>> announcer: this is al jazeera. hello and welcome to the news hour, i'm in doha with the world headlines. >> in some people think we are coming here to give them the keys of the mosques they are wrong. >> reporter: an up hill struggle about the syrian peace talks as they demand discussions about assad stepping down. in tunisia they claim success in peace talks and new constitution and head for elections.

and a standoff ko continues in ukraine as they have three buildings. and they will stop an out break of bird flu. and volgograd and now pakistan and the olympic torch travels through some of the most dangerous regions. ♪ and a third day of syrian peace talks is getting underway in swiss land and the chance of a breakthrough looks slim. they want to talk about president bashir al-assad handing over power but his team has other ideas and that is a day after the two sides made some progress, a deal on a safe passage for civilians and it would take place in palms in the early stages of the up rising

there and s. in c says it's time to move talks forward and this is what they had to say late last night. >> tomorrow, we will start talking about transition to democracy and clearly the regime is not enthusiastic to talk about that and they are trying to use delay tactics, trying to go into details about information that can't be verified. >> reporter: and from the syrian peace talks, in geneva, now, james, today we are getting to the heart of the matter, we are talking about political transitions, that is what is expected to come out today, no doubt a thorny subject and difficult discussion ahead. >> a very difficult discussion. the opposition delegation arrived just a few moments ago waiting for the government's delegation to arrive in the u.n. compound here and talks will get underway in the next few minutes

and both sides for the third day around the new shaped table, not talking to each other directly but addressing brahimi and talking about what happens in syria in terms of the governance of the future and who is going to run syria. the idea according to an agreement back in 2012, on june 2012, geneva one as it's known should be a transitional body with executive power and opposition should agree on, an opposition of the body and opposition making it quite clear they don't want anyone with blood on their hands involved, they do not want president assad involved. for the government said they say assad is legitimate and not prepared to compromise on and these are words from the deputy foreign minister. >> the syrian people will never compromise when it comes to this

issue. this is, again, if some people think we are coming here to give them the keys of damascus they are wrong. we have to tell them they have to come with their set of mind, with their dreams outside the room and where we sit and discuss concrete issues on the future of syria. >> reporter: so a very hard task here for the mediator and brahimi and when side says assad has to be a part and lead it and the other side saying no way in the government, where is the way forward? we do not have a clue on brahimi what he will propose but some are suggesting perhaps of all the arab spring country the one that could be the model is yemen where the president stepped down and vice president took over with a national unity government and i suspect that is the sort of formula they will try to

bring here but asaid is not compromising on president assad leading the nation. >> reporter: a difficult task. stay there for us for a moment because last night, a safe passage for civilians was announced at the talks and here is what you and arab league brahimi had to say. >> what we have been told by the government side is that women and children in the besieged area in the old city, are welcome to leave immediately. and the other civilians are also welcome to leave, but the government needs a list of them first. >> reporter: all right, james, as we heard a guaranteed safe passage for women and children and a start at least. just explain to us how will this actually work and what obstacles

do you see occurring in trying to implement this? >> well, there are two parts of it. one, the women and children can leave homs, the second part an aide convoy with medicine and food going in the besieged area of homs. i can tell you no women and children to our knowledge has left and the besieged part of homs and no convoy allowed in homs and nothing has taken place despite this agreement. now from inside that besieged community we have seen that there has been a list of demands from the people that are there in homs. they like this idea, but they want some guarantees from the syrian government and from the united nations. i think they are concerned about women and children leaving and providing a list of the men, what will happen to the men they leave behind. also remember these people the women and children and the men have been in this area which was

in many ways the cradle of the revolution, it was a place where the opposition was so strong, then it was bombarded and shelled by the assad forces and i think they are very weary there can be reprisals if they leave the city and head to the government side. >> reporter: no doubt a very difficult situation there for all involved, james, thank you for that and we are reporting from geneva. now, the war is in its third year and more than 130,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced. homs was one of the first cities to rise against president bashir al-an assad and had a prewar population of one million but most residents have fled and life ceased to function in homs and believed to be 800 families left and they have limited access to food, water and medical supplies. and we have an opposition syrian activist from homs and says

there must be a guaranty that people won't be harmed in they leave the city. >> and it's the same for about 600 days on besieged in a row and without entering any kind of aid, military aid, nor american assistance also, because we need action to be applied on the ground. in addition we need guarantees, guarantees for those people who want to get out from inside the area, must not be harmed by the regime forces. i think guarantees might be from the person and maybe they would have something like this if they will be transporting into another area with a peaceful raid. >> reporter: the u.s. military says it has killed an al-shabob

strike and it was on an undisclosed location in the southern region and they are yet to confirm the man's identity. and political activists in china have gone on trial for disrupting public order. now this is part of a government crack down on a group that calls for more accountability from official and comes a day after another activist was sentenced to four years in prison. police in the philippines have cleared a tent city near manila and 50 families were forcibly removed. the settlers say the government has removed them from without notice. the philippine army launched mayor offensive against rebels in the south and happening in the region and targeting the freedom fighters known as the

biff. now who are they? the group broke away from the islamic front in 2008. the government has been battling the milf since the 1970s and it wants to create an aton mouse state in the southern philippines. more than 120,000 people are estimated to have died in the confli conflict. the biff offshoot rejects any dialog and jimmy has more front manila. >> fighting broke out in the philippine military and islamic freedom fighters. hundreds of residents are believed to have fled the villages that have been effected by this fighting. this comes days after the philippine military has announced it has found an agreement with the more islamic freedom fighters and expected the final peace agreement between the former break away

group will be assigned in the next coming weeks. the freedom fighters broke away from the more islamic freedom fighters in 2008 and opposing ongoing peace talk with milf and the philippine government. now the philippine military and top philippine military official having said it has a van load full of warrants it's going to issue and going to serve, in fact, two members of the biff. it's not known exactly whether this may have been the reason as to why fighting has broken out this morning but it is also that maybe the milf has given the philippine military green light to go after previous members of biff. we know the peace agreements may be signed in the next coming weeks to end the decade-long rebellion in the philippines and last saturday aims to

decommission and milf to lay down weapons but several groups are still opposed to ongoing peace talks and the liberation front who once signed peace agreement to the philippine agreement in 1996 that was never fully implemented and now it's fighting against the philippine government then. islamic freedom fighters now opposing ongoing peace talks to the philippine government and believes to be deneutralized by the philippine government as we speak. right now the peace agreement may be signed but talks have never been more talked about at this time. >> reporter: we will go back to one of our top stories and that is of a safe passage for syrian civilians have been announced at the syrian peace talks taking place in geneva. i'm joined now from geneva by robert who is from the international committee of the red cross. robert, thank you very much for making it on the show. this establishment of a safe

passage for women and children sounds feasible and good but anyone else who wants to leave homes has to register, what do you make of this part of the deal? >> it's very important first and foremost is that whatever commitment and deal reached here in geneva must translate into concrete action on the ground and we say it out of experience, it's very important now that the last check point until the last import armed group will accept the commitment and make sure that the civilian, all civilians wish to leave the old city are allowed to do so and that in addition to this neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian organizations like the committee of the red cross is allowed in to be able to assess firsthand the needs of the people who remain in the old city and be able to address

them. >> reporter: now, robert, we know both sides are still talking about establishing a humanitarian corridor and explain to us what exactly this is and how does it work. >> the humanitarian corridors are tricky and it should apply everywhere on the territory and the notion of corridor would preclude areas and this is tricky to ask for and humanitarian poses where all parties involve stop hostilities and allow free passage of civilians if they wish to leave and organizations who can help the civilians still in difficult or dire situations. >> reporter: but surely, robert, you can see that it would be the ideal situation, but given the current tensions on both sides a humanitarian

corridor is the best both sides can do. >> we have to be more ambitious. people who have been stranded in the city of homs for more than a year now and the estimates are for 3,000 people are there, would need much more and we would press both parties to accept deals that would ensure that everything of the civilian would have access to humanitarian aid and food and essential household, water, medical aid including surgical for the most severe wounded and we have reports there are wounded people, severely wounded in the city of homs today and we should be much more ambitious and politicians should be more ambitious in their negotiations in order to solve the situation. in homs the city, one besieged area among many others in the rule damascus area or in the

north and regardless who is in the areas i think the civilians, the situation is dire and they need urgent help. >> reporter: they do and thank you for speaking to us, robert from the into national committee of the red cross speaking to us from geneva. and still to come on the al jazeera news hour, securing a shaky peace in south sudan, the u.n. tells al jazeera plans to save the cease fire are underway. and in sport barcelona off the field troubles by returning to the top of the spanish league. ♪ the first country to rise up in the arab spring has what some say is one of the most pregnant shun constitutions in the region, tunisia has equal rights for men and women, the right to

deprocess and protection from torture and it was all done with consensus. this is a benchmark for many of its neighbors still struggling to recover from their own revolution and we have more from tunis. >> reporter: this was the moment that politicians put aside their differences, passing a new, historic constitution. three years on from the revolution, it's been a long and emotional road to democracy. >> translator: of course nothing is perfect but we strongly believe this constitution represents a good basis and enforces the necessary and advanced mechanism that guaranty rights and freedoms. >> reporter: tunesia has a potential new caretaker government, the prime minister presented his cabinet to the president. parliament will vote on the ministers this week.

and politicians here tried to do and put in place a new constitution that is supposed to prevent another dictatorship and they want to know how it will change their daily lives. this is one of the capitol's poorest suburbs and 1-4 people here is out of work. and he has a job as a mechanic but he can't earn enough money to get married. he says he has been soft since the revolution. >> translator: i asked the politician to keep the country calm and stable and give us good constitution and break down inflation. >> reporter: and there are young people who hope to hold politicians accountable, using technology to promote democracy. >> translator: a constitution is not what builds a democratic system. it's the way of actions.

>> reporter: last year tunesia was hit by political assassinations and insecurity and then came national talks and this inclusive process. many people see this as an example for the rest of the arab world. and i'm with al jazeera, tunis. >> reporter: and the iks e again shun diplomates kidnapped in libya have been freed and the rest will be released soon and captured on friday evening and saturday morning and it's not clear who kidnapped them. and al jazeera cannot report from cairo because our journalists have been detained, producers mahad and peter gr is este are in custody for 30 days and accused of spreading lies and joining a terrorist group and everything that al jazeera says are unfounded and to other journalists from sister channels are being held, a reporter and

mohamed, the cameraman and both have been detained now for five months. antigovernment protesters in ukraine have just taken control of the justice ministry in the capitol and say they are going to use it as a shelter. the ministry is the third building to be occupied. it's several hundred meters from the protest site on independence square and opposition rejected the president's latest concession including government physicians and say the offer is just not good enough. antigovernment protesters have turned the ukrainian house convention center into a protest base. more than 200 activists stormed into the building on saturday throwing firebombs and now it's being used as a resting place, a cafeteria and a clinic. and we are live for you in kiev and can join her now. another building has been taken over and protesters seeing this

as yet another success against the government. >> yes, it seems to be almost a nightly occurrence now. we are hearing just last night, sunday night they were heading up this street behind me towards the justice ministry and have occupied the government building. what their seems to be is the motive and clashes on parliament a few hundred meters from me they decided to grow the areas they occupy in the center of this city and the justice ministry really at the heart of government and the reaction from the government has been swift and quite severe and the justice and a/has come out saying if they don't return control of the this building back to the justice ministry she will be calling on the national security council to call for a state of emergency. i'm told that requires the president to call parliament, get them to vote on that, and then he will appear on television warning people if they don't pull out and use means necessary to clear that

building. although he could ignore that and immediately decide to call a state of emergency that would really change the situation on the ground at the moment. but the protesters are saying they don't care. they are going to keep the occupation of the building and could see more buildings occupied in the coming days. >> reporter: sue, it's easy to say unrest is just limited to the capitol but it's also growing outside of kiev, isn't it? >> it is. and i think that has been quite a shock to the president and to the government and one of the presidential advisors were telling me a couple days ago they were surprised to hear the different areas were falling and this is a map of ukraine and you can see vast ways of the west and the buildings have been occupied by protesters and indeed one area to the east of the capitol kiev has also been taken over by protesters occupying the building and basically taking control of the administrative areas. on the flip side of it there are

a number of different regions to the east of kiev and one to the south and another way out to the west where there have been progovernment demonstrations. really the bulk of the real protest seems to be antigovernment and indeed on sunday night yet another province saw protests and clashes between protesters. it was about 400 kilometers southeast of the capitol and the birth place of the former prime minister incarcerated for two years and poster of the revolution. we see every night again another province reacting to what is going on in kiev and the unrest feeding into independent square, the edge of which i'm standing now. the people putting up with difficult conditions for the protests and working hard really to keep warm and chopping wood in the scare and food being

given out and people working hard to keep it going and momentum going but the news of all the different regions and protesters in different pockets of the country joining this revolution, really bolstering allies in independent square. >> reporter: thank you for that, sue is live for us from a minus 12 degrees celsius kiev. national security agency whistleblower edward snowden says there have been significant threats to his life by u.s. officials. the former contractor made the comments in what's been billed as his first television interview. snowden also told a german tv channel he believes the u.s. monitored the phone calls and e-mails of top german government officials along with chancellor angela merkel. google and south korean samsung reached a deal on smartphone technology and products, the financial terms of the settlement are not known.

the companies say the decision will lead to more innovation and collaboration between them. and the process of rebattery north and south separated during the korean war may resume as muchly as next month and they are ready to start the initiative after north korea made the offer. this is the first sign of easing tensions on the korean peninsula. and the south korea is expanding in a bid to contain the spread of bird flu. the first case of h 5 n 8 virus was reported at a duck farm in the providence of north geola on january 17, that is 300 kilometers south of the capitol of seoul and the birds have been put down as part of the containment process and it's just two years since the last out break and harry has more

from the city. >> we are an hour and a half out of the rule bongui process and they have been tested and have the virus and we see this check point barring vehicle entry and disinfecting vehicles near here and a truck spraying disinfect about on the farmland to true and neutralize any possible contamination. it's a very important part in the life of the out break and last weekend was supposed to see the incubation and could spread more than 18 farms so far found to have the virus and they are doing what they can and seen half a million ducks killed and 1.7 birds and many chickens

already killed or scheduled to be so. they have a lot of farms in the pre province are on lock down and have to try and get it down as soon as they can because at the end of the week is the lunar holiday and millions will be on the move seeing friends and family, that level of movement will make this out break all the more difficult to contain. >> it looks pretty cold in kiev and how is the rest of the weather for europe? >> cold and getting colder and the base temperatures in kiev minus 13 at the moment and heat of the day if we are lucky minus 8 so that is the heat of the day. let's look at the moment and we have an area of cloud making its way across central parts of europe and here comes our colder air. and shower cloud just making its way into the united kingdom.

mixture of rain and snow coming in over the next couple days and that is one to watch and snow in central parts of europe to the alpine regions and the balkins. this area of clouds, we see the warm front making its way across the black sea and bumping into the cold air we are talking about in the ukraine and as it does so it readily turns to snow. a fair amount of snow in romaine and people rescued from the cars as the snow made its way across the region and it will be northward to ukraine and kiev will watch out for proper snow in the next couple of days and a top temperature of minus 8 degrees celsius and minus 13 into wednesday and mosquito -- moscow is minus 31. >> reporter: we look at what is at stake as peru and chile wait

on a territorial dispute and grinding to a halt in indonesia where a ban is hurting mining, communities. going with the flow and joe will tell you why the new australian open champion cannot believe he realized a dream. ♪

♪ welcome back to the al jazeera news hour. a reminder of the top stories and syrian peace talks enter the third day in switzerland and

want to talk about the president bashir al-assad handing over power but they are reluctant to do so and a concession was made and people from the city of palms will be given a safe passage. the philippine army launched offensive against a group of separatist and the operation against the islamic freedom fighters is taken place in the southern region and tunesia approved the first constitution since the revolution in 2011 and guarantees equal rights for men and women and demands the state protect the environment and tackle corruption. well, tunisia is where the arab spring started and the most stable after the revolution and that is in stark contrast to egypt where a new constitution has been approved and a referendum but there is still violence and a coup toppled the first. after the revolution and the

libya government is struggling security after gadhafi two years ago and they finished a dialog conference aims to draft a new constitution and create a federal state but that also has been hit by violence. and of course there is syria, still in a civil war and little chance of a big breakthrough at peace talks. i'm joined by larry who is the director of the center for studies in tunisia and thank you for joining us on the show. let's first talk about tunisia and they started the arab spring after islam and secular groups have agreed on a new constitution. does this mean the division has been resolved and overcome and democracy is well on its way to

being established? >> i think the events over the weekend mark an extraordinarily important moment on tunisia's part approve the consensus that both the national assembly was trying to redraft the constitution and also the larger relationships between the opposition and the islamist government has been overcome at least at this particular moment and this does not mean that they will not continue to look at political transition but tunisia shows that it can actually work. >> reporter: let's broaden the picture out here and we looked at the problems that arab nations faced during the revolution and are they myred in these problems or is this just growing democracy?

>> tunisia is one of the most unlikely countries to initiate a process of democratics and took the south by surprise in 2010 and 2011 when protests broke out and left tunisia. i think that tunisia has shown us that while the democrats can exist and derail process of democaatization the process has been less extraordinary and less violent than other cases in the region and shows that democracy can happen despite the kind of setbacks we have witnessed here in the last two years. >> reporter: that being the case, larissa, in the aftermath of the irish spring let's talk about this, in the aftermath of the spring islamics found a way

to become involved in the political guy log and it failed in egypt and yemen and tunisia to a certain extent and syria as well, is this a sign that political islam has no place in democracy? >> i think if we looked at political islam comparatively, currently in the arab world and historically we cannot show if it failed or not failed. the events over the weekend in tunisia and draft a constitution led by a consensus government, the ability to form a new democratic government, shows that political islam can work and will work. if we think back to the experience of aljeera in the early 90s it was not a question of whether it can or cannot work, it's if we would allow the process to go along and happen.

and tunisia chose the first example where that kind of process has resulted in something such as the drafting of the constitution and reforming of a government as well. >> reporter: great getting your insight on this and we have the director of the center for our group studies in tunisia. and discussions of a cease fire will hold in south sudan are set to start after reports of a truce being broken one day after the government and rebels signed a deal. both sides are blaming each other for the reported mortar attacks on bor on saturday and this town has seen heavy fighting for over five weeks and africa new state was agreed after over a month of fighting. half a million civilians have been force to flee since hostility began in the capitol duba in december and thousands killed in the fighting between government and rebel forces

loyal to former vice president bashir and they have atrocities committed by both sides including mass children and recruitment of child soldiers. head of the u.n. mission in south sudan told al jazeera plans to support the truth are underway. >> we now need to count on both parties to stick to the agreement they signed on friday. we need a robust monitoring verification mechanism to also ensure that that happens. so that both sides are monitored by the mediation framework. we are starting today with the discussions under the auspices and regional organization that has been in charge of the mediation and now that mechanism has the to come into place as quickly as possible. we have a challenge and unique situation where the peace keeping oneness has been opening its great for thousands and thousands of civilians that fled

the fighting and fled for protection. we have very congueested and th number is around 76,000. >> reporter: john kerry and pakistan talks are due to begin in washington in a few hour's time and the goal is the same, greater stability in pakistan and 100 people have been killed since the start of this year. as we explain the two countries also have many differences to resolve. >> attacks on the police and army comes as pakistan's government announced a policy to restart negotiations with various groups of fighters and facing criticism for being vague about the policy of dialog. >> there is no resolve and no determination. >> reporter: and he believes the government is being overtaken by events. >> we have not been able to investigate totally even one

instance of the explosions or blasts and reach the culprits, prosecute them and have them convicted. >> reporter: but it's easier said than done, one of pakistan's most vocal officers was killed with the precision bomb strike and the taliban has continued attacks by military headquarters and accusing the government of not being serious. but the government has launched counter defensive if it holds out option for talks and amid the turmoil they have strategic dialog with the u.s. and accused them of dual policy and kept listening to both americans and the taliban but some argue it has not gained anything. >> pakistan has been a net user and u.s. a net gainer because

they will support the american destruction which is pro-pakistan and then they got the bases to fly the saudis and got all the people from pakistan who they wanted by 100-600. >> reporter: they disagree and say it's based on mutual trust but admits the widely unpopular drone campaign is out of the control and calling it an attack on sovereignty and disagreement between the sides is the doctor accused of helping the cia get bin-laden's dna. he is kept in the jail behind me and release tied to millions of dollars in military aid. dispute the optimism being brandished by diplomates on both sides and unless this is addressed these will not result

in long-term solutions. >> reporter: a russian teenager charged of having a weapon of mass destruction in the u.s. and arrested a 19-year-old when they were investigating a suspected marijuana operation and they found a suspected bomb and bomb making materials in his apartment and say he bought the items online. a landslide caused by heavy rains in bolivia killed three and they are being sent to the area and fears the death toll could rise and the rainy season killed at least 30 people and affected at least 17,000 families. thousands of people have gathered in caracus for a rally and carried signs to an end to violence in the country and took part in sports and cultural activities.

one of mexico's most well-known poets and short story writers has died. he was 74 and he is seen as a leading voice of a generation of mexican writers who came of age in the late 1950s and 1960s. and on monday the u.n. top judicial body will rule on one of latin america's border dispute and at stake are 78,000 kilometers that chile controls but peru claims the waters of its own and we report on the border between the two countries. >> the port here since the end of the 19th century it belonged to chile and the rich fishing waters that extend tomorrow the shores or at least that is how it has been until now and all of chile but especially here the international court of justice

verdict and the maritime border claims is awaited with anxiety and he has beneficiarying the waters since he was ten. >> translator: this is absurd and always been chile since our grant grandfathers won the war and cannot give it away. >> reporter: el 38,000 of fishing waters on chile and peru and say there is no valid treaty in place. to understand the conflict is to understand that it's not just about fish but about history. all this was once peru, until it lost roughly a third of the territory in the war of the pacific against chile in the late 1908s and we crossed to the peru part of the border where some of the bloody battles took place and did not recover the region until 1930 and during the war itself chile troops were as

far north as the capitol lima and they occupied for four years and a humiliating chapter in history and certainly left deep wounds. most people tell us they learn to live in harmony with their chile neighbors and cross border trade is crucial for both yet. >> translator: chile owes us a lot and the court of justice will give us back a pitance, there is always a burning coal in our hearts when we remember what they did to us. >> reporter: police have been put on alert in case there are disturbances in the hours leading up to and after the victim. whatever it is it will not make or break the economies of either country, but it will weigh on future relations between two neighbors marked so heavily by the past. and i'm with al jazeera, chile. >> reporter: and much more to come on the news hour, joe will be here with all the sport news

and chris shows it's not all about lebron as they take on the spurs. ♪

♪ welcome back, and half a million minors in indonesia lost their jobs and the mining, association says it's because many mines have closed down due to a resent ban on roman minerals and filed a lawsuit and demanding the restriction by lifted and we report from a mine. >> it looks like ordinary sale

but this is one of indonesia's main export products and this is the raw material and all of this was exported to china for its booming construction industry but not anymore. the mine on the island closed down two weeks ago. more than 1,000 workers were sent home. nearly all the village's lost their income. the mine brought a salary and electricity, roads and a booming economy. >> translator: we really hope the government will reconsider this regulation because although we have very simple people we are also a part of indonesia. >> reporter: this is worth $20 million u.s. dollars, due to the export ban this revenue all will be lost and they predict the national mining, industry will suffer badly. mining, companies are now forced to process raw minerals before export and the country will get

more revenues and create more jobs. at the last-minute certain minerals like copper were exempt from the ban benefitting mostly foreign mining, companies. >> translator: if we have processes, yes, this regulation will create more jobs. but where are the processes is my question. they are not here because the government does not provide any electricity so if the government says with this policy they are creating more jobs, they are lying out right to the public and to the country. >> reporter: and in other islands the local economy is taking the brunt and boats usually transporting minerals are lying empty on the shore, the government says despite the negative effects of the ban, in the end the country will benefit. >> china is depending on the minerals and have four years of things to run it and all from

indonesia and what do we get? just environmental disasters and that will not be in the interest of indonesia. >> reporter: the government hopes indonesia natural resources will be better valued but for the villagers this is little comfort and the only question is how they can survive if the mine is not able to operate again in the near future and i'm with al jazeera. >> reporter: and we are now taking you to the capitol of tunisia, this is the parliament, the scene in parliament out of tunis where we are expecting the signing ceremony of the country's first constitution since the revolution in 2011. now, the constitution guaranteed equal rights for men and women, also demands for the state protect the environment and attack the corruption and this

is a major event for the country as many see this as a sign that the country's islam and secular camps have resolved their differences and as our analysts mentioned a little earlier in the program it could be the way for democracy to be finally established in tunisia and we will bring you update from tunis as the story updates. meanwhile the sochi olympic torch will be passing through the northern caucus city of mascar and they stepped up security since the torch passed through volgograd a week ago and was the city of twin bombings last month that killed 34 people and groups threatened more attacks leading up to the winter olympics, this is the capitol city of dagestan and on the western shore of the caspiean

and southwest of the russian city of volgograd. >> making the best of it but not what the russian olympic authorities wanted. they planned for a 42 kilometer run through the capitol of dagestan but the security situation simply would not permit that. last august one of the leaders, the main rebel leaders and militant leaders warned that his fighters were going to take on the olympics and going to attack the olympic center and going to attack the athletes and visitors and the resent bomb attacks we had in volgograd a few weeks ago showed the group had logistic support and ability to launch attacks well outside the region of the caucuses and as a result of that we had consistently scaled down celebrations today.

you might wonder why the russians had bothered to carry out the olympic torch relay, and i think it would have been seen as really a show of weakness, not a show of strength. >> it's time for sport and here is joe. >> thank you. and it's been a tough week for barcelona and the resignation of their president over corruption allegations has seen the club's image take a bit of a battering and relief to get back to the business of playing football, with a new president joseph and that came in the middle and saw his team take the lead on 40 minutes against the stubborn side the scorer. the second half further goals from pedro and this is from sanchez and final is 3-0 and back on top. and madrid led the way of the lead of 8 minutes and behalf

time they were 3-1 up. and eventually going on to win 4-2, they are now on 54 points, levelled with barcelona but they have a gold difference. and they are 6 points behind italian league and beat calgory and if they could only draw 3-3. chelsea is in the 5th round of the english cup and oscar had a stunning kick for a 1-0 victory and face the city in the next round and play in the league just weeks earlier. >> and for the season is to improve and to improve it's

difficult. play against the best team twice in 15 days. and the stadium that we have and the stadium where they smash everything, in the stadium where they scored four or five goals every game even against the big teams like united. it's a good thing for us. >> reporter: and he will move to third in tennis world ranks when they are released and the australian open champion is showing off the champion beating nadan in the sets on sunday and the first time he won in 12 encounters and he still can't quite believe it. >> and you really don't completely realize what is happening, but i'm really lucky of winning the grand slam. it's something, the best you can do in tennis and something

really big for me. >> another plan climbing the rankings in golf with scott stallings and came from three shots back in the open in california. won the victory over kj and having a place in the masters at augusta. reigning champions nba heat crushed the spurs on what was a rematch of last year's finals and 8-0 lead early on and never allowed sand -- sand -- san antonio and 24 as the heat had 113-101 winner. 30,000 fans packed into yankees stadium to see them beat the new jersey devil's as part of the

stadium series and came 3-2 down in the first period and they were equalized in the second and added a second goal, not long after that but derrick rounded off the win and netting goal from a penalty shot to steal 7-3 victory. >> special coming out there and looking around and everything was great. the first period we had snow and the third was pretty cold but it's a fun experience and something you are real proud of being part of. >> reporter: the denver brown cos and seahawks arrived in new jersey for sunday's superbowl and payton manning has won before with the colts in 2007 and moved to denver two years ago after missing a whole season due to a neck injury and win or lose the 37-year-old has not cited what his future holds on sunday. >> i certainly have had a career

change two years ago with my injury, with changing teams and i truly have been kind of a one year at a time basis. so i really had no plans beyond this game. >> reporter: and there is more on the website and check out al jazeera/sport. that is it for now. >> reporter: thanks for much. a 17-year-old new zeeland singer and song writer won some top honors as the 56 grammy award in the u.s. what a beautiful voice lorde won two awards for topper former and best song of the year with a track called royal and they won best new artist and record of the year williams for, get lucky and they did. stay with us on al jazeera.

♪

consider this: the news of the day plus so much more. >> we begin with the government shutdown. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what. >> antonio mora, award winning and hard hitting.

>> we've heard you talk about the history of suicide in your family. >> there's no status quo, just the bottom line. >> but, what about buying shares in a professional athlete? ♪ dangerously cold temperatures are freezing the nation's midwest again and the cold snap heads south where they are not used to snow and icy cold conditions. >> we have not been able to verify any type of relationship at this point between him and either of our victims. >> reporter: police have identified the gunman in a maryland mall shooting and what remains unclear is his motive for murder. a small sign of hope may be