..heavy fighting goes on in the southern city of taiz in the next 30 minutes, malaysia's government identifies an area of mass grave in an area used by people smugglers. systematic oppression made the ethiopia elections a nonevent. >> i'm in a capsule that could

one day carry people beneath a helium balloon to the edge of space. we begin with breaking news of syria, where the death of 400 i.s.i.l. fighters in palmyra. 300 rebels have been killed in air raids on the opposition-held area of the it's one of the many battles that government forces appeared to lose. >> reporter: the syrian rebel alliance army of conquests, said it's consolidating in idlib and moving forward. recent advances against syrian forces made them confident. for weeks they fought to take over a hospital in idlib, and overran it on friday after syrian troops retreated, with the help of air support.

the government soldiers returned after losing the stronghold which the president promised to tweet them. it was an alliance funded by arab state and turkey. experts call it propaganda when maps show a strategy to take back lost area. on the ground the situation is different. i.s.i.l. roles areas from raqqa and other areas and palmyra. government forces have been back and hold parts of aleppo and areas east of hama and homs. the alliance army of conquest seem to push south of idlib. >> translation: 14 me defected and under protection. we are preparing to storm the village and declare the gangs. god willing we'll declare the city to be froo and liberated.

al nusra front is linked to al qaeda, and is a member of the army. the battlefield is shifting alliances and realities. as it continues into a fifth year, civilian suffering is the only thing that remains constant. 300,000 have been killed and many need humanitarian assistance. it has gone from a popular and peaceful uprising to a war of attrition that no one seems to be winning. u.n. brokered talks to end the war in yemen have been thrown into doubt. the president in exile basted in saudi arabia issued a set of conditions for taking part. abd-rabbu mansour hadi says he'll tend the talks if houthis pull out of towns and cities they control and release prisoners. he says the u.n. jared cowen which demands houthis retreat and surrender weapons. they are accused of using force,

saudi-led coalition air strikes continued to pummel targets in yemen, and battles in the city of taiz. hashem ahelbarra has more from riyadh. >> president abd-rabbu mansour hadi, in exile has set companies -- conditions to attend with the geneva talks. he said that before going to geneva, they should stop interfering with the decisions made by the government. houthis should release political prisoners, including the minister of defence. he has been held for months by the houthis. it's - these are conditions that could undermine chances to go to geneva, because the houthis say that they are willing to go geneva, but under no conditions, and this is what the international community is trying to sort out. they are holding meetings in the

capital riyadh, and will be talking to president abd-rabbu mansour hadi, and members of the political parties. if he can convince him to go to geneva, that could be a significant step forward. they still insist on conditions, and it could be a blow to the chances of a diplomatic way out to yemen mass graves have been discovered in malaysia the government is investigating how many came to be buried and where they came from. >> reporter: today the chief and deputy chief of police were at the border to investigate bodies found.

florence laue has more. >> there has been a mass grave in an area borded with thailand. he says it's an initial discovery and bodies could be found in the coming days. a forensic team is there at the moment. some camps had been found in the areas of the graves, but these camps had been abandoned by the time the police got there. the inspectors of police is expected to hold a conference where they are expected to announce cdetails about the discovery. this discovery is several weeks. after thais found graves. it is believed to have bodies of rohingya refugees and bangladeshi migrants. it confirms what anti-trafficking organisations have said that southern thailand and northern malaysia have been

used by human smugglers used it from myanmar to bangladesh, through northern malaysia into malaysia. malaysian authorities long denied the existence of the camp with this discovery, they'll have to face questions, how long have the camps been in existence, did the authorities know about them how were they able to operate several have been killed in anbar. 27 died in the east. most of the victims were members of the iraqi army and shia militias fighting i.s.i.l. it had been captured by iraqi forces on saturday. >> in a separate attack a residential compound was targeted. 22 people were killed 17 injured. there the compound is considered

an iraqi stronghold. they have recaptured some territory to secure an important army base from baghdad. >> the islamic state of iraq and levant was hoping to take the corridor that links the iraqi capital baghdad to a new strong hold. forces allied to the government secured the vital supply line. to the main staging ground in anbar province the military base. thousands of shia paramilitary forces have been sent to the sunni heartland to help regular forces and local allies fight i.s.i.l. >> it is hard to predict the timetable for the battle. for now our focus is setting up defensive lines. >> the wide-scale counter offensive has not begun. some forces were sent from the base to the front lines east of ramada. but i.s.i.l. is still fighting

back. it targeted security forces with suicide car bombings and the recently recaptured town. that town is part of the haider al-abadi district. this area is strategic for the government and is where the security forces can launch an assault against i.s.i.l. in ramada, and it's the last line of defense for the air base. this fight would be difficult, because i.s.i.l. has been in this province for a long time. they are being used and it's hard to know who are they. >> anbar is a sunni muslim province and not all the tribes support the iraq shia-led government. there's a history of mistrust. here the government has allies. without the help of the popular mobilization force they would have lost the district to i.s.i.l. we will remain and fight with them

the armed tribesman are a small force, and they are also lightly armed. the government has been criticized for not providing them with proper weapons, and the training needed to face i.s.i.l. the iraqi government promised to speed up the pace of integrating sunnis into the regular forces. there are many influential leaders who are not taking the promises seriously. they refuse to help the government, which they say has marginalized them for a long time. the government has tried hard to portray the war as iraq's war against i.s.i.l. the u.s. has stressed that sunnis are involved in the fight. >> they have said that the shia paramilitary forces will operate under the iraqi government's command, but need to convince the sunnis in anbar that the deployment of shia militias will not extend the influence.

the support may be the only way to win the battle against i.s.i.l. and bringing iraq back together iran says it's agreed to allow what it calls managed access to its military sites. the agreement is part of a deal made over its disputed nuclear programme. the announcement was made after a closed session of parliament involving the foreign minister mohamed. the supreme leader previously rejected such inspections yooethians have been voting in the first general elections since the death of the prime minister in 2012. his successor is expected to stay in power. more than 38 million people are eligible to take the ballots in the regional and parliamentary poll. it's in power for almost 25 years of silencing them.

short and ordly cues authorised 1,600 polling stations in the capital alone. this is a scene by the government that many opposition supporters gather in one place and turn the class of waters into protesters. voters have to have i.d. kept and voters authenticated and to check whether they are in the role of voters before they had their hand applied with indellable ink. they picked the ballot papers and moved into the booth where they mark the paper and drop it in the ballot box. this is what a ballot paper looks like. it's with symbols. no names here. they are 57 parties taking part

in the election. the opposition claiming particularly in the rural areas, claims the government denies. what many yooepans -- ethiopians ask, they have a single member of parliament. coming up in the programme, the oligarchs helping to hold the line. the president ignored of corruption allegations. plus doubt date. >> i'm jennifer glasse in kandahar the biggest city in southern afghanistan doesn't have enough electricity because it can't afford to run its power station.

thanks for joining us. here are the top stories on johannesburg. syrian state tv is reporting 400 killed by i.s.i.l. in palmyra. most women and children. it was a week since the city was taken by i.s.i.l. fighters. 300 rebels have been killed by syrian in the opposition held areas. u.n. brokered talks to end the war in yemen appear to have been thrown in doubt. a yemen yinny spokesperson with no progress on the ground. the president will not attend talks in indonesia. the malaysian government claims mass grace have been found near the border. if the grace are of human trafficking victims. >> now, the activist behind

weeks of protests in burundi suspended talks with the government after the killing of an opposition party leader. he and his body guard were shot dead on saturday in the capital bujumbura. following weeks of unrest and protests against president bujumbura's bid for a third term in office. haru mutasa reports. >> the road has been closed off. police have barricaded. the family wants answers, saying how he was killed why he was kill. he was walking up the road. a car drove up and shot him. it's a secure area. you have a parliamentary building a military building and they have a checkpoint. they want to know how it happened. the white door close family and

friends are allowed to enter and pay respects. it will be a tense week here. talks between the government and potential has been suspended. the government says it has nothing to do with the killing, but the opposition party say they cannot continue talks when opposition supporters and leaders are killed. the government told burundians they have three days to hand in weapons, if they don't do that there could be a major crackdown later in the week in afghanistan the taliban attacked seven checkpoints killing it 10 police officers in the south. two posts in sanguine and helmand have been captured. the checkpoints are regular targets, and are often poorly manned. after decades of war, afghanistan is facing an energy crisis. the end of n.a.t.o. and fuel subsidies made the situation worse. jennifer glasse has more from

kandahar. >> this job feeds his family of 12. he thinks he won't have a problem. >> we have eight hours of electricity a day. we used to have 24. there were 100 working here, now there's 12. >> reporter: mohammed said losing his job could force him to be a fighter for the taliban or turn to crime. anything to make money. businesses get eight hours of power a day, residents four. two hours at a time. kandahar struggles more than other cities in afghanistan. there are sporadic outages in other places, residences and people have full-time pow, because the capital has access to imported electricity. the power problem here wasn't always this bad, it's worse since the n.a.t.o. withdrawal. >> when american and canadian forces were here, they had 50 megawatts. when they left.

they had their tents here, we lost - no power. >> some of that electricity comes from the 10 megawatt diesel plant built with american funds. now the generators are silent. running the plant at full capacity would bring the people at kandahar 8 hours a day. the power people say it doesn't make financial sense. at the rates they charge they can only cover 10% of the cost of fuel. in the control room they are dolling out power to the neighbourhoods. suddenly the lights go off because of a short in the power grid. it is reset. kandahar's power grid is unstable. it will need to be upgraded or replaced. first the city has to find a power source. this businessman says afghanistan missed a golden opportunity because the international community didn't invest well.

>> clearly the money was spent with long-term in mind. we wouldn't have spent it on these generators. the first choice should have been building hydro-electric plants and solar winds. >> any of the options would take years to complete, costing tens of millions the government doesn't have. >> in the meantime people of kandahar have to make do as best they can a group of women from around the world crossed the border between north and south korea on a peace march. they had setbacks on a trip aimed at encouraging reconciliation. that has not stopped them as describing it as a success. >> reporter: an historic moment for a group of peace activists able to across the boarder between the two koreas, they hoped to walk, but at the last minute were told they had to take a bus. even so, crossing the demilitarized zone is rarely allowed.

it involved app unusual level of cooperation between the two countries which after 70 years, it is still technically at war. >> translation: it is a one way ticket from beijing, we are going through seoul, we didn't think it would be possible to cross the dmz. the group of 30 women come from 15 counties and include two nobel peace price women and activist julia stein 'em. in the last few das they met women from north korea, and made connections with people rarely allowed to speak to foreigners. north korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world. the north and south split. that was 70 years ago. there was a war in the 1950s. a demilitarized zone was split up between the two. >> we are saddened that so many south korean families had not

within reunited with their families across the d m.s. >> the u.s. and e.u. imposed sanctions after it began testing nuclear weapons. the aim of the trip was to improve relations with the rest of the world. some observers are skeptical this type of event will help. they generate attention, but do not change policies, north korea had a longstanding record. they were not documented by the u.n., i do not see the causal relationship wean this and the north korean change. are the north koreans going to allow political parties or release people from grail because of the protest. i don't think anyone believes that, which is why a lot are skeptical. the group brought attention to the issues. they appealed to the united nations and the leaders of north and south korea to agree on a lasting peace treaty. oscar ram aero a 20th

century human rights activist and latin american's champion has been beautified. he was famous for speaking out against oppression and dictatorship. in 1980 he was assassinated by an unknown gunman. many billionaires are funding ukraine's armed forces despite promise is stop oligarchs influences politics. the president is accused of not doing enough to stamp it out. andrew simmonds has the details. >> in the distance there's shelling. >> and tanks are close to the front line. two blatant breaches of a minsk agreement ceasefire. it's another average day for the

ukranian volunteers in a stand off against protesters. >> the regular army's conventional warfare. hardly hardly put simply if it wasn't for funding from a billionaire oligarch they are here to receive bravery awards. they are not medals, but swiss watches, said to be worth $30,000 each. >> translation: presented by ukranian mp, who was an advisor to igor kolomoiski until he was sacked as a regional governor. president petro porashenko

accused him of running his own private army. it followed extraordinary scenes when the militia were called into the office in a battle for control of company. >> a former advisor says the president is an oligarch, and he is critical. >> translation: a lot of citizens have questions. speaking about oligarchs, it shouldn't be about individuals, but the whole system. >> reporter: it's a system where all of ukraine's oligarchs have their own tv stations - the one here not surprisingly belonging to kolimoyski. >> the ideal world is to protect the system. they can capitalize on it. they can use the state companies

to enrich themselves, getting the income and the revenues, so it - they need to broke the ties. >> back near the ceasefire, they continue the troop rotation, and the possibility of war resuming, it's a big distraction a large part of the the energy needed to put on object into space is spent on lifting it through the thick lower atmosphere. that's why the spanish companies developed a satellite launch system rather than rockets for the first stage. the technology effort visited the hospitals outside barcelona. from the outside, there's nothing high tech about the officers of zero to infinity. >> that's right, this is a donut. >> step inside it's apparent

this is no normal technology company high altitude test pots, space suits and d.i.y. electronics, part of an altogether new approach to getting objects into space. >> 75% of the cost of the rocket launch happened in the first 75 seconds. if you replace that for 75 seconds with something else, cheap and simply, you thoroughly reduce the cost. and the environmental impact. the company flown test flights using high altitude balloons. they use them to lift the rim rockets, and they fire up using near liquid systems to feed gas. it feeds liquid gas into the engines. >> compared to the engine of an aeroplane, it's simpler, there's

no moving parts. with new technology like 3d printing you can do it in two or three pieces, so very simple to operate. the company says it's a system that could bring up to 75 kilograms into orbit and is likely to cost a few million, 10 times cheaper than the cost of a rocket launch. they are looking at using the balloon. >> this is a capsule that zero to infinity are developing to carry people up above the earth surface. it's going to be insulated and pressurised to protect the passengers from the conditions you find on the edge of space. >> as satellite technology was smaller and cheaper, it the launch cost is a great bar yes. zero to infinity hopes their

system will solve this within the next two years. if you want to find out more about technology sport or stories making the news go to the website. at the bottom of the screen aljazeera.com. [ ♪♪ ] hello, i'm richard gizbert, and you are not the "the listening post", here are some media develop. the osama bin laden story is back in the