♪ the fight and ukraine says the men are holding off pro-russia rebel who claim to have surrounded the town. ♪ hello i'm live from doha and also to come on the program, malaysia opposition leader jailed after losing a last-chance appeal against his sodomy conviction. anticorruption aap supporters celebrate after routing the bjp in state elections in deli.

the russian president vladimir putin in egypt on a two-day visit and they are seeking arms and food grain deals. ♪ but first ukraine is denying reports by pro-russia separatists they surrounded the town and fighting is intensified in eastern ukraine recently despite repeated efforts to break for a peace deal and this is a key rail way town outside the separatist stronghold of donetsk and fighters claim they cutoff the main supply road from government forces charles stratford is near there and has this update. >> reporter: we have just spoke tone a rebel separatist commander here and he indeed tells us that he is here and it's now completely surrounded by separatists.

as you rightly say ukrainian military say there are on going battles in and around the main supply route. we were on that supply route yesterday in a town that is basically linked and has been the only road in and out and that is where we have seen some of the humanitarian corridors to bring the civilians out and yesterday the military we spoke to were basically in a state of disarray and unreluctant to speak and wanted us out of the area immediately and pulling the weaponry back and had tanks set up in position in fields that were not there when we were there last week when i got in there. this separatist commander tells us that as he understands it there are no separatists in the city yet and says there are still ukrainian military inside

but as i say the situation is very fluid and the commander told us he has no direct contact with separatist fighters on that front line and certainly on this side of it so it's very difficult at this stage to verify anything but certainly what we have been reporting is consistent with what seems to be going on. meanwhile russia media reporting military exercises taking place in russian and next crimea and rory has more from moscow. >> reporter: what we see from russia at the moment are a few tiny reminders of its military strength not particularly big exercises, but the location of them is very significant, we are hearing that 2000 intelligence personnel are on exercise in the southern russia military districts that borders ukraine and 600 troops on exercise with 50 tanks in crimea. of course newly acquired crimea. now, we have the minsk talks

coming up, tomorrow. but where is what is going on on the russian side of the border are more like military theatre. on the ukrainian side of things this boils down to actual genuine deadly fighting so russians and the separatists are claiming they are surrounded with some 5-6,000 ukrainian troops cutoff from the main body of their army and also hearing that the battalion of the ukrainian army is pushing eastward to try to take on a town on the azalt sea near maripol and by the russian border than maripol and this is a jostling for positions ahead of them with talks which are going to be crucial for any kind of establishment of a peaceful negotiated settlement in ukraine. now to malaysia where opposition leader anwar ibrahim

lost an appeal and will serve five-year term of charges of having sex with a male assistant and anwar ibrahim say it's politically motivated and accused the court of being partners in crime for the murder of judicial independence and integrity, he vowed to continue his struggle. and we report. >> reporter: hundreds of people arrived at malaysia top court on tuesday morning, chanting their slogans and waving party flags in support of anwar ibrahim, the convicted leader of the opposition. the former deputy prime minister arrived with his family friends and party officials. together they heard the five meniscal led by chief justice dismiss anwar ibrahim's appeal and court ruled there was overwhelming evidence he sodomized his personal assistance in 2008. news of the victim and the

upholding of the five-year sentence angered his supporters. >> i'm just disgusted by how they will do anything in the power to bring down one man in the country up to like raping the whole judiciary system. >> some say that we need to have a good argument good evidence and it's up to the judges. >> reporter: the government issued a statement, the police report against anwar ibrahim was brought by a private individual not by the government. it's comprehensive due process has been followed over many years, we call on parties involved to respect the legal process and the judgment. the authorities were taking no chances with security around the federal court. when we spoke to anwar ibrahim on monday at his final support rally he was upbeat. >> there is no basis for them to even consider the possibility of

a conviction. i'm innocent. and i expect to be free. >> reporter: that is something human rights campaigners had also expected. >> the government has prosecuted someone on the basis of a crime that shouldn't be a crime, first point. and second point is it's selective prosecution, essentially going after someone because they are politically prominent and a thorn in the side of the government and this is someone they want to remove from the political scene. >> reporter: and now his party and the fragile opposition coalition are looking for a new leader and face an uncertain future. what is clear is that the decision made here at the country's highest court will be discussed and debated by malaysia people for generations to come i'm with al jazeera. a woman in hong kong has been found guilty of abusing her domestic maid from indonesia and said she was tortured and

starved and employer found guilty of 18 charges including assault and failure to pay wages. the case provoked protests among the more than 300,000 maids who also work in hong kong. to india now and surprise election win for the common man party. it stunned the ruling pjp with a landslide victory in deli state elections taking 67 out of 70. prime minister modi congratulated the aap leader and anticorruption campaigner and this is the first major defeat for the bjp following on from the landslide victory in last year's national elections. . >> translator: we have to serve people of deli i cannot do anything alone, i'm very small man man but i believe in the people i believe together we will have

the people of deli and make it a city that both the rich and the poor will be proud of. >> reporter: more now from our correspondent jamal. >> reporter: this is the party election victory rally and it's a larger victory than even most supporters expected and for the party to have had such a large victory means they tapped into different groups and had their usual supporters the poor and the working classes but now they also have had the middle class, the business class and even the elite of deli and grouped that voteed for bjp in elections last year. now, the amar party were able to secure the support by making a wide range of promises from lower electricity prices to free water, better infrastructure in the city of deli to do things like public wi-fi. now making such promises is occur the easy part. keeping them of course is going to be a whole different challenge altogether as a challenge that the party says

they are up for. now, in this whole election the bjp said this is not a referendum on their support, however, even the prime minister has tweeted that he will support the party and help them bring developments to deli. >> reporter: the u.s. commanders say precise and effective air strikes near mosul helped repel i.s.i.s. fighters in the north of iraq. kurdish peshmerga forces say they have retaken areas around iraq's second largest city which is being controlled by i.s.i.l. since june of last year and nearby mosul dam controls the water supply for several large towns, so that is why or one of the reasons why it's so important. we can go live to our correspondent khan in the iraqi capitol baghdad and hearing there have been some air strikes around mosul, how effective have they been? >> they have been very effective. what has happened is by these in

cooperation where the peshmerga fighters, they have taken three key bridge heads in and around mosul and the bridge heads are key because they are key supply line and what has been going on on the border of syria jordanian with air strikes in raqqa and cutoff a key supply line between raqqa and syria and mosul in iraq. so there seems to be a grounds swell now of things happening which means that we are about to see according to iraq officials a take on mosul to retake the city within weeks they say so we are seeing the ground being prepared for an invasion and also we heard in the last few days general john allen one of the key u.s. military generals saying the taking of some something like mosul or a city from this would be a boost to peshmerga forces and iraqi and peshmerga forces would need coalition help on the ground so

that is a significant change in language as well. so it looks and feels like we are seeing a significant move towards the retaking of mosul city in the next few weeks at least. >> the battle for mosul is often portrayed as being the battle for iraq to regain iraqi territory and effectively kickoff i.s.i.l. >> that's right, mosul is one of the key cities and one of the first cities taken over by i.s.i.l. in june when they pushed into iraq but it's not the only one. there are a number of other cities and anbar province that is key is a big problem. there are certain parts that the government controls and fierce fights between government forces and i.s.i.l. fighters in that province. also i have been speaking to a former jordanian airforce pilot telling me without political solution in iraq all of the air strikes going on everything that is going on want suffice and i.s.i.l. will remain a problem so there are a number of

challenges but given what we are seeing we are seeing this ground being prepared it seems for a retaking of mosul city from i.s.i.l. fighters that is a significant development, we have not seen that before and looks like something is going to happen but there are concerns of what happens afterwards and this is something has to do more with politics than military. >> thank you very much khan our correspondent live in baghdad. now to neighboring syria and the u.n. envow is in damascus with talks with the government and masser will meet and seeking a truce for aleppo for the northern city of aleppo. and he is saying he plans to push for a freeze in the fighting in order to allow aid to get into the city. the russian leader vladimir putin is meeting al-sisi in cairo on a two-day visit to

egypt and will talk about bilateral ties and regional issues in the middle east and the situation in iraq syria and libya as well as israeli palestinian conflict are all expected to be high on the agenda and russia is also seeking to boost military ties we egypt. new video emerged of the moments before a stampede outside a cairo football stadium took place that left at least 19 fans dead and the footage shows fans forced to walk through a narrow metal passage way before being able to enter the stadium and the crowd surges fore ward the metal structure collapses, police fired tear gas and it sets off a stampede. egyptian authorities launched an investigation into the incident. the canadian government is calling for the immediate release of fahmy, the al jazeera journalist and canadian citizen has been in jail in egypt 409

with producer mohamed and the foreign minister tweeted prime minister harper personally raised the case of mohamed fahmy but the highest level of egyptian leadership and canadian officials raised the case of mohamed 15 times in the last 9 days and went on this is an upsetting time for the family and continue to call for mohamed mohamed's immediate release and accused of supporting the out lawed muslim brotherhood and they and al jazeera deny and thrown out and the two-phased retrial on thursday and peter greste has been unconditionally released. plus more to come on al jazeera including another air strip used by drugs, trafficics blown up in honduras but it probably won't be long until it's repaired.

and in sport extreme cold temperatures are forcing competitors out in the yukon ultra race. ♪

♪ hello again and let's have a look at the top stories here at al jazeera, pro-russia forces in eastern ukraine say they surrounded the town which is a government held rail hub in between the rebel strongholds of donetsk and dohansk and donetsk people republic say the fighters cutoff the only road into there supplying ukrainian troops

ukrainian army denying the plan. they stunned the ruling bjp with a landslide win this deli state election, the party led by anticorruption campaigner won 67 out of the 70 seats. nigeria says it is determined to defeat boko haram and avoid another election postponement and the presidential vote scheduled for which was scheduled for february the 14th was then pushed back six weeks to give time to improve security. well, an international coalition is being formed to drive boko haram from its strongholds in the northeast of nigeria and on monday they voted to send troops and they will join nearly 9,000 strong force from nigeria, chad and cameroon and boko haram released a new video meanwhile

showing the leader vowing to defeat the coalition. and boko haram launched more attacks on nigeria borders on monday and suspected members of the group kidnapped 20 people from a bath in northern cameroon and traveling from the town of kosa to mora close to nigerian border and 12 of the hostages were killed and explosion ripped through a local market in difa and the third attack here in four days and mohamed has more now on the fight for control of the nigerian town of gambaru. >> reporter: this is the town of gambaru on the border with cameroon and until recently a stronghold for boko haram fighters, it's now under the control of chadian troops and they patrol around the town in case boko haram fighters decide to come back. >> translator: they are now outside the town. we have combed the whole area

no one is here now and probably some of the j injured are hiding in remote abandon houses. >> reporter: for nine months boko haram controlled it imposing a strict law for people living in the town and parts remained deserted and people were forced to leave to neighboring chad and cameroon and others escaped to northern parts of nigeria. for the chadian troops everyone was a suspect and these men suspected of belonging to boko haram and finally released but only after convincing the forces that they are not affiliated with the group. the battle for them has not been easy for the chadian army and lost 17 soldiers during fighting with boko haram yet some of the residents say they didn't mind boko haram's rule of their town. >> translator: we are used to going to and from the farms and they asked us to teach our

children were the karan and told them we pray and have a karan they left us alone. >> reporter: they decided to put together an original force of 7800 soldiers to fight boko haram. that threat by boko haram caused delay of nigeria elections by six weeks, the chadian troops were part of original effort against the radical group and any town and village taken from its fighters will bring the reality to postpone election a little closer mohamed with al jazeera, nigeria. now six months after the protest in the u.s. town of ferguson over the killing of an unarmed black teenager by the police a major effort underway to rebuild trust and ashar-karash reports. >> reporter: nothing is more important to 28-year-old single day than raising his daughters in a safe community. >> how was your day at school?

>> great. >> reporter: criminal justice and working as a jail guard he could be an asset to the ferguson police department. >> i want to be there to help them you know because i believe a lot of community policing is very important in the restoring the trust between police officers and the community. >> don't shoot. >> reporter: during the months of protest and violence that erupted following the police shooting of michael brown in august many criticized the department for lack of racial diversity while the city is 70% african/american 4 out of 53 police officer are black. 6 months after brown's death there are three officer openings including the one vacated by the man who shot brown former officer darren wilson. how far along are you in terms of that hiring process? >> we are in the first stages and we will set up the testing date and have a real good contractor that has given us a test to use which looks at a lot of different factors including a tendency to be biased. >> reporter: with the ongoing

department of justice investigation into their policing practices, the department remains under the microscope, they have instituted more intense diversity training focused on racial bias and formed the tightening and court procedures procedures. >> we had to recognize what the problems are and try to dress them so six months is a time we had so far and think we have done a lot. >> we took it in. >> reporter: how to improve policing and race relations in the community are frequently discussed at public meetings. and in ferguson schools police continue to engage with teens in an effort to cultivate relationships early on. there have been a number of initiatives, plans and meetings hoping to address the months of protest and unrest but here on west avenue how much has actually changed since the michael brown shooting is up for debate. >> they have stopped harassing people so much but at the same time it's like you are still looked at like you are a

suspect. >> reporter: do you think things will get better in the community, will people be able to move forward? >> some people can move forward, some people won't. >> i think it start with the people. >> i want to see what you are reading. >> reporter: ferguson police hopeful carlos ray says as an officer he could engage with the african/american community as a peer who shares a common experience. >> we are not here to get you all, that is not our job. our job is to be serving the community and helping and protecting them not picking them off. >> reporter: it's a challenge some in ferguson are trying to meet. i'm with al jazeera, ferguson missouri. now honduras and central america is a major hub for trafficking of all sorts of illegal drugs across the whole america and they are fighting to stop the flow and we report. >> reporter: every week honduras soldiers destroy landing strips used by drug traffickers here the most

active drug route in honduras. the military showed us dozens of landing strips they say planes left behind were transporting cocaine mainly from columbia and venezuela. but it's a seemingly never ending task. this is the fifth time the army tried to destroy the landing strip and look at the damage the traffickers get local people and in less than 24 hours they repair them. man groves lakes and rivers intertwine with patches of land and use this complex territory to load drugs on trucks to take in land or speed boats to head north to mexico and the u.s. the military told us many of the community is involved in the trade. >> translator: they drop bundles and tide brings them on shore and people wait for them to tryout their luck. >> reporter: local fishermen

here say they never seen any drugs on the beach. the military says it is reducing the drug flights and that last year it confiscated 11 tons of drugs. >> translator: honduras used to be a transit point but in the last two years we found even narco labs and left us terrible violence. >> reporter: the drug trade fuels violence in the country with the highest murder rate in the world. she fled with her children and grandchildren from their home because rival drug gangs were dumping their murdered victims. >> translator: we had to leave our home. everything and came here and we are starting from zero i feel back but i'll get used to it. >> reporter: she found a community where residents take turn to watch out for turf battles and protect their families. soldiers say they are confident they will be able to control the region but their fight by land

air and sea covers 17,000 square kilometers with limited resources, the communities worst effected are yet to see the progress. i'm with al jazeera, honduras. the yukon arctic ultra extreme racing canada have temperatures so cold many competitors are forced to drop off and daniel reports. >> reporter: extremely eventful 24-36 hours in the yukon arctic race and a number of competitors 11 or more had to pull out because of cold weather and one a man who was leading the field when we were filming yesterday, a man from poland and he actually was taken to hospital in a helicopter a first for this race. to get an idea of just what this kind of cold and what this kind of environment can do to the human body we talked to a scientist and a doctor a man who specializes in extreme environments and what they do to people, his name is stineck.

>> it's the first signs and leasing dexterity in the hands, the nose the ear and hands and lose dexterity as i said and everything is becoming more difficult and you probably you no longer are able to get yourself out of a problematic situation whereby the problems add up add up and become worse. >> reporter: the cold weather is causing more than just physical problems to the competitors, equipment is actually malfunctioning in the frigid weather, one biker said he pushed his fat tire mountain bike 65 kilometers to reach the check post to go inside and get warm and maybe fix it. >> i have broken my bike. >> reporter: organizers say look if there are going to be problems they should happen early in the race it's easier to help people out on the trail and rescue them if need be and big challenges that lie ahead of terrain and more cold weather in the high country and it's better to be climatized for that and the race going 100 miles is

finishing on the trail in front of us 160 kilometer and a 300 and 400 race and the racers will keep going for several more days and at the end of 10-12 days the 690 kilometer race is the event that is the longest, the toughest the coldest. ♪ hello, i'm ray suarez, harper lee published one novel "to kill a mockingbird." it's been printed millions of times around the world in the past 50 years. now it turns out lee had another book in her, and it comes out this summer. continuing the story of scout, sttacus finch, boo radially and tom robinson who came to life in the hollywood classic. months away from its release, it's