continuess extremely quiet. eerily quiet, bangladesh, has been slow, the the poltses have just closed and we'll have to wait to see what the turnout figure is when the election commission roshth the outcome of course also snoarch in advance. the violence not efnl omonths of

buildup to this election but years and decades of deadlock between two virtual rivals, her rival the opposition leader halad azir under virtual arrest. the prime minister has determined undeterred. in her view they are the troublemakers while she upholds her country's interests. but with the main opposition leader unvirtual house arrest and hundreds of activists in jail, it is hard to see this as a contest. protests continue. have is two hours north we found lawyers and activists representing the opposition

bangladesh opposition party, before disappearing behind the courthouse gates. here they say they are safe from arrest. most say they face trumped up charges brought by government prosecutors to keep them quiet. and further into the country side, we arrive at the only seat in the area where a vote will take place on sunday. the opposition boycott means the moonchmajority will pass. >> there are other parties taking part, smaller ones. so i don't think the boycott will affect elections badly. >> and many who do not. >> the government is in something that it wants. there isn't anything we can do about it. it's really hurt our businesses

already. how can we sport this government? >> this school will serve as the polling station. the only one in the whole gangipur region. people will be able to turn up and vote but for who? three candidates affiliated to the ruling party so a fair vote, perhaps not. this could be a questionable victory. >> it will not have people's support and my fear is that when a government is formed without people's support and with questionable legitimate matcy, it is time to be questioning. >> centers of power but here and in most corners of the 61 now, there is little enthusiasm and

growing concern about sunday's vote. >> and a growing concern, the international community doesn't believe this is a credible election. the government, though, will it believe it succeeded and just because they have in fact held an election? >> well, the government believes it has the constitution behind this election, which does make it a perfectly legal election. legitimate meacy will be questi. the opposition orient says it will accept nothing less than a future care taker body, and the

deadlock is very much set to continue here. and without the credibility that the government needs to restore order to the streets and restore stability to this country, it is quite hard to see how that is going to happen. the economy needs stability. >> jonah haw in dacca, many thanks jonah. >> many of the crowd are asylum seekers from africa. mickey rosenfelt joins me. >> the israeli police, are in place in preparation for people

requesting to be in israel at the moment, our units are in and around the area in order to prevent any disturbances from taking place. part of a three day strike, continuing today through tuesday. >> please repeat that, mickey, how many are on the streets and are about. >> the majority being african migrants making their way inside israel, three day demonstration taking place today today up until tuesday. the people are -- the police are

in and around the area to prevent any disturbances from taking place. >> mickey, thank you for the report from central tel aviiv . >> the islamic state of iraq, are let's look at what is happening in anbar province. a group of mainly sunni fighters, linked to al qaeda, wants to start an independent islamic e emerate.

don't trust the government in baghdad, they do cooperate with local police who are sunni. imran khan reports. claim they have taken over the main highway into the town of fallujah. one man shouts, god is great, and in a statement they say they sent renoarmth from syria into iraq to battle government fighters there. after days of fighting, sunni tribal leaders have so far not allowed iraqi fighters to head into the town. it is a siep of how little they trust the government of prime

minister nouri al maliki. started calling for the returning of the army to protect them and their dignity. >> the sunni tribal leaders in raramadhi, little trust on eithr side, both the baghdad government and the sunni groups in anbar province are at a

stalemate. imran khan. al jazeera. >> civilian protest again the tactics and the islamic state in iran in the levant. anita, battles are still being fought. so the question has to be, what is your understanding of what is going on? >> reporter: beginning to get a sense of a broad brush detail of what's going on. for want of a better term, the moderate syrian forces are the ones who have decided that they have had enough of the actions

of the islamic state of iran in the levant, now of course occupying many areas particularly in the north of the country. so there is a new grouping, a more effective grouping it would seem at the moment of moderate forces facing the islamic state of al qaeda force force ifs in e levalentine. big powerful block of fighters, the were form emerier, towards the end of last year. there was 11 big brightsd briga, are they siding with the free syrian forces? at the moment they are not saying what they are doing. but we understand they are

assisting the free syrian forces. they don't want to open up a war with the islamic fighters there, the most aggressive fighting on the ground is now being carried out by the islamic force in iraq, the army of damascus, the army of bashar al-assad, what are they saying? they are saying now that if the moderate fighters don't start targeting them, they will down tools in place he like aleppo and they will retreat, something that the opposition don't want to see. and this is what they're saying they will do. this is interesting how the regime in damascus has taken advantage of the the unrest, and

the forces of the islamic front, they are tending to leave the al qaeda linked fighters alone. because it is useful for them politically for them to survive as a fighting force in syria at the moment it matches the contention that they are fighting islamic terrorism in syria. that's what's going on right now. >> let's move to the peace table. has there been any decision made who will go to geneva in a search for some sort of solution? >> steven, as you know these things take an enormous amount of time. as far as we can understand the really, really decisive meeting of the umbrella opposition party that represents all the political opposition and indeed

some of the military opposition in compile based in toir in ture are being secluded from the process and many delegates don't know where they are going either. they are waiting for buses to pick them up and take them the there. turkish military involved now. this is a big decision that the syrian opposition has to take, does it participate on january 2nd or not? we simply don't know which way it's going to go or not but we're watching. >> thank you, anita mcnaught in syria. focusing on rebooting peace

talks before setting off from jerusalem john kerry met the palestinian leader. >> harmful to state security and joining a terrorist group. al jazeera say the pr allegations are unfounded. still to come: high tides and heavy rain leave parts of the u.k. in stormy weather.

it's 5-nil, and i don't really want to talk about it. negotiators in rival factions in south sudan has agreed to for talks in addives ababa. >> neighboring ethiopia where gloashtors are trying to thrash out a deal. >> the cessation of hostilities,

we should not suffer again in our hands. >> but the rebel delegation is he can striking a less aggressive tone. >> with the current mass killing going on in the country, and political dissension, there can be no conducive atmosphere for peace talks. >> reporter: the conflict is drawn along peaceful lines. the president salva kiir who is dinka, dismissed his vice president, riek machar. who is nuer. people are suffering and dying. we cannot afford to tolerate

people siferg in that way by politicians handle. >> after several days of delay, both parties finally meet on sunday. but history is not on their side. for generations the two tribal groups have battled for dominance and force he. now they have to decide how to bring peace to the world's youngest nation. that will not be easy, jerald tan, al jazeera. five story building was under construction when it caved in. emergency crews are still sifting through rubble to search for survivors. >> stocking up on supplies after forecast of more heavy snow and bitter weather. the region has experienced a severe snow storm after are

frigid temperatures have taken place. parts of the southwest have been hit hard by storms that have left homes and roads inundated. record go ahead from tewksbury. >> heavy rain and gale force winds striking hard. the deluge and destruction was not as bad as many forecasters predicted but as day broke over the southwest the worst of i.t. seemed over for now at least, with the defenses holding back the tide. >> we still got sort of hefty flooding going on upstream. so we have a number of flood alerts and flood warnings and i think we'll get further flood warnings and flood alerts. >> but it last come at a price.

protecting the town of upton upon seven, it will cost many millions of dollars. this very plod earn flood system is keeping the water at bay. much to the relief of many in the area. >> up until they put the wall in, we got flooded six times and the worst one is in 2007 when i actually came up to this level which inside was three feet. >> reporter: some of the defenses may have worked but the agency which looks after them has found itself at the center of a political storm. plans to cut more than 1500 jobs has led to questions about whether the future environment agency can cope with major weather events. this while the taxpayer's dollar has never been in more demand if choices, new challenges over the climate.

>> areas of existing urban infrastructure, major parts are now in a high risk flood area. so we're going ohave to work out a way of managing redevelopment which is flood resistant. >> for now, it seems as if there is a lull before the storm. as forecasters predict there is more bad weather on the way. emma hayward, al jazeera, gloucster shireshire.er shire. heavy rain at the moment. some of the heaviest downpours we've seen are on nice there along the south coast of france and also in slovenia where we have seen 74 mill meters of rain. so clearly this system is capable of giving us some heavy,

heavy downpours but rather unexpected effect on our weather as well. take a look at the charts, you can see all the winds ever feeding up from the south and what that's doing is racking up some quite mild air. although it is very, very wet there, rome is getting to 16° which is quite a bit above average. rome may be above average but sareivo is also fairly mild over the next few days. rome is still up at 14°, saraevo is bof 13°.

dave. >> often neglected and abused by their teachers. ldges's malcolm webb reports from the capitol, dacca. >> these boys are preparing to beg on the street of the capital, dacca. getting a bowl the is crucialt. they live in an islamic school. the boys are known as talabei. institutionalized begging is the reality. useni has begged for six years, he's rejected every day but he has to keep trying. >> we go back without anything one time they don't beat you, they tell you. after several times they beat you. >> out on the street, it's tough.

some boys get slapped or hit by cars. some seem pathetic but most don't want to know. meanwhile, back at the darrah, the marabu that runs it agrees to talk to us. >> it's not my choice. if i had the means to stop this, i would but i don't. >> the money collected is not spent on food. they have to beg for meals too. after several hours of begging, it's time to pray. there are about 20 boys living in this darrah. they only do study for a couple of hours a day, but their parents who are poor, senting them here -- sending them here means there's fewer the mouths

to feed and they have the opportunity to read the cor kor. this is perhaps what parents hope for when they move to the city. children here are given three meals a day and they don't beg. the current estimate is 10,000. the government tries to regulate the darrahs, some profit from the schools. the boys grow up trapped and in conditions close to slavery, malcolm webb, al jazeera, dacca. >> the gravy train. not europe, drivers making a small fortunate.

>> dubbed the ice bowl.

>> welcome back, you're watching al jazeera, the news hour, i'm steven cole. 11 people died including an opposition leader, boycottings the poms. dozens in tel aviv, many of the crowd are asylum seekers who want to stay in the country.

the top military officer in anbar province, says it will take two to three days for the islamic state of iraq. let's go back to the top story. the controversial election in bangladesh, politics there are dominated by two women, rival, the leader of the oirption of on party in bangladesh. serving her second term in office, previously leading from 1996 to 2001. in power twice, her first office was as the country's first

female prime minister. suspected of playing a part in the murders. so ame nrvega mosen is professional of public relations. amena, most of the world don't consider these elections free or fair. do they contain any shred at all of legitimacy? >> sorry, i can't hear you. if you can ask the question been? >> i shall try again. can you hear me now? >> sorry i couldn't get your question. >> amena can you hear me now? >> yes, it's better. it's better. >> would you like me to repeat the question? >> yes, please. >> most of the people don't consider these elections free, fair or even credible. do you think they have even a

shred of legitimate meas? >> well, personally you know, i don't think they have any shred of legitimacy. because even though people in position, or people in power, are arguing that there is no ceiling in the constitution as to the lowest vote to be credible. i understand there is a limitation in the accusation but at the same time you have to go by the spirit of the constitution and the spirit of the law. why does one have elections? to establish a credible democracy. to have a democratic system. the elections haven't been democratic, it has been boycotted by the major opposition parties. it has been an in-house election. i would term it as an in-house election. and in all it was something which was all set up by the government, and heavily guarded

by the military. and where majority of the seats they were declared to be elected uncontested. did away with a provision of the no vote wii watts there in the constitution. if you have won 53 votes, seats, which have been declared uncontested and only elections for 147 seats, how can you call it a credible election? that's what i'm trying to say, that i don't see it to be a credible election at all. it has not paved the way for address or a democratic system. >> it's not credible, it's not free, it's not fair. so what is the purpose for holding the election? do you say just to if you like allow the government to claim they did hold an election, so therefore they are the government?

>> i think the purpose of the government was to, as it kept on right peting -- kept on repeating, that they wanted a constitution continued here. because according to the constitution they needed to have the elections. like after the term of the government was over. so the government itself has agreed that it needs -- needed to have this election to give a kind of a constitutional continuity to the system. but the government has already suggested that it would go ahead for another election soon after the elections. so i think by 24 january where the term of this parliament is over we are going to see. i'm hoping for it, negotiations between the two parties to have fair and credible elections. but i must say that there was a time, and the government could have had much more inclusive

elections under the election commission could have delayed the elections further. there was this space for the election commission as well as the government. but i think it was shared you know like by the rude majority, they went ahead with the election to they would have an objection to it. >> amena, thank you for joining you us. mass rally was supposed to be held on sunday, that was called off in order to avoid a confrontation with the army. four people were killed when police opened fire on demonstrators. scott hyde ler reports from no, ma'aphnompen.

>> reporter: over the last two weeks, supporters of cambodia's opposition party have come. feels the government has been using force to shut down their protests. >> they want to eliminate these growing popular protestors asking for honsein to sto step n and asking for new elections. >> the government says its new elections are for public safety. >> there is so much violence taking place around the city, and to become a place of mob activity, areplied the people of freedom liberty. >> this is freedom park. this was supposed to be the staging ground for the opposition party's biggest rally

yet. but on saturday it was emptied by security forces, clearly a major setback for the opposition party so where do they go from here? wanted to go outside the capitol city. >> in country is a ruling country with 80% of the operation leaving in the country side. therefore, we will go to the country side to mobilize the people. >> the same government has ruled cambodia since it emerged from the kmer rouge era where many died. some feel there needs to be a stronger opposition to the government. >> the democracy in control, but somehow, there seems to be a lack of maturity of the party in

power but how to solve the problem peacefully. >> ruling party says it wants to continue the negotiations with the opposition party. scott heidler, al jazeera, phnom penn. >> call off elections scheduled for next month. in australia's outback, mining is making some people very rich. from train drivers to sex workers hundreds are riding the wave of the country's resource boom. the top are making the real money. andrew thomas is reporting from western australia. in the most remote parts of australia are the world's highest-paid train drivers. it's lonely work, but pulling trains drivers earn upwards of

$180,000 a year. >> their trains are three chronological terskilometers lo. >> it's not a physically hard job. the heat, the stress, you don't want to make a mistake. >> trade unions have stopped attempts to bring in cheaper foreign workers but one mining company is introducing computer-controlled driverless trains instead. >> computer crash, the technology is there, but it's not flawless and can it deal with rapidly changing conditions and changing information. >> for now drivers are still in the cab. given how visible iron ore trains are, it's not just them

earning what seems incredible salaries. mines themselves are best accessed by air. thousands of trades men and women commute by perth, on train. and live between four and ten days at a time on site. even most qualified earned around $100,000 a year. >> money, that's it. >> that money has consequences. in those towns that are near mines, prices from anything from property to personal services are high. rumors are that people sell themselves for $800 an hour is probably exaggerated but $300 an hour is common. >> people will use it if they've got deposable income. >> where miners spend it, it's

company's managers and owners, andrew forrest has played around $6 billion. he has committed to give the overwhelming majority away to good causes. >> you're put in a position where you've accumulated great capital, it's your responsibility to do something great with it. >> as the iron ore piles up so does the cash. andrew thomas, al jazeera in australia. an american ice breaker is on its way to the antarctic to free two ships stuck in the ice. a complex rescue mission after a chinese ice breaker finds itself in the ice after trying to rescue a stranded ice breaker. u.s. coast guard "polar star" is

expected to take two days to reach the two ships without getting stuck itself.(p) hospitals for seriously ill patients. days after colorado became the first u.s. state to legalize marijuana, at one time state to allow the medical use of the drug. still to come on the news hour, mapping monuments in 3d, how a u.s. company is helping preserve cultural landmark. rafael nadal's season starts with a win.

>> the first blue fin tuna auction of the year has been held in tokyo. prize spes mens sell for tens of thousands of dollars. is this year's a record breaker? >> reporter: this is tokyo's fish market. perhaps the biggest in the world. it's the first blue fin tuna auction of the new year, and the pressure is on. usually, the bidding is intense. last year, one fish sold for a record breaking $1.76 million. but then prices slumped. and this year's winning fish has fetched 20 times less than last year's. >> i'm glad that the

congratulatory bid became reasonable. today ibought six delicious tunas. we were able to eat well. >> accounts for one circuit of the world's catch. high demand and overfishing means some marketers are worried things have taken a turn for the worse. we've seen slightly signs of recovery in 2013. but the total amount of fish traded in this market continues to decline which remains our concern. >> reporter: finalists say that blue fin tuna stocks are becoming dangerously depleted and steps need to be taken to deal with the problem. that is no concern, this year's winning bidder.

he can look forward to feasting on his prize fish sometime soon. al jazeera, tokyo. tragic news for porch geese football legend has died at the age of 71. widely considered one of the best footballers of all time. resident of portugal. leading goal scorer at world cup in england. he scored 743 times in 745 professional matches. eusevio was admitted to the hospital several times in the last year, heart failure was determined as his death. swansea, chelsea premier

league aston are villa, guess newcastle. >> i think we controlled both sides of the defensive and the offensive. we looked always, have to have a good discipline and every time, when our game was based on movement and quick, sharp passing we looked dangerous. >> polish striker robert levin dolfski has agreed a five year deal to join the european champions. however, fans can still enjoy his talents for a few more months as the player won't go to

munich until next season. australia has completed a 5-nil series dominant victory, australia set the unlikely victory target of 448 at the sydney contradic cricket ground. australia came in 281 run victory with two days remaining. finally getting their hands on the famous ashes urn. >> australia repeating the 5 5-nil, fast baller.mitchell johnson was named man of the series after finishing 37 wick

wickets. >> the ups and downs of 2013, to get us to where we are, i certainly couldn't have been prouder of my teammates. also i want to pay obviously respects to al stair and the england team. i think they've obviously been a successful team foster a long time. they've got wonderful players and i'm sure they'll bounce aback. there's no doubt about it, it's been the roller coaster ride, the up ans and downs of 2013, i certainly couldn't be prouder of my teammates. the performance they've put in the whole series, i want to pay my respects to al stair and the england team. they have been a successful team over a long period of time, they have got wonderful players and i'm sure they'll bounce back.

>> the count down is on next month's super bowl. new orleans saints victory on sunday. final play to lead the saints to 26-24 victory over the eagles. john henry smith has more from philadelphia. >> two weeks ago the saints changed kickers replacing garrett heartley kicked exclusively in cold weather cities. freezing temperatures including the game winner as the saints won their first road playoff game ever. in this game the saints rode a surprising attack, nom time to celebrate for the saints. next up for new orleans another road date against the seattle seahawks.

reporting from philadelphia, i'm john henry smith, al jazeera. staged the second biggest come back in playoff history, came back from 28 points down, to stun the chiefs 48-44. their dubbing is the ice fall as the green bay packers take on the san francisco 49ers. temperatures are expected to drop as low as 7° below celsius. with a wind chill factor it could be close to minus 30. players will be wearing special protective clothing and warm drinks and heat packs will be provided for spectators. former world number 1 beat his longest tannin standing arrn

world tour. the two players have met seven times dating back to 1999 with the australian having nine. rafael nadal, has won, in three sets, richard powell has more. >> reporter: surprisingly rafael nadal had never won the open before. the spaniard was dominant in the first set. the world number 1 only needed 24 minutes to take it, 6-1. despite taking a tumble, two-time runner up monfis fought back in the second set by winning the tie-break 7-five. reigning french and u.s. open

champion nadal took an early break in the third, had to work hard to defend it. knoll calling nadal shot out, the frenchman failed to challenge early enough. nadal had lost the 2010 final and missed last year's event through injury but his third set 6-2, for his 63rd title. first time in my career that i am able to establish this with the victory. playing much better tennis, than what i was at the beginning. >> nadal has finally been able to add his qatar title to his

cabinet. more reaction from around the world. >> cultural landmarks are an important, also in danger of being lost, now a california based technology company has found a way to preserve them for future generations. stephanie stanton reports. >> from the leaning tower of pisa to the ancient mayan picture midst, a small company in the san francisco bay area is doing big things mapping out the world's cultural landmarks using high tech 3d imaging. >> the core of the mission is to go out and document these sites before they are lost, so we have an everlasting image of them. >> using this 3d scanner to record images of sites.

it can predict the images within millimeters. the founder of the company came up with the idea of digitally preserving the the sites. scientists are particularly concerned about documenting the monuments in syria and egypt due too political and social unrest in those countries. our historians say the technology is invaluable. >> at a time when we have natural disasters increasing in frequency and we have wars and we have all sorts of sms transformations going on. >> inclusion mission dolores which is the oldest building here in san francisco. the company was started in 2003 and so far scientists have

mapped 100 landmarks including the sydney opera house and mt. rushmore, which proved the most difficult assignments. >> we had to design a special rig to lower the scanner over the faces. we used a rope team to lower the machines down. >> now sk scion is embarking on another challenge over the next five years. >> it is something we are trying to do, at the very least, saving the world's history. >> saving the ancient while using the modern. stephanie stanton, al jazeera, oakland, california. >> stay with us, we have an update on those demonstrations,

only on al jazeera. four part series, as we return to fukushima only on al jazeera america check

>> it's enough water. check >> militants seize control of a key iraqi city. the u.s. says no more troops. >> diplomatic shuffles - secretary of state john kerry says he's making progress in talks between israelis and palestinians. there's a long way to go. >> violence at the polls - dozens are dead in bangladesh as the opposition calls for an election boycott. >> deep freeze - the mercury in the midwest plummets, as temperatures drop to record-breaking lows.