the day and evening on aljazeera.com. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello there i'm barbara sarah, welcome to the news hour live from london. coming up in the next 60 minutes. libya takes another step down the path of peace as the two governments agree to sign a u.n.-backed agreement. the taliban has taken responsibility for a car bomb attack on a foreign guest house near the spanish embassy in kabul. climate change talks in paris are extended into saturday as delegates say they are on the verge of landmark deal to curve

greenhouse gas emissions. bringing an iconic russian nol back to the people. a cost of more than a thousand take part in a marathon reading of tolstoy's classic "war and peace." and i'm lee wellings with the sports news as michel platini failing so get his ban lifted. ♪ thank you for joining us. libya's rival governments have reached a deal after key talks in the tunisian capitol. representatives of the country's two rival administrations have agreed to sign a plan next wednesday. it will lead to the formation of a unity leadership in the country, which should take office within two years. it's a major step towards resolving the conflict which

began in 2011 when gadhafi was forced out of power. zana hoda has the latest. >> reporter: italy is where world leaders will meet on sunday to give what officials here are calling a decisive push for efforts to bring about a national unity government in libya. a u.n.-draft deal has been on the table for months and now members of the rival parliaments, say it will be signed on december 16th. that follows last week's agreement in tunis which saw the warring parties agree on the urgent need to work together. the latest announce was made in tunis by the u.n. special envoy who held last-minute discussions with the two sides. but even cobbler said the way forward won't be easy. >> many problems remain, but this has to be solved by the new government in place. that's what governments are there for. that's why the implementation

phase will start with many open problems and united nations is always ready to support the new government of national accord. >> reporter: libya has been at war since the overthrow of moammar gadhafi. there are armed groups who have rejected previous attempts to disarm. it is not clear if all of them are backing the u.n. deal or whether all memberings of the two rival parliaments will give their support. he is hoping the majority of libyans will put their differences aside. >> this is the goal of the conference sunday is to have the more inclusive possible solution, so we will not have hundred percent. i hope we'll have 90%. because we need, obviously an inclusive [ inaudible ]. those against a resolution supported by all of the international community will have the responsibility to

contrast something that is strategic for the libyan people. >> reporter: for the international communitiening the security and political vacuum in libya is their strategic priority, and that is why world leaders are throwing their weight and pressuring the libyans to unite. the west is growing increasingly concerned about the growing strength of isil. some officials say libya is becoming what they are describing as a fall-back position for the armed group since it has been coming under pressure in syria and iraq. italy is particularly concerned, not just because migrants and refugees use libya as a transit point to reach europe, but isil is just a few hundred kilometers away. isil has been attempting to take more ground pushing into areas where oil will give them a source of revenue. the international community hasn't ruled out the option of

con terted military action. >> i think we have now to concentrate, not on plan b, but on the effort of the international community to reach a diplomatic agreement. the only solution, the only stable solution is a libyan unity government to stabilize the country. >> reporter: for now there is an agreement, the days ahead, however, will give an indication on whether the u.n. deal has any quorum to form what can be called a national unity government. a deal without libya's main political and military actors could be a recipe for more violence. as we have mentioned the deal to set up a unity government was brokened by the u.n. in tunisia, our correspondent has more from the capitol tunis. >> reporter: i think the reason why these talks have succeeded

while others have failed is because of the sense of urgency, the u.n. special envoy to libya talked about the clock ticking, the fact that groups affiliated to isil have taken more important territory, affecting the oil industry. that has been a wake-up call to these libyan delegates who have been fighting it out for so long. part of the deal will mean a presidential council will rule alongside the unity government. but there are many elephants in the room. where will the government be placed? it's still not clear. and there is no mention of the general, who is the head of the libyan army in the east riegs out in. so all of these potentially could impact on the stability of this new unity government. ♪ a car bomb has exploded in a heavily fortified area of the

afghan capitol. three gunmen targeted a guest house near the spanish embassy. the taliban has claimed responsibility. >> translator: a car was blown up. right after the blast happened. we turned off the lights in the area, and our night operation special forces have starting searching the vicinity. >> jennifer glasse is on the phone for us in kabul. this attack as we have mentioned happened in a fortified area of the capitol. how much of a shocker is it? >> very much a shocker. it has been very quiet here in the afghan capitol and that operation has been going on for about four and a half hours. it has been confirmed the spanish embassy was not the target and embassy officials have been evacuated. the target apparently a guest house next to the spanish

embassy. the explosion, barbara, could be heard for miles around. i understand it happened just before 6:00 in the evening here, a friday evening, so the streets gather quiet. it could have been much worse. but the fact that the attackers got into the city with a car bomb especially into the area, which has embassies, and non-governmental organizations, there are a couple of medical facilities there as well, and a lot of civilians. it's a very, very busy part of the afghan capitol and is well inside what the afghan police call the ring of steel check points around the capitol to watch for us ispy house vehicles and suspicious people. so the fact that these attackers have gotten in , and we continue to hear sporadic explosions from the area, and gunfire as well. >> i guess this can be described

as a bold attack and it comes days after we have seen another bold attack on the air force in kandahar. are we seeing a resurgence of the taliban, or is there any reason why they would be intensifying attacks now? >> reporter: i think both of these attacks were very carefully timed attacks. this one tonight came just hours after afghan president went on national television saying he -- he is hoping that peace talks with the taliban will start in the next couple of weeks. the taliban are divided as to whether they should even have peace talks with the government, and the attack in kandahar on tuesday and wednesday came as the president was in neighboring pakistan talking about getting peace negotiations underway again. so i think it's the taliban showing they can attack and that they can launch these sustained attacks, but also sending a

message that -- that perhaps -- at least in a certain faction of the taliban, they do not want to lay down their weapons, which is what the president would like to s sea -- see if they headed to the peace table. >> thank you. the islamic state of iraq and the levant has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed at least 22 people in a kurdish-held town in syria. three suicide bombers attacked the town on thursday. the area is a base for kurdish fighters battling isil, and kurdish security forces are thought to be among the dead. syrian opposition groups meeting at a conference in saudi arabia's capitol have agreed to the basic principals for a democratic solution to end the civil war. assad says he is unwilling to leave syria and has the support of the majority of the country. he also says he is unwilling to

negotiate with terrorists, but will speak to the opposition if they are unarmed. >> we were ready and we are ready today to start the negotiations with the opposition, but it depends on the definition of opposition nch opposition for everyone in this world doesn't mean militant. there's a big difference between militants terrorists and opposition. opposition is a political term, not a military term. turkey has reiterated its refusal to withdrawal its troops from a base near the iraqi city mosul. it comes as iraq's shop shia cleric criticized the deployment of turkish troops. turkey insists its soldiers are not combat troops, but they are to protect other training groups fighting the islamic state of iraq and the levant. iraq wants the u.n. security council to intervene. thousands of iraqis have

been forced out of their homes by the ongoing fighting between the army and isil. many have headed north to the relative safety of the kurdish regions as imran khan reports now. >> reporter: this man has been a butcher for most of his life. he ran a small shop in fallujah in anbar province. two years ago he found out isil fighters were taking territory on the outskirts of the city. so late one night, he took his family and headed north to here. he says that decision saved his life. >> translator: life was just hell for us. the iraqi army would shell fallujah every day, then isil would try and control us. we had nothing. couldn't do anything. >> reporter: here his story is common, according to local authorities at least 4,300 from anbar have settled in this small

town tucked away in the hills. kurdish and arab communities get along here and have transformed the place. those who have come here have opened businesses and that means jobs and money. it used to be a seasonal holiday town. people would come here once a year for their holidays. now it's a very busy, buss elling market town all year-round. this man is thankful to be here. >> translator: i really like it here. it's peaceful. it's not easy, but at least it's not a camp. i can't imagine i'll ever go back to anbar. there's nothing there. it has been totally destroyed. >> reporter: many former anbar residents feel the same way. they say they want to live with dignity and not in camps. this town has provided that. but this is a rare positive

example. elsewhere, sectarian divisions continue to lead to violence and isil continues to hold territory, but here it's peaceful and secure, and that's what people want. imran khan, al jazeera. one of china's top entrepreneurs is assisting with a judicial investigation, which is a possible sign that china's anti-corruption campaign is widening its reach beyond state companies. the company clarified its chairmans whereabouts after first reporting him as missing. his net worth is estimated to be $7.8 billion. meanwhile, two financial executives may have also been detained for questioning in connection with a corruption investigation. rob mcbride has more from hong kong. >> reporter: as the market opens in hong kong, four companies celebrate their listings. an auspicious day as it comes at

the end of a year of turmoil on the financial markets. hong kong, a mainland chinese exchanges have become more integrated this year. that's a concern for market watchers, alarmed at the way china has targeted some of its biggest financial institutions for allegedly causing the collapse in mainland shares. >> it's normal for any market to have a regulator who looks into allegations of insider dealing and so forth, but the concern pus be in china that the government is looking to blame anybody but itself. >> reporter: this company is at the center of scrutiny. following media reports that two more of its executives have disappeared. bringing to the number to six that are under investigation. the greater transparency demanded by the hong kong stock

exchange is seen as crucial, something still lacking in mainland china. also absent say human rights activists is adequate legal protection. >> quite often political consideration prevails over legal issues. >> reporter: human rights lawyers in hong kong have long campaigned on behalf of political activists across the border. the vanishing exkwektives could be victims of the same system. >> that's why quite often these people will disappear, and after some time they will reemerge, and the problem seems to be settled, but no one understands or in what way the matters are settled. >> reporter: as investors end the year with bullish hopes there won't be a repeat of the tour moil in mainland shares, there is still the nagging fear about what protection they will have if the markets turn sour once more. still to come here on al

jazeera, tony blair defends his close links to gadhafi, and insists he didn't have to try to save him at the height of the 2011 conflict. turkey promises billions of dollars to help syrian refugees, but it is failing to stop them from crossing into europe. and in sport the grand launch of cricket's 2021 world cup with an unusual choice of venue for the highest-profile match. ♪ gunmen have launched coordinated attacks in burundi's capitol. at least 15 people were killed by gunfire and explosions that rocked the city, marking an escalation of a similaring conflict. our correspondent reports. >> reporter: gunfire and explosions shut down burundi's capitol on friday morning.

residents woke up to roadblocks, check points, and military patrols. fighting in the land locked african country has intensified over the past few days. militia with sometimes 100 gunmen have fought with police and socials, exchanging gunfire for several hours. the attacks have mostly been in districts opposed to the president staying in power. in this district, residents say men in police uniforms shot and killed five of their neighbors. witnesses say the victims were taken from their homes, marched along the street and executed at point a blank range. >> translator: the police entered and took my mobile phone, they broke down the door and found this man in there. they carried him to the road and shot him. >> reporter: police say they were looking for weapons. they displayed guns and ammunition seized this week.

the violence began in april when the president announced he would seek a third term in contravention of a kongsz tugsal two f-term limit. burundi's constitutional court voted in favor of his bitted in may, and then he was elected for another five years in july. critics say his third term also violates the accord which ended burundi's 12-year civil war and put the president in power. more than 300,000 people were killed between 1993 and 2006. politically motivated violence since april has killed at least 280 people. there's widespread concern that political conflicts could reignite ethnic divisions, putting burundi on the brink of another civil war. financing the cost of

tackling climate change remains one of the top sticking points at the climate talks in prayers. the summit has now been extended for an extra day. but delegates insist they are close to reaching a deal to cut carbon emissions. the agreement is expected to be announced on saturday morning. the u.n. secretary general says work still needs to be done, and issued an impassioned plea to those in the negotiations. >> i am urging the negotiators to make their decision based on global decision. this is not the moment of talking about national perspectives. good global solution will help good local solution. the u.n. secretary general there. but some climate scientists have hit out at the latest draft

agreement. they say the wording is too vague, and have requested whether it will limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. our environment editor nick clark joins us from the climate change conference in paris. nick, i guess we're all expecting a deal of some kind to be struck on saturday morning. what is the atmosphere there? are people worried that perhaps it is not going to be as strong as it needs to be. >> reporter: i think certainly there is that fair, and we'll only know when the final draft comes out. there has been this delay. we were expecting a final deal to be made at 6:00 this evening, but now it has been pushed back to 9:00 tomorrow morning. and may be pushed back further. they will be working through the night again tonight, and

hopefully there will be a decision tomorrow. there is a coalition of ambition, including the u.s., e.u., and brazil now, and other nations who have been trying to close the gaps there. but there is also a coalition of deletion that have been putting red lines through parts of the text. countries like saudi arabia, venezuela, and even china to a certain extent. so it is trying to close the gap between those various sectors to try to come up with a deal. let's talk to our guest. as you look at what is going on here in paris right now, are you hopeful that we're going to get out with a deal that is strong in the end? >> i'm very hopeful. i have to say that [ inaudible ] in unprecedented numbers to demonstrate their own [ inaudible ] but to advocate [ inaudible ] for the real economy on this issue. we wanted to see ambition from governments. i think we have that through the

action plans that have been tabled. we wanted a policy certainty that governments were committing for the long term. we have got that. we wanted the confidence to know that governments would not change their minds on this issue with electoral cycles. we have that. that means governments will come back every five years and raise their commitments. we wanted the finance. >> and finance is crucial, skt it? there has been a lot of arguments about that for years. $100 billion a year by 2020, but it's a the billions to unlock the trillions that are needed. and that's the point, isn't it? sgrfrnls i think that is important. it is extremely important as a trust-building mechanism, it's also extremely important for least-developed countries to help them with energy innovation and adaptation.

and i we have that, not just in the finance mechanism itself, but the paris agreement as a whole is a finance mechanism, because it sends a signal that the era of high carbon development is coming to an end, and the area of low-carbon development is -- >> reporter: where do you see the main bones of contention? >> i think it is really the issue of differentiation, which means who should go further faster? and traditionally the view has been that industrialized countries should lead the way. but what is different about this is the valium of action from merming countries. if you look at china, they will mobile the mod ert equivalent [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: all right. good to get your point of view. edward cameron from bsr.

a lot to get through the night here. and hopefully tonight we'll get there. >> nick, thank you. last month, the european union reached a deal with turkey over refugees. the turks have been promised more than $3 billion to improve conditions for syrian refugees in a bid to try to dissuade them from attempting to cross this europe. but as bernard smith reports it appears to be having the opposite effect. >> reporter: smuggling people to europe has just become a lot harder along this stretch of the turkish coast. military reinforcements have arrived while from the air and sea the coast guard watches for us ispy house activity. on land, the security forces tell us they are as busy now as they were in summer. these refugees didn't want to talk. they didn't need to. their exprengss say everything.

aren't you ashamed of human trafficking? you will kill these people the officers shout to the bus driver. you can see the fifth and skwaler refugees were forced to wait in, sometimes for several days. but in the endless game of cat and mouse with the turkish authorities there are endless launching off points all along this coast. the european union desperation to reach a deal with turkey, may for now have helped increase traffic. >> translator: one smugglers we reached on the phone says he has never been busier. our work is double that of the summer, he says, because people are scared the deal with the e.u. will close the border, so people are rushing to get out. >> reporter: the provincial

governor says he has drafted in security personnel from outside of the region. >> translator: our only concern is saving lives especially as winter is approaching. in fact it started getting cold, and particularly when women and children fall into the water, with this weather they can quickly freeze to death. all of our efforts are to prevent this. >> reporter: the u.n. says more than 30,000 vgs have crossed from turkey to grease so far this month. >> translator: there is no life. every day planes are dropping bombs. there is fighting. in syria, you don't know who is fighting each other. they come from around the world to fight and kill neighbors, kill each other. >> reporter: with the easier route cut off, refugees are making longer, more dangerous sea voyages further down the

coast. at least 30 people drowned in the now freezing aegean sea. lots more to come here on al jazeera. we'll be discussing the ethical merits of altering human dna. plus a special report on columbia's government and farc. in sport the world of football mourns the olympic football star mysteriously shot dead in his hometown. ♪

>> i felt like i was just nothin'. >> for this young girl, times were hard.

>> doris' years in a racist, impoverished setting had a major impact. >> but with looks, charm... >> i just wanted to take care of my mom. >> and no remorse... >> she giggles every time she steps into the revolving door of justice. >> she became legendary. >> the finer the store, the bigger the challenge. now is a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. libya's ryal factions have agreed to sign a u.n.-backed national unity government agreement next wednesday. a car bomb has exploded outside of the spanish embassy in the afghan capitol, kabul. the climate change conference in paris has been extended by another day. delegates are trying to iron out

differences. britain's former prime minister, tony blair has given evidence to a parliamentary inchoirry about the u.k. policy towards libya. he was asked about his relationship with the former dictator, and his efforts to convince him to step down. jonah hull reports. >> reporter: a british parliamentary inquiry with questions about libya for tony blare. u.s. state department emails revealed recently that mr. blare tried to save gadhafi. he told the libyan leader to leave for a place of safety in order to stop the bloodshed. >> my concern was not for his safety. my concern was to get him out of the situation so a peaceful transition could take place. >> reporter: the pair has formed a close relationship.

blair famously brought gadhafi back into the international fold in 2004. gadhafi agreed to give up his weapons of mass destruction in return for a lifting of sanctions. >> and the price for us was enormous. >> reporter: they also struck oil and trade deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but the mp's wonders at what price for justice for the british victims of libyan crimes. >> we didn't set any of these issues aside, but we did believe there was a huge prize in bringing them from a position where they were sponsoring terrorism, to a position where they were cooperating in the fight against it. and then secondly, creating the circumstances in which they voluntarily gave up their chemical and nuclear weapons

programs. >> reporter: tony blair knows a thing or two about military intervening in foreign lands. was libya better or worst off as a result of the western bombing campaign. >> i can tell you obviously today libya is a real security problem. but i don't think you can make the judgment as to whether it would be better if we hadn't intervened, because then you have to say how would that have then played out as gadhafi tried to cling to power and syria didn't. three palestinians have been killed in the occupied west bank on the border with gau i sa. a 22-year-old man was killed after israeli officers used live ammunition, and another was shot dead after allegedly trying to drive his car into a military check point. another man was killed in clashes with the israeli police

near gaza. columbia's government and farc have been inching closer to a peace deal. the revolutionary armed force known as farc is the country's largest military militia. farc says it represents the poor, and opposes privatization, multi-nations and the influence from the united states. more than 7 million people have registered with the government as victims of the farc. in the third part of a three-part series, our correspondent has obtained exclusive interviews with the commanders of the most powerful block. >> reporter: these men are part of the eastern block of the

farc, the strongest military faction. a dozen of commanders agreed to an exclusive interview with al jazeera. many haven't seen each other for more than a decade, but have gathered here to define a strategy for peace. >> translator: we absolutely are convinced that this is the opportunity to finally end the columbian conflict once and for all and to be able to express freely our political ideas without having to kill each other. >> reporter: the farc and the columbian government have been negotiating for years. correctly there has been a major break through. peace negotiator was sent back from havana to update the rebels. >> translator: you have been accused of many crimes, kidnapping, planting land mines, bombing, profiting from drug trafficking. are you serious about telling the truth and taking

responsibility? >> translator: there have been situations that weren't planned, that went beyond our will due to the circumstances of war, that weren't premeditated and that's exactly why we signed this justice deal. we're ready to accept our full responsibility. we are the most interested in faking sure the full content is known. >> reporter: but most columbians would like to see farc leaders behind bars. >> translator: that would be a way to encourage war, and we can't continue doing that. what columbia needs is education. we need to impose a culture of peace and reconciliation. >> reporter: recently the rebels started doing just that, taking steps to compensate their victims, but they also insist that peace will not mean the end of the farc. >> translator: we are professional revolutionaries until the triumph of the revolution, what we are going to do is end the armed conflict,

and convert it into a political party. >> reporter: it might not be easy to convince skeptical columbians about their word, but the alternative is more years of war. what is clear is that while they might have been weekended, the rebels feel far from defeated. an international summit of gentics experts is calling for curves on altering human dna through a revolutionary development in medical technology. researchers say it's irresponsible to go foruntil society reaches a con venn sus. tom akerman has more. >> reporter: at johns hopkins university these myself are providing cells who's genes are being manipulated to fix what is

broken. what the inventors call editing software. >> we can go to a specific spot to one of the millions of nuke leo tide molecules that make up that dna and change it. >> we can use the technology to generate mutations that represent patients, we can use use the technology invitro to treat those mutations, we can design reporter cell lines that provide drug discovery. >> reporter: one company says that by 2017 it plans to begin clinical trials in children who suffer from a con genital defect that causes them to go blind.

crisper also offers the promise of enhancing desirable characteristics, raising the specter of an industry that could produce designer babies. that's one reason the inevent for is making a global appeal for a moratorium until ground rules can be set. >> in the end this technology will be used for human geno engineering, but to do that without consideration of the risks and complications would not be responsible. >> reporter: yet chinese researches say they already tried to modify human embryos. an effort that failed so far. sir, thank you for joining us here on al jazeera. i guess this is the issue that is referred to as designer

babies. what do you make of it? are you opposed to any kind of action, or do you think there are enough checks and balances now? >> well, there isn't enough checks and balances now. but what i would say is if we can start -- this is essentially biological cutting and pasting, and if we can get into there and eliminate some of these horrendous cancer genetic diseases, absolutely, but when we start looking at things that will be inherited from generation to generation, it gets much more complicated. the first concern as you said in your intro is that there can be risks. there's what is called off-target, which means things are happening that aren't anticipated. but as we found out from the washington conference, just what, ten days ago, these risks are falling very quickly.

but should we will altering it? we are really changing the human equation. and could easily drift in medical diseases into enhancement, essentially we would be creating genetically enhanced people. and i'm sounding a bit dramatic here. we would have those that are genetically enhanced and those not. this would be very problematic. so those are some of the concerns. >> you mentioned the risks that are faced, and i guess would be unintentional risks. >> absolutely. >> but then, again, as you mention, some things that some would perceive as a floor, a disease, but perhaps make up the identity of a person or the variation in humanity, but how do we get any kind of social consensus on that? at a national or international

scale? >> yeah, that's just it. it is not just national. this is absolutely international. if we look at the existing laws we have in 2015, it's all over the place. so it's going to be very, very tough, and can we even stop technology. technology tends to drive itself, and this is very, very unfortunate. but i think globally we need to stand together and say what are we looking at. because most people want treatment, but if you take something like autism, and there's no way with 2015 technology that they could clearly identify the complexities of autism, is that something that is fundamentally wrong and should be removed from the human story? a lot of people would say not. it's a continuum, it is a

spectrum. this is where it gets very, very complicated, but we're going to have a tough time holding this back, and we have to stand together internationally and figure this out. >> yeah, how inevitable is it? you know, give us a sort of idea -- in how many years would we actually be able to create, you know, designer baby or almost a superspecies? >> well, i mean right now, we're looking at sort of eliminating some very nasty occur answers, and that looks like within 2016, 17, 18, 19 that will come to fruition very, very quickly. it's probably not that far off, and when a society or societies plural, begin to look at the gentic health of its population, oh, you know, this is very scary stuff. you know, what kind of a human is an acceptable human?

we're also changing the human story. the human story is one of evolution, you know? and heredity, this then becomes we as humans will make our own decisions about how we will create ourselves and what kind of humans are the right kind of humans to be, to become. it has huge implications. >> yes, it's a fascinating topic. thank you for your views. >> thank you very much. still lots more to come here on al jazeera, including we're used to seeing oysters being served in restaurants, but in louisiana residents have found a more practical use for them. and the shark survivor who is on the verge of clenching surfing's world title. ♪

millions of oyster shells, which americans have become accustomed to throwing away, are now being used to rebuild the coast where they were first brought ashore. jonathan martin has more on this unusual recycling program. >> reporter: in new orleans french quarter, it may be tough to find a restaurant where oysterss aren't on the menu. the shells used to end up in the

trash. now they are being recycled. >> right now we're at a turning point for coastal louisiana where not taking action is not an option anymore. >> reporter: she is with the coalition to restore new orleans shore. >> it knocks down some of that high-wave energy and help promote land growth behind it, by allowing the sendment in the water to settle out. >> reporter: the shells go through a natural curing process sitting here for months. last year shell oil gave $1 million to fund the recycling program. volunteers like al are also helping. he has watched marsh land his family used to fish on disappear. >> so much as contributed to the

loss, starting over 100 years ago when we levied up the mississippi river, and including dredging, oil field, and transportation canals. >> reporter: it's a massive project for what may eventually be a tiny step in saving the shorelines. >> with efforts like this, and some of this projects that -- that is on the books right now with fresh water and sediment diversions, we have got a shot. okay. it's time to get all of the sports news now. here is lee. >> barbara thank you. michel platini is still banned from football after failing in his bid to have a 90-day suspension lifted. he had taken his case to

switzerland. he was hit with the ban by the fifa ethics committee while they investigate corruption charges. he is still hopeful of clearing his name in time to run for the presidency. he frenchman saying via his lawyer, he is still confident his case is solid. >> they have decided to maintain the suspension of 90 days, but as ordered fifa not to expand such suspension. the arbitrators have considered that it was possible to maintain this suspension as it was not likely to constitute irreparable damage for the moment even if such suspension would be lifted now, michel platini would not have any guarantee that the ad hoc electoral committee of fifa

would validate his candidacy before the 5th of january next year. since the committee has indicated that it would render its final decision on the merits before then of this year, let it finish its job within the time limit it has -- it has even fixed itself, and wait for a final decision on the merits. so with platini still suspended, uefa met in paris without him. final planning for next year's european championship which is in france. the draw for the 2014 finals taking place on saturday. uefa has announced that will finally introduce goal line technology. one man who's name will be on the ballot paper at those fifa elections in february is

the asian football president of bahrain. he is considered the favorite to be voted into the top job. and he told al jazeera he wasn't implement in the torture of athletes in 2011. >> it's sad to see that if somebody writes such, let's say wrong information they lose their credibility. and to tell you the truth some of the media organizations that have reported this without referring anything to me, i think they have lost their credibility to me and a lot of people around my country, because this affects the whole of bahrain, when you write something about let's say a citizen, and if they feel this case is related to the country, i think they have lost the credibility of most of the people in the country from all sides. >> you can watch my interview in "talk to al jazeera." it first airs at 0430 gmt on

saturday and will be available on our website, aljazeera.com. now this honduran international footballer has been shot dead in his hometown in honduras. police don't know what happened in the shooting. he was capped 26 times for hand d -- honduras. he returned to his home nation in january. the organizers of the 2020 world cup have announced more details. it has been announced new delhi and mumbai will host the semifinals. there is an interesting venue to stage the great match between india and pakistan on

march 19th. ill would take place in the foothills of himalayan mountains. well, it's been a remarkable year for the surf michael fanning from australia who suddenly became famous and is still making waves. remember he survived an encounter with a great white shark? july. it actually cost him points in the championship. but he has won his first round heat in the final rally. the shark couldn't defeat him, will the surfs. >> lee thank you so much. i look forward to watching that interview, "talk to al jazeera." >> yeah, he was a fascinating character. >> yes, i'll watch it on sunday. >> yeah. yeah. >> i has taken four days and four nights and a cost of 1,300

russians to read through four volumes of "war and peace." the novel is often more talked about than actually read. now though curtain has fallen on a project that has fought to bring the book back to the people. here is rory challands. >> reporter: and so it began. both a literary and a broadcasting marathon from moscow, siberia, the arctic circle, from london, vienna, and paris. famous russians, ordinary russians, even a russian in space. all taking a turn to read for the cameras, a page from tolstoy's "war and peace." this is the great great granddaughter of tolstoy, and one of the driving forces behind this project. >> tolstoy is uncomfortable for the modern russian society, because he questions a lot of

key rules of the -- how the society is built. he questions the power, the government. when he reads "war and peace," the battles you understand he idea that war is the awfulest thing in the world. >> reporter: the great russian writer described "war and peace" as not a novel, even less a poem, and still less a historical chronicle. what it is is epic. over four volumes it tells the author's interpretation of that peelian's disastrous 1812 invasion of russia. >> translator: the questions he raises are still relevant now. and the answers, well, russian literature doesn't generally give answers. it asks questions, and we're still trying to solve them. >> translator: it feels like he

is still nearby advising us on life. in the book there are simple people and politicians and he shows us that everyone makes mistakes and we should be able to overcome them. ♪ >> reporter: to great fanfare, this reading of "war and peace" has been broadcast live on russian television, radio, and online. the project's creators call it a democratic event, and a unifying one. they say that great literature can bring people together in troubled times. whoever they are, wherever they are. of course i couldn't do a report on reading "war and peace" without having a shot myself. he spurred his hours and gal .lopped off under a hail of bullets. he wanted to find out what was going on and to help rettyfy at all costs, any error. if you want to know what happens

next, read the book. if you are quick it will take you about four days and four nights.

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rival governments sign a underup-backed agreement, bringing hope of a united leadership for libya. ♪ hello, you are watching al jazeera, live from london. also coming up. a huge explosion in a heavily fortified part of kabul, the taliban claim responsibility. a major deal on climate change as negotiators extend their deadline to reach an agreement. we're live in paris. and the missing billionaire, the latest top businessman