>> there these be a way of bringing forces to the ground. iraqi kurdish forces say they can't drive back i.s.i.l. without foreign boots on the ground. a warm welcome. as a political crisis deepens, yemen is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster says oxfam, with millions of lives at risk. fighting intensified in eastern ukraine, with res n dents

coming -- resident coming under rocket fire we meet a group of runners taking on one of toughest endurance event ever the u.s.-led coalition must do more to help the iraqi forces win the fight against i.s.i.l. that's the message of kurdish leader who say they can't do the job by themselves and need boots on the ground. this report from iraq where kurdish peshmerga battle i.s.i.l. >> kurdish peshmerga troops have been winning battles, but the war against islamic state of iraq and levant is far from over. support provided by the u.s.-coalition is helpful, but they say it's not enough. they say the slow pace of offensive allows i.s.i.l. to regain moment up. the regional security council

chancellor oversees provisions. he tells me that the international community needs to engage more. it requires ground troops because it will take time for iraqi forces to be ready to defeat i.s.i.l. to wait until the training and the forces are complete until they come into a position that will take a longer time. i believe that there has to be a way of bringing more forces to the ground. and not only depend on the air strikes. >> i wouldn't be calling that. i'm just saying that that depend how quickly does the international community want to get rid of fighters much. >> the coalition has military fighters on the ground but ruled out sending combat forces at least for now. the iraqi government made clear it would not welcome foreign forces. that is not the only disagreement it has with the

kurdish government. some of iraq arabs advance on the ground as part of a plan to carve out more territory for their autonomous region. the son of the president of the kurdish controlled north denies this but says the future iraqi state will have to be different. . >> i hope the structure based on federalism, and perhaps a loose kind of unity maybe confederation would be best to help with the existing problem. >> the peshmerga are fighting a costly battle against a better equipped opponent and criticized a decision to exclude them from a meeting in london. the peshmerga want support. the difference is they are ready to accept foreign soldiers on the ground. well now, despite nearly 2,000 coalition air strikes against i.s.i.l. in syria and

iraq, the group controls large parts of both countries. around 55,000 square kilometres in iraq. kurdish peshmerga forces are holding on to their territory and making gains in the north near the mosul dam. american forces are now training iraqi forces but they will not get involved in the fighting. >> joining he on set to talk about this fight with i.s.i.l. is baghdad correspondent imran khan. we heard the kurdish leader saying his message is if you want to get rid of i.s.i.l. and you want to do it quickly, we need help. the issue of foreign troops on the ground is sensitive. >> what the kurdish peshmerga forces are saying is it's going too slowly. we need more help. we can make significant gains, and if we have more support, foreign boots on the ground

american boots, we can battle i.s.i.l. philip hammond said iraqi forces are two years away interest being fully trained to fight i.s.i.l. that is a concern. the longer that takes, the more entrenched i.s.i.l. becomes. you have the split between the kurdish and the government in baghdad. they maintain they do not want large numbers of troops on the ground. it looks like they are reoccupying iraq and that will not work. if iranians are involved. they are supporting the shia militia forces who have made gapes against i.s.i.l. saying the fight is going our way. give us the money and the support that we have asked the americans. we have offered f-16s, we have paid for them but they are on the ground at andrews air force base they have not been delivered. there's all of these things. you add into the mix the anbar

province. they said they would like the troops to come in because they helped them to defeat al qaeda. they morphed into i.s.i.l. but they were successful. there is a number of nara dives. -- narratives. >> within iraq itself. >> absolutely the lebanese army says eight soldiers have been killed after being attacked. that's in the backa valley along a border with syria. there are fighters linked to the al nusra front rival rallies are held in yemen as fighters surround key government buildings. thousands are marching through the city to protect against houthi fighters. marchers were held. the president and his government resigned on thursday. meanwhile oxfam warned that yemen is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.

the aid agency said there's 16 million in the country. in oxfam there are 850,000 acutely malnourished kids. they have no access to clean water or health care. >> we currently have around about 15 million people in need of some kind of humanitarian assistance at the moment. with this all worsening stability in the country, our concern is obviously that this situation will get worse, and that we may, therefore, have a period of crisis on our hands. we really wanted to highlight the issue. the national media focus on

security and political situations and the 16 million people in need of humanitarian assistance goes unnoticed. >> in zambia's election race. edgar lungu is taking a lead. turn out is low, and there's reports of delays in balloting. the ruling party is accused of rigging and urged supporters to remain calm. dozens were arrested by police on wednesday as they kept children im the senate in the democratic republic of congo overturned a bill that triggered protests across the country. it sparked celebrations across the capital. rights groups blame 40 died in protests against the bill. the law passed by the lower house, and gave powers to president joseph kabila to

continue in office until a national sen sis was completed. >> reporter: here in parliament senators rejected a planned change to electoral laws. opposition are suspicious that president joseph kabila is trying to extend the rule beyond the limit of two turns. >> reporter: the government's objective is a strategy to avoid the limits to the tying of the presidential mandate. this is a cause for debate. that is what we must defeat. >> reporter: the senate voted against the sensis that opposition says would delay the election. national assembly could push it through. kabila's ruling coalition says it's trying to improve election laws. >> even proof, saying that kabila is not going out from his

rule then no. >> reporter: meanwhile more unrest is expected for nationwide protests on monday against changes for electoral laws. >> in ukraine 10 are dead after shelling in a residential area of mariupol. it's a government-held port and is the latest attack as fighting intensified across several fronth. charles stratford is in donetsk. tell us - who do we know about event, developing in mariupol. worth reminding is why the city is so significant. we have been peaking to a ukranian journalist who says 10 people have been killed in the attack. he reports another 40 injured. the attack so he says was on a local market. an open-air market close to a

residential area of the city. it seems as if the attack came from a rebel-held area outside of city. it's interesting that this comes at a time a few hours after a call by the rebel pleader that he was not interested in truce talks, that he wanted rebels to push to expand the area that it controls at a time it increases sabre rattles by the rebels and the ukrainians. the ukranian president says this - these calls by the rebel leader would be met by a kick in the teeth. it is a large port not a

military port but one used for cargo. the rebels said if they are going to get what they want. the city of mariupol is important. >> thank you very much. charles stratford in donetsk more ahead. we'll report from northern india on a bleak midwinter for people driven from their homes by violence. we look at the future shape of the saudi arabia monarchy.

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welcome back you're watching al jazeera. top stories - kurdish leader told the iraqi army that kurdish peshmerga cannot win without foreign boots on the ground. they are struggling to push back i.s.i.l. fighters in the north ochl fax says fighting in yemen has brought the country at risk of a humanitarian party. 15 million will require aid. 8 million don't have enough to eat attacks in donetsk mariupol a day after being appointed. king salman is expected to meet

more heads of state. david cameron, and french president francis hollande are among those due to visit the dignitaries came to pay their respects to a leader who died, and a half brother who took his place. in keeping with tradition, there was no formal swearing in ceremony. it was during the funeral of king abdullah that regional heads of state from qatar, bahrain and others were able to meet the man that leads one of the richest and influential nations. shortly after ascending the thrown the new copying said he'd maintain the same policies as piss predecessors. >> translation: we are going to condition about the approach of father who but the state and is followed by his sons. we'll continue to implement the koran and the character of prophet muhammad no our

legislation. >> reporter: one of his first acts was to set the chain of session. his cafl brother carbon prince muqum is the immediate success sore. his enough u is deputy carbon prince second in line to the thrown. he's the first grandson of the saudi arabia's founder to be named as future heir. he's a powerful figure goodnight the policies. >> he is an expert on counterterrorism. it's a signal that the kingdom is going to be very focused on internal security and regional security. >> and the region is in transition. the rein begins against a backdrop of a war in syria, the advance of i.s.i.l. and turmoil in yemen.

all long seen as a pillar in the arab world. >> egypt's president said he would like to see the case against the three al jazeera journalists resolve. our colleagues have been prisoned for 392 days. mohamed fadel fahmy, peter greste and baher mohamed were falsely accused of callueding with the outlawed muslim brotherhood in haiti an electoral council has been sworn in. thousands of anti-government demonstrators took to the streets. this comes as u.n. visited urging of the government to hold elections. >> greece's prime minister made a final appeal to voters ahead of the general election. despite years of austerity, the country is showing signs of recovery. the country is up against a group, whose leader promises to

restore dignity to greece. the ailing economy affected businesses many declaring bankruptcy. one businessman told sue turton he doesn't thing a government would improve the situation. images in this report may be disturbing. >> reporter: a greek man takes action on the steps of his bank. a bankrupt businessman who spent his last 10 euros on a can of petrol. that was four years ago. he shows us a building where he ran the perfume bottling plant. before the bank refused to negotiate his payments. he lost everything. >> it was a kind of protest to the big man, not only to the bank and to the government to trying to make them understanding that this must act

for the people who are like them. >> reporter: has greece improved over the years since then the four years since you set yourself on fire? >> no every day we go worse and worse. and most of the people have lost almost everything. most of the group has lost especially their self-respect. the same fate hit men businesses here. where companies have closed down. after the company director took advantage of ready finances easy loans, things turned sour. they had the financial rug pulled from underneath them. the feeling here is that athens and the politicians are a long which away. they may make promise that once the election is over promises will evaculate.

the outgoing prime minister says dollar shoots emerging showing austerity is working. >> the party, the front runner is promising to clean up the system. seep by many to be dominating. they could do worse. union officials caught it a model after he brought in independent auditors to weed out corruption here. they tried to clean up things. they will not succeed. i don't think - unless we overcome this individuality and come to doing things togethers. we had all this corruption.

everything. >> austerity hit this region hard. the message is there's be no billion dollar bailout. they think the neighbours should take heed. >> you have to try to extinguish it because this fire will come to your house. >> words of a man who made a stand. south-east brazil is facing a big water shortage in decades. water levels are running short. the river that supplies cities like sao paulo have had water cut off. united states in cuba say they have made progress towards

restoring diplomatic ties but there's no major breakthrough. >> reporter: from the cuban perspective there are two fundamental issues that remained completely unresolved. number one is the long-standing embarko, and that is something the u.s. congress had to deal with. cuba is still on the u.s. government list of state-sponsored terrorism, a list that cuba couldn't get off of. that issue unresolved. the head of the association, isn't secretary of state roberta was asked about both issues and this is what she had to say. >> having diplomatic relations is not a gift. it does not leave we are countries that have no disagreements. of course we have disagreements and discrepancies between our positions. >> we have disagreements. this does not mean we can't have

diplomatic relations. >> next day that we'll be watching is in april. that's when the regionals at the america conference will happen in panama. both are expected to deaned and it could be an interesting moment when the two leaders could meet face to face. >> u.s. president obama will be looking to strengthen ties with india when he begins a visit. relations between india and the united states has been strained. obama and prime minister narendra modi developed a good rapport when they met in washington something the u.s. leader will try to build on in the coming days. it's been more than a year since thousand were displaced by communal violence in uttar pradesh. most resettled in new elections, using compensation from the government. some fear the help will not be enough to get them through the

harsh winter. >> it's not much. this is the only place that this family calls. they left their village after communal violence in 2013. struggling through another harsh winter they are reminded of everything they lack. heat water and power. the government gave her family $800 in compensation. but, she says that is not enough. my husband works as a servant in a nearby village. he does not earn much. we are always borrowing from neighbours and 400 to build a small room. >> many people in her community had to make the move. it's only a little over a kilometre away. many are finding it hard to start over. >> this family was able to afford land and build a house. their neighbours brought lapped. but because of their

circumstances, their family had to choose between buying food and putting a bant roof over their heads. what was once farm land has been transformed into a settlement by survivors of the violence. but with no sanitation running water or electricity, community leader says the government must intervene if things are to get better. >> the government is our master. it can do anything for its children. the children they should pay attention and decide what should be done from everyone. >> it's a government duty it's fulfilled. eligible families received compensation of up to $8,000. >> those who were to be compensated have been. if they expect is to be unlimited. that's another question. >> they are looking for a helping hand.

it's been a cold winter in india, with temperatures dropping to 5 degrees. she can only hope that a change of season will bring better times. the use of lethal injection in oklahoma has been looked at. the court will decide if it's unconstitutional. three inmates survived a lawsuit citing coul and unusual punishment. it came under criticism after a botched execution. >> running a marra none is a daunting prospect. a group of 11 me and one woman have been running seven of them in the case of a week. the final stop was sydney australia, a week after they started. andrew thomas was there to meet them. 12 people have been running

around the world. since last they they ran six marathon courses. 42km in antarctica 42 in chile. the same before further marathons in spain, morocco and dubai. the runners have flown more than they run. nine floats the final flight to sydney. some dressed up on board for show. within four hours of landing the real running gear was on. >> your head is all over the place from what day, country, time zone. >> ted jackson raised more than 200,000 for charity. >> i just got a text saying i was up to 136,000. every time i get on a plane it goes up 2,000 or £3,000. that's nice. two years ago doctors found a tumor on douglas wilson's

brain. he did that and the marathons to get the fitness back. the body is keeping up but the mental fatigue is coming to an end. it's catching up. >> in sydney a midnight start to get all seven races run in a week. quickly the runners spread out. each marathon had its own particular challenge. in jose antonio, it was the cold. in morocco it rained. in dubai, the heat. here in sydney it's running night after a 46-hour flight and, of course after returning six other marathons. blistered feet and swollen ankles are almost badges of honour. douglas wilson was first across the sydney line. his time was the fastest run all week. >> i think it will take a week or two to get back on track. and it will start sinking back

in. >> there's one overwhelming priority. rest all right. remember you can keep up to date with everything you have been covering on the website. the address aljazeera.com. do check it out. >> after all is this time the keystone xl pipe life does not run to the gulf of mexico, but the bill authorizeing the project is about to run as far as the white house, where the president promises a veto. it's inside story. &.