what really happened? >> this is al jazeera. >> hello welcome to the news hour i'm martine dennis. coming up. migrant ship only days after hundreds of refugees are found bownedabandoned at sea.kurdish forces try the hold off i.s.i.l. as it retakes territory.

antiterror law signed two weeks ago. bad luck or bad habits? a u.s. study is changing the way we look at what causes cancer. but first a cargo vessel holding hundreds of migrants has been rescued off the coast of italy after being abandoned by its crew. that's being towed now towards italy's calabria region by a new force that's been enlisted to help migrants at sea. that's second such incident off the coast of italy in aa a week. after italy rescued another un

unskip erdskipperred ships. victoria gatenby looks at why the number of migrants. >> is croing thecrossing the immediate mediterranean in unsafe boats. before continuing the journey overland to europe. the number of migrants head toward italy. 60,000 migrants arrived in the country in 2013. but last year that figure almost tripled to emotional more than 160,000. the u.n. estimates 600 migrants

died or went missing at sea trying to cross the immediate trainmediterranean. >> okay, we can speak to joel millman now a spokesman from the international association for migrants. the number are vast, aren't there, a direct correlation between the number of individuals wilings to willing to do this and the conflict zones we're seeing around the world. >> that's certainly what we're reporting. we're seeing 2015 is starting pretty much along the same tangent. the response of some of the authorities in the region, m are no sir tremrerenostrum, bringing the

same population towards european shores. >> tell us about the tactics. it does appear that they are deliberately leaving these vessels in danger and towards the italian coastline and that's how they're ensuring that these people are taken onto land usually as i say by the italians. >> what's new as we can is see issee isthe numbers. 60 people on them, 25 people on them, i mean to see cargo ships that are abandoned with over sphefned people on700people on them,

the blue sky is unprecedented. over 500 people off the coast of malta being scuttled it's possible they can discovered a new method of purchasing derelict or old craft that are violence on board and they create a kind of emergency situation. that's what we hear. but you know, it's too soon to judge how -- how much this is going to be the new tactic. >> with conflicts continuing to rage and we can't see an end can we to the civil war in syria. we've just reported record number of deaths having occurred within the syrian civil conflict, with those kinds of conflicts continuing how on

earth can we plot a way forward for other people flocking towards another part of the world? >> the only thing i see is the change to the receiving country's behavior in terms of trying to establish some spot out within the stay of -- any -- [ breaking up audio] >> joel, sorry about that, an abrupt end to our conversation with joel millman. we got the gist of what he was saying. richard anquin, meteorologist is here to talk to us about the kind of conditions these people are enduring. we saw people coming off of the boat especially the last boat, suffering from a condition like

hypothermia. >> this is the phase that has to faces. most of us can imagine the temperatures of the immediate mediterranean can get up to 30 degrees in the summer. we've got relatively quiet conditions. just beginning to slow down. don't be fooled. sea temperatures in winter go to 14°. combination of low temperatures and gusts of wind, giving you a wind chill of minus 4°. it can be desperately cold in the mediterranean. >> has the sea been incredibly cold in the last couple of weeks? >> incredible. you can see the shores there

the shots come from brendis irvetiondisi offthe coast of italy. it's still looking relatively unsettled after 24 hours martine. >> thank you richard. peshmerga forces have been engaged in house to house fighting in the islamic state of iraq and the levant fighters in the village of sultan abdalla are mohamed a adow, authorities are searching house to house. >> reporter: indeed it is.

dotting the hills around erbil where the peshmerga fault lines are. i.s.i.l. fight rs are fighter are engaging the peshmerga they have a greater arsenal because they took over all -- they got them from abandoned gair sons and garrisons when i.s.i.l. just came pouring over huge portions of iraq and they are using conventional and unconventional warfare. we have witnessed the scale of the forces facing peshmerga in sultan abdalla. outside erbil the iraqi kurdish

region the i.s.i.l. fighters have battled to recapture it and as the fighting intensifies the peshmerga zero in on one of the houses. >> there are some i.s.i.l. fighters behind in that house. they have remained behind after the others retreated. >> more kurdish fighters move closer to the house. they spray it with bullets. there is nothing to confirm their bullets have hit their targets so some of them move even closer. it's a mistake. bullets come in from the house. one of the peshmerga fighters has been shot. he is dead. his colleagues carry his body away. overcome by grief one of them

weeps over the body. in another part of sultan abdalla a huge explosion rips through the village. it's a car bomb targeting the peshmerga. more peshmerga enforcements arrive as panic grows. the kurdish forces decide it's sometime to bring the fighting to an end. rocket propelled grenades. for now sultan abdalla is back in peshmerga hands. >> this is a very important village as it is on the banks of the river. the highway to mosul also passes here. which means we can stop i.s.i.l. supplies from this region. >> these two men know too well,

it is this area here who eventually decides who wins the war. >> targeting i.s.i.l. forces this time in northern syria. rah ca wasraqqa constitutes its main power base in syria. and coalition air strikes have been targeting i.s.i.l. positions in iraq. u.s. commanders say warehouses were targeted near fallujah. logistical support from bahrain saudi arabia and united arab emirates. the fight against i.s.i.l. i should say is basically against a front line of emotional a thousand kilometers and the peshmerga has consistently requested additional backup and

additional support. despite those air strikes they're still in need of materiel if not manpower. >> reporter: well, they are both in need of materiel and manpower because the front line, that the peshmerga are manning is huge. and they are fighting in places far away from the kurdish semi unanimouslyautonomous region. they are at times martine establishing themselves as the most formidable force. they have so far brought back most of the territory that i.s.i.l. had captured from them like five or six months ago.

yet they lack the material they need to fight i.s.i.l. they are only fighting with ak 47 rifles and some are as old as 25 years from the arab iran war. they need help only in terms of getting more guns, more ammunition but also getting training for some of their stuff because some of the guns that they're given they don't know how to use them. and one of the people we met in one of the front lines was approaching one of our security advisors to ask you know how to fire a gun. so it's at that level. so they need a lot of help. and as of now they're not getting much of it. >> mohamed adow, live in erbil thank you very much. one last gloomy note on the situation in iraq, it is now reported that 17,000 civilians were killed in 2014, that makes

it the deadliest of the last seven years. the iraqi body count number of deaths was roughly double the number recorded in 2013 which in turn was double the number in 2012. the number of individuals killed in iraq for the second half of 2014 was more than 1500. it peaks in june with 2574 civilian deaths, whilst 1748 people were killed by iraqi military air strikes. 4325 were killed by i.s.i.l. the highest number of deaths were recorded in baghdad anbar saladin provinces. activists are reporting that more people were killed at any time since the conflict began four years ago.

these numbers coming from the syrian observatory for human rights 1736 people having died in 2013, over 17 thousand of them were civilians 2,000 women women, rebel groups lost 13,000 of their fighters. we have more to come in al jazeera, including the family of one of three of al jazeera's journalists jailed in jeecht calls to send himegyptcalls to send him home. an in sports individual of liverpool club, where is he going, details coming up. knew the familynow the family

of peter greste is calling on egypt to release him by presidential decree. the three were convicted of spreading false views. an appeals court in cairo added a retrial that could begin in a month. >> i think it's a positive step, the decision of the court of causation acknowledges that the first trial was fraud and it's the first step towards seeking justice for peter. of course there's always an initial air of disappointment because there was a lot of rumor running around at the time that they may have been released, but really when your loved one is locked up in prison and there is any kind of opportunity that they may be released and it's dashed, it is, it's initial

shock. but i think once we've had time that we take stock of it, it is a positive step because again that does acknowledge that the process was flawed, the first trial was flawed and 94 peter becomes an accused person. he's still innocent so it allows the president to step in under the guise of the presidential degree that was announced in november. and we'll be seeking application to have peter brought back to australia under that decree. >> the u.s. state department reacted to the court's decision publishing a statement that we welcome the decision that the original decision was flawed, even after we remain concerned about the three being imprisoned inclusion all measures to release these journalists. fighting in eastern yemen has killed two tribes men and

injured other soldiers. tribal leaders accuse the military of helping the houthis who want to take control of the region and the death toll after a suicide bomber attack in sanaa the capital has gone up to 36. after a suicide bomber blew him up at a cultural center. now to kenya as the high court has cracked down on those suspected of terrorism. the parliament passed the bill last month amid lots of opposition an even brawl among opposition mts. violate human rights including a provision to hold terror suspects for a year without charge. now the government says these measures are necessary. we can speak from the kenya

opposition, joining us from the capital nairobi. and presumably you are pleased mr. omar with the high court's decision. >> i absolutely am. we we're quite skeptical to the fact that some of these areas of law were in contravention of the execution and by the courts set ago side these provisions, some of these provisions there is a glimmer of hope. and our expectation is that the entire process will be nullified as to how the body was enacted and overturned. >> as the commission suggests it is a response to extraordinary times. he says extraordinary times require extraordinary decisions so what's wrong with it?

>> i think the court was very pronounced on some of those matters where people feel there are arguments that human rights the constitution can be set aside at the convenience of security. and the court was very firm, from decisions from india and other parts of the world that it is absolutely inherent that whenever anybody decides that the government undertakes security matters that it must conform to the constitution. whatever the court today suspended as those issue regarding media reporting investigation and matters of terrorism before issue rise around issues to far trial where they remove the obligation of refugees where the judge felt

maybe there could be some very adverse impact in terms of refugees that were here, and adverse impact were not to be reversed if some sections of the -- >> i can hear sorry i can hear a lot of -- a lot of the support that you've got from the high court ruling the support your argument against these security laws but what i'd ask you is what would you suggest then to the government to handle the situation of particular gravity when it comes to security? we're talking about nearly a hundred people nonmuslim kenyans having been killed within the last month alone by al shabaab. >> i think it is a matter of confidence. the government has to have a strategy. there is no clear way how to counter terrorism in kenya. you look at how the reorganization has been made are

for instance in kenya. oh it was a fact and eventually he was replaced with somebody from the masai community which i think he might be competent to handle the security document -- >> again, what are you proposing instead. what are you proposing as a strategy that the government perhaps could consider in terms of dealing with this security threat? which has so many kenyans living in fear? >> i think we would say this fact of the matter thefirst and foremost, we have to have more of that strategy including engagement, could be able to effectively you know demolish the narrative that supports the -- that supports radicalization. we've even talked about the possibility of kenya pulling out

in a phased withdrawal, pulling out of somalia so it can secure its borders internally. there are many other strategies including legislative proposals that do not abrogate but where you want to now extend that to violate the constitution it can also be used politically to a certain point. >> senator hasan omar, thank you very much indeed. >> now the body from the first identified prisoner has been returned to her family. the remains of the victim was hand he over to her grieving family in surabaya.

crews are combating bad weather to try ofind the remains of 162 passengers and crew. step vaessen reports. >> helicopters flying over the area where search teams suspect the plane may be. meanwhile, relatives are starting to become frustrated. joseph samarra are waiting three days to hear news of their soon. >> any son is going there celebrate the new years over there. and then my other son is also living in singh so they going to meet over there. but now he's stuck in the ocean. >> joseph samarrara and his wife have come from their home in

indonesia. >> i'm frustrated. >> taking too long? >> taking too long, we're hoping they can do i.t. much faster than that. >> it's a painful wait for the relatives at the airport facility in surabaya. they want to hear evidence of their loved once as soon as possible. a shadow of the plane was seen underwater, rescue members have not been able to locate it. a ship with an underwater locator beacon is in the area. >> it's useful. it's useful. we tried to keep the noise level low so that is very difficult so you would have to proceed very, very slowly, otherwise if you -- like if you use the very fast ship the noise of course will interfere with the signal and everything. that's the difficult -- that is the handicap.

>> two people found on wednesday were finally brought to the sield andisland and then to surabaya for identification. out of respect no new year's celebrations were held in surabaya. step vaessen, al jazeera surabaya. >> richard we have been talking about weather conditions in europe particularly the mediterranean. >> that's right martine. you can see the cloud up across more northwestern areas. and it's on this cold front which will live up to its name that we'll see developing weather over the next 24 hours or so.

italy still around the brindisi area, as we look at the forecast then we've got this area of snow developing extents into the nordic countries. poland germany and into eastern parts of france. a cool breeze coming in behind it. highs of 13 in london on friday that will not last. we will find as we get into the new year, temperatures falling away and still more snow coming in across parts of france. conditions establishing themselves black sea seeing bad conditions unfortunately, see we have snow at high elevations, in parts of russia and temperatures in moscow just on freezing martine.

>> thank you still to come on al jazeera why buying a pack of cigarettes in south korea is a bad situation. washington capitals bring in a win all the details from sana returning in sports.

>> hello again you're with al jazeera and let's look at the

top stories. a migrant ship is being rescued off the coast of italy's pulia region. abandoned by its crew on the way from turkey. there are thought to be hundreds of migrants on board. kurdish peshmerga fighters, recaptured a strategicallying vital area. cracking down on those suspected terrorism. parliament passed a bill last month areplied a brawl with opposition mps. parts of the bill it is argued violate human rights. now a new study says many cancers could be the result of bad luck rather than poor lifestyle choices. okay let's talk about this new

report then. it could be quite groundbreaking. or is it? we could talk to elio deboli, director of public health at imperial health in london. i don't know if you have looked at the time research but if you have can you tell us the significance of it? >> the paper just came out. first of all, good morning. the paper just came out and i actually had the chance of reading it yesterday. and may i say first of all it is a very good piece of research done by two outstanding research research, professor thomasetti and foag fogelson. preexisting knowledge that cells replicate at different rate in different organs of our body and

they have linked the frequency that the cells normally are replicate and the chances that the cells are produced in one area or the other. my concern is how this might be interpreted in a public point of view. >> indeed, people like us in the media looking at the top line and already we're rather excited in relaying the information that perhaps gettings cancer is go down todownto a matter of luck or chance rather than the way you look after yourself and taking risky action he such as smoking or eating a bad diet. >> exactly. because you if go down and read the paper carefully you will see that thomasina and fogelson

separate the smokers and nonsmokers. among smokers 20% of them will develop cancer. among nonsmokers only one out of 200. four chances out of five not getting cancer. if you are never a smoker your chance of not getting cancer are 99.9%. you have to build the intersection combined with our knowledge of environmental and lifestyle factors that modify the risk of cancer. >> what do you think of the fact that the research didn't deal with some of the most commonly occurring forms of cancer like breast cancer and prostate cancer? >> well, that has been a choice in the mathematical modeling. we should not forget that this very nice piece of would work is a mathematical modeling using

selective knowledge and other colleagues point out using different type of knowledge you point out different results. shown that the idea that has been around for a long time in the cancer field the speed at which the cells replicate in the body. you should just remember that we don't get too much from the neurons from the brain. the so-called brain tumors are the surrounding cells because they are never replicate. to get cancer you must have a repreplication of cells. this is a measured piece of work which does not negate the huge scientific evidence we have that links environmental and lifestyle factors. we still have to put our efforts of avoiding smoking avoiding

heavy drinking, obesity and promoting a healthy lifestyle. this is what we can do. we can't change biology but we can change how it operates against the environment. >> okay thank you very much indeed for putting us straight on that. elio reboli, director of public health of the imperial college in london, thank you. now, 2014 was a really tough year for afghanistan particularly for its economy. the word bank has reported. jennifer glasse reports that the afghans producing in the country. >> his product is home grown. >> we're the only company in

afghanistan that are using its own fruit pulp. there are two other companies but they are importing from other countries. >> he's not sure if he's going to rebuilt but he has and he's expanding. >> as a builder it's not a smart move, with such a high risk but as afghan, being inhabitant of this country i think it's a smart move. if i don't do it, who will? >> sadik employs about 350 now. he buys the fruit of 20,000 farmers. next year he wants to buy from 35,000 farmers. and use the juice.

>> until then the economy remains at a standstill. >> he pounds the pavement trying to sell energy drinks. >> translator: shopkeepers don't buy anything for us. because of the uncertain situation. they don't want to invest anything. >> reporter: ishmael nouri says he's just struggling to survive. >> 11 people depend on this shop to live and we're operating at a loss. we're living off savings and instead of expanding our business we're going backwards. >> nouri says he hopes the new government will do something to help turn the economy around. but he's not sure what they can do and whether it will be in time to save his business. jennifer glasse, al jazeera

kabul. >> after president blamed so-called terrorist groups for a coup attempt. president jame accused the executives in euks u.k. u.k u.s. and germany. the u.s. has denied any involvement. >> reporting from the senegal gambia border. >> relief, finally safe across the border in senegal. baba left in the middle of the night. as soon as he heard gun shots he sensed trouble. >> translator: the gun fire didn't last long. since then there's again an eerie calm.

>> al jazeera got rare access to the reclusive leader. yaya jame is a reclusive leader. many hiv patients have died after being advised to stop taking antiviral drugs. at the border most gambians refused to speak to us but gambian leaders say this is incorrect, their leader is extremely gentle sand kind. we tried to enter into the country but were refused. tourists are welcomed though. peak season. >> when gambia made international headlines it's for the wrong reasons. it's either for the threats to cut off heads of homosexuals or

about jam reservation throwing his opponents into the ground, bury them six feet deep or about his normal an ticks against the u.s. there is a thirst or hunger to have something happen. >> dissidents have not lost hope, it is a matter of time before ya ya ja jame loses power. >> the waters are slowly starting to recede but after karishna vare reports thousands are homeless. >> reporter: shafika has been wading through the sludge trying to salvage anything she can.

her home is buried in the mud and her father is struggling to dig through it. shafika's neighborhood is one of the worst-hit. her family escaped to an evacuation center but notion couldnothingcould prepare them for their return home. >> i'm worried because i'm afraid my family will not recover as much as before because we have to spend lots of money to fik fix fix everything. >> many simply do not know where to given. people in this neighborhood have been cleaning up for the past three days. but as you can see it has made little difference. with no running water or electricity it could be weeks before they can live in their homes again. assessing the damage is still difficult for the government.

the areas affected are extensive and basic infrastructure like power lines and roads have been destroyed. officials say rehabilitation could run into millions of dollars. >> there is a breakdown in communications, we're now at city% of the 70s to 70% water is 59% as of now. >> butter some critical institutions like this hospital in kota baru are racing to open their doors. staff continue to look at around 400 patients even when they were faced with a sea of water. >> either their house he are flooded or the roads leave the hospital are flooded. >> for families recovery will be

painstakingly slow. they began with very little and now they have almost nothing. resolutions of self improvement, two countries in particular have kicked off 2015 by introducing new laws aimed at improving people's health. at a moment, we'll be reporting from south korea about higher secret prices but now florence louie is reporting. >> beijing more than often the city is enveloped in smog. air pollution in the air starting this year more than 330 cities across china will be required to relieve real time data on -- release realtime

data. usually a discrepancies between two. chinese data showing lower levels of pollution. the chinese officials insist their reading is more accurate because it is taken from several locations around the city. this latest attempt to release realtime readings, it mrs. comes just an advised law on the environment takes effect. the new laws will allow courts to pronounce stiffer penalties perhaps an indication that chinese officials are indeed serious about getting tougher on polluters, is the recent court decision that fines several companies a total of $26 million for polluting the environment. >> and smokers in south korea have to get used to the near doubling of the price of

cigarettes. aimed at cutting the high death rate but smokers are skeptical. harry fawcett reporting. >> almost any time of day you will see them. men on cigarette breaks. south korea has the highest rate of smoking about 40% about a quarter of all females and females smoke. taking the price from $2.50 to $4.50 per pack. >> it would have been better if the price had been increased gradually, but a couple of months ago the government announced the price would be nearly doubling. >> the news led to panic buying on people who wanted to stock

up. cigarette packs in south korea do carry a warning but it is rather mild. pictures on boxes like this. such a move is under consideration. campaigners say price rises aren't enough to cut south korea's sky high smoking rate. >> translator: if people can see the impact of smoking on healed causing various diseases such as oral cancer or lung cancer it could lower the use by 20 or 30%. >> special smoking areas a few days ago an everyday feature now stand empty. and there's an increase in things like e-cigarettes. kim i don't think unisment.

>> better than iteming entirety but there are some requirements. >> 15% reduction in the smoking rate in the next five years. harry fawcett, al jazeera seoul. >> coming up. we venture into ali baba's cave. why else? a match to forget, we'll tell you why top of the english premier league.

>> well, it's time for the sports news and find out why assassina issana is happy. >> the former england's captain will not move to another english club and has been linked with few are at the club. after gland's. two penalties in liver liverpool's 2-2 draw. after they were flashed 5-3 at

tottottenham. got their other goals diego coe costa john claird scored for clelz. chelsea. >> what i am shocked is that it's difficult to understand why but the reality is that in three days we had wouldth two incredible decisions that punished us very hardly. >> the very most important thing is to congratulate to my player because i was there too as great victory we were better

than chelsea and that is the most important thing for me. >> 3-2 winners at home yaya torre, came back through two former city players jack rodwell and adam johnson. but substitute frank lampard extended his stay for the entire season. >> he is an important player, i always say that, that's why we bring him here at the beginning of the season. it's also very important that he stay with us to the end of the season. >> let's just take a look at how close at the top of the table. both chelsea and manchester city

scored 46 goals and with them often 46 points, if the league had been concluded today. >> andy murray, is set up against ralph nadal. opening day of the mobada tournament. unofficial season opener, the scott finished 7-5 7-5 6-4. awrcht open champion who will beaustralian open championwill face novak djokovic.

less good news, sadly for minnesota fans the timber wolves, 21 points on the night he was matched by dan ali funson who got 20 of their own. could have forced overtime, it wasn't to be. 110, 107 to the kings. washington capitals beat the chicago black hawks in the traditional winter classic, with the game tied up add 2. called a powerplay goal, to gif give the team a victory over the black hawks. >> this event is outstanding. the atmosphere on the highs from

first second was unreal. it's gone before whole our lives and i'm pretty sure i'm going to watch this hockey game like i will enjoy it. so 100% i think. it is what it is. >> third and final test is underway between west africa the series will be followed by three t-20s and five one-day internationals. >> closing out their two match series they are coming off the most successful year as they won five tests. gls. >> diplomatic missions. the rules say they can't keep any gifts over a certain value.

anyway den baba takes a look inside the sprawlt when some of those gifts are are stored. a lot more than handshakes on his travels. there are always gifts involved. it is usually a question of give and take and maybe a blessing or two but the rules state commissioners can't keep any presents over $150, around 100 euros. the workers call this area the ali baba's care of. >> it's important we treat the gifts to the best respect. after that they bring them here

to the ali baba cave. >> this, from russia, whose recent regulations with the eu has been far from sailing. this is barolo, getting a memento from the are portrait of all your favorite eu figure. >> this one for example is from turkey focusing on gunter ferheigen. >> over the last years the auctions have produced income for the charitable organizations. >> that's it for the news hour,

nadine babi is just coming up don't go away. >> from stage to screen oscar nominated actor ethan hawk >> the theatre has always bee my first love... >> separating art & politics >> if you have an agenda with people... you sometimes don't see the truth >> and the lifelong influence of his mother >> she was worried i was gonna be a spoiled brat and not see how complicated the world was >> every monday, join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time... talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera america

>> america stands on the brink of a new cold war with russia. i adjourned to i journeyed to the front lines on deposits of oil and natural gas, i'll give you the firsthand look at how acialght arctic melting has fueled, new economy and an icon who hasn't ever taken his eye off russia. i'm ali velshi and this is "real money."