>> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america female prisoner exchange deal by the rebels and the syrian government. ♪ hello, this is al jazeera live from doha and also on the program malaysia officials say wreckage in the south china sea is not from the missing airliner. what next for columbia, peace process after talking to rebels enjoy success in parliamentary elections. ♪ and the congo government is

going after the biggest rebel group in the eastern drc. the first branch of more than 150 female prisoners held in syrian jails has been released as an exchange deal with rebels and follows the release of 13 nuns and three monday -- monistary workers and new pictures emerged from the moment the nuns were set free. >> syria and can capacitors hours before the release and these are nuns in december, when they briefly chap chured t -- c them and she is happy about

being released and the nuns are then taken in a convey. this is the moment the nuns were handed over to the mediators. >> translator: thank god, we pray for all our prisoners to be released. we want to reassure all the syrians that we are determined to release all our prisoners from the dictators' jails. >> reporter: it took months of negotiations to secure the release of these nuns and monistary workers. >> translator: we would like to thank god for facilitating this and for being here now and patriarc john working with us and president bashir assad and his communication with the katar and help to us and i would like to thank them and not for getting the real mediator doing this for the same of god abraham and now we are too tired of questions because we spent nine

hours on the road and we would like to thank you all and all those who participated in the operation to get us out where we were. >> reporter: the deal was brokered by the qatar and lebanese government, in return for the nuns release 150 female syrian prisoners were freed by the syrian government. >> translator: there are some who are imprison ended in the jails and released except major crimes, they were taken off the list and the number is more than 1 50. >> reporter: the women were brought where they had been held to lebanon and they were then transported to a border crossing on the lebanese, syrian border. low g -- it took several hours for the operation to be completed. >> translator: it was done through a mediator between the kidnappers and the involved was

not direct with the kidnappers. >> reporter: some reports link the delay to ran some requests by syrian rebels. >> translator: there were some media reports the delays had something to do with financial reasons and i'm here to say there was no ransome paid. >> reporter: the latest hostage release highlights the regional powers it can play in the syrian war. i'm with al jazeera. >> reporter: it's national search teams looking for a missing malaysia flight and they thought they found one of the doors but it's discounted by investigators and it disappeared on the route to beijing to kuala lumpur with 239 people on board

and scott reports. >> a third day of search and recovery on a huge scale and from near and far with no definitive physical evidence there is still no answers to what happened to malaysia airline from kuala lumpur to beijing. >> unprecedented, missing aircraft, mystery as you can put it. it is mystified and we are including our efforts to do what we have to do. malaysia airlines is helping us and they are all helping us. all the experts around the world are helping us, but as far as we are concerned, we have to find the aircraft. >> reporter: officials are not discounting any possibility for the plane's disappearance including hijacking, terrorism or catastrophic that ripped it apart from 10,000 meters above

the water. without giving detail the golf says the investigation continues to the two men who traveled on it with stolen passports and reviewing documents and footage and consulting with authorities on the investigation and china has an investigation of its own and one name on the passenger list did not match the passport number and the person with the passport number is still in china. so as the territory for the search widens and intensifies so does the despair of family of the 239 people on board waiting for any shred of information. >> reporter: they are not talking about the two men with stolen pars ports on the plane and said to be asian appearance but nothing else. the tickets they used to board

the plane came from a travel agency in thailand and we are there. >> the two passengers who bored the malaysia flight with stolen passports bought them from here and this is the agency that issued the tickets, six star travel. the police questioned the owner of the agency and she showed the head of the police the tickets that were issued as well as the passport that was used to issue these tickets and it was the original stolen passport. the picture on that passport was of the italian who wasn't on board the flight and reported his passport missing in july, the end of july last year from pooket. there is an under ground business in thailand for stolen and lost passports and some westerners sell their passports and it's big business. authorities are not ruling out the issue of terrorism there is also the issue of illegal

traders, prisoners and possible asylum seekers and not long ago people were arrested at the airport using fake passports and trying to reach europe by china and we don't have details on the true identity of passengers who boarded the flight using stolen passports but now thailand find itself in the middle of the investigation and not much disclosed by authorities saying they are going to follow-up on the leads they have at the moment. >> reporter: there are fears for columbia's french peace process after the ruling coalition lost seats in parliamentary elections and most votes went to the party of the former president and his conservative group which is opposed to peace talks with farc rebels will be one of the most powerful in congress. and the president has been trying to negotiate a peace deal with farc for 19 months now and

they are fighting the columbia government for 50 years and during the time the rebel group has been relying on the drug trade to fund its operations and we report. >> surprise success, former president and party to the democratic center are the second biggest force in the senate and the real winners of parliamentary elections. as a result that changes the political landscape of the country and deals a blow to the current president who until now enjoyed a huge majority in congress. >> translator: i have voted for the democratic dissent of venezuela. i voted against the blood-thirsty chevez ideologys they brought to columbia and the government allows us not to avoid it. >> reporter: 3 million people cast ballot for a new congress

and as soon as the referendum and ongoing peace process of the rebel group farc, this new congress will play a role with laws to implement a peace deal and to resist any reconciliation with the rebels. >> it's very likely that these will force changes in the trading table maybe by including older negotiators and other points that has been absent from that table. >> reporter: the result marks the birth of a new political force in columbia and while president santos' coalition will maintain a small majority in congress it could impact his chances of reelections in may. i'm with al jazeera. >> reporter: both candidates in el salvador claim victory in their presidential election and no official result yet but the council says the vote is too close to call from the capitol

el salvador. >> they will go to bed without knowing who their next president will be. the electoral council came out sunday night and said there is no winner yet and results too close to call and has to be an official count that will start on monday and take two or three days before they are actually able to determine who the winner of this election is. ♪ now outside of voting stations we saw a lot of activity and showing support for the party and hoping the party would come away sunday night with a victory. inside the voting stations we saw what appeared to be an orderly and calm vote going on and saw the votes being counted with observers watching the count, making sure each ball let was accounted for. in the election center media and

observers are now forced to wait for a number of days before they find out the official results but out on the streets of el salvador and it's the people who are left in limbo waiting to find out who will be aahead of the country for years. >> reporter: we will tell you about the mexican cartel leader who has been dead for the second time. >> translator: children come here to play and my own would be happy, i don't want it to be a sad, lonely place. >> reporter: a father's loss three years on from japan's tsunami and one man's memorial to his children. ♪

>> they refuse to look into this... >> so many people at such a high level had a stake in al megrahi's guilt. lockerbie: what really happened? on al jazeera america

♪

hello again, top stories on al jazeera, a major prisoner exchange in syria following the release of three nuns and workers by al-qaeda linked fighters and 150 female prisoners in the jails has been set free. international search teams looking for a missing malaysia flight have not located any part of the aircraft and debris in the south china sea was thought to be one of the doors but this has been discounted by one of the investigators. fears for columbia's peace process after the coalition lost seats in parliamentary elections and most went to the former president who is opposed to peace talks with farc rebels. rebels controlling an ail terminal in libya say any attempt by the central government to fire on a north

korean oil tanker will be an act of war. the libya navy sent the missiles to prevent the tanker from leaving and we have more from tripoli. >> the tanker docked at the oil part and by doing so the crew of the morning glory ignored warnings by the libya government to stay away. the port is controlled by rebels trying to sell the oil despite the government's objections and threats to bomb the ship. >> translator: the defense ministry has given instructions to the army to deal with the tanker before docks at the port. we asked the armed forces to stop it at all cost. >> reporter: the confrontation could turn violent, libyan navy and guardian airforce are all on high alert. the military says the tankers

crews needed their ship in the port overnight taking advantage of foggy weather. >> translator: they will engage of it as soon as it starts sailing. what presents us from bombing the tanker is saving environmental consequences especially the oil shipment could cause an environmental crisis in the sea. >> reporter: they have taken control of a number of oil exporting ports in the east and demanding a bigger share of the country's oil revenues and recently some of the groups tried to sell the oil independently. the crisis over libyan oil highlighted major differences between a weak central government and military forces between tribal and regular allegiances. and i'm with al jazeera tripoli. taliban vowed to disrupt afghanistan's up coming presidential election and urging fighters to attack polling staff

and security forces before the april 5 vote and it will choose a successor for the president, karzai. congo army says it's determined to finish the job of clearing all armed groups out of the east of the country and the largest faction is rwanda or fdlr for short and includes hootoo rebels and carried out the 1994 genicide and have been in the drc for 20 years and the army says it will attack the fdlr with u.n. support within weeks if they don't surrender and, malcolm reports. >> this doesn't look like the headquarters of an armed group, a lot of young men standing around and the day before they got here they carried guns and uniforms and the fdlr are trying to present a new image.

when they are ready to meet us we are greeted the singing and dancing and some accused of genicide and mass rape but now it's claps and smiles and want to share guns which they say they have laid down. a small cash of weapons inside this hut and a stack here and many of them look very old, in the middle here there is a stack of slightly larger machine guns and on the floor is a pile of ammunition and not many bullets than guns in the room and 50 rifles in here but a lot more men than that in the camp and must be more weapons hidden somewhere and they laid them down because they are ready to take place. and the army supported by the troops want the men to come out of the bush and hand over their weapons and the old army the rwanda government is not interested in the political

recognition at home but fdr leaders say they are not safe going back unless they negotiate. >> translator: we do not want to hand the weapons to the u.n., the u.n. wants to disarm us and send us to be killed. we ask african leaders to find a solution in african way. >> reporter: some other members of fdlr are wanted for genicide crimes but most here are too young to bear that guilt and u.n. say many grew up as child soldiers in congo and u.n. troops support the army to clear all the armed groups from the east. commanders of both forces say they are ready to attack the fdlr soon. >> what we observe on the ground is still fdlr continuing activities including human rights violations. we don't see them either

surrendering while we would very much welcome them from themselves. >> reporter: the fdlr says a political solution is needed to end ethnic tensions that date back to the 1994 rowanda genicide and people and people are waiting to see if they will try, malcolm web, east of the democratic republic of condo. >> reporter: southern ur crane used a national holiday to unite with russia and tension is simmering in domask as rally between pro-moscow and kiev are taking place and it was a traditional stronghold of ukraine deposed president viktor yanukovych. >> they gather beneath the statute and a few thousand ukraines believe they would be better off as russians.

the older people are nastalgic when they were all united under the soviet union and everyone is against the new leaders of ukraine. . >> translator: we are against the government and let's make it clear we are against this government. >> translator: mr. obama let us live in peace, take away the fascist from kiev and i ask it from my soul. >> reporter: the squire is not full but they are pro-russia and against the european union and nato. rallies are held in the eastern and cities in the south by people who want to break away from ukraine. they want to use the momentum created by the crisis in crimea to press their own demand with the union with russia. another square that people are

gathering for an opposing army and these are ukraine national list and want to be separate. >> translator: we would like to join the eu, for 70 years the soviet union humiliated and stole from us. >> reporter: and the police are afraid of confrontation and persuade the organizers to call off the pro-ukraine rally. >> translator: disbeers because there is real danger here, please dispurse. >> reporter: they have the streets to themselves. a few ukrainian nationalist are left and only eggs are thrown but the left of anger and hatred is rising. >> reporter: three al jazeera english journalists have been held in prisons now for 72 days,

fahmy, greste and mohamed are accused of having links with terrorist organizations and spreading false news and al jazeera rejects it against all staff and from the arabic channel has been detained for more than six months and oon a hunger strike since january 23. mexico confirmed the death of one of the leaders of the country's most violent cartel and they thought that gonzales was dead no 2010 but body never found now they said he died in a shoot out and this was this 2011 as an off shoot of the cartel and takings its name of the middle ages and the cartel controls most of the marijuana and meth trade-in mexico.

members of the group accused of murder, kidnapping and extortion. from mexico city adam reports. >> this pays tribute even saying he was killed in 2010. mexico's government says he lived on to went to templar, one of the country's most powerful cartel but they say his reign ended on sunday. >> translator: he was intercepted by marines and the army and when they asked him to surrender he opened fire. >> translator: many can't believe he was alive and many of those who did not prayed to him as a saint. the knights templar were around rights and one of the main traffickers of meth and they made millions through extortion and kidnapping, preying on the

population, the very people they always said they protected. last year with the federal government largely absent they went into battle against the cartel and this year it launched an offensive and arrested several top leaders of the exemplar and worked with the vigilantes and this is two weeks after one of the world's most wanted drug lords was arrested, or shorty that was ahead of one of the cartel and they were close to capturing him and it's unclear who role if any they had to do in his death. releasing forensic showing the man killed on sunday was indeed him, the government is also perhaps trying to show the former president headed a government that was ineffective and inefficient because they said they killed him in 2010 but never produced a body or any other evidence.

adam with al jazeera mexico city. >> reporter: tuesday will mark three years since an earthquake and tsunami struck japan criminal the power plant and many killed and those who survived the loss of loved ones is still felt everyday and al jazeera harry spoke with families of victims in the province. >> japan's northeast coast is marked by what is missing, houses from dozens of neighborhoods, loved ones from thousands of lives and he is doing what he can to rebuild. a carpenter and putting up a memorial, a playground where his house once stood where the day after the disaster he found his mother cradling the body of his youngest daughter, all three of his children had died. >> translator: on top of the playground there are three arrows pointing at the sky and symbolize my children, if

children come to play i think my own would be happy. i don't want it to be a sad, lonely place. >> reporter: they were 13, 10 and 8 when they died. their lost plunged him and his wife to what they now call a living hell. in the three years since he has thrown himself into volunteer work. he senses that his children have guided him. >> translator: you might think it's strange but when my wife is here and me over there eating, drinking and chatting together sometimes we feel something, someone looking through the glass, when i notice it so does my wife and she will say they probably came home to play again. >> reporter: a 20-minute drive from his home is where the sea reared up 20 meters here and more than 800 people were killed. no question the communities up and down this coast are slowly

changing, rebuilding process is underway. but three years on they are still marked by a terrible feeling of absence. like that of the bank that once stood on this plot on the 12 staff members swept to their deaths from its roof. and he was one of them, the husband still carries her picture everywhere and thinks about her last e-mail from the bank roof saying she wanted to come home. and so last month, this 57-year-old bus driver qualified as a rescue diver, he won't stop he says until he finds her body. >> translator: she needs to come back home and be buried. her bones i mean so we can pay tribute to her. and she will continue to lie where she fell at the bottom of the ocean and that is too sad to bear. >> reporter: back there the weather is turning but he wants to show us an earlier memorial he made. he sits and remembers it's just

their bodies that are not here he says, so he spends time on each lovingly crafted seat, one for each child so they don't get jealous and he will always be their father. harry faucet, japan. ♪ ukraine is in big financial trouble and the world is rushing to rescue it and i will talk to the economy minister in kiev and go inside venezuela where toilet paper is tough to find but gas is free. a multi million dollar commonty that falls out of the sky every day and i'm alley velshi and this is "real money." ♪