until next time waj and i will see you online. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello from doha and london, this is the news hour. coming up in the next 60 minutes. a new truce ukraine's opposition signs a deal with the government paving the way for early elections. but will it hold? we're in one city completely controlled by the opposition. hello there, i'm in london with the latest from europe, including western european's last separatist violent

movement. and up to 50 people are arrested outside of a moscow court as inside eight anti-putin activists are convicted of rioting and assault. ♪ first to ukraine where a deal has been signed between the opposition and the government that it is hoped will end months of protest. it's not yet clear how it will play out in keefe's independence square. darkness has now fallen and that is the scene [ technical difficulties ]

>> groups of people have taken matters into their own hands and are now running the city. but let's take a look at how the day's events have unfolded in kiev. parliament voted for a law that could see jailed opposition leader freed. barnaby phillips has our report. >> reporter: in the square they listened, intently to the details of the deal that their leaders have signed with the president. they want to know, have they been sold out or has the revolution triumphed? european foreign ministers who succeeded to getting pen to paper. early elections, sweeping constitutional changes, and perhaps the last chance to stop the bloodshed. >> i am satisfied that it is the best agreement that could be had, and it gives ukraine a chance to return to peace, to reform and to hopefully resume

it's a way towards europe. >> reporter: this deal can be seen as a what belated triumph for european diplomacy, but it is also a compromise, and the real question now is whether these people in the square are prepared to accept what for them is only a partial victory. >> now it looks like a little, little win of our people, yes. it's -- maybe it's the first step. >> it's not actual change, no. it's a small move towards a change, but it's not al solution yet. >> will you carry onment coming to the square to protest? >> yes. >> reporter: but they did cheer when parliament voted to dismiss the interior minister, a sign, perhaps that those in power will have to answer for crimes they might have committed. >> translator: we still have lots to do in order to bring peace and stability to this country and bring to account

everyone, and i emphasize everyone who gave orders. >> reporter: this movement has many martyrs, and the protesters believe the president has blood on his hands. let's take a closer look at the details of the agreement signed in kiev. ukraine has reverted to the 2004 constitution. a unity government will be formed in the coming days, after that early elections will be held. a date hasn't been set yet, but the vote has to happen before december. and there will be an investigation into the violence by a joint commission including the council of europe and ukraine. andrew simmons is in kiev for us. will this deal stick? >> reporter: absolutely, jane.

extraordinary pace to events after the appalling violence of thursday and the days proceeding that. we found after all of the build up to this deal, that parliament went into action right away, passing a special law, which meant that the presidency's powers were reduced drastically back to the constitutional order of 2004. then a raft of measures were taken, which ended before parliament actually ended, we saw the actual relief -- the imminent relief of kill shaningco agreed upon. that is likely to happen in the coming days. it is apparently just a formally following a decriminalization of the charges put against her, and

the jail sentence which she has served so far. but more on that later, first of all, let me introduce this political analyst. thank you for joining us on the news hour. what do you make of this deal? will it stick? can it hold? is it going to work? >> well, this deal is not healing, but it's a pain relief, basically, and what it does, instead of resolving the crisis, it takes away the symptoms. basically that means the main demand from the protesters, which is that yanukovych must step down, not only is it not satisfied, but it will not be satisfied for quite a long time. so i don't think this deal will stick for long, probably it will

give some time for all sides to breathe, and everyone will be able to regroup, but i don't think that this is the deal that will be the ultimate deal. >> but do you think this will be an end to the violence that we will see now engagement in democracy, a parliament that is fairer, that has some sway with the people? >> this may be a step towards it? this may be not. because we have seen that yanukovych earlier has not respected his deals, and we have seen that the radicals on -- on behalf of protesters were not happy with some of the previous ceasefire agreements neither. so the question is what everyone will be doing to respect the deal, and we'll have to see. i put very little faith into the fact that this deal is the ultimate deal that will stick. >> reporter: what about the

implications of lydia kill shaningco being released? >> we have to understand the difference between the orange revolution and the events right now. during the orange revolution we had two sides. now we have three sides, the government, the political opposition that are equally populous, and she was one of the populous leaders, and protesters who are actually against the populous policies of both the government and the opposition, so putting her in this -- in the equation is not a real game changer. she may actually influence the situation, but actually many protesters are quite bitter with decisions of her political decisions that she made that actually lead to this crisis eventually.

>> reporter: thank you very much indeed. >> thank you. >> reporter: and you can hear the fireworks. overall this is a peaceful demonstration. it does appear that pragmatism is ruling the heads of the people here. they seem to be accepting this deal. >> all right. thank you for that. so a deal has been signed in kiev. but what about outside of the capitol? we traveled to the western city of laliv. >> reporter: overnight a candle lit individual -- vigil held for those who died in

independence square. >> translator: we can pray. this is what we can do. prayers can break stone and are the only weapon against those metal machine guns that they have. >> reporter: the headquarters of the regional council has been transformed since al jazeera last visited the city earlier this year. the barricades have gone. the protesters now have the reign of power inside. there we found the heard of the newly formed people's council chairing a meeting. the officials now all report to him. he has assumed full responsibility for the fate of the region and its citizens. we found ukraine's former education minister, deeply worried about the divisive strains released. >> translator: we have heard deputies ad hoc in meetings

discussing to form their own region. >> reporter: six police stations here have been ransacked, but now the city's self-defense forces have been sent in to clear them up and hand them back, but not everything is being restored. an old soviet police poster is warning that walls have ears. all of these safes have been broken open. it is estimated as many as 500 handguns have been stolen from police arsenals over the last few days. outside we found only contempt for the latest deal. >> translator: i don't see the point of any negotiations. too much blood has been spilled. i want to see them all at the international court. they should get the death peppalty. >> reporter: such radical sentiments may be isolated here,

but the return to danger and violence cannot be ruled out. >> so very hard to get any sort of enthusiasm for this deal, david? >> reporter: well, yes, that person i spoke to outside the police station i think is pretty isolated in his very radical opinions, but the mood here at the moment where there are no sign of police or government security forces, they are all remaining off of the streets, there's a sense of grieving. many families have lost people at independence square, the people here went back to the hard core of support for those demonstrations in kiev. so it's a somber mood. not one of celebration here, but at the moment, at the regional council headquarters, they have called for volunteers for these self-defense groups.

this city is still in open rebellion against the government of president yanukovych, and they have done a deal, it seems with the local police chief that all of his forces will remain off of the streets, but they are beginning to allow some of the policemen to go back to the police stations and begin to do the job that is still necessary here, but out tonight in force will be those new volunteers who will be sworn in as civilian policemen as it were, and they will be directing traffic and answering emergency calls. so it's business here as usual and it's against president yanukovych and so many people are grieving and angry at what has happened, but they are determined to go ahead with this rebellion

[ technical difficulties ] >> no one has mentioned yet, jane what is going to happen to the support from moscow. they did pay just before this latest outbreak of violence, but if you look at the next few days on monday, there could be a run on the currency, so it's not just those people who are supporting russia, but also the people who realize there could be a financial crisis. is the inf or the european union going to step on. i think we'll get a reaction from moscow that they are not going to carry on with their payment to help ukraine out of its black financial hole. >> pain no way over yet there in ukraine. thank you for that update.

hopes have risen for the disarmament of the bosque movement. for more let's felicity in london. >> an international monitoring team set up said that they have agreed to put some arms and explosives out of operative use. the team's head made the announcement out of a press conference. >> the commission is confident that this step is significant and credible. we believe it will be lead to the putting beyond operational use all of their arms, ammunition, and explosives from our experience of other processes, making an [ inaudible ] and putting the unoperational views, arms, ammunitions, and explosives, is a necessary stage prior to complete disarmament. we are confident with the

support of all political and social actors this can be achieved. >> the spanish government and victim's groups shrugged off the gesture. phil takes a look at a movement responsible for hundreds of deaths over more than four decades. >> reporter: the bomb blasts, the shootings, this was their strategy over 40 years. this group of separatists, wants an independent homeland. this is a campaign that is not over yet, there is one huge sticking point, handing over the killing equipment, and making this deal formal. this was what was promised in 2011. quote, a definitive end to their armed activity. it was welcomed cautiously by politicians and victim's

families. etea refused to formally disband or disarm which is what [ technical difficulties ] >> he says no. this is what those are about. eta prisoners, there are more than 500 of them being held in jails. eta wants their conditions improved. until all have given up

willingly this war between spain and the separatests is unlikely to be truly considered to be over. a journalist has written extensively about eta, and he says there are significant differences now. >> i think it's important to establish between the peace process in ireland where there was a verified decommissioning effort where weapons were destroyed in front of impartial observers which both governments accepted. in this case they are not recognizing, even though this commission is made up of very eminent people, the spanish go doesn't recognize them. and it creates a very difficult situation, because assuming that

eta really wants to give up their arms, and the political movement wants this to happen, there is no doubt about that now, they have learned they will get much further towards independence through democratic means than through terrorism, but how do you persuade the few people in in eta who are still not in prison, how do you persuade them to lead these international observers to arms dumps when they risk by doing so, getting 30-year jail sentences. the other sticking point is the treatment of the prisoners. in most peace processes prisoners eventually get out of jail, or in the very least in this case, they could be brought back to prisons within the bask country itself. many are in prisons up to 800 kilometers away.

and these kind of issues keep the tension in the conflict, and unthink unless eta can make a bigger gesture, and the spanish government can make a gesture, it's hard to see this unlocking all together. and the italian leader has now formally accepted a mandate to form the next government. and he will be sworn in at 10:30 gnt on saturday. so he has formally accepted a mandate to form a government and become the next prime minister of italy. i'll have more from europe a little later. right now, though, back to jane. >> thank you, felicity. tailing the taliban, still to come on the news hour. [ explosion ] we gain exclusive access to a group of taliban fighters.

plus -- the president is celebrating his 90th birthday. we'll be asking whether his policy is working. and in sport, south africa's cricketers frustrate the aussie bowlers in a second test in port elizabeth. ♪ venezuela's opposition is calling for a nationwide march on saturday. anti-government protests over food and fuel shortages are now in their tenth day. andy what happening in the capitol? >> jane for the first time in days, we had a relatively peaceful night. you could hear the banging of pots and pans, but the president told protesters if they want to

continue banging those pots and pans, they could get 40 to 50 years, because he said that's how long the revolution will last. but a protest has been called on saturday by a more moderate politician. lopez is still being held by though authorities, charged with arson and conspiracy. he managed to sneak a note out through his wife which has been posted, telling protesters to continue their fight. but perhaps more concerting is the situation in the andyian region. we are hearing that paratroopers and soldiers are on their way there, because the president wants to take that city back. >> thank you for that.

two nigerian security officials have seized the pass port of a leader who has been suspended by the president after revealing that $20 billion has gone missing from the government coffers. ivan joins us now on the line. what are you hearing about this, ivan? >> reporter: clearly the former governor has caused a lot of controversy speaking about the billions of dollars missing. and we understand that mie -- nigerian security age engineers have recovered his pass port. what we have come to understand is there was some intelligence that the former bank

[ technical difficulties ] now it's also important to point out that the state oil company, the president's office, the nigerian minister of finance deny any wrongdoing. they say the $20 billion is not missing; that there are some accounting -- they don't use the word irregularities, but there is unfinished accounting in the state oil company. and everything will eventually be accounted for.

speaking to the ministry of finance, they are k looking into some kind of independence investigation. but people are saying hold on if this involves the ministry of finance, the national oil company, why has the one person that is talk about missing money been booted out of office? >> thank you. that's it for us on the news hour. stephanie is up next with a worth update. then muslims try to escape the violence in central african republic come under attack. and the first details emerging of the athletes failing the doping tests at the olympics.

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nigerian has ceased the passport of the finance minister. al jazeera has gained exclusive access to taliban fighters in afghanistan's province. a journal itself was embedded with a group of self proclimbed taliban fighters. it is a rare incite into the security challenge facing government forces operating inside the country. >> reporter: i'm taken to meet two of their commanders. it's obvious they are planning

something big. then they get the signal. the fact that there will be suicide bombers is a surprise. they hadn't told me about that before. and then suddenly, the fighting begins. [ explosion ]

the taliban's heavy machine gun isn't ready. these taliban have little or no former military training. and the ana fight back. [ gunfire ] [ explosion ] things aren't going to plan. their machine gun still isn't working.

they leave the gunner to fix it while they go to support the attack from another side. to allow the rest of the taliban to enter the base, three suicide bombers have been sent to blow up the main gate. [ shouting ] but they have to first avoid heavy fire coming from inside. there are 200 meters of open ground between the wall and the base. [ explosion ] the taliban had hoped this could be a victory, but it's becoming clear that they are facing far

greater resistance than they had expected. the suicide bombers have failed to get close to the gate. they are told to pull back. the heavy machine gunners have finally fixed their weapon. but it's too late. the resistance from soldiers inside the base has been too strong. angry at losing two of his men, the commander orders me to stop filming.

>> larry was formally assistant secretary of defense during the reagan administration, and joins us live from washington, d.c. thank you for joining us, larry. i'm sure none of that particularly surprises you, but what do you think it says about the status of the taliban at the moment and the challenges that remain in defeating the taliban? this >> it says that the taliban are still an important part of what is going to happen, and they still have the capability to cause damage, but the good news about that is the ana fought back and repelleded them. a couple of years ago the ana may have been infiltrated by the taliban, and you had remembers of the ana actually killing coalition forces. so that is good news, but the

taliban still have the capability of causing problems. >> they look like a rag tag group of fighters, but they have got some sort of high level support. that's certainly what they suggest and they continue to operate undetected. >> that's right. basically as long as some of the people in afghanistan are willing to support them, provide them aid and comfort, you're not going to get rid of them. and a lot of people are not quite sure with the karzai government whether in fact that's a government they want to support, basically whether it's a corrupt government, whether it's taking care of its own people, rather than some of the other people in the country. >> where does this leave the security deal? this report says the plan to shrinking the size would put the

country at risk, and that afghan forces are in no way ready to take over. >> i think that again emphasizes the importance of the united states and itself allies concluding a deal with karzai or a successor to stay there. because remember the un mandate expires at the end of this year. you cannot have foreign forces there unless the government makes an agreement and provides among other things that the forces will have immunity under prosecution under afghan law. and that's why the longer this goes on the worse it is going to be. because a lot of people are saying maybe the foreign forces aren't going to be here, so we better fall in with the taliban. >> but it's winning over the hearts and the minds of the taliban now, isn't it?

>> most people are saying if we do conclude an agreement and center for naval analysis talked about staying until 2014, but at some point it is up to the people of afghanistan, because it's not just the taliban, it could be members of the northern alliance causing problems again if they are not happy with who succeeds karzai. larry thorpe good to talk to you. thank you. >> thank you for having me. a convoy has been attacked in the central african republic. tanya paige reports. >> reporter: thousands of muslims are fleeing the central african republic. this convoy is headed to chad under an armed guard, but it's an extremely dangerous journey.

only 4 kilometers from the border, and christian anti-seleka fighters attack. one person was killed and seven others wounded. >> translator: this is a serious injury. the bullet penetrated the neck and went through. >> reporter: the attack doesn't stop muslims from lining the road, hoping for a ride, but the convoy can't risk stopping. back in the capitol, these people also want to leave. most are from chad. but they just heard the chadian government says it isn't going to help anymore people get out. >> translator: they should not close the door to people who still want to go back home. it's a huge surprise to hear the

prime minister is ending the evacuation of chadians who are here. >> reporter: people here tell us there are thousands of other muslims stranded in different towns, threatened by anti-bellka fighters. many muslims feel they have no future here. they would rather risk the journey than stay, if only they could get out. tanya paige, al jazeera, central african republic. about 50 people have been detained outside of a court in moscow, where eight people were convicted for their part in a huge anti-putin protest. >> yeah, jane, hundreds of people were outside the courthouse in moscow as the judge jailed the eight activists for a demonstration that took place nearly two years ago. those convicted have taken part

in this demonstration which turned violent on the eve of the inauguration of vladimir putin in 2012. >> translator: here we see small dirty tricks played by the russian authorities who don't allow people to come closer to the court. the organized poff indication detain people for no reason. they see that not so many people have come here, so they start picking them out, harassing them, of fenninging them. sooner or later there will be more people and he will pay for everything. >> reporter: earlier a spoke to fred mcweir and asked him about the importance of this. >> i myself witnessed this event two years ago, right? it was a small scuffle on the edges of another wise peaceful and orderly demonstration.

and this can happen in any country where you have protests and demonstrations, but it's only in russia that they turn it into a crime of the century, massive conspiracy against the state as we saw here. these defendants have been charged with mass disturbances and attempting to overthrow the government. so from the beginning it was a signal to society, don't do that, don't protest, and we saw a redoubling of that signal outside the courtroom today where there were mass arrests pretty indiscriminately, and they were meant to say don't go into the streets, never, don't do that. here the former chief executive of news international says she was unaware of a contract with a private investigate for worth over

$150,000. brooks is accused of conspiring to hack voicemail messages. thousands of security workers at frankfort airport have gone on strike in a dispute over pay. dozens of flights were canceled on friday afternoon. workers want their pay brought into line with the pay of other airports in the country. the country may still be suffering in one of the worth downturns in decades, but one airline is bucking the trend in greece. late last year it won approval from the european commission to guy out the former state airline, and now it is expanding its routes. >> reporter: meet greece's new favorite airline, it has won dozens of awards for page wallty and its way of expansion going

from 300,000 passengers 15 years ago, to 16 million last year. >> we became the first greek airline ever to have seven bases around the country, and fly international route directly from them. so the investment has been primarily to international. again, a way to balance our allowance between greek consumers and in-coming consumers. >> reporter: it allowed aegean to buy the previous state airline out. >> the average life term of management was 8.5 months. there was no consistency in any management to deliver results, because they knew that by the time judgment day came, they would be gone, so their focus

and target became very short-term, one year. which means what? cater to the whims of the political leadership who was a shareholder. it took six attempts to privatize olympic. that delay damaged the entire industry. >> we should have achieved before the olympics, before 2004 to have one local national champion. that would have allowed greek aviation to be five, six years ahead of where it is today. so don't delay what needs to be done in terms of efficiencies to be reached. >> reporter: as a result even together they carry only one in six passengers to greece. prices took its toll and suffered three straight years of losses, but broke back into profit last year. it will now enjoy its first full

year of integrated operations with olympic. so greece finally has its national champion, but aegean's real challenge to be a regional power is only just beginning. and that brings you up to date with the latest from europe, back to doha now and jane. similar baub which's president has turned 90. he is africa's oldest leader and and one of the most controversial. he became president, and embarked on a land reform program taking white-owned land and redistributing it to black landowners. more than half of similar bob weeians live below the poverty line. unemployment is believed to be

now at 80%. >> reporter: more and more farmers here are growing tobacco instead of staples like maze. there are more than 80,000 registered growers. this man has grown tobacco for more than 20 years. >> over the years it didn't make economic sense to grow maze. it was cheaper to buy maze after having hold our tobacco. the subsidies in the maze production [ inaudible ] tobacco production. >> reporter: this here's tobacco selling season has started. most people here are small-scale farmers. many benefit from the president's land reform program, a government policy that seized commercial farms from whites and gave them to landless blacks.

some tobacco farmers are doing well, but the economy is struggling, and most people are jobless. it used to be called the bread basket of africa, now the united nations says more than 2 million people need food aid. there are still farms lying idol. the infrastructure now in ruin. >> land reform has worked in tiny pockets, tobacco is probably the most remarkable. the people who are growing tobacco are self employed individuals, they are not employers. and if lucky they are bare the costs of rearing a family. but tobacco prices allow them to be back next year, but they will never become relatively well off people growing tobacco on this very small scale. >> reporter: many say that they

are confident the country will one day return to the days where it could produce enough staple crops to feed its own people and more. sports news is coming up, super rugby's defending champions, the chiefs shock the crusaders. robin will have those details in just a moment. ♪

[ technical difficulties ] >> the footage was taken in october. richelle carey narrates the report, the video offering a rare glimpse into the war still being fought inside afghanistan. >> reporter: it is just after dawn at an afghan army base. and the taliban are about to attack. [ explosion ] gunn >> reporter: the tall gan has little military training. they fight on instinct. the ana fight back. al jazeera gained exclusive abscess to this group of self proclaimed taliban fighters in october. suicide bombers are sent forward.

[ shouting ] >> reporter: the plan, say the fighters is to blow open the gates and allow the other fighters to stream in. but things are not going to plan. the fighting continues for more than 90 minutes. to the camera, the taliban claim they are more successful than the evidence suggests. once the taliban get word the afghan national army has called in backup in the form of tanks, thement commander orders his men back, including the suicide bombers. when they see fighter jets circling in the air, the taliban don't seem to worried, but the reporter is worried and takes cover. >> reporter: i just saw two fighter jets in the air, flying very low. possibly targeting us. i'm scared as hell. >> reporter: the plane unable to

get a definite target moves on, and so does the taliban. blending in with the local population. >> i'm sure that there are indigenous afghan fighters fighting with the taliban. of course there are. and i'm also sure they are getting significant outside support. >> reporter: this reporter spent several days with the taliban. the taliban were happy to show access to an area they say they have control. what al jazeera witnessed was strong resistance from the afghan army. richelle carey, al jazeera. and the al jazeera program "faultlines" will air more of

this exclusive report in a two-part series beginning next month. the european union is taking legal action against the uk over the issue of air pollution. the group says there are high levels of nitrogen dioxide. the british government admits it won't achieve the goal for another ten years. ♪ i'm dave warren. stormy day up and down the east coast as we're tracking a line of severe weather moving across the southeast. severe thunderstorm warning in florida. the latest area is a tornado watch. watch if you are ahead of this line moving from west to east. we're seeing very damaging wind as it moves through florida. a little break in south

carolina, in north carolina and virginia, very incense cells here along this line. look how it begins to bow out here. that's an indication of some very powerful wind. racing at 60 miles an hour. so very damaging wind likely with these storms. more bowing here. severe thunderstorm warnings in effect now with damaging wind and maybe even hail as these storms move through. they will continue to push from west to east. warm air is being pulled up from the south and cold air is coming in behind the line. as it moves through look for the temperatures to drop and the wind picks up. timing looks like about 9:00, 10:00 as it moves up the coast. looking at this weekend, it will

be a little colder, temperatures claiming to the 60s, close to 70, but now dropping into the 50s and 40s. look for a colder weekend but at least storm free. del? >> thank you very much. we are following breaking news coming out of illinois. the state's largest county and city will allow same-sex couples to marry and apply for licenses if they want to do so now. it effects cook county which is also where chicago is located. ♪ on wall street stocks trying to end the week on a positive note, barely. the blue chips have risen for two straight weeks this month, but stay tuned, the report from

a realtors group saying sales of existing homes fell 5% in january. combination of cold weather, low inventory and rising prices, after peaking in july, home sales have fallen in the last six months. the push to legalize marijuana in the nation's capitol hitting some legal problems. district residents shouldn't be able to vote on legalizing two ounces of pot from marijuana plants. that proposed initiative violates federal law and would prevent the city from evicting public housing residents for possession of drugs. it is now almost 11:00 in sochi. men's curling set to be on tap for the first event tomorrow. you are watching al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. more news at the top of the hour, and for updates throughout

the day, go to aljazeera.com. ♪

welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we are following for you. the deal has now been signed so how does ukraine move forward? and for the first time in 20 years ukraine brings home the gold. and a controversial visitor to the white house. ♪