the water supply, and now we have tests from a

local hospital saying children have high levels of lead in their blood. so there is a very serious potential problem here. it takes years to manifest. never the less, you can see behind me, it has been responded to as a crisis just like a natural disaster, but this disaster was manmade. >> they are asking for a federal disaster to be announced. what would that mean? >> well, the governor, rick snyder, asked president obama to beclaire a state of emergency in this county. what that would do would be to free up med -- federal funds, and that would allow the city to rebuild its pipe system here. they really need the assistance from the state and the federal government and president obama is very likely to respond positively to that request.

>> john, there is a suggestion that legionnaires' disease could be tied up with this? >> reporter: yeah, that's -- that's a big alarming concern here, and a mystery. ten people have died of legionnaires' disease. there is a suspicion that the water might be related, but the governor says we do not know whether that is the case at this point. >> john hendren thank you very much indeed. only two weeks until the first primary elections and u.s. republican presidential hopefuls have taken part in what is their sixth debate. the two front runners, donald trump and ted cruz had some rather heated exchanges over a number of issues. alan fisher reports from charleston, in south carolina. >> reporter: the smaller the field, the brighter the spotlight, the nastier the

exchanges. there were sharp attacks on president obama, on hillary clinton, and each other. >> you are worried most of all about keeping your homes and families safe and secure, you cannot give hillary clinton a third term of barack obama's leadership. >> the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that barack obama was inaugurated president of the united states is totally an alternative universe. >> the next commander in chief is standing on this stage. [ cheers and applause ] >> and i give you my word, if i am elected president no service ma'am or woman will be forced to be on their knees and any nation that captures our fighting forces will feel the full force and fury of the united states of america. >> reporter: one of the loudest exchanges was between ted cruz and donald trump when the businessman suggested that cruz

couldn't be president because he was born in canada. but what this debate did do was highlight significant policy differences between the candidates, like immigration, and donald trump's plan to ban all muslims from entering the united states. >> reporter: seriously? >> if we do not know who you are, and why you are coming, when i am president you are not getting into the united states of america. >> our country is a mess, and we can't let all of these people come into our countries and break our borders. we can't do it. >> reporter: the attacks point to where the candidates see their biggest threat. >> you already had your chance, mark, and you blew it. >> reporter: there is a need to make an impact. this debate is said to sharpen the focus of who is really capable of winning the nomination. now it's on to iowa, the first caucus, and the decision of the voters. in just a few hour's time,

venezuela's president is due to deliver his state of the union speech. it will be the first time that he faces a congress lead by opposition members. venezuela's opposition took control of the national assembly last week, and his leaders have promised to remove maduro from office within six months. the astronaut has become the first britain to walk in space undertaking a tricky mission to replace an electrical unit, and it was dark at the time. the british spaceman and nasa's astronaut need to replace an electronic box that failed two months ago. and that cut power to the station by one eighth. they have been making the switch in darkness, because they wanted to stop electricity from

traveling through the solar system and hitting them. he said he felt exhilarated but had no time to dwell on such emotions. more on all of the stories and a great more besides at aljazeera.com. that's aljazeera.com. ♪ the dow drops more than 300 points after the opening bell, and the rough ride is far from over. since september, the constitution hasn't changed. [ laughter ] >> but the poll numbers have. >> reporter: the republican presidential hopefuls facing off once again. and leaders at