in brooklyn. >> rescue teams struggle to reach flood victims in parts of judiciary as hundreds much thousands are effected by heavy rains and landslides. hello, welcome to al jazeera, live from doha. also on the program syria's assad government agrees to take part in peace talks with russia. pakistan criticized for lifting its ban on death sentences. >> we're working on a computer system to regulate this movement

as it flies. this could provide efficient and reliable source of renewable energy. >> heavy rains have caused major flooding and landslides across parts of asia killing 30 people. 200,000 have been forced from their homes. >> people leave their homes in a surrey as water flows in in every direction. five malaysian states are submerged, and days of rain have turned roads into rivers. it's set up relief centers for the victims. but for some it's too little to

late. they criticize the government for being slow to respond and failing to declare a state of emergency. >> maalation prime minister has cut short his holiday in the u.s. he had been in hawai'i visiting barac president barack obama when the heavy rains began. he said i am concerned about the floods. i feel for the people who have lost their homes and families who have lost their loved ones. i want to see the situation for myself and be with th the malaysian people. >> the water kept rising very fast, and within a matter of a few hours the it was up to knee

level. >> rescuers are struggling to get to affected areas. diseases increase when flooding occurs, doctors say children and elderly are particularly at risk, and health problems usually appear in flood-affected areas after four to six weeks. officials monitoring the floods say levels have not yet peaked. >> in neighboring thailand 13 people have been killed. the government has declared disaster zones in eight provinces. the hardest hit areas so far in the south. the provinces are expecting more flooding in the coming hours as

water is released from a nearby dam. there have been severe flooding in the narathiwat province. in sri lanka ten people are missing, where flooding has forced more than 80 thundershowers people from their homes in the past week. the syrian government has officially agreed to participate in peace talks in moscow. russia's foreign ministry says that it hopes to host talks between bashar al-assad's government and syria's fractured opposition in late january. still unclear who will officially be taking part. syria's civil war has been going on since 2011. since then 200,000 people have been killed and half the population forced to flee their homes. meanwhile, government airstrikes continue in the northern syrian province of aleppo. airstrikes on friday killed three people. they target areas controlled by isil fighters and 36 people were

killed in government airstrikes around the same area on thursday. in neighboring iraq the u.s.-led coalition against isil has carried out more airstrikes against the north. the latest happened near the town of hoajarawija. there are reports that isil still control many neighborhoods. meanwhile, peshmerga forces say that they need more heavy weapons to continue the fight against isil. we have reports from the kurdish front line in northern iraq. >> as nightfalls on the kurdish countryside peshmerga fighters take up their positions. it's under the cloud cover of darkness that isil attacks. they cannot forward to lower their guard. this is perhaps the most important front line in their

fight against isil. erbil is just 60 kilometers away. >> we will continue the defending, and we will defend because in erbil, that's our city. we must be safe. >> but protecting erbil is a dangerous task. two days ago isil fighters carried out their most deeing attack on this peshmerga base. using a combination of suicide-bombers and vehicles laden with explosives they take over the base for a few hours before the kurdish forces touch it. it's the first time isil fighters have used a tank for suicide-bombing, and the peshmerga say it's the ability of them to strike that has them worried. >> some of the peshmerga bear

down. >> this is the first time to have the armored tanks with the tnt and suicide people. they're coming to our front line. an >> we drove across the villages and towns partly held by isil. people have long been displaced by the fighting. >> we need weapons. we need heavy machine guns, of course, because what we use is very old from the iraq and iran war. it's very old. the newest one is 25 years old. bu >> they call for more action

against isil, the peshmerga remains the group's most formidable group on the ground. they say they need meaningful help or isil could charge again across north iraq. al jazeera. >> in bahrain thousands of anti-government protesters have called for reform and the release of political prisoners. opposition leaders march along side the prominent activist. he spent two years in prison for organizing and taking part in demonstrations in 2011. we have groups mainly shia muslims that have led in up rising against sunni rulers. many were killed and thousands arrested in a government crac crackdown. no. egypcrackdown.

>> in i didn't want an police officer was killed. hundreds of anticipate protesters have been rallying in cairo. they're calling for the release of political prisoners. al jazeera continues to call for the release of our three journalist who is have been imprisoned in egypt for 364 days. mohamed fahmy, bader mohammed, and peter greste were falsely accused and convicted of helping the outlaw muslim brotherhood. they're appealing against their convictions. pakistan is intensifying against its taliban fighters. it's in response to an attack last week. the military said it has killed 39 fighters in airstrikes. it says that it destroyed a network of tunnels near the afghan border. the u.n. is calling on pakistan's government to stop

carrying out executions. pakistan lifted its moratorium on the death penalty on terror-related offenses earlier this month. rights activists say that it's affected death row convicts who they believe are innocent. >> reporter: they're begging for mercy. thetheir brother has been on death row for years. now he could be hanged at any moment. >> we're knocking on every door to seek justice for my brother to save his life, but there is no hope and my brother will be wrongfully hanged by the authorities. >> now with the lifting of the moratorium on death penalty, suspects are facing execution. >> on a list that has been selected for immediate execution. convicted for anti-terrorism court in 2004 for killing a boy,

but his family and lawyers say he was 13 at the time, and the accusation had nothing to do with armed groups. >> he was a juvenile, and he was tortured in to a confession, into a forced confession. it really, to lift the moratorium, and they say they're executing the dangerous terrorists, but he was not that. he was 13 at the time. >> the moratorium was lifted and an attack on a school. many are hoping to reverse the sentence. >> i can't bear that my innocent

brother will be hanged without fair trial. if they do so, i won't keep silence and i'll take revenge for my brother, even if i have to join a terrorist group. >> if he has been convicted, there is a law, and islam is very clear on that. >> justice delayed is justice denied, but justice hurried is justice buried. between the two pakistanis are facinpakistani are facing tough moments. >> former president of pakistan's supreme court bar association said that the death penalty does not help fight violence. >> many of the people who did get the death penalty were not given the safeguards and guarantees that are there under international law. so i believe that this is an

easy quick fix solution, which really is at the cost of other people's lives. this does not really end terrorism. because terrorism has its roots in pakistan in various ways, particularly it's nexus with the state itself. the way that the state has tolerated terrorism all these years, but this is not then. >> still to come on the program, pro russian rebels and ukraini ukrainians exchange prisoners. that's after the break.

>> welcome back. a reminder of our top stories now. heavy rains across parts of asia have caused major flooding and landslides killing at least 30 people. malaysia has seen some of its worst flooding in decades, forcing more than 100,000 people from their homes. russia's foreign minister said it hopes to host talks between bashar al-assad's government and fractured opposition in late january. and the u.s.-led coalition against isil has been carrying out more airstrikes across northern iraq.

more than a thousand migrants trying to reach europe has been rescued in the mediterranean over the past three days. the italian navy performed rescues across the coast of sicily. five bodies were recovered and more than 3,000 migrants have died trying to make the journey by sea this year alone. most come from north africa and middle east. you ukrainian government and pro russian separatest have exchanged 300 prisoners. it's been the biggest swap in eight months of fighting in eastern ukraine. east talks in in minsk were expected to resume, but now they've been postponed indefinitely. >> ukrainian president welcomes home these prisoners of war. they exchanged hundreds of pro russian fighters in a prisoner swap. this is a propaganda coup for

president poroshenko, a president trying to help his divided country. >> i'm telling you that i as president and an order citizen is happy that you will do what we've been waiting for, for so long. we're thankful again that we have you. >> there is relief but also sadness about those still being held. it's not known exactly how many prisoners there are. the you cranes military said around 600 ukrainians are in separatist hands. >> thanks for what you've done to release us. we're hoping that our friends who are still kept as hostages will be released in the near future.

>> moscow has backed and arming the rebels in rue crane. they've cited a new military doctrine, naming extension in risks. there is a source of deep anger in kiev. ukraine rail company stopped rails citing security issues. >> video has been released of a police raid on an u.s. funded radio station in azzu

azerbajan. the u.s. aid department said that it's deeply disturbed. no. mexico hundreds of protesters attacked an army base in th in the city where 43 students disappeared three months ago. police released gas canisters to disperse a crowd. the mexican government said that students are taken by local police and handed over to members of a drug gang. only one body has been found and identified. students have been protesting, calling for justice. >> there is a real feeling of anger, frustration and disbeli disbelief. three longs months after 43 students were taken by police, their parents still don't know what happened to them.

thousands of people have joined the parents here today in mexico city, the fourth time that people have marched here in the nation's capitol drawing attention to the fact that information still has not come out, and the wave of violence here in mexico continues this case has really galvanized people and brought them together to speak out about the injustices here in the country, and people say that they're not going to stop actions like this until they see that justice is being done. >> in columbia the marxist farc rebel group released soldiers they had kidnapped last week. the president said it's in the right direction. farc has repeated demands to monitor a new cease-fire deal with the colombian government. now, time is running out for the u.n. to reach it's ambitious millennium goals. eight targets to abe achieve

by 2015. goal number one is to irradicate extreme poverty. one of the biggest success stories is columbia. the country's over all poverty rate has decreased from nearly 50% to 30.6%. but there is still more to do. the millennium goals require an extreme poverty rate of 8% in over all rate of 28.5% by the end of 2015. we have reports on the social programs improving life for people in columbia. >> these chickens have changed life for the better. her family used to live in a garage without a kitchen or a bathroom. she and her then sick husband did not have a job and often no

food. >> sometimes we didn't have anything to eat. well now if we need to i can always kill a hen. >> four years ago she joined a government program to help the poorest of the poor. she received credit, training, and the continuing assistance of specialized workers to set up her business. >> i learn what food to give to the chickens, how to give them an injection. if they were sick or not, how to manage them. then i moved on training, on accounting and how to save money. >> with the new income came a modest but functioning house and more work. the program helps families learn businesses.

until recently colombia has been unable to stop high levels of poverty. minority and rural populations in particular had seen no benefit. something that kept fueling the country's internal conflict. >> main factors of the reduction has ban decision by the national government to convert foster reinstruction into a policy of the state, and bring the state into direct contact with the needy households. >> many home an end with the country's war with farc will allow the government to reach more people. but for how people will still be living in almost absolute mise misery. >> it's still a very high number of people barely able to survive. >> back at the chicken farm, she has achieved almost all of her

program's tasks. the new task will be to open a new savings account, the first she has ever had. another step she says to make sure she can reach a richer future her family deserves. >> well, john hillary is the executive director. war on want. he's explain requesting the millennium goals have not been met. >> it's about power. if you're always taking power away from local communities, away from societies, and away from working people, and handing that power to elites, then there is absolutely no chance of people being pulled out of poverty for the long term. that's what really is the key focus of the new 15-year program which is going to come up. they have to look at those issues of power and economic development not just the symptoms of education and health, that you measure poverty

by, but the underlying cause was persistent politics generation to generation. the real concern we have is over the last 15, 20, 30 years we've had more and more power being handed over to big business and basically the west saying we need to have a global economic environment where big business can thrive, and it doesn't matter what happens to everybody else. yes, we'll give aid money here and there. yes we'll put more in girls' education, but the fundamental prospects of most of the countries in the world have not been improved. >> chinese courts sentenced twolers over factory fire of the chicken plant last year. 121 people were killed, 76 were injured. the fire was china's deadliest industrial accident in some years. some say they were not able to

use the exit doors to escape. a budget endorsed by the cabinet of abe. they're struggling to improve growth in the third largest economy. a cheaper way of harnessing energy from the wind by flying a kite. they're able to generate power for several homes. >> last-minute adjustments before the test launch of a new high-tech kite. these dutch researchers believe that as the technology takes off it could change the way we generate our electricity. the system harnesses the steady pull of the light-weight kite, a

flight control computer underneath the kite communicating with the ground station. as the kite pulls, the wench on the ground let's it pull out. >> we can generate electricity as the kite is reeling out. when we're done we can pull it back in. and then it goes back into the next power cycle. >> in this prototype provides enough energy for 10 to 20 homes. but they want to scale it up making it five-times larger. >> you don't need a heavy crane. it's very mobile, you can drop it, and in remote locations it seems ideal for generators.

>> but like many test flights this one does not go as planned. and a problem with the steering brings it down. flying at 200 meters well above the height of conventional wind turbine. kites likes these with stand high wind conditions. ththe kite power could provide efficient reliable force of energy. >> it is a difficult task even for human operator, and you need some kite surfing skills, then you can feel how the kite reacts. it's a very dynamic system, so the kite always moves in all directions, so it's from a control point of view, it's a hard challenge. >> the team said said it has

taken decades to develop. it's just in its infancy and has as much if not more potential. al jazeera, netherlands. >> don't forget you can keep up-to-date with all the news and sport on our website www.aljazeera.com. they check if a defendant is mentally capability to assist in in their defense. should they determine if a person is mentally capable before an execution date is set? this is "inside story."