the news continues next live from london. and remember, you can check us out on our website, aljazeera.com. syria, the high level talks ♪. >> lauren taylor, also coming up, china decides to abolish it's controversy one child policy in a direct response to an aging population. >> elect a new speaker, but what does that mean for president obama? and to the afghan refugees who have made their desperate journey only to be sent home.

♪ the war in syria is a focus of international talks. foreign ministers and france will also attend the top level talks on how to resolve the conflict. or a new political transition for the country. eh joins us live, last time you told us that they are just starting that meeting have they finished it? do we have any knew? what is going on? >> they did finish the meeting in the past 20 minutes or so senator kerry

emerged from the hotel, and walked back over to the hotel imperial, which is where the meetings tomorrow will be taking place. now, we have not gotten any response from the iranian delegation, with regard to what was discussed and how the meeting between secretary of state kerry and foreign minister zarif went, but we expect we will be hearing more about that in the next couple of hours when we are told possibly some statements may be made, and maim some photo opportunities. todays han't gone as we or other diplomates had expected it to. earlier, we thought we would see the saudi delegation here by now, the russian delegation, and neither of those as far as we know has arrived yet. it appears as though part of the turkish delegation is here so far, all we know for sure is that the iranian delegation, foreign minister, and the u.s. delegation secretary kerry are here, and they had met so a lot of

shifting doing on as far as the scheduling. certainly a surprise, the iranians appear a day earlier than expected and it will be interesting to see how they dynamic plays out tomorrow secretary kerry when he was walking over to meet the foreign minister earlier, he was asked by reporters what he thought the meetings might yield, if he was optimistic, he basically said over and over again, they willen be able to see tomorrow. that tomorrow is the big day and indeed, that's what we have seen. they are setting the stage, so that tomorrow these talks can happen. it is the fist time that iran has been invited. also going to have saudi arabia in the room, so it will be an interesting day to see if they can bridge any differences teen these various super powers that back either the opposition, or the regime of president bashar al asaad. >> thank you very much indeed more now on the difficulties

all parties face the agreeing on a unified approach to ending the conflict. >> this is the town after it was hit by an air strike. thousands faced this every day. >> this attack between opposition rebels using air tillry, government forces dropping baseball bombs and u.s. and russian drones and fighter planes in the sky. >> them. u.s. turkey, saudi arabia, and other gulf states support rebels, they have been fight thing government that's backed by iran, russia, and lebanon. the russian government makes little distinct between opposition fighters and isil. it is providing advisors and support to president asaad's forces. it is supporting some rebels that it considers aid logically moderate, while conducting air strikes against isil. >> saudi arabia insists that he must go or be removed by

force. it has been calling for safe holds along the turkish border, a position that turkey supports. and the most important ground support for the government comes from iran the country is providing military and financial assistance. iranian special forces and the shia armed group are fighting. large parts of syria and the economy have been destroyed. hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions wounded and displaced in a conflict that is now in it's fifth year this cautious only optimism about the direct talks which includes iran for the first time, has all sides agree at least in public, that continuing to fight is not the solution for syria. >> they are partners in this -- we should test intentions of the iranians and the russians about the seriousness in arriving which we all prefer. >> iran stand on syria has

not changed. from day one from this conflict, and syrian people, we have always said, that the solution of the conflict lies in political solutions. the syrian child tells his crying mother, don't worry, it is just a little blood. millions of others can only hope there is an end to all the bloodshed al jazeera. >> syria at least three people have been killed after a dozen barrel bombs were dropped on the town. the u.k. based syrian observatory says the air strikes happened on wednesday. and this video was posted on the same day by the local activist group. which allegedly shows an air strike by government helicopter. the claim as woman and her son were among those killed in the raids. ♪ le.

>> a chinese communist party has announced the end of it's one child policy. with all couples now allowed to have two children. the aim was slowing population growth, the policy is one of the. >> laest ever social engineering experiences. it is estimated to have prevented about 400 million births many families were able to have more than one child provided they paid a fine. some say the government has made more than $340 billion in such fees since 1980. if you couldn't afford to pay were subjected to forced abortions. the policy is also seen as a contributing factor in china's gender imbalance, which now has an estimated 33 million more men than women. >> the announcement came happening out the next five year plan. the strategy sets broad economic goals for china's

development, but it is the change in the country's one child policy that has been the most eagerly anticipated by many families here. it had already been partially relaxed allowing families from a one child family themselveses to have two children. now that is being extended to all couples. >> the importance of this measure, is not so much demographic, in terms of encouraging vast new numbers of children to be born, but it is the lifting of a highly restricted and times extremely coercive policy as we have had. >> the one child policy was brought in to control china's population. it's cancellation will be popular, but a number of couples like sam chow, haven't decided to have another child for them careers and living costs are the priority grand jury my wife and i don't have any

plans to -- for the second child. >> their seven-year-old son henry is in no doubt, he wants a sibling. >> i want a sister. >> as well as the social and relationship problems associated with a generation of one child families, is the longer term demographic imbalance. there's a growing number of elderly people that need to be supported by a working population a one child policy put in place more than 30 years ago to avoided the crisis they have to be abandoned. >> . >> they will replace john boehner following the revolt by conservative lawmaker whose forced his retirement. it is an opportunity for president bush start. >> fresh start. >> let's be frank. the house is broken.

we are not solving problems we ared aing to them and i am not interesting in laying blame. we are wiping the slate clean. >> lye for us in washington, d.c., so what will he bring to the job? >> well, he brings an enormous amount of experience, he was elected 17 years ago as the young age of 28 and has been serving in congress with pretty high profile leadership positions and also you will remember, he was a vice presidential candidate along with republican mit romney in 2012, so he certainly got the experience to lead but the other thing he brings is a willingness and eagerness to try so do things differently, and you heard him speaking there aedressing the facts there have been deep differences on both sides that it is time to put away the scorecard, and really move forbut it is enormous task at hand, as you pointed out, this whole nomination

process, that was the former speaker, but paul ryan is the fact that john boehner was forced out by that so called freedom caucus, roughly how members who are further right leaning in the republican party. and it's going to be the jobs of paul ryan to not only work with democrats on the other side of the aisle, but also to work with members in his own party that have been particularly strident, and have resulted in what we have seen in the last years and that is kind of legislative paralysis, so it is a difficult job ahead, one he says he is eager to take on. >> what will it mean for president obama? >> well, just very quickly, in order for something to become law, it has to pass the house of representatives, the speaker provides over it, it has to pass in the senate, and then by signed by president obama, so right now the problem has been that the executive for presidential

body is not communicating very well with the legislative body. there's hope that that could change, there certainly has been indication by democrats that they are cautiously optimistic, at the same time, we have seen in recent years that president obama has quite a difficult time trying to get some of the key legislative issues through especially when it comes to environment, immigration reform, and already, although there seems to be indication from paul ryan that the page is tunning the slate is being wiped clean, we have heard that especially when it comes to immigration, he is not eager to take that up, so whether or not they will change is really a question that is still out this. >> thank you very much. >> still ahead, who is writing about free speech landed him in jael. plus. one of the word's driest places has burst into bloom after some rare august

>> tough that the country gave up on me. >> look at the trauma... every day is torture. >> this is our home. >> nobody should have to live like this. >> we made a promise to these heroes... this is one promise americans need to keep. the only way to get better is to challenge yourself, and that's what we're doing at xfinity. we are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. and this includes our commitment to being on time. every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life.

not the other way around.

>> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target weeknights 10:30p et stories here on al jazeera u.s. secretary of state john kerry, and foreign minister are in vienna, ahead of international talks and resolving the war insy yeah. china is abandoning it's one child policy after more than three decades. and republican paul rye ian is elected the new speaker of the u.s. house of representatives. syria's war may be one of the causes of the current refugee crisis, but many traveling to you are from the afghanistan there's a push to

speed up the return of afghans bangladeshis deemed to be economic migrants. from the austrian border. >> somehow i found kabul, but the other on the road in iran. >> friendships have been forged on this journey from the afghanistan, he is just 16 years old, abled by a conflict which returned to his hometown this month. >> awful situation. i edon't have a school, i don't have anything. i lost my family. >> getting a story may not be straight forward, because the e.u. continues many to be economic migrants and wants to make it easier to send them home. >> there's a war going on in afghanistan, and yet there's an intention to family receive tate their return. that doesn't seem to make

sense. >> there is at the moment a recognition rate of 40% among the afghans, so, of course, this would be an individual questioning to see in which situations they live. with they can go back or not to see about what is happening in the the war situation would be improving. >> most refugees are from syria, but an estimated 25% of those entering austria, are from afghanistan now in many instances i have seen many coming together, but i have also noticed some resentiment other who is most deserving of asigh hum. >> osama bin laden, a dentist asked me why i was interviewing afghans. >> the e.u. wants to send back afghans that it considered migrants.

>> . >> for he and hi friends the idea of facing safety evokes hollow laughter. >> they have given up everything to make this journey, and they say there will be no going back. al jazeera, on the austria slovenia border. >> tensions on the border remain high. these are latest pictures from near where robin has reported in the the last hour, people have been breaking think barriers in an attempt to cross into austria, where they can have their claims processed. >> the greek coast card is still searching for 38 people who went miss eking from a boat which sank off the island. 232 refugees were trying to cross to europe from turkey seven people have been confirmed dead, there's little hope that are more will be found. >> for these survivors a life

in europe may become reality but it comes at a high cost dozens of their fellow passengers may never be found. and a further dozen children are not yet out of danger. three coast guard vessels and two helicopters were still looking for survivors and a fisherman joins the search, and anger runs high on the island at the disregard for human life. >> those people, who those 2.5000 people that came yesterday in the island, they are criminals they justing get money to put them on boats. survivors say the boat capsized when the overcrowded deck collapsed on the people below, the smugglers has already been taken off the boat. and they were left to steer by themselves in 60-kilometer an hour winds.

people donated clothes and some put refugees up over night in the they homes. >> this disasser likely to be more bodies not more survivors. al jazeera, on the island in the eastern. >> israeli forces have shot dead two palestinians after separate attacks in the occupied west bank. the israeli military say says n both incidents palestinianed stabs soldiers before they opened fire one serviceman had minor head injuries 66 and nine israelis have died since the violent broke out at the beginning of october. al jazeera has this update. >> the shooting dead of a palestinian in the occupied west bank. on thursday, a man in his 20's was shot dead that came between the jewish settlement manies and the ibrahimmy mosque in p the the center of

town now they are saying that he had stabbed a a soldier before he was shot dead where as palestinian witnesses are saying that he had crossed a check point and had actually walked some distance before he was shot at close distance. this is not the fist time that we have heard these conflicting narratives. and in many cases palestinians locally, claim that the israeli army or israeli police have in fact prompted weapons in many cases fives, to suggest policy that there had been a threat to an israeli before the palestinian had been shot dead. on thursday, they were already clashes in hebron between protestors and the army. it is a very tense place at the best of times with a few hundred israeli settlers living among many many thousands of palestinian residents who have their

movements severely restricted. memberren ron is also somebody somewhere where many families are angry, where the bodies of the loved ones have not been returned by the israeli authorities. and that remains something that is causing a lot of anger on the streets. >> a saudi blogger has been aa warded the prize for human rights and freedom of thought. he is currently serving a ten year jail sentence, his writings on freedom of speech. he has receive add number of prizes. but the sacrifice is the most high profile charley anglo reports. >> the pry this year will go to the sawed rainian blogger. i call on the king to immediately grant mercy on himming and to free him so that he can can accept the pry. [applause] >> a standing ovation at the european parliament.

the 31-year-old's writing met with a jail sentence in public. he was convicted in 2012 for insulting islam, after he criticized senior religious figures. following death threats his wife and three children fled, now living in canada, they campaign for his release his wife she will tell him his award in their weekly call. >> i am sure he will be happy because such prizes have an effect on his well being, and we hope lit have an impact on his legal case. >> he is in a very bad psychological and physical situation. he has been jailed for three years. he has been flogged in a public place. he has a ten year prison sentence, and a ten year travel ban. the first of 50 of his lashes were carried out in january. the remaining 950 have been postponed as his wounds were

slow to heal. his wife says the lashings could resume immediately and he suffered from hyper tension, and may not survive. >> there have been protests outside embassies and gone vagueses and little criticism for western governments. campaigners say this will shine the height on saudi arabia's human rights record and be a blow to it's global image. >> there are people within the saudi regime, who reck nigh this is a very bad move, what they are doing and other political prisoners. and hopefully, that may encouraging them to put for change. >> to individuals or organizations make contribution to the site, the human rights and democracy but despite peas from the president and many others it is unlikely that he will be free to receive it in person, in the december. charley angela, al jazeera.

>> the candidate from the ruling party has been declared winner of the presidential election, former public works minister was proclaimed president elect, after the electoral body dismissed demands. the candidate has rejected the result, he says was rigged. kathryn sawyer sends us this update. >> celebration, announced the president elect. the supporters say another celebration continues. but his opponents today that this election was not. the main opposition saying that work was announced by the commission. the election commission has denied this, and wants to announce the structural and

this election was free and fair. t. >> africa's fist grid connected bio gas plants come online. t $6.5 million die ejester will consume an an yule 50,000 tons of organic waste. reports from the small town. >> peter and his family never had electricity. >> . but the connection cost in kenya recently came down. and so he has finally payed to get power. and everybody is excited. >> i am very happy. i have waited for so long. there is been power in this neighborhood since 1985, but before i just couldn't afford it e. >> it e's a among a stead edie growing number of households. 's e. >> just across town there's a new one.

these cornhusks from a nearby farm are feeding a power plant. it is the first in africa to put electricity into a national grid. >> the farm waste is mixed with water, inside this tank, and also a with bacteria which comes from the insides of cows stomach brought from the row call slaughter house. it makes quite a smell. next it spends a day inside this tank before being muched into the digester. this contains the gas and then muched to a power station just over here, meanwhile the liquid and solid waste goes into this tank, where it is turned into come post and then taken back to the farms and used as fertilizer. >> the you remember families use about half the electricity generating here, and they bring shares into the power station the owners say the involvement guarantees the fuel supply, and they hope that means in six years they can make back the cost of nearly $7 million. >> the economy is fragile. but in our case, because half

of this consumption, we are also selling energy from heat recovery, this helps the economics. >> it puts enough power into the national grid for about 8,000 homes. it is a tiny part of the electricity kenya uses. about three-quarters of the population still can't afford it it is a long way to go, but they are now among the families that can. and they are delighted. >> malt come web, al jazeera kenya. >> the world's driest places has burst into bloom, a chillian dessert has been transformed after rare august rain. >> color spread over an air rid land. chili's dessert has sprung to life, the most spectacular growth since in nearly two decades. >> we have not had such large

flowers, in 2010 we had a large flowering, but already this year, has passed all the previous ones. >> this life comes from tragedy. torrential storms devastated chili's northern region, because mudslides and rivers were so swollen they bust their banks. 28 people died but the rains have watered the seeds of more than 200 different plants lying dormant for years they in turn, have attracted birds, insects, lizards and rodents. for some locals, it's an unforgettable experience. for us it was a miracle because i have never seen what the grass looks like until now. >> and it's fascinating tour is. >> so unusual. we come from having breakfast, with the flowers. >> the nowers will eventually die, as the intense dry heat soaks up the remaining ground

water, until then, chili's dessert is bursting with life. roth manson, al jazeera. >> you can keep up to date any time, and you can watch us on the watch now icon. only a fully functioning house can truly represent the people. and that there are ever a time for us to step up, this would be that time. >> passing the torch, paul ryan taking over as speaker of the house and already has a lot to take care of. g.o.p. presidential candidates square off in a heated debate, their positions on the economy, now under the microscope. chaos and confusion of greece as a boat with 200 onboard sinks.