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. >>... by the ain balaka militias. the french returned to bangui, on the edge of the city, more trouble. these houses belong to muslims. >> this man says muslims killed his parents. so now he says people here have decided to destroy everything belonging to muslims, so that they will all leave.

>> they went to take the man away. but then they get called in another direction. a muslim man was murdered an hour before we got here. up the road rwandan peacekeepers tried to reason with christians who are threatening another attack. muslim watchers are terrified. his family are inside the compound. it's been looted. now he want to get out of here alive. >> translation: we don't know what to do. this is the country, they are mass angering us. we goodnight sleep. all around us people are loading the houses. for months many christians suffered at the hands of the muslim-lead militia. now it's payback time. the results are ugly.

>> well, the united nations says more peacekeepers are urgently needed in the central african republ republic. nearly 1 million people are displaced, half of them are children. it adds, there are as many as 6,000 children and car are associated with armed groups and half the country's population has been affected by the violence. there are some signs of hope in the central african republic. later on thursday we should see catherine samba-panza sworn in as the transitional president. she was appointed by the interim parliament this week. to other news and ukraine's opposition has issued an ultimatum to the president to call an election more than 24 hours and face more confrontations. these are live pictures where protesters have been camping out. two protesters are confirmed dead after demonstrators fought

with riot police. activists say the death toll is higher. our correspondent joins us from kiev and worrying developments within the deaths of protesters. are the demonstrators being affected by those deaths? >> well, elizabeth, there was a clear rise in the anger level among the protesters on wednesday, following the first deaths in the early hours of wednesday. two were killed after being fired upon during the clashes a few hundred metres away from where i am overlooking independence square. it came out of the blue, the announcement which shocked a lot of people. a lot of people we talked to said it would make them determined to keep coming to protests and attract news

reporters of their movement. the reason there's a dispute is that some activists are saying that people have been abducted, they are linking people that have been found dead in various areas, linking their activism to their deaths people are reporting between went and thursday? a. injured protesters had been taken to a hospital, took them away and no one saw them since. there's a lot of talk of harassment and kidnapping. a lot of it is unverifiable but is creating fear. >> protests are continuing, despite the deaths and new laws banning protests. what are the opposition's options politically here, given that the current parliament has survived a no-confidence vote?

>> well, the opposition party leaders are certainly trying to mobilise support on the ground. they have, as you were saying, they issued a 24 hour ultimatum. we don't know exactly the time when that would expire. it came after three hours on wednesday. >> they have secured another meeting on thursday, but they have also threatened to - they asked people to be ready to go out on a general strike to stop work in a few hours, if they don't get concessions during the meeting. they want press elections and the release of political prisoners, they are demands which have been directed. at least the fact that they are talking about reduce tensions on the streets. thank you for that.

>> now, after three years of fighting that killed more than 100,000 people, the syrian government and opposition have met for the first time to talk about a possible end to the war. the meeting opened in switzerland, with emotionally challenged statements and accusations from both sides. the diplomatic editor reports from montreaux. >> it took almost eight months to get both sides to the peace conference pt the syrian government and representatives of the syrian opposition in the same room, along with representatives from 40iations. u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon laid out the aim of the process. >> a transitional government body with the full objective powers formed by mutual consent, including over the military forces, security and

intelligence services. >> getting there will be hard. chairing the opening session was a challenge for ban ki-moon. the syrian foreign minister's speech overran and the u.n. secretary general tried to stop him. >> mr deputy prime minister, i'm sorry to - can you just - i have spoken for 20 minutes. >> you live in new york, i live in syria. i have the right to give the syrian version. here in this forum. >> in his speech walid al-muallem added new complications to the process, saying this talks go to a second stage, it should be held on syrian soil. any deal down in switzerland should be sent to a referendum in syria, a country where no vote is free or fair for more than four decades.

>> no one, mr kerry, in the world has the right to give legitimacy or withdraw legitimacy from a president, a government, a constitution or a law. >> anti-government and pro-assad camps chanted and yelled at each other outside the hall. the syrian opposition leader said he was fully committed to the un-led process, but expressed doubts about the sincerity of the government. >> translation: we want to make sure we have a syrian partner in the room that will be ready to go from a bashar al-assad to like us. >> the most contentious issue of all is the assad family in syria. on that, the geneva agreement is maintained. >> and the only thing standing

in its way is the stubborn clinging to power of one man, one family. >> even in the press center where the world's journalists were covering the conference, the animosity between supporters of the government and the opposition is evident. >> there's a lot starving and dying. >> come to syria. >> you don't look like from syria. >> if you are syrian, you'll fight for syria. >> what is clear is the divide between the two syrian delegations. the talks will move to the other side of this lake at geneva, on friday. around the table negotiations chaired by the veteran diplomat. he is the man that headed peace talks and afghanistan and lebanon. observers believe this will be the most difficult challenge of his long career. >> james bays. al jazeera. >> workers in south africa are

going on strike over wages, 100,000 people, a fifth of the mining workforce could down tools. security is tight. it's likely to be a big strike. 34 minors were shot dead by police. >> thursday's strike will hit the top three platinum companies, stopping afl of production. >> 70,000 member in the platinum sector will strike. >> amcu is seeking to double the entry level monthly wage, asking disl 12, 500, which is about $1200. south africa holds 80% of the known flat numb reserves. >> jacob is the leader of the association of mine workers and construction unions at the

anglican mine. they are on strike to demand what the mine owners promised them two years ago. >> this is all about ways that the workers are looking for, and the management from 2012, when they are on strike, if you go back to work, they will fix each and everything that we demand. so strike now is all about a decent wage that the workers are looking for. >> analysts say a strike will have economical and political consequences. >> a trike at this time of year has the additional disaster that it makes the political situation more uncertainly. >> we see the government losing control between government and the trade unions. as a result, these will be

disastrous for south africa. they'll add anxiety about exports of gold and platinum, but anxiety about the political situation as well. we could easily see a sharp depreciation of the ranked associated at this time. >> still to come on the program - south sudan's president tells al jazeera that u.n. staff are supporting rebels plotting to overthrow him. spain prepares to exit the international banks, but are things really looking up for its people.

>> good to have you with us. these are the top stories on al jazeera. ukraine's opposition says the president viktor yanukovych must announce elections within 24 hours or face mass protests. at least two anti-government demonstrators died on wednesday after riot police moved in to break down barricades. the death toll is higher. >> the u.n. has warned of crimes against humanity, and genocide of the central african republic if the international community doesn't intervene. hundreds of muslims are shulterring in a church, where they are being protected by attacks by christians. >> security is tight as it is likely to be the biggest strike since the one in marikana in 2012 where 34 miners were shot dead by police. >> the israeli government

blocked legislation that would make jewish settler attacks on palestine targets in the occupied west tank terrorist offenses. there has been a 400% increase in such matters over the last six years. >> tom ackerman has the story. >> hill-top youths. the outposts are flash points, declared illegal even by the israeli government which tears down the houses. >> this place was destroyed. by the next morning the houses were standing again. we are adding houses and bricking in other families, all with god's help. >> they have been blamed for torching mosques. destroying olive trees. the u.n. reported that last year saw 400 jewish settler attacks, including injuries to 93 people. the defence minister, a champion

of government-organised settlements calls these people terrorists. they inflamed the climate. they spoke after a group of set alreadies were intercepted. they were turned over to israeli soldiers, saving them from injury or worse. as the video shows, israeli forces have been seen protecting masked settlers, whilst joining them in assaults on palestine farmers. when it comes to law enforcement and punishment, the justice system has two faces. >> it is a modern liberal, more or less system. >> while jews answer to civilian courts. palestinians in the west bank are prosecuted and tried by israeli military tribunals. the military justice has huge failures in provision of rights

to defend trials. >> on wednesday, the knesset branded outlaws as terrorist. >> translation: how long must we make a joke of ourselves as the dangerous people undermine the basics of jewish morality. >> the government prevented a vote on the bill by refusing to debate it. the israeli supreme court ruled that the authorities had been dragging its feet in relation to removing outposts on private palestine land. the treatment of renegade settlers was deemed irresponsible. >> at least five egyptian policeman have been killed by masked gunmen at a checkpoint south of cairo. the ministry of the director said the attacks were carried out. two others were injured.

no one claimed responsibility. >> al jazeera is calling for the immediate release of five of its journalists who are detained in egypt. producers mohamed fadel fahmy, baher mohamed, and correspondent peter greste have been held without charge for 26 days, aaccuse of spreading lies and joining a terrorist group. allegations that al jazeera says are fabricated. the other two journalists are from our sister channels, abdullah al-shami is a reporter and mohammed badr is a cameraman, and they have been detained for five months. >> morocco scrapped a law allowing rapists to scept charge if they married their accuse ir. it came to prominence after a girl killed herself when pored to marry her rapist. the law applied to girls under

the age of 18. >> south sudan's president salva kiir accused u.n. staff of supporting rebel fighters who tried to overthrow fighters. in an interview salva kiir rejected u.n. accusations that his forces may have committed war crimes. >> i'm confident that our forces acted according to the international laws. assist not now that we are ruling our own country, that we can come about to abuse our own people, i will not accept that. this blanket accusation i don't like that both sides did this, >> what is the fate of riek machar in your view.

>> what does high want. to become a president. he'll go through the process of transferring power. power can be transferred in a peaceful moons in the elections >> the people will have to say what do they want mykola azarov to do. if they call him and he accepts to come, and tell him what he has done, asking them to allow him to scan. i will also add my voice to the people. is >> a few days ag you accused them of acting like a parallel government. you said that the federal chairman ban ki-moon fell short

of appointing his own president. why the tension between the international body. especially that the united nations has been a big suppo supporter. >> we are denying the member state, the united nations. >> there can be no way that we can be enemies to the united nations. it is the individuals that will be in the system of the u.n. who are creating programs. if we talk about what what is the role of the united nations, yes, they have the mandate, whether they are dealing with it effectively, that is the mandate. allowing the rebels, they took them by force, or they give them

and then they came. the vehicles with the machine-guns to fight forces with. >> you are accusing the united nations of one double standard when it comes to this conflict and of tacit report to the rebels by handing over vehicles or turning a blind eye to vehicles used to mount machines guns, is that the accusation. >> not the whole united nations, it is that group here with us. >> so united nations stuff in juba and south sudan have given tacit support to the rebels. >> we askediations for his reaction to the accusations. >> salva kiir had been making those remarks for days and they were nothing knew. >> argentina stepped up to

introduce restrictions for online shopping. people will have to take the declarations to customs officers in order to pick up their purchases. argentinians have to pay 50% tax on goods bought from foreign websites that cost $25. the latest restrictions will limit to talk about two purchases all year. >> we have an expert on emerging markets and says that the government is trying to change economic policy. >> it's one in a long line of measures that have been taken in recent years to deny argentine's access, to travel abroad. to remit profits or engage in other transactions, but it's another finger on a dyke of

pressure in argentina that is threatening to erode more the international reserves position of the country and therefore bring to an end the economic policies of pop u lis that have been in place. >> spanish banks are preparing to exit the european bail out program. some say it's a sign that austerity measures are working. many spaniards don't see prospect of getting a decent job. >> some good news so sing about. spain's economy is improving. that's what some investors are saying. it exited a bank bailout scheme, borrowing costs have come down and costs on the up. >> something the government is eager to talk about. >> there was a very committed fiscal policy to put public

finances into a sustainable basis. also strong structural reforms process. the change in the trend of those imbalances have resewn confidence into the economy. >> spain's banks have been a thorn in its side. the sector looked very vulnerable. especially when it was revealed how high-risk financing built up the property boom. >> they came to build, they certainly did. fuelled by cheep loans. the construction company, property prices rose. the problem was this property bubbing was propped up with money that the banks borrowed. land was devalued and dreams turned to dust.

>> spain exited the bail out screams. the drop in jobless was evidence of economy working. there's more debt, public and private. the banks clamped down on lending which is hindering the upturn in the economy. >> you only trust that the recovery will solve the problem. there is no creation of employment. clearly there was a recovering. >> spain's government insists it's on the right track. so far it has been cautiously welcomed by the market. mented but it will take more time until that can be felt

across the country. >> i'll be back with the headlines in a moment. the rest of the day's news can be found on the website the where we have more on the top story of the conflict from central african republic. and as always on syria, on al jazeera. >> the spotlight is on target, this time because of obamacare. we'll hear from a cleveland ceo of a clinic. >> we talk to a mayor in hoboken, where the economy is surging. and a group called the lending club did it again, landing a list of america's promising companies. we share their secret. ali velshi is reporti