>> we are going to be looking at the start of the political year here in france. francois hollande gets back to work. we will be asking what we can expect from his government. first, though, our top story this afternoon -- the iraqi prime minister has called for ofsident -- residents falluja to expel terrorists from the city. the riyal maliki called for people to act to avoid being subjected to the dangers of violent clashes. iran has offered help to i get in backing the al qaeda fighters who have taken over 2 anbar

province cities over the course of the last week. yesterday the city of falluja came under heavy bombardment by government forces, thought to regain control. any residents have pleaded to nearby cities. at least 59 people have died. >> the latest scene of chaos in iraq, family seeking safer ground. on the road, weapons checked by security forces. >> we are from ramadi. we are going to kabbalah to get food and cooking gas. we are displaced. >> these residents have fled their homes amid airstrikes by the iraqi he army, trying to dislodge al qaeda militants in the restless anbar province. the fighters have been steadily gaining strength in the area in recent months. now they control fallujah. the military is allowing

residents time to leave. the current surge in violence is between maliki's shiite government and soon -- sunni opponents. security forces cleared a protest camp. rebel fighters in syria have laid siege to al qaeda-linked jihadist in their northern stronghold. they managed to free 50 people that had been detained by the jihadis. today's offensive comes 3 days launch what they call the second revolution against the islamic state of iraq. no change today in the condition of ariel sharon. the head of the hospital treating the former prime minister says he does not expect a recovery.

he was speaking earlier in a press conference at the medical center near tel aviv, where mr. sharon remains a life-threatening condition after his condition took a turn for the worse a few days ago. he has been in a coma since 2006. south sudan now, where the -- omar al-bashir is meeting with salva kiir to discuss efforts to stop the africa'shas driven newest state to the brink of civil war. these are the latest pictures coming to us from juba of omar al-bashir meeting there with salva kiir. it has been 3 weeks of violence it talks are due to start today about ending them. juba experience more sporadic gunfire. government forces are believed to be messing to recapture rebel-held towns. we can speak to our reporter in

juba. thank you very much indeed for being with us. tell us about this meeting between the 2 men, omar al-bashir, represented khartoum, and salva kiir, representing juba. is it clear whether this will help at all? >> the president of sudan, omar al-bashir, mentioned that sudan was in a very long war and what ended it in that country was negotiation. on aiations are ongoing end.o and -- that was a positive message. day for salvad member of the regional group has come out in support of the president of south sudan. as far as the talks go --

are underwayalks in juba, the talks are due to start again. what about the situation on the ground/ there are reports that government forces could be messing to retake some of those rebel-held towns away from juba. >> it has been the goal of the government to take the town of bor, which has been under the rebels for far too long. yesterday there was an attempt by government troops to advance, and they fell in an ambush in the general was killed -- and a general was killed. not much attempt has been made to retake bor but it is a strategic goal of the government to retake the towns that have been captured by the rebels. >> what about the situation in juba itself? >> juba itself -- there were

compoundaround the one -- the u.n. compound. we don't have any official at the nation, -- we don't have any official explanation. it always causes panic in the town. >> thank you very much indeed. very latest there from south sudan the prime minister of bangladesh has insisted his reelection is legitimate after yesterday's boycott. opposition boycott -- turnout for the boat reached 20%. it denies the party of the clear mandate it needs. they have ruled out talks with the opposition, going to illuminate militancy. the death toll has reached 24.

police face-off with thosests, opening fire at who torched polling stations and burned ballot papers in a bid to boycott the country's general election. elsewhere, protesters retaliated by blocking streets, assaulting authorities with stones and bamboo sticks. the bloody clashes left several dead and scores more wounded. most were supporters of the opposition. >> i see in the newspapers there was massive fraud at the polling stations and that many people were killed. to meet him and this is not an exceptional -- to me this is not acceptable election. >> the widespread violence forced many polling stations to close. voting was either suspended or didn't take place at all. the opposition nationalist party caught the election a scandalous arce in the absence of neutral organization to oversee the vote. spineless.solutely

it is a puppet of the political party. the data is totally not acceptable. >> international observers have also dismissed the vote as flawed. the prime minister has refused to step down. the boycott has left her rolling unopposed and clear the way for an easy victory. >> did united states, where polar vortex is bringing more freezing weather with record-breaking low temperatures ahead. already the winter storm is blighted parts of canada and the northeastern united states. 16 people are believed to have died over the last few days. since wednesday, more than 5000 flights have been canceled. u.s. vel chaos across the a foot of snow and layers of ice caused havoc. sunday,irport on

airplanes skidded off the runway and slid into a snow bank. earlier, a small plane made an emergency landing in traffic in the bronx. the cold and ice have made for equally treacherous conditions on the road. at least a dozen cars involved in a pileup on a highway in a new york. >> very icy out there. as soon as i got in my truck it was like an ice skating rink. meteorologists say the american midwest and northeast are being gripped by a polar for tax -- polar vortex. temperatures could feel as low -60 fahrenheit -- -16 fahrenheit and -60 celsius. frostbite could set in within minutes. >> it is unlike anything we have seen in decades in this area. we have temperatures that are potentially deadly or certainly

life altering temperatures. the national weather service advises people to stay indoors. but the deep freeze didn't keep its roots fans at home. in wisconsin, supporters turned out for one of the coldest ever for board on sunday. crowds bundled up to cheer on the green bay packers. not enough to secure a win, but enough layers to keep warm. >> that weather conditions -- bad weather conditions forcing mayhem here in europe. in england and wales in particular, 84 flood warnings have been put into place for 220 areas. 3 people in britain died and a teenager remains missing after strong winds and persistent rain and title searches caused chaos in many parts of the u.k. here in france, an alert for large waves. continuous storms are to blame.

more storms threaten continued problems along much of the atlantic -- the atlantic-french coast. a moment, france for christmas and new year's may be behind us, but if you happen to live here, there is more food ahead. the kings cake is a traditional .lmond paste pastry it represents the 3 kings in the catholic faith. this year, bakers have been experimenting with new flavors and it looks. pastryy layers of puffed with an almond paste center, complete with a crown and tiny surprise hidden inside. walk into a french bakery in january and you will be greeted by kings takes -- kings cakes. they are traditionally eaten on the sixth for the catholic festival of 70, celebrating the arrival of the 3 kings in bethlehem. it is a tradition to widely in

france and other european countries. ,> you can enjoy it with family and work, and with friends. it is pretty popular. >> hidden inside, a tiny figurine. the person to find it in their serving will be crowned king for the day, but must provide the next cake. every year, baker's experiment with new flavors. this paper gave a nod to the 2014 world cup, with banana and lime flavoring to represent the brazilian colors and even embrace the fashionable facial hair motif. >> you think about the visual aspect. customers, the error that i love, art deco and the tiger brigades, it made a nice signature for the cake. go for thestomers new cutting-edge cake, or the ts.ditional tar

the proof will be in the pudding. >> 13 minutes past 1:00 here in paris. time for the latest international headlines. the iraq he prime minister has called for the people of fallujah to rise up against al qaeda militants in charge of their city. this as iraqi troops seek you dislodge-- seek to islamic militants from anbar province. the president of sudan is an south sudan for talks with president salva kiir. the negotiations are aimed at ending three weeks of violence. on the ground, fighting continues. bang but a she prime minister says his -- the bangladeshi prime minister says his reelection is legitimate, despite the boycott and the violence that marred the election. 20 people are none too have died on polling day alone. temperatures could fall as far as 45 to 50 degrees celsius below freezing in some parts of the midwest as a polar vortex

grips the united states. it is the start of the political year here in france. on friday, the cabinet held its first meeting of the council of of 2014. the rest of political classes get back to work today, an opportunity to look ahead at the year for francois hollande. much of the french press is focused on is extremely low popularity rating. we speak now to a professor of politics and rector of the center for europe in the u.k. thank you for joining us. first of all, the popularity rating -- 31% of french people believe the president is competent, down from four to seven last week -- down from 47 last week. a very low score. the cause is, and his new year's wishes. 71%, the new year's wishes he made -- and one percent of the

french were not convinced, did not -- 71% of the french when ottomans, did not think very much of these wishes. every time francois hollande speaks, his popularity rating falls. he has had an appalling year in 2013. one wonders whether he will have an even worse one in 2014 you get the impression from the new year's wishes that he is almost in denial. taxes were too high, public spending had to come down, that they had to do something about jobs. and therefore, it was almost like a party political broadcast . and yet he is the president putting forward these policies that are so unpopular -- go ahead. >> one of the things that has been seized upon precisely from those new year's wishes were what the socialist party is at great pains to say is not a u-turn, where he seems to be

suggesting cooperation pact with businesses from a fresh start. the socialist party has been very clear in the last few days that this is not in fact a change from what they were aiming to do before. , in fact, i was possibly being a little bit unfair on those new year's wishes, because the one thing that kind of was new was this responsibility act that he talked about. the problem is in french politics, anything that is called a pact, you have to be very, very suspicious, because usually they don't go anywhere. -- but it looks as though what is government wants and what the party is afraid of is that he is trying to move to a classic a social democratic position. , helpingde politics business, and it is unclear what this pact would entail.

but it looks as though the deal might be that if the government reduces the costs of employing people, then if they agreed to employ more people, this can go forward. a lot of his party are afraid that this is a right wing moved, that it is appeasing business. that this isth is the only way forward at the moment. the situation they are in is really, really difficult, and it is partly a question of his image is so bad, his image is so peopleout of 4 french don't think he is up to the job of being president, that he doesn't have the image, that he is quite a nice guy but he doesn't have the kind of character for -- to push forward the residential politics. -- push forward presidential politics. no president has ever been so unpopular. this means that one has to start

asking the question, is his legitimacy as president now almost on the line? for french politics in general, it is extremely dangerous debate. side, the site of the opposition, there is still a great deal of division and failure to get their act together. perhaps his saving grace in the wells and years to come >> , the biggest favor anybody is major francois hollande since he was elected has been made by the center-right unp party, which has been as disorganized and divided as the government and the left itself. in a sense, that is his best friend could but to be so low in the polls, he has to be very careful if there is a comeback by somebody like nicholas sarkozy. but even so, i even for the

health of the republic, we have local elections coming up in the spring. it is highly likely that the absentee rate is going to be enormously high end of the vote for the far right national front is going to be very significant. now, that is very bad for the health of a modern democracy. samet is true that the kinds of problems about what really is presidential leadership that have been dogging francois hollande actually also is causing enormous problems on the right, because sarkozy lost and said he wasn't coming back to politics. then there was a fight about who was going to be the next leader of the right. sarkozy now might come back. the awful truth is that the helping francois hollande in a very bizarre kind of way. it is not a good situation to be in. >> thank you very much, joining us from london.

20 minutes past 1:00 here in paris. time now for a look at the very latest sports headlines. we begin with the latest in football and the french cup. >> he survived a major scare against the third division, forcing their spot in the last 32 of the french cup. the lead was restored. rodriguez in monaco into the break on level terms. --y were left open hearted left broken hearted. 3-2, monaco. marseille reached the last 32 of the cup and they needed extra time. the post nearly went ahead after 3 minutes. the record 10 time winners were ahead 4 minutes ahead of time.

marseille fielded it with five minutes left. bordeaux survived the battle. portuguese football legend use if you has died at the age of 71 after suffering a heart attack. the mozambique-born later, european footballer of the year in 1965, scored 41 goals in 64 games for his country and was widely regarded as one of the great players and the game finished portugal third. the portuguese president led the tributes.

"the country is and morning. it is with great sadness that the portuguese people see one of the national figures depart." captureis life, eusebio the affection and esteem of us all. by being an exceptional sportsman, one of the best in the world, he brought many glories to portugal. won 10 portuguese titles, five domestic cups, and european cup in 1962. he wasn't just known for his footballing abilities. champions are recognized by their humility, solidarity, friendship, and because of that, today is a sad day for everybody, not just for benfica supporters, because eusebio also belong to the opponents club, who respected and admired him. stars have portugal been lining up to patronage to a incredible 733an

goals in 745 competitive games. he will be sorely missed on and off the pitch. there was joy for the rugby union plays after a victory over top leaders clermont on sunday. the video replay was consulted before deciding to pass hadn't drifted forward. a tropical on a penalty after the break -- drop goal and a penalty after the break. 19-12. on the slopes of borneo, this youngster fought snow and rain to win the second slalom of the world cup season. with snow falling on the top part of the course and rain on the bottom, the american teenager was quickest on the opening run, holding that the second german fight over number a second./10 of

through,ch skier came 13th after the third ascent to place third after the second. margin for card is one of the athlon, his fourth win of the season. the frenchman has won the world cup for the last 2 seasons and has a big lead in germany. he missed just one target on his way to victory, the 24th of his career. this was the only world cup venue that the 25-year-old had never won before so victory tasted even sweeter. he came home in the 15-, to raise five seconds ahead of russia. alexi volkov -- norway was 19 seconds. he missed the target price. -- target twice.

the nearest rival is way down in 11th. stage one of the dakar rally. in the car category, the portuguese was quickest. 11 time winner of the race. to stopas forced because mechanical problems. the 2000 and winner finished 27. -- the 2009 winner finished 27th. 4 different manufacturers squeaking into the top of the bike category of the dakar rally and it was the honda who won the 180-kilometer special. it is the sixth special win of his career. ahead.shed 37 seconds a7guc>>nded 2-time champion on