no power can have perpanent permanent dom nation over anything. all of us are on the same ship, the same boat. if we don't have wise ships, we have problems. >> we go live to davos. it was an uninspiring speech

generally. the only remarkable thing about it is here we are at the beginning of 2014. he was there, and he said, "let's be friends." >> that's right, it wasn't a particularly inspiring title. it was called iran in the world. that sums it up. some of the key crisis has iran at its epicentre. iran is re-emerging out of years of isolation. it is asserting itself here, among the richest and powerful people, an an economy that is open for business. what he wanted here, what he wants, and he'll meet the oil giants later is investment in the oil industry. so much of that speech was about that. i am joined by someone listening closely to it from the economic think tank. do you think he hit the mark,

did what he came here to do? >> it was a vast step forward compared with his predecessor. it was a message of moderation, engagement, and as you said that we were open for business, commercial lengths. obviously whatever he's looking for is the next steps. what are the concrete steps especially in terms of the nuclear program, the situation in syria, that is what a lot of people are looking at. assumptions seemed to be that sanctions would be listed. the only way sanctions will be fully listed is if they see through the nuclear deal and implement a final solution. that was a message in itself. they are looking beyond the sanctions hurting iran. iran had a couple of years of recession. they got the message that they'd feel the pain if they didn't

cooperate. i think that changed. they are saying that now that sanctions aren't going to be there, here we are, we'd love to have your business. >> hassan rouhani said on swiss television that he doesn't have a lot of faith in the peace process taking place over syria, and yet talks about being fully prepared to interact with iran's neighbours, is there a message saying if you bring us to the table, we'll help you out. >> i think, indeed there is, and i guess some of this is aimed at saudi arabia, which has been a big support are of the rebel groups in syria. it's a hidden message to saudi arabia to say, "we are ready to talk." >> hidden messages there were many in the speech. thank you for joining us. we'll hear in davos from the israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu, who had colourful things to say about hassan rouhani, which he'll no doubt repeat. and that will be closely watched

as well. >> now the diplomatic correspondent at kayan, the london based newspaper, critical of the iranian authorities. different from the kayan newspaper in iran, which operates under supervision of the supreme leader - sorry for the long introduction but we needed to establish where your organization came from. >> when you compare mahmoud ahmadinejad and hassan rouhani, how different is the approach that iran is throwing out on the world? >> hassan rouhani's election was because of the situation in iran. as far as the dire economic situation that has been going on, not only because of the sanctions, but because of mismanagement, and the inept functioning of the financial institutions and the businesses.

there's no transparency, no accountability, and there's an increasing role - there has been an increasing role for the revolutionary guards. hassan rouhani's election was a sign of hope that, yes, things will change. certainly as far as the economy is concerned, certainly as far as the nuclear policy is concerned. hassan rouhani made a lot of promises as far as opening iran, and joining iran back into the international community. he made promises about social, political problems in iran. let's not forget there's the two leaders of the green movement under house arrest. certainly in the past month there have been more public executions. yesterday the united nations human rights council sent out a statement criticising iran's human rights behaviour.

mr hassan rouhani, and his camp, and those encouraged by his election and iran's rules are saying, "let's get the financial situation straight eped out first, and slowly by slowly we can attend to the social and political problems that are in iran. >> how long will it take if investment does start, serious investment starts. how long will it take for western companies to get a proper foothold again in iran, and for that to benefit the iranian people? >> at this first stage of this agreement, iran will have access to between 4.2 to $6 billion. and it will come in tranches. we won't see suddenly, although there is a lot of interest from the western companies specifically from the oil companies, from the insurance companies, reinsurance, to get

back to iran. they are setting the stage. there has to be agreements and a set of laws, new regulations that have to be set up that will encourage these companies to go back. iran is also from an environmental perspective, has a lot of problems. from the 10 most polluted cities in the world, three are iranian. and there are two more joining them. certainly iran needs a lot of technical assistance. there's a myriad of areas where western companies can be helpful. >> i'm sorry, we have to leave it there. thank you very much, indeed. the kayam newspaper that has been critical in the past of the iranian government. appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> police in india's west bengal state say a young woman has been gong raped on the orders of a

village council which has no legal standing. the attack was ordered as a form of punishment because the woman was suspected of having a relationship with a man from a different religion. she said she was asked to pay a fine of $400 us. the village elders were accused of ordering the gang rape after her family said they were too poor to pay. it's not the first time. a woman was stripped naked and had to walk through the community. that was in 2010. a married woman and a man who were having an affair were tide to a tree and beaten in rajasthan. and a 6-year-old rape victim was ordered to mory her attackers' son. the suspect refused, offering to marry her himself.

he was later arrested. >> so live in new delhi. outrageous, i can hear the cries from around the world. how can it be justified. two questions here. how widespread is it. are people in any place trying to justify. certainly taking the second question, nobody is trying to justify what went on. authorities, as far as what bengal are concerned, are coming down on this. many cases are emerging from that state. it comes back to the rape case, the delhi rape case that highlighted the issue of safety across india, and this is no different at all. rape is being reported more as time goes on, david. there's a vibrant media here. there is not a day that goes

past where some sort of assault on a woman is not reported in the local or national press. when the reports came in of this particular attack it came out informant press, the pictures only emerging of as many as 5, up to 13 being arrested over the attack of this woman who is supposed to have had an affair or relationship with a man from another village. in the rural areas, it's very difficult to control, and it is in the hands of the elected punjab, as they call it. the elected local officials, trying to control the smaller officials. in this particular area, it's 180km north-west of the regional capital of calcutta. it is difficult. the rural areas are difficult to police, and therefore when elected officials are put in place, they calmed the path to the wider community at large.

therefore you might think tribal, community elders take it upon themselves to administer this type of punishment. you mentioned a whole raft of arse. it was acceptable back in 2010, when two similar cases occurred. then the women were either stripped naked or semi-naked and told to parade down the road. the hume illiation of women continues in the county. it's not different to other nations with attacks on women happen. here, it's more violent in their nature. >> thank you. that report from new delhi. >> morocco scrapped a law allowing rapists to escape prosecution by marrying their victims. the law brought protests on the street when issued for those under the aim of 18.

it came to prominent when a 16-year-old killed herself after being forced to marry her rapist. activists welcome the amendment but says more that is to be done to protect human rights. >> coming up on the news, south sudan's president tells al jazeera some u.n. staff are supporting rebels who are plotting to overthrow him. >> we have the sport. will it be third time lucky for li na as she cruises into the australian open finals. >> ukraine's opposition issued an ultimatum to the per cent, calling an election in 24 hours. protesters torched tyres in a street in the central part of the capital.

two are confirmed to have died after rioters fought with police. >> let's seer from sue turton on the flash point of the protest. >> the demonstrators are determined to keep the pressure on. they know the leaders are about to meet viktor yanukovych for a seconding round of talks. and it's about stopping the security forces from pushing back from this position. they are determined to show the world they are not going anywhere. they'll keep up the fight and the world is watching to see how the government deals with the protest. >> let's go nadim baba live to independent square. we have the opposition saying, "we'll not give up", and the government saying the same thing. when it happens, when you have two moving together, you get

explosions, earthquakes and activities, is there any way that can be avoided here? >> well, that's what people are wondering right now. president viktor yanukovych is due to be meeting with the leaders of the three opposition parliamentary parties. they did meet on wednesday for three hours with no outcome. those opposition leaders have given him a warning, an ultimatum of 24 hours. if they don't get any concessions, they say they will move forward. it's anybody's guess exactly what they mean. for example, one of them, vitaly clich coe said elections would change it without blood shed, but arseniy yatsenyuk said if it

takes a bullet to the head, so be it. here at independent square, what happens is the politicians are on the stage in front of thousands of people who turn up in the evening. they have not urged people to go over to this scene of the clashes. they have been saying, "let's wait and see what happens with these negotiations. if nothing comes out in the next few day, the line may change. we are waiting to see what the leaders say. some of the protesters are not listening to anybody now. they have had enough and are hunkering down. reinforcing barricades, worried that security forces try to take the camp going on since nova scotia. >> it started with the president saying "i want to side with russia in terms of the tradeoff. prosperity, protesters saying no, no, we want an e.u. trade. it's something different.

what do you think it is about now? >> as you say, it's not just about whether ukraine turns towards the european union or relies on russia for its economic prosperity, what has happened over the last few days changes things in terms of people accusing the security forces of brutality, accusing the president viktor yanukovych and his entourage of corruption, and all of these accusations on top of last week's security laws restricting not just the right to protest. they are saying, really, what they are fighting for is the sole of the democratic system. the people in power say that that's absolutely an

exaggeration and they haven't turned their back on the european union, far from it. >> thank you. >> members of the pakistan's shia muslim minority are protesting against violence targeted on their community. people have barricaded streets urging the government to crackdown on the groups behind the attacks. the demonstrators are refusing to bury 38 victims killed in a suicide bombing on tuesday. they won't bury the dead until the government steps in to stop the violence. >> platinum mine workers in south africa are going on strike over wages. 100,000 people or a fifth of the country's mining workforce could down tools. they danced outside one mine shaft in rustamberg calling for better play. it will hit the top three

platinum companies, stopping half of platinum global production. >> south sudan president salva kiir accused the united nations staff of supporting rebels, loyal to the vice president riek machar, who salva kiir sacked. 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. it is not now that we are ruling our own country, that we can come about, come and abuse our own people. i will not accept that. but what i don't like is that this blanket accusation that both sides have done this. it will destroy more. >> what is the fate of riek machar in your view? >> accepted reasoning and stop

fighting. what does he want? he wants to become the president? okay. let us go through the process of transferring power. power can be transferred in the peaceful means. that is, in the elections. so that if he win, he becomes the president. the people of south sudan say - they will have to say what do they want riek machar to do. if they call him, and he accepts to come and tells them what he has done, and ask them to allow him to continue, i will also add my voice to the people. >> your relationship with the united nation seems strained. in fact, a few days ago you accused them of acting like a parallel government in south

sudan, and you said that secretary-general ban ki-moon fell short of appointing his own president in south sudan. why the tension between this - the international body. especially that the united nations has been a big supporter over the years of. >> we are denying, we are a member state of the united nations. there can be no way that we can be enemies to the united nati s nations. it is the individuals in the system of the u.n. creating problems. if we talk about what is the role of the united nations, yes, they have the mandate, but whether they agree effectively or not. that is the mandate. they allow the rebels, either they took them by force, or they

take them, their vehicles. and then these vehicles, they have them with the machine-guns and fight. >> sorry, you are accusing the united nations of one double standards, and two, of tacit support to the rebels of handing over vehicles or their vehicles used to mount machine guns, is that your accusation. >> not the whole united nation, but this group here. >> so united nations staff in juba. >> in south sudan. >> in south sudan. >> yes. >> have given tacit support to the rebels. >> of course. >> we asked the united nations to its reaction to salva kiir's accusations. it didn't comment, except to say that salva kiir had been making such comments for several days. >> still ahead - spain preparing

to exit the international bank bailout. are things looking up for the people. we'll go and get steph with the weather and come back with a bit more for you. >> thank you. let's look at the weather. we'll start off with a look at jakarta. this is a city we have been talking about over the past few days, there has been a lot of heavily rain. on the satellite there's plenty of cloud across java, and it's giving wet weather. 85 p.m.s -- 85mm of rain. they have flooding and that is making matters worse. things will stay wet. an area of heavy rain appears to move to the north. meanwhile, further north, the skies are clear for many much us in thailand, which has given us usual sites. you wouldn't expect frost, but

that is what we have seen over the last 24 hours. it's been pretty cold, and the cold weather originated over parts of china, pushing south wards and bringing cooler weather than we'd expect. for bangkok, we dropped down to around 15 degrees, but it was colder elsewhere. hanoi dropped all the way down to a chilly six degrees. it felt very, very cold with the temperatures for now on rising. >> thank you retch indeed. we have the sport, the 155 million pitcher who has never played a game in major league baseball. all the details on the yankee's now player.

>> welcome back, a reminder of the top stories on the al jazeera news hour. the central african republic has seen the homes of muslims being looted. the current unrest puts them at risk of humanity problems and genocide. >> a young woman was gang-raped on the orders of a village council. the 20-year-old was accused of having a relationship with a man from a different religion. >> 13 men have been arrested for the attack. >> ukraine's opposition says president viktor yanukovych must announce elections within 24 hoursar face more protests. parts of kiev are burning with protesters torching tyres in the central part of the capital. two demonstrators died at least,

on wednesday. >> talking just a few minutes ago about the iranian president's attempts to drum of investment at the world economic forum in davos, other world leaders and top business figures are at the swiss mountain support. the theme is reshaping the world by giving emerging economies a bigger voice. let's get more from ali velshi. live for us. your life is spent analysing this decision, that decision, and the models people are putting up. are you seeing a theme coming out of davos? >> yes, but it's not what you mentioned. they give them titles but when it emerges it's something else. the theme, rather than being the world economic forum, it's a diplomatic forum. a number of leaders came to pitch their countries, hassan rouhani, and binyamin netanyahu, they are not meeting but are here pitching what is going on in their countries.

there's a sense that there's gratitude to the central banks of the world. years after the financial crisis we are seeing small bud steady improvement. we'll see higher growth in the united states. higher growth globally. europe is thought to have bottomed out. it's not going bang busters. china throwing down. japan coming out of its decade of stagnation. there's a sense that coming together has helped the world but unclear exactly what happens next. it's not a certainty. the theme is not certain as in prior years. >> you say europe bottomed out in terms of how low it could get, and we'll talk about the spanish situation. do you believe the countries - are they ready to throw away their crutches. >> no, and you mentioned spain, it's not a country.

50% youth unemployment. grease has great problems. if you take the countries much the international monetary fund, europe is expected to grow 1% collectively in 2014. that is no great shake. when you think that this is all of these countries together, that means some on their own may have the equivalent of negative growth. not ready to throw it away. the central banks have been very involved. some countries are raising tax. they want money and a lot of economists are worried that that may send them off the rails. if the crutch are around, stay with them. there are some european economies moving at greater pace. spain is the maimer one. greece, spain has problems. there's a lot of work to do in europe. >> ali velshi live in davos. we have been hering speakers at davos warning that europe, as l

ali mentioned, is spain. many do not see prospects of getting a decent job if spain at all. [ ♪ music ] >> some good news to sing about. spain's economy is improving. at least that is what some investors are saying. it's exited a bank bailout scheme, borrowing costs have come down, and exports on the hup. something the spanish government is eager to talk about. >> there was a very committed fiscal policy to put offenses into sustainable basis. and strong reform program. the changing trend of the balances have restored confidence into the economy. >> the trouble with the banks have been a thorn in its side.

and the economy nose-dived, the sector looked vulnerable. especially when it was revealed financing. >> they came to build and build, and they did. fuelled by cheap loans, construction companies and home buyers, property prices in spain rose and rose. the property bubble was propped up with money the banks had from international markets. when the 2008 crash happened, the land devalued and dreams turned to dust. >> the good news is hardly felt. it had one of the highest unemployment rates. the drop in numbers is evident that measures of working. that has more to do with the numbers to look for work. there is more debt. public and private.

the banks clamped down on hindering an upturn in the economy. >> you don't solve the prop of the interprices, you have no attack to the problem. you trust that there's recovery. the recovery, there's no creation of employment. it's a credit-led recovery. spain's government insists it's on the right track and has been cautiously welcomed by the markets. >> it will take more time until that can be felt across the country. >> let's talk to an associate professor joining us live from madrid. >> would you say you meet many spaniards that were better off

than they were 18 months ago. >> the crisis started in 2008. we are now six years into the crisis. we reached the acceptance phase rather that the angry phase. it contrasted strongly with what happened in ireland. there was a sense at which there was a better future ahead. spain has not solved the problem, which was a creation of sustainable jobs. it sees an economic model as being the way to the future, and has a huge, huge skill shore inch, in that they have a whole set of people only able to do construction work. they need to move to - six years into the crisis. they need to move to changing the educational model as the economic motor of the country. there you have a country that is supposedly slightly healthier than it was, but having to borrow vast amounts of money,

not necessarily from the same people. what is it spending that money on. >> well that's one of the things. mostly - taxpayer money goes to pay back loans. spain has a low level of investment in research and development. during the good years there's a lot of money encouraging spanish scientists leading research, and encouraged them to come back. they are losing the scientists as they are cutting the budget. they have a terrible situation. just as they are about to make breakthroughs, these scientists, in many cases, are going back to the united states, where they are getting the benefits of the breakthroughs. >> do you want to give me one thing that you can look for that shows spain is getting better and feeling themselves better? >> well, i mean, the ultimate thing would be that a spanish company would list on the stock

exchange. that model is based on innovation. you look at israel, they have, like, 75, 80 companies on the nasdaq. they are countries that realised that this was not a cyclical problem or something that would come back over time. it was addressed as a structural problem. you see younger people, more international focus the. i often despair when i look at the employers con figuration and the heads of the companies. they are generally men in their '60s, holding their positions, at the start of the company. when you start to see younger people making breakthroughs, and starting to create fast-growing companies. spain is starting to make a breakthrough. there's no reason why this

shouldn't happen. it's a point i made. it's crazy that the spanish are prepared to accept 26%. i mean, why don't we ask politicians why is it not seven like in the united kingdom. there's nothing spanish, there's no cultural factors, it's a matter of addressing the problems. >> the u.n. lakhdar brahimi is trying to convince talks on friday. there's tension. bashar al-assad, a senior member of the opposition says his group is under no illusion and accused the syrian government of rejecting everythingful >> friday's meeting is where we acknowledge the bad intentions of the bashar al-assad. we are here to relevant bashar al-assad and his family. they have ignored everything so

far. we are expecting hard negotiations. this will not be over and lead to communication until the international community exerts pressure. >> the international airport in aleppo reportedly reopened after being shut for a year. state media says a passenger aircraft landed in aleppo. airports were closed after fighting between the syrian army and opposition forces. >> security men have been killed by masked gunmen in cairo. the attack was carried out by two men on motorbikes. no one said they were behind the attack. >> al jazeera is calling for release of its five journalists detained in egypt. producers mohamed fadel fahmy and baher mohamed. and correspondent peter greste have been held without charge for 26 days, accused of

spreading lies harmful to state security and joining a terrorist group, allegations which al jazeera said are fabricated. the others are from the sister channel. abdullah al-shami, a reporter and mohammed badr, a cameraman. they have been detained for five months. >> a mexican man has been executed in texas despite diplomatic pressure for clemmansy. edgar tamayo had shot a policeman 20 years ago. a delay was called for. campaigners say the case violated international law because he was not advised of his right to receive consular assistance. >> peru discovered 47 archeological treasure ours predating the inga empire. they are believed to have been mug smugled out of the country. governments in the u.s.,

australia, brazil helped in the recovery. fabric, wood, cotton and other pieces. >> translation: it's significant and honourable for the foreign ministry to return these pieces of our archeological matters that have been found through the help of other occasions, u.k., arab emirate, australia. >> messi a support act as a new star emerges at barcelona. and don't look down. why brazil's famous statue is getting a few repairs.

>> good to have you with us. it's one of rarest and largest eagles. environmentists are worrying that the eagle could be extinct. >> a crest that looks like a lion's main. it was considered a wildlife treasure, one that is dying out. there are around 400 pairs left in the wild. they need rain forests and large trees to live in. now, almost 90% of the country's forests have disappeared.

>> it's really difficult. especially when we do enforcement, because there are a lot of eagles. being shot without being reported. we are hoping that people will get to report those to us, so we know the extent of the hunting. >> efforts to save them is at a precarious stage. >> environmental groups made public education a priority. especially in far-flung areas like this one. poaching here has long been the norm. >> gary and his friends were poaching in the southern philippines for many years. they stepped up and sep up tracks. they don't hunt for eagles. when the birds get trapped, they eat them. they believe eating eagles lead to a longer healthy life.

this has been a practice since people moved here. they have in my view stop and the eagle take them. gary said they did not know that killing an eagle meant 12 years in prison. >> around 14 eagles are being looked after at this center. funds to main them are limited. the foundation is dependent on private donors. >> workers say they are doing their best to provide a semblance of a life in the wild. hopeful that some days the eagles will know what it's like to be free. >> absolutely gorgeous. >> david, thank you. we'll start with tennis. li na reached her final. he was up against eugenie

bouchard. li na dominated, taking a 5-0 lead and raced to victory. she is the only major winner and the highest ranked player. >> this is the third time. pretty close to the trophy. i think they tried to - not falling down. i only can say - at least i try to enjoy. staying healthy. >> li that will face the number 20 seed. domininka cibulkova on saturday. sharapova was knocked out in the fourth. she reaches her first grand slam time. >> the first men's semifinal underway in melbourne.

seventh seed thomas birdish is paying on stanislas wawrinka. the winner faces intoed raphael nadal or roger federer. >> manchester united david mois was the biggest club around madrid. the news comes after united were knocked out of the english league cup. the semifinal leg came to life. they looked to put sundayer land through. hernandez late effort to level the penalty shoot out. sunderland winning the shoot-out 2-1 to take their place in the final. >> disappointed. we didn't play well over the peace to feel as if we should

have won. we were just a bit there. we didn't play well enough on the night. we had the opportunity to score a goal. it put us in a better position, and we didn't do so. >> athletic mad rick and baoo go head to head. barcelona took a big step towards the semifinals. the first leg of their tie. >> li na was making his 400th appearance for barcelona, but was kept quiet in the first half as lavate took a shock lead. but the host only had themselves to blame for barca's equalizer. it was a team effort leading to an own goal, and from there the floodgates opened.

that was christian tao's first goal. messie set up. >> the pair combining again five minutes later. tao completed a hat-trick and a 4-1 victory. second-tier racing had upset two opponents in the last two rounds, but were going to have a tougher time. gonzalez opened the scoring in the fourth minute, and despite torrential conditions added to second before the break. the match all but secured after the interval 3-1, the final score. >> deadline concerns plagued the host city. brazil's president gave

assurances. the general secretary inaugurated the stadium in the north-eastern city. it comes a day after f.i.f.a. warned a host city that they would be dropped if they didn't complete its stadium by february 18th. the f.i.f.a. president met on thursday. on the agenda will be the pace of the stadium construction. >> it was very important to have this arena delivered. i want to say something to you. this is it a country of football. we never missed a world cup. our relationship with world cups is a strong one. i am sure brazilian people will show the passion and a capacity to welcome visitors. he has not played a single game, but one of the support's highest paid star will be the japanese

pitcher. he agreed do a $155 million 6-year dream. he'll lead from the team he led. it's the highest ever contract for an international free agent and the fifth-largest for an nlb pitcher. >> there's more sport on the website. for the latest check out aljazeera.com. there's details on how to get in touch with the team using twitter and facebook. that's it for me. back to you. >> thank you. brazil's famous statue of christ the redeemer was damaged when hit by lightening during a storm. restoration experts have begun repairing the monument. >> he's christ the redeemer, one of the world's famous statues, a symbol of brazil and especially rio de janeiro, a city he looks down upon. look closely. crews are busy working on the

statue's massive hand. emergency repairs after it became a conduit for volts of electricity. a finger on the right hand was damaged and it was struck by lightening. >> this is a remark i believe photo of the moment it happened. shot by a photographer. many tourists visiting the statue were not sure what to make of it all. >> i hope it didn't hurt too much. >> brazil's relationship with the icon is emotional. when he was vandalized it was called a crime against the nation. the statue is 82 years old, took a decade to build and is made from reinforced concrete. it's not the first time he suffered a hit. part of a finger, that's a first. engineers are putting in lightening rods so when the next strike happens, damage will be

limited. >> we increase the receptors, lightening receptors. it expands as far as the middle finger. usually it comes from the ocean on the east. >> the arch diocese who manages the statue says tourists have little to worry about. >> there's a worry about the storm. we guarantee is good repair job. allowing action to tourists. >> there's no telling how long the repair work will last. 30 workers have been assigned to the job. they'll spare no effort or cross. after all, it's christ the redeemer. >> stay with us, if you can. in a moment we'll have elizabeth with another half hour bulletin. we are off to switzerland, for news on syria and the world

economic forum. thanks for watching.

>> issuing an ultimatum in ukraine. opposition leaders call for an early election. they want an answer from the government in 24 hours. a live look at kiev where protesters are back out at this hour. >> translation: and i am here to convey my people's message of