haider al-abadi, 50,000 bogus names on the army payroll. jane, is this part of haider al-abadi's wears to root out corruption as he said he wanted to do when he took power? >> absolutely. and this is just one of the series of steps darlene. they were basically forced into retirement. which means they don't spend time in jail or get punished in anyway. an effort to reform the institutions. what we're talking about is a tip of the iceberg. what we're talking about is 50,000 soldiers who did not exist but were still on the payroll. that means of course an incredible waste of money but also these army units didn't have the strength that they should have had. combine that with the corruption that led to this in the first place, army generals are essentially disappearing as i.s.i.l. got closer to mosul, it is basically undermining the sense of security here. >> jane, what is the latest on the ground? >> the iraqi military combined most importantly with a large variety of shia political yas are making gain against i.s.i.l. the baji front, there ar

change and the expectation has been that haider al-abadi will at least try heal the divisions in the country. that's not happening. >> there was high expectation from abadi to cool down the situation to cool the political tensions in iraq. the important in iran is the political actions. the political actions from the government did show that there is no serious well from the government to give sort of -- or showing goodwill to the people that they are serious -- >> what can they do on a practical level matthew, this is a government in crisis, this is a country struggling just to hold together because of the level of the security challenge, they're facing this -- you know. >> i think many things can be done. for example, thousands of sunni iraqis are in prison without going into the the courts. the government can do something for those people. the government can do something, there are a high percentage of sunni iraqis, they can give them jobs, they can afford them jobs, they can solve the problems within some of the areas still within government control. there are huge sunni people i

he met with troops and iraqi prime minister haider al-abadi. he pressed for more u.s. involvement in the fight against i.s.i.l., saying our forces are very much advancing on the ground, but they need more air power and heavy weaponry "we need that." asked about the requests by haider al-abadi, secretary hagel responded "i appreciate his directness, but only they can bring lasting peace to their country." >>> we end in north carolina, where cam newton sustained two fractures after his truck collided with a sedan and rode over a bridge. newton and another driver were taken to hospital with nonlife threatening injuries after the crash in charlotte. the panthers say he's in fair condition and undergoing test. the injuries did not affect newton's spine or nerves. it's not clear if he'll miss playing time. his back injury is similar to the one suffered by dallas cowboys quarterback tony romo, and he missed one game. that is some of what is happening around the world. coming up, what impact will a contested rape allegations at the university of virginia have on the nation-wid

haider al-abadi made the request to the outgoing u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel who has been in baghdad. let's go to jane arraf who joins us live from the iraqi capital. is the u.s. likely to heed prime minister haider al-abadi's call? well, they are trying to do more. there are certain constraints. the u.s. does not want to get too deeply into the conflict with an uncertain outcome. the other are legal constraints. it wants to help and send weapons mented there's a lot of concern in washington if they speed up weapons deliveries, sent fighter jets and armour. what we see on the ground is with the u.s. air strikes, i canny forces have been able to push back i.s.i.l. forces in key areas, but in places around iraq's biggest remainry oil proved he is able to come back and keep fighting. >> reporter: this is the main army north of baghdad to tikrit. the i.s.i.l. gunmen they are fighting are here. iraqi forces regained control of iraq's biggest refinery. i.s.i.l. retreated from large areas. the group keeps coming back - in the form of sni

we were actually expecting a major announcement this friday from haider al-abadi -- from the minister. abad said that all options were on the table. we expected he would clarify what he meant by that statement. one idea tossed around by high-ranking officials is that of halting all security cooperation between palestinian security forces and their israeli counterparts. that has not yet been official, and the announcement scheduled for sunday indicates this may not be a very easy decision for him to take. >> thank you very much for bringing us up to speed. with elections in israel looming just over three months from now polls out today show that a joint election by the left leader, her stanford og, could pose a serious challenge to netanyahu. one poll suggesting that the livni ticket would win slightly over the right-roenicke likud party. earlier this week, france's last hostage ways released by al qaeda's north african affiliate. 51 is back on home soil. people are asking what the terms of his release were. he was kidnapped in mali in 2011. the country admitted that prisoners were exc

yesterday, on a visit by defense secretary chuck hagel, iraq's new prime minister haider al- abadi asked more u.s. airpower and weapons. but hagel warned that u.s. firepower is not the solution. >> as iraqi leaders and the people of iraq know, only they can bring lasting peace to their country. >> warner: baghdad did take a step to reconcile with the alienated kurds last week with a deal to share the country's oil revenues between them. meanwhile, the u.s. is deploying 3,000 trainers and advisers to iraqi forces and may join them in the field. if and when they try to recapture the northern city of mosul. i spoke today with deputy prime minister talabani in washington, where he's urging u.s. leaders to remain engaged in iraq. deputy prime minister talabani, thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> warner: the u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel is in iraq this week and your prime minister abadi told him yesterday that iraq needs more heavy weapons from the united states. do you agree with him on that? >> i think iraq and including the kurdish forces, the peshmerga, do require heavier w

. >> reporter: the iraqi prime minister haider al-abadi made clear that iraq wants more u.s.ir strikes and heavy weapons, there's feared that the weapons could fall into i.s.i.l.'s hands if the u.s. supplies then. the american government delayed the shipment of fighter jets bound for baghdad saying security is not good enough in the air base it was destined for. instead, they are going to arizona, where iraqi airmany will train on them there. that's left iraq, according to officials, without enough air power to defend themselves, and without enough heavy weapons on the ground to beat back i.s.i.l. in areas where they are still maintaining the strongholds. i.s.i.l. retreat from major parts of the north here, but they are trenched in anbar province, and in sala had eem province. three provinces. that's a challenge. the iraqi prime minister is trying to reach out with a series of steps aimed at consideration >>> al jazeera continues to demand the release of our three journalists who have been held in prison in egypt tore 347 days. peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy and baher moha

in a television interview this week, iraq's prime minister haider al-abadi, says it's no secret there are advisors helping the embattled iraqi government. just like american advisors, but he flatly denied there are any iranian fighters on iraqi soil. >>> it may be the enemy of your enemy is your friend. but for one point, it's suspicious of the shia majority in expense of the sunni minority. >> in the studios tonight, welcome back, chris. >> it's a pleasure john. >> so iran is not willing to admit they're carrying out air strikes, why? >> well, i think that they don't want to affect the political situation too negatively right now. and the big problem in iraq, iraq particularly, is that the sunni population is deeply mistrustful of the central governmental because it sees it basically as an agency of iran. it's not, not only a secret that iran has advisors, they're all over the place in iraq. and they are working very closely with the militias. when one town was taken a couple of months ago, taken back from i.s.i.s, sulimani head of the kuds force of iran head of a sort of sinister gr

prime minister haider al-abadi said his army is taking the offensive, but he asked for more american planes and weapons. >> woodruff: the united nations' world food program has resumed aid to more than 1.7 million syrian refugees. the agency said today a social media campaign helped raise more than $80 million, enough to resume its food voucher program at least through january. the vouchers go to syrian refugees living in egypt, iraq, jordan, lebanon and turkey. >> ifill: in ukraine, government forces and pro-russian separatists largely pulled back from fighting today. the so-called day of silence was a bid to revive a long-term cease-fire that was signed in september. since then, more than 1,000 people have been killed in fighting across the luhansk and donetsk regions of eastern ukraine. >> woodruff: doctors in sierra leone spent a second day on strike, demanding better care for medical workers who get ebola. three doctors died in just two days last week, in the west african nation. meanwhile, the world health organization said the virus is spreading rapidly in western sierra leone

this comes amidst reports of disarray in the army's ranks, as iraqi prime minister haider al-abadi has revealed the presence of 50,000 so-called ghost troops -- fraudulent names which generate salaries that are then collected by army officers. the deal also as a blow to efforts to close guantanamo prison by excluding language sought by the obama administration allowing the transfer of prisoners to u.s. soil. and the bill includes some steps to curb sexual assault in military ranks, but keeps sexual assault cases in the military chain of command. it comes as new data shows reports of sexual assault in the u.s. military have increased 8%. more women have come forward publicly to accuse comedian bill cosby of sexual assault. three women joined together at a news conference, including beth ferrier, who told her story to the national enquirer in 2005. the tabloid ended up killing the article in exchange for a favorable, front-page interview with cosby. >> i believe mr. cosby drugged me and sexually assaulted me that night. anyoners, i did not tell about what he had done to me because i was