>> , and welcome to "the journal." our top stories at this hour -- a breakthrough after five yearsa young soldiers release. of vote in slovakia as the parliamentary debate continues, and in kiev was once the country's most popular politician, but now the prime minister is looking at years in

prison and. we begin in the middle east with news between a deal to release an israeli soldier who has been held captive for the last five years. it is reported gilad shalit will be exchanged in exchange for 1000 palestinian prisoners kept in israeli jails. for the latest, let's go live to our correspondent in jerusalem. what can you tell us about this deal? do you know anything else? >> one needs to be cautious. tonight, there are several positive signs.

according to the israeli media, they could have a position by tonight's. there are expected to get authority. there and several meetings over the past few days with egypt. israel seems to have a very important role in all of this. from what we know now, 1000 prisoners should be released in several stages. these are a high-profile prisoners. it is not clear which names are on the list. >> why is this development coming? >> it would be necessary to see the details of who made the concession.

the media on both sides seem to have been more flexible on the issues. i expect the hamas leaders to profit from this, especially the military, because of all the changes in hamas lately. the initiative of abbas and the west bank leadership has gotten a lot of international attention. they have been under pressure from the israeli public to find a solution for a long time. the call this blood on their hands. there is a majority who once him released -- who want to release. >> thank you very much for that update from jerusalem. in other news, the united states says it has foiled a plot to assassinate the saudi ambassador to washington.

u.s. attorney general eric holder said this was a response to a plan and people have been arrested. there were reports that a mexican drug cartel was being paid $1.5 million to execute the plan. along the -- slovakia it is the sole holdout to solidify the governing packed. they have upped the ante, seen as the vote goes down, so, too, does the government of slovakia. >> they have linked their own political future to the euro rescue fund. >> i have made it clear to our coalition partners that today's vote in parliament is a vote for our future in europe.

therefore, i have combined this vote with the resolution on confidence in this government. the leader of the country's largest opposition party is confident that this will eventually be approved. but the new liberal party says it will not vote for the fund. the new liberal leader says that many slovaks believe their country is too poor to pay for others' mistakes. >> the rescue fund must be ratified by all 17 countries. -- euro zone countries. >> just before that slovakia and debate began, greece got a tentative agreement for more bailouts cash. >> greece is likely to receive the next that she -- the next batch of bailout loans.

a group known as the troika has completed work in athens. it now depends on the euro zone and imf and need to approve the conclusions of the financial review. >> the sixth installment of the greek bailout is worth 6 billion euros. however, this year, greece will miss its target, and the finance minister says the shuttle endeavour for 2013, 2014 are not viable either. they are expecting the scenario for a post-re-default greece. >> one thing is not up for negotiation, for us or our partners. grace is and always will be a member of the bureau son -- greece is and always will be a member of theeuro zone.

>> the crisis has reached a systemic dimension. over the last month, it has moved from the smaller economies to the larger e.u. countries. >> and is that tension that has sparked the market moves in recent weeks. >> de approval of the troika may not sue the investors on tuesday. for more, let's go to the frankfurt stock exchange. >> they are skeptical, skeptical above all that greece can free itself of been mountain of debt on its some. they see a default that this a hair cut been essential to putting the country for. there were winners and losers

throughout the day here. lufthansa one of the biggest losers. there is the extent of the air traffic controllers strike in germany. it could be very expensive for the air freight business. >> holistic a closer look at closing market numbers. -- let's take a closer look at closing market numbers. the u.s. stocks slipped the bank across the atlantic, the dow jones closed down just a fraction, 11,416. in the latest blow to the european banking sector, standard and poor's downgraded the credit rating of 10 spanish banks. the agency said the reduction was it necessary for the

country's weak real-estate sector. standard & poor's also revised the outlook of four other banks to negative. citizens have been protesting austerity measures in france. strikes by unions have disrupted public transport services and schools. the french government said the cost-cutting measures are essential for reducing debt, but trade unions say some workers will be hit unfairly. there were of around 200 protests across the country. for more international news -- >> u.s. and british naval forces have freed an italian ship hijacked by somali pirates. they stormed the bulk carrier the monte christo, capturing 11

pirates. the operation was just a day after that ship was seized off the coast of somalia. it will begin deploying armed forces on merchant vessels to protect them from small gun and. of course, she was once ukraine's most popular politician. now she is looking at spending the next seven years in prison the bank the sentence was handed down for former prime minister yulia tymoshenko , found guilty of corruption in gas contract she signed with russia. >> sitting next to her daughter, yulia tymoshenko remained calm as the judge read the verdict. she dismissed the trial as a pretext for eliminating her from politics. >> i think the sentence being announced only give strength to ukrainians and make them realize that the regime does not end of

the run free will. need to be removed. >> de charges center on a 2009 natural-gas deal between the ukraine and russia. prosecutors say she agreed to prices that left kiev poorer. the judge said the former prime minister criminally exceeded her powers, and then she rose her -- she rose from her chair to address the core. she got to take the case to the european court of human rights. her conviction has been condemned by governments abroad. >> this is a setback in relations between your brain and the you -- the ukraine and the e.u. it raises questions about the commitment of the ukraine to the rule of law. >> when others opposed to the

government appealed. we hope there is an appeal. we hope the rights will be fully respected. >> but supporters have little hope of a successful appeal. hundreds protested against the verdict, and there were scuffles with police. >> this conviction comes a time when the ukraine has tried to strengthen ties with the european union. earlier we spoke with a member of the european parliament was been working closely on the ukrainian issues. she asked what action the european union would take over the case. >> the main tool we have in europe and brussels in our hands is the ukraine association agreement, and from my point of view, germany supported across all political groups in the

european parliaments, we should not put this association agreement in place before we have brought an acceptable solution for this unfair court case. >> do you think ukraine is really serious about introducing reforms to move closer to the e.u.? >> my understanding of the funding for democratic developments is -- our citizens, the majority of the citizens in the country are in favor of democracy. not as far as i know ukraine, the majority of ukrainians are in favor of real democratic development in the country there sean in all elections since 2004. this is what we have to support. >> thank you very much.

pulls up close in liberia after the countries -- polls have closed in liberia after that nation's second election. the first african woman to be elected a head of state was awarded the nobel peace prize. but she is facing a tight race as the country faces poverty and unemployment. speculation and the problems, severe weather, and the use of farm land for biofuels all contribute to the problems. for industrialized nations with the poorest people are having to dig deeper to put food on the table, and according to the international food policy institute, the world's poorest are being hardest hit by the skyrocketing price. >> this german market -- items

cost 20 times more than they do in need rose restore. it is an attempt by an international charity to demonstrate what would happen if germany had to spend as much on food as other countries do. up to 70%. >> the reason food is so expensive it is biofuels. in the u.s., 70% of maize goes to field production. >> food has become a body of a commodity, particularly since the advent of biofuels. investors speculate on food prices and that pushes up prices. many are going hungry in sub- saharan africa. pilot conflict has -- violent conflict has exacerbated the as. >> it all leads to hunter.

>> those who suffer the most are the poor and the infirm. a group say malnutrition remains the main cause of child mortality -- aid groups say the nutrition remains the main cause of job mortality. >> soccer groups today -- another five games for their places this evening. germany is already through. and made it in 10 wins out of 10 with victories over turkey, belgium. in group become a rush shut booked their place with a win over andorra, ireland and -- russia booked their place. in croatia be latvia to clinch the playoff spot. -- beat latvia. we have this breaking news. slovakia's parliament has voted against strengthening the euro

zone bailout fund. that remains -- that means that slovakia stands alone. we will be back with a look at syria and the opposition to president al-assad.

>> welcome back. the diplomatic brinksmanship over the future of syria has intensified with china and russia refusing to back u.s.- concert sanctions in united nations. -- u.s.-sponsored sanctions in united nations. members of the army reserve have been fleeing into neighboring turkey. thousands are living in refugee camps set up in the border region. we have this report now, thanks to impart to hidden cameras, on

all syrians are living on the run in turkey. some hope to regroup in that country as a step up the fight to create a representative form of government. >> thousands of syrians up lead over these mountains into neighboring turkey. not all of those who began as perilous journey survive, and those that did only brought what they can carry. up to 10,000 people are now living in makeshift refugee camps. journalists are normally barred from them. but the refugees month the world to know what they have been stored and how they live now. -- want the world team now. these are our kitchen utensils. we sleep here with six people and 1 cent. this is where we keep our clothes. >> we eat and sleep pierre. we play with the children here.

-- we eat and sleep here. >> we want to go back, but we cannot. syrian security forces are waiting for us at the border with tanks and snipers. every 100 meters there is unmanned checkpoint. we cannot go back. -- there is a manned checkpoints. the refugees have done their best to make their runs as comfortable as they can. warm clothing is desperately needed, but even eight organizations are denied access your. -- denied access to hear. -- here. did obtain this footage. the camp is home to a man who fled syrian armed forces. he says they shot everything in site. this footage was filmed scene after the attack. he says several members of his family were killed.

he was wounded, but managed to escape. the troops had been looking for his brother, hussein. he was one of the first syrian officers to desert and announced his intentions on youtube. he vanished without a trace in august. the next time his family saw him was on syrian state television. his brother does not believe he returned to syria of his own free will. >> we do not know how my brother disappeared, but we will get to the bottom of that. we are demanding an investigation from the turkish government. >> as i security camp houses soldiers to have deserted the syrian army. they include several high- ranking officers to announce their desertion on the internet. they have created the free syria

army. they blame president al-assad for the violence. >> it is al-assad's people who are killing demonstrators. the orders come directly from al-assad. he is even worse than his father. bashar knows everything. he is very well informed. his tactics are to have people killed and blamed their deaths on others. >> the officers do not want another libya, but they do want help. >> we want a no fly son and political support. we do not military intervention. >> we continue our journey to visit refugees who were not even in a camp. some of them were lucky enough

to be put up by relatives. these children are in a school put up by the nation's. their teacher wishes to remain anonymous. she tells us the school was set up to help the children lead a normal life. many of them have seen terrible things. >> i wish that bashar would just go and let children live in dignity. i want the syrian people to remain united. >> a lot of children were only killed because of bashar, even though they were innocent. >> these children are now safe in turkey. but they are not giving up on their dream of returning one day to a syria that is free. >> turkey is not only providing us -- a haven to syrian

refugees, but many operations are based in that country. one of those groups is the syrian international council. it claims to represent syrian muslims, christians, kurds, and liberal groups. they share one common goal. the overthrow of bashar al- assad. >> the memorial service honoring the syrian kurdish opposition leader took place in dissembled. it was organized by the newly formed syrian opposition council formed by turkish activists living in exile and turkey. a doctor by trade, he is living in turkey for the past 30 years, and despite conflicting

views within the council, he is confident a consensus can be reached. >> if we want a constitution that represents all the religions and people of syria. all rights should be protected. >> wherever he goes, khalid tries to drum up support for the movement. after dragging his -- after dragging its feet, the turkish government has officially condemned the al-assad regime. pictures arriving from syria changed public opinion. his family were victims of the dictatorship. >> an 1980's, my father was active in the opposition. for 15 years, he was held in prison and tortured without any contact with the outside world. i spent a few months in jail, too. i was only 15 years old.

>> the syrian national movement raises money and gathers information, no easy task with the strict censorship in syria. >> we use turkish or lebanese mobile phone providers. with the right sim cards we can get hold of the latest information. >> he feels at home in the bustling city of istanbul. turkey is a majority muslim country like syria, but it is committed to democracy. can turkey served as a role model for syria. -- as a role model for syria? >> we argue whether turkey should be a model for us. some argue that syria is a religious state, while others a secular one. niemira diversity and syria, so will not be easy to reach consensus -- week mirror diversity in syria.

the council wants to offer syria a new, a brighter future. >> that is our endeth, the international and domestic pressure on al-assad. stay with us, if you can.