ajconsiderthis. we will see you next time. check check >> face to face as we look live at the montro palace hotel where syria's government will meet opposition leaders for the first time after nearly three years of war. >> protests growing chaotic and violent by the minute. how the government is using cell phones in an attempt to control the crowd. >> texas set to execute a cop killer from mexico.

why it could threaten international relations between washington and the mexican government. >> nearly $1 billion up for grabs from warren buffet. are you up for it? wait until you hear what you have to do to claim the prize. >> hello, welcome to al jazeera america. it's good to have you with us. i'm thomas drayton. we begin with syrian peace talks. warring sides will come face to face for the first time today in just about an hour. the bashar al-assad regime and the opposition will meet. world leaders hoping to bring a diplomatic solution to three years of war in syria. the talks will open in montro and move to geneva on friday. >> inside syria the violence is

continuing unabated. 100 were killed yesterday, and the two sides were violent as ever. there's multiple opposition fighters fighting each other. the hope is to create a localized peace deal or humanitarian corridor to reach some of the people who have been locked away by the syrian government or the opposition or caught in the middle of the firing. the official goal is to create a transitional government, a government that will have the ability to go into syria and move the president. and the country would create a new government. the syrian government has refused to allow that to happen. the opposition barely made it here. they were so fractured they barely voted to be represented here. what the u.s. is hoping is very, very small baby steps. they said that they succeeded

simply by getting the syrian opposition and syrian government to sit side by side at the table. it's the first time it happened in more than three years of fighting. at the same time that fighting conditions. the refugee problem is live. there's 9 million people inside and outside the country. the syrian government is expected to say we are fighting terrorism, we don't buy into the notion that we have to step down or go into the countries to see the human rights abuses. we are fighting terrorism. the opposition says, "we are trying to get the assad regime out of government, out of power." for all the violence and horrific images, that all can end. there's absolutely no sign that either side is are the to end this violent war. >> the talks will take place in an hour.

you are looking live again at the montro palace hotel. in about an hour we'll have more throughout the morning on al jazeera america. >> the syrian civil war is spreading beyond its borders to lebanon. four are dead after a car bomb exploded. 35 are wounded. a syrian rebel group said they organised the attack to retaliate against hezbollah fighters. >> bernard smith reports from beirut where attacks like this are increasing. >> the second suicide car bombing this month in southern beirut. a strong hold of lebanon's shia lebanon group hezbollah. it's believed to be linked to al qaeda, this blast, one of the many forces fighting government troops in syria. >> it is very destructive to the stability of lebanon when you

see innocent people dying every day, and you see the women and children targeted at the civilian area. this does not sound safe or stable. i think the level of tension has risen to the extreme. >> iran-backed hezbollah has been sending fighters to help. al nusra says it's taking revenge. >> the fight is coming to the background of these southern suburbs. the impact of syria's war is being felt over more and more of lebanon. >> yesterday bashar al-assad was attacked. many villages have been attacked during the course of this week. when we talk about this, we are talking about targetting lebanon. i believe this is one part of the series. >> in tripoli, in the north of

lebanon there was more violence, seven people, including a 3-year-old boy died since saturday in fighting in sunni muslims in alawite areas. the bombings helped to persuade an anti-damascus politician to change his mind and say he's willing to join a lebanese government with hezbollah, which may help to reduce tensions and end a 9-month political impasse that left the country without an administration. >> security officials say shortly after the bombing clashes broke out and a northern lebanese city, leaving one dead. >> violent clashes between anti-government protesters and police continue for a third straight day in ukraine. rallies have been taking place in kiev, in defines of new laws limiting the right to protest.

gas bombs from thrown at riot police. the police fired back with tear gas. the controversial protest laws go in effect. including barring people from wearing helmets and masks to rallies, setting up tents without prior police permission, and protesters need permission to travel in convoys with five or more people. "dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in mass protests", that's a message received by demonstrators. it's one technological tactic ukraine's government is using to identify and suppress protesters. >> the protests in the ukraine have been a cross current of new technologies, it's difficult for an outside observer to get a sense of what the scene is on the ground. drone footage makes it possible for organizations like ours to

take a look from the issue. what is the vibe. there is a dark side to technology. protesters received text messages saying "you have been registered as a participant in a mass riot", a law that these people are protesting. the ability to triangulate the position of a protestor and send a message has sinister overtones. many protests are donning garb become from the middle ages, building siege kata puts. i think it's part of the flavour of protests we'll see from years to come. >> west virginians may have to wait a little longer until their water is safe to drink. investigators say there may be a second originally undetected chemical that spills into the

elk river during the storage tank leak. authorities were testing and treating for one chemical. further testing will be done to make sure the second substance is removed. more than 3,000 are without tap water. most restrictions were lifted on friday. governor ray tomlin says he cannot guarantee it's safe. he said if you do not feel comfortable drinking or cooking, use bottled water. he said, "i will not say everything is safe. but if you don't feel comfortable, don't use it." >> now to texas where the state is set to execute a mexican citizen. it sparked a debate across borders, threatening the relationship between u.s. and mexico. >> he was convicted of killing a police officer.

texas was told to stop. the arrest violented international law. president's of tomayo's home town demanded that he be pardoned. >> former virginian governor eugene o'donnell and his wife were indicted, accused of accepting gifts from a wealthy businessman. eugene o'donnell was a rising star. he left office after a 4-year term. >> new jersey governor chris christie was sworn into a second term today, in the middle of the secondal plaguing his administration. the governor made no mention of any controversies in his speech, focussing on the issues new jersey faced during his first term, like hurricane sandy. >> a bitter cold winter storm

blanketed states across the north-east. >> this is a look at snow-covered times square in new york city. the storms stretched from kentucky to massachusetts, cancelling flights across the east coast. temperatures dipped below freezing, leaving tens of millions caught in grip of extreme weather. >> the snow came down hard, dumping a foot. with 13.5 inches of road made roads a mess for drivers. u.s. city was covered in 11 inches of snow. parts of new jersey saw as much as 16 inches. by the way, federal workers in washington d.c. were given the day off. students at connecticut in virginia got enjoy a day off from school. >> it has been a bumpy night for many people in the north-east. this is the radar we are looking

at. you can see the snow. down towards parts of west virginia, maryland, delaware. the snow will continue as we wake up in the morning. we'll see the breakdown here towards the south-west. then by the end of the day it will be a little bit better as we make our way up here to the north. a lot of snow has fallen. some places have seen over a foot. you can see the darker blues. it indicates where some of the heaviest snow has fallen. new jersey, long island and parts of massachusetts. we have warnings in effect. winter storm warnings encompassing a lot of area. we have blizzard warnings. that's the pink area, for cape cod. that means over 6 inches of snow is expected, winds over 35 miles per hour, as well as temperatures expected to be below the 20s, but when you

factor in the winds, that will mean we are looking at wind chills that are in the minus digits. earlier today we saw the values here in new jersey - about 11.6. that has come up. as we wake up in the morning i wouldn't be surprised if we are looking at 15 or 16 inches in some of these locations. on wednesday a big improvement. the storm system makes its way to the north-east. we have pockets of late-effect snow. what is left will be cold air in place. boston, your high temperature is pretty much what you see now, as we go into wednesday. tuesday a little bit warmer, it will not get warmer until we get towards the weekend. new york, we are looking at the same scenario. finally a break in the weather. >> downright cold. he campaigned against corruption in china. now he's facing time behind

bars. when reporters tried to cover the story, this happened. >> we are being pushed away by local police who say we can't stand here. >> why journalists are barred from the charge of a former yal university scholar. >> seven out of 10 people are worried about the future in san francisco, and the feeling they are being squeezed out. >> why protesters are blocking bus stops to make a statement in silicon valley.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. as we take you live to switzerland in the palace hotel where bashar al-assad's regime and the opposition will meet here shortly to discuss syrian peace talks. we follow the talks on al jazeera america. >> a human rights lawyer who campaigned against corruption is on trial in china. he's one of several activists

facing prosecution for favouring transparency of government. al jazeera's reporter tried to make his way to the trial but was blocked from covering the event. >> there's extreme sensitivity to the court case. normally we are allowed to stand about 200 metres towards the beijing court for the trial. we are being pushed away by local police. people are being herded out of the area. this didn't happen for the court kiss for borche li, showing how serious the government is taking the case against jing yong, charged with attempting to disrupt order in a public place, because of a campaign against education laws in china. he was campaigning for the

rights of country side children who are not allowed to attend schools and universities in urban areas of he was detained in july, charged and arrested in august. during his detention he made a bold statement about china's civil rights movement and in this to say. >> translation: however defeated and absurd the society is, the country needs courageous citizens to stand up and take rights and dreams seriously. i'm fraud put the word citizen in front of my name. >> we are 400m away from the court. they are still pushing us back. we are not going to be allowed to get near it. the court case will take a day. it's expected that he will receive a maximum sentence of five years. it's a secret court case. only two members of his family

will be allowed to attend. >> workers are clearing a screen on a train deroyalment. it was carrying crude, like a train that levelled a town. these accidents involving oil trains are raising concerns. >> until recently trains were not carrying that much oil. since 2008 u.s. domestic oil production soared 25% thanks in large part to the boom in oil shale production in places like north dakota. that means tanker training of 80 to 100 cars are more dangerous. 1. 1.

1.15 million gallons of oil was spilt last year. not including the accident last year, which accident killed 47, and spilt 1.5 million gallons of oil that came from north dakota. the alternative is not better. last year there was a million gallon release from a 6-inch pipeline. many go undetected. neither rail for pipelines are risk free. >> oil train accidents can be catastrophic, but they are rare. 11.5 billion gallons of oil travelled by rail. 99.99% of it arrived safely. rare or not, the accident can be deadly, cost billions to clean up and cause massive environmental damage. government and industry experts are looking at a slate of changes, everything from

re-routing changes, changing tank car design and the speed of trains. some of those changes are expected to be announced within 30 days. the rules on tougher tank cards are not expected until 2015. >> the battle of the buses is on in san francisco. corporate shuttles have been upsetting residents by using public bus stops. as melissa chan reports, it's the symbol of an economic divide in the bay area. >> setting the tone for 2014. the first protest of the new year by a coalition of san francisco residents fighting, they say, against the corporate creed that is going hand in hand with silicon valley's latest boom. luxury buses shuttle text workers from the city to google's office out of town. they are a symbol of the haves versus have not. perks for private industries, blamed for pushing up prices

city wide. the campaigns to stop the corporate buses are more frequent and disruptive. >> it wasn't until we stopped blocking buses that people turned their eye this way. people want to funnel the attention to what government has, and real estate. >> we are looking at about 100 protesters. that's not a lot. they have captured national attention by targetting tech companies, such as google. facebook and apple. >> look at the polls that the politicians at city hall are taking. seven out of 10 people are worried about the future. these people are the most active, the anxiety is there. >> some of those that turned out include residents feeling the heat. the tech boom is taking a toll on lower-cost housing.

>> my landlord has been issuing three day notices for me to leave and requested me to self-evict. this is just one example of so many of my friends and neighbours that are being evicted throughout the city. at the bus hearing on tuesday, google employees showed up to defend themselves, and their company. >> i wanted to say that not everyone at google is a billionaire. like many people, 10 years after the fact, i'm still paying off my student loans. >> across the city are signs of a changing landscape. some wonder why anyone would complain, but they do. challenging the mayor and city officials to take action. >> we'll get the voters to vote to make the changes that need to happen in san francisco. until then, however, the buses will roll through the city and

protesters will take techs to task. >> still ahead tonight - sharks under attack in the land down under. >> should we remove sharks from the picture. we'll have huge impacts. not just on the sharks, but all throughout the marine system. >> why the hunters are becoming the hunted in australia. who wants to be the next billionaire. what we have to do to win the big check you have for grabs, courtesy of billionaire warren buffet.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. we want to show you some dramatic pictures coming out of the ukraine this morning, where violent clashes between anti-government protesters and police have continued for a third straight day. this is in defiance of new laws limiting the right to protest. the riots have been going on for three days, protests were

protesters had been throwing gas bombs and ri at police fighting back. dramatic pictures on al jazeera america between rioters and riot police. we'll keep you updated throughout the morning. >> australian officials sanctioned a shark hunt in response to a growing number of attacks along the west coast. as andrew thomas reports not everyone believes the hunt will do anything to reduce the risk to humans. >> they are the fish we love to fear. go to any australian beach and conversation turns to the chance of being attacked. particularly given that the chance seems to be less remote than it once was. in western australia are the 20 fatal attacks in the last 100 years. seven have been in the past three years. to protect its tourism industry and swimmers and surfers, the state government is taking action, baiting big hooks with meet and authorising the killing

of any shark nor than 3 metres talk. >> we are talking about destroying large sharks over three metres of those particular species that have proven to be a threat to human life. the plan is controversial. there has been big protests of thousands on perth's beaches. at an aquarium in sydney experts lined up against the policy. >> anything that looks at specifically targetting a pex predators end porely for the eco system. if we remove sharks we'll have impacts not just on the sharks but throughout the system. >> protesters threaten legal action and disruption. with those threats attempts to get commercial fishermen to kill the sharks have been abandoned off perth peaches and government employees will do the job. even they are reluctant. benign action is being taken. more than 300 big sharks are

being fitted with transmit terse. a computer sends out a tweet when they are picked up. people following sharks on twitter make an informed decision to join them. that is less reliable than removing the danger. people are paying to swim with sharks. the chances of swimming and being bitten, but there is a chance. >> we've been telling you about this all morning. warren buffet giving someone a chance to become a billionaire with the knowledge of college hoops. the oracle of omaha is offering $1 billion on whoever can fill out of perfect march madness. that is picking the winner out of all 67 games. the odds are 9 contillion.

the winners will have to split the prize if more than one does it. >> that's it for this edition of al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. new york. news at the top of every hour. thanks for watching.