getting around the table, syria talks begin and the main opposition group says it will now go to p geneva also ahead on the program, france says it will recognise a palestinian state if a final push for talks for a two-state solution fails rescued after 36 days trapped underground, but will more chinese miners surface. >> reporter: i'm andrew thomas in sydney. i will be explaining the science behind a tiny wearable

technology that could one day alert people to when they've been in the sun too long talks aimed at ending the war in syria have started with a shaking foundation. opposition are agreeing to come but have conditions. >> reporter: the start of the syria talks but on day one just one side was present. the syrian government delicatess delicatessen-- delegation meeting with the special envoy staffan de mistura. it was during this meeting that news emerged that the main opposition group said it will now travel to geneva. mr staffan de mistura told

reporters he had to wait for official confirmation, but he said he was optimistic >> i have good reasons to believe that they are actually considering this very seriously. they're will be in a position on probably sunday to actually start the discussions with them and in order to be able to proceed with the syrian talks. >> reporter: one opposition member already in geneva later confirmed that her colleagues would be here in a matter of hours. >> we just want to let you know that, yes, they're coming. we're going to start discussing with the u.n. about our two important fights, humanitarians and political detainees. this is what we're for us. we're preparing and the team is coming tomorrow and you will hear all the details later >> reporter: the decision to come here has been a difficult one for the high negotiating

commission. they say they've been given assurances, not just by the u.n., but also by the u.s. and russia, that there will be measures soon to alleviate the humanitarian situation and some of the concerns that they raised in the coming days. they say they will speak here to the special envoy and then take stock of the situation before actually joining any negotiations the president of the syrian commission for transitional justice, part of the syrian opposition, says last month's u.n. resolution for attacks on civilians to end must be honoured. >> there is no guarantees that the things that the security council resolution 2254 talk about it will be respected by the bashar al-assad government. we've been five year and the bashar al-assad government doesn't care about the civilians. there is recourse that he is

intense ugg fighting-- records that he is intensifying attacks on particular areas. this is why talking about lifting the siege on the areas and releasing the prisoners has to be respected before any negotiations can be started. if the international community cannot help fix from any further starvation, there is no point. this is why they ask what will achieve in geneva if just taking pictures or give the bashar al-assad to speak against the people against the other parties

france says it will recognise a palestinian state in a final push for talks for a two-state solution fails. there will be a conference to revive talks between israelis and palestinians. u.s. led efforts to broker peace colonel p appearsd in 2014 largely over borders and settlements. if france recognises a two-state area, it will see that the major majority of the nations have done the same. the vatican formally accepted palestinian as a state after an agreement this month. in 2014 vee deny became the first e.u. to recognise palestine. they have a nonmember observer status that was raised at the first time last year as a symbolic gesture. a fellow at the institute of

issues has this to say. >> if we're talking about negotiations that are based on international law and human rights, if we're talking about a repeat of the 23-year long history of u.s. led negotiations that were based on maintaining israeli power, enabling the occupation and israeli apartheid, if that is what we're talking about, that won't go very far. if they're willing to say this should be based not on some new road map, not on oslow, not on something new, but on existing international law and human rights obligations, other parties, then i think there is hope, there is an abstract notion that you could have a two state arrangement where both states abide by international law and the principles of

equality for all, but it's going to be difficult. the land which is fundamental here, the land has been stolen. the creation of settlements where you now have search enormous tracts of land under the control of illegal israeli settlors that any peace agreement would be involved in the movement of settlors after their land, then it's not a viable two-state option. they don't live on symbolism. they die under siege. a symbolic gesture would be useful for a moment, but it doesn't change the situation by itself the ongoing violence in burundi is top of the agenda. the annual meeting of the african union in the ethiopian capital. lerdz will be talking about burundi's refusal to accept an african peace keeping source-- leaders. >> reporter: just like in 2015

security matters will be high on the agenda of this african union heads of state summit. members meet here no discuss the growing threat of terrorism, formation of a transitional unity government in south sudan and the ongoing violence in burundi. this deputy chairperson of the au has said much has been done to make africa a more peaceful continent >> if you go back to the 90s, the number of national regional conflicts that were active were over 20/30. now we have challenges in a few countries. why? the african union established a peace and security council that has been effective. >> reporter: the au is said by its-- seen by its critics as weak, unable to deal with the

situation. >> the level of leadership that many countries have been providing for the au to come together have been lacking of late. many countries have been looking inside or basically focusing mostly on regional issues rather than the content and aspect of things. >> reporter: many au officials will tell you that there needs to be more political will and financial commitment by member states. one of the main talking points of the african union is alternative sources of funding. almost 70% of its budget comes from external partners like the united states and the african union. the idea is for the au to look towards the private sector in africa and to put more pressure on states to pay their membership fees. last year only 19 of the 54 member states made their contributions to the au's roughly half a billion double

annual budget. that's only 2% of the entire budget. >> to the discourse and to the id idea, that symbolizes and how willing are they, how determined are they to walk the talk. >> reporter: this year more resolutions will be passed, but without the goodwill and real commitment of member states to move the decisions forward, we may still be telling this same story come next january catherine is live for us. what exactly are the leaders there discussing and what is expected to come out of those discussions? >> reporter: the heads of state summit officially opening of it is just about to start within this hour, within the next half an hour or so we're being told. then they will go to a closed off section where they will

discuss a range of issues affecting africa, but top on the agenda are security matters. they will be talking about south sudan, for example, the peace and security council has been setting the pace and last night it held a meeting on the issue of the formation government and they talked about a bigger role for the international community, a bigger role for the au in that process. this formation has elapsed, the deadline has lapsed. so they will be talking about that. they have been talk about the growing risk of terrorism and violent armed groups have still control of large parts of the area. recently there is al-shabab,

somalia, armed group in al-shabab, which is being battled by troops there. so they've been talking about that as well. the biggest issue, perhaps, is burundi, that they've been talking about, and the leaders are going to be deciding all the deployment of this peace keeping mission to burundi with or without the government's consent. we know the government has rejected any such. people i've been talking to say it's that many africa leaders will be reluctant to have such a move. it has an elected government, a president. even if that election is contested. so what, perhaps, might happen is that these leaders might push for aggressively for political dialogue, to move the country forward. the president is not - they've

been trying to get the support of the member state thank you for that. the zika virus is spreading rapidly with new cases confirmed as well as more suspected outside of latin america. brazil is at the center of the outbreak with 4,000 possible cases there. it is linked to severe birth defects in babies and has been in 234 countries so far. peru has confirmed its first case of virus. guatemala is on high alert after 37 confirmed cases there 20 of which are in women of child bearing age. a new zealand man has been knitted to hospital in hamilton with symptoms of the virus. plenty more still ahead here on al jazeera, including as the u.s. increases its energy

security, questions are being raised over the future. conservationists are concerned a new law aimed at protecting wildlife in china will actually create loopholes for poachers. poachers.

welcome back. the top stories on al jazeera. talks aimed at ending the war in syria are off to a shaky start in geneva. the opposition have agreed to come to switzerland, but they're yet to come to agreements with

bashar al-assad. france says it will recognise the palestinian state if the final push for talks of a two-state solution will fail. the country will look at holding an international conference soon to revive talks between israelis and palestinians. the ongoing violence in burundi is top of the agenda at the annual meeting of the african in the ethiopian capital. leaders will discuss burundi's refusal to accept an african peace keeping force along with the widers issues of security there. one of the priorities of the talks on syria will be getting aid to besieged civilians. in the town of madaya thousands of people there are still at risk of starvation. you may find images in this report disturbing. >> reporter: the residents of the besieged syrian town of madaya are still starving to death. three weeks after receiving supplies. it has been cut off since last

summer. government forces control the region to the east. its ally hezbollah controls the lebanese side. the images of starving kids and adults that captured headlines nothing about lies and propaganda says the president. 32 people have died from severe starvation. 16 have died since january 11. close to one person every day. 320 are suffering from malnutrition, 33 are critically ill. the town urgently needs emergency aid and a permanent medical staff. these exclusive al jazeera pictures show hezbollah and bashar al-assad forces shelling madaya. fighters have been trying to secure the lebanese-syrian border area. people living in nearby districts say they've been

ordered to leave their homes by hezbollah. the starving are all around, 40 kilometers away outside damascus. doctors say this man is one of nine who died from malnutrition in two weeks. the town is also being shelled by government forces. doctors without borders estimates up to two million syrians are trapped in see-- sue sewers. -- seizures some were forced to fight in the conflict alongside forces loyal to president bashar al-assad. some afghans were deported for refusing to fight. iran hosts three million afghans, many of whom have fled persecution and conflict in their own country rescuers in china have pulled up four miners who were

trapped underground. their mine collapsed on christmas day killing one person. the mine is in the pingyi province where miners are still missing >> reporter: after more than a month of searching a moment to celebrate. four miners are winched to the surface one-by-one in an essentially made capsule. masks were quickly placed over their eyes before taken to hospital. >> translation: at the moment the four miners are all in a stable condition and they are conscious. >> reporter: the miners were found 200 metres underground. they had been working along with 2 # 5 others when their mine collapsed. since then the search has been closely followed by chinese

networks. 11 of their colleagues had been rescued within hours of the collapsed. another died. 13 miners are still unaccounted for. rescuers were spurred on after this break through. finally, making contact with the trapped men, they had been sending down foods, clothes and lamps through a bore hole. getting them out was a much tougher job. further collapsed and rock falls a constant fear. the rescue is another reminder of the dangers associated with mining across china. collapsed are common. safety regulations are often ignored. four officials have already lost their jobs. the chaer man of the company which owns the mine drowned himself. another casualty of an industry badly in need of reform and tough regulation

a surge in u.s. oil production recently has affected crude oil prices. tom ackerman has more. >> reporter: 70 years ago this was the king's first trip outside his country to forge an alliance from u.s. president. >> understanding each other's problems brings east and west together for a better world >> i think we signed a false bargain, for stable supplies of oil and this has continued until this day >> reporter: when an oil embargo was in place, the u.s. launched project independence. >> by the end of this decade, americans will not have to rely on any source of energy beyond our own. >> reporter: what happened instead, the u.s. increased its

reliance on foreign oil to a peak of 60%. in the past few years the explosion of american crude production has cut that dependence to less than 30%. nearly half the imports comes from its friendly neighbors, canada and mexico. meanwhile, the increased u.s. confidence in its energy security ask evidenced by three recent decisions. lifting a 40-year ban on exporting american i will, preparing to sell off one tenth of the reserve, and in a blow to canada president obama put an axe to the key stone pipeline project. president obama has declared that america's military skaets will be rebalanced away from europe in the middle east and towards asia and the pacific, but perhaps not just yet. >> i think that the pivot to asia is maybe not as quite as important on the forefront of our agenda as we made it at the

time. >> reporter: energy expert says the rise of i.s.i.l. and the arab springs failure will force the u.s. to concentrate on protecting its old interests >> i don't think we have any good options in the middle east right now. now we add iran back into the equation, if they come out of their isolation with the lifting of sanctions, they've always been a player in one against our interests >> reporter: even if the u.s. does enjoy a greater since p sense of energy security than it has in decades, the geostrategic ties that have bounded to the middle east are not likely soon to fray > flooding in australia. in parts of city 30 centimeters of rain fell. western australia is bracing for a psych line which is expected--

cyclone on sunday morning. australia is known for its fun and sand in the sun. scientists are taking the fight against deadly melanomas into the digital age >> reporter: when doctors look at a scene like this, they see the creation of cancer, skin cancer is more common in australia and new zealand, sunny places with fair skinned people, than anywhere else. today this woman avoids the beach. she sits in the shade and always wears a hat and applies cream. she didn't when she was younger and at 19 she was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma on her arm >> there were quite a few times when i go out, i won't be in the sun that long. but you know it you've been sitting in the sun in a few hours and you're burnt.

>> reporter: this is material that is made from silicone rubber. >> the silicone in the material that we use, you probably know it from your contact lenses, you can stretch and bend it without breaking it. that's the point of what this patch is. you can take it and slap it on your arm and forget about it. >> reporter: it is covered with zinc oxide. exposed to different lights, including daenkous uv light, invisible to the human eye, are properties of the jink oxide change. this equipment is needed to measure that change, but the scientists think soon the patch will be able to transmit wirelessly to a smart phone the

amount of uv exposure they have. >> getting an s ms on your phone will be an alert to let you know you have had too uv. >> reporter: there are dangers >> we don't want a sensor that will delay people's willingness to put on sun protection right from the word go when they're outside >> reporter: as an addition to traditional sun protection rather than as an alternative, wearable engine is seen as helpful. >> reporter: this innovation, the scientists hope, can you mass produced cheaply within five years as a wearable technology to alert people to when they need to wear more or get out of the sun china is changing its law on wildlife protection. the conservationists say it gives too much weight to

businesses formerly breeding annual a animals for profit. >> reporter: once running free and now in captivity, these used to reem china in larger numbers. now for the first time in 26 years china is revising its law on wildlife protection. conservationists say some of the proposed amendments are worrying. in particular, a provision that allows wildlife to be hunted for captive breeding and other special purposes. >> captive breeding is not natural, first, and also they're going to influence and damage the population of the wild animals. >> reporter: captive animals cannot contribute to a healthy gene pool. there's pressure to poach from the world to supplement farmed

populations in species that do not breed successfully in captivity. they're also worried about the law for the commercial use of wildlife resources. existing law makes it a crime to consume rare and endangered species, but a black market already exists, not just in china but worldwide. wild animal parts are sought after for use in traditional medicine asam ulets or mere decoration. black marketers will look for any legal loopholes in the new law. conservationists fear that allowing commercialisation will only increase demand and worse. >> reporter: wildlife organizations say there are some good points in the draft law. it spells out that animals' habitats are to be protected. on the whole it is vague and unhelpful, and in a worst case scenarios could leave some species more vulnerable than

before as always there is lots more on our website aljazeera.com. get the latest on all the stories we're following there, plenty of news, analysis and perspective. it's all there for you aljazeera.com >> if you got to choose how long you would get to live for, how long would you want to live for? >> immortality >> why? >> i wouldn't die or anything >> what's wrong with dying >> well, i want to be with my family. i don't want to miss out on any of the fun >> my kids are probably like most kids out there. for them, the idea of living forever seems