over settlements as john kerry arrives in bethlehem. he is attempting to boost public support for the talks. progress appears to be painfully slow. >> let's go live to jerusalem. john kerry saying he has no illusions about the difficulty. is there anything here to hang onto? >> well, mr. kerry is remaining up the and hopeful that achievements can be made in the coming months. of course, both sides are continuing with their negotiations through april. the aim is for a final agreement to be reached, but both sides are now looking to mr. kerry to put some momentum back into this process. it has been made here by the secretary of state that these

talks will continue to be held privately, secretly, and quietly. we are not getting the full detailed briefings from the negotiator about what the sticking points are. the message from leaders on both sides is clear, no progress has been made in their view. >> there has been some palestinian prisoner releases that have been very difficult for israel as well? >> that is right, it was part of an agreement reached with israel to get these peace talks restarted after a three-year break, but -- that 104 prisoners would be released in batches. ,he last batch was last week but very quickly what we saw was that there was another announcement that the israelis

were pushing ahead with plans for settlement construction with more than 1500 homes on the west bank. it really caught the headlines last week. it israelis are saying that is a condition to get talks started again with the palestinians and the palestinians are saying that this really undermines the talks , along with east jerusalem and the gaza strip, of course. >> thank you very much, indeed. later in the program, the jordan valley, where the palestinian plans involve israeli security. stay with us for that. to israel's eastern neighbor, syria. hopes for a decades have again been dashed. it has not been possible to agree on the date before the end

of the year. the opposition wants bashar assad to step down. public, according to some, should decide. the underlying document is a geneva communiqué that talks about transitions, which most people understand as movement to a new leadership. >> we understand to take it step-by-step in geneva. response is one to in syriaby all parties and then even when you talk or whatever,ition this has to be decided by the syrians. this should be subject to

discussion. be found with no foreign or regional interference. the opposition wants to know the president assad will go at some point. is that something the syrian government is willing to offer? like to ask about mutual positions. what about opposition? there are other countries with other oppositions. us to is thefor interest of syria. precondition,o for president assad to go or to stay is the decision of the people. >> some syrians must be insisting that it must be clear that at some point in the transition president assad will go. is this something the government is willing to commit to to get

the process and the talk started? >> this has happened many times, that the only way he would meet his to the will of the people, through elections, through the ballot box. i do not know why when western democracy speaks about my , they want toia end this crisis and violence in syria and allow the people to express their will and decide the future of syria. >> if you and president assad have called for an end to the support on opposition, what about the support that they get from both sides? >> we did not need that help from outside.

>> we can hear the sound of showing here as we did in the past. >> the current crisis has been forces that want to intothe violence seriocomic everything else will take its course. >> government was willing to stop its external support? i have seen has below fighters on the ground, helping the syrian army. does that have to stop as well? >> getting the armed gangs out on the ground, that is the original drop. >> the syrian government understands the to make he's there has to be compromises? less to the be syrian people to discuss and

decide. about power not now, it is about saving the country. >> in other news, israel's former prime minister has been cleared of corruption charges by a court in jerusalem, related to the former ambassador in belarus , he is now returning to the cabinet. apple has revealed detailed requests they have received from governments across the globe to revealed private data. the most common request, they say, involved robberies and police ines. and london have arrested 11 people after a scuffle broke out in front of buckingham palace. anonymous,the group

it was similar to other events around the world. joke of which going off to a solid start that should dock -- jockavitch off to a solid start. people will be taking to the streets to block nato supply routes into and out of neighboring afghanistan unless the united states agrees to stop drone attacks. this follows the recent killing of the palo -- taliban pakistan leader in the u.s. grown strike. >> huge nato convoys grind their way through pakistan, the destination being neighboring food,istan, carrying

fuel, and other equipment needed i western troops there. soon it is possible that they will grind to a halt. that is because the pakistan taliban leader was killed in a u.s. drone strike last friday. just as the government in islamabad hoped to get peace talks with the taliban and and other militants under way. in retaliation, the opposition leaving callse for nato convoys to be blocked. he told me that the timing of the drone attacks was mandatory. >> this was a deliberate targeting of the peace process. wasu.s. clearly knew what going on and everyone in pakistan knew was going on. finally, when everyone came to

consensus, they destroyed the peace process. >> why would the americans do that? >> beats me. are they a friend or an enemy? ? are they deny us peace they are friend? >> there have already been many protests against u.s. drone strikes, like this one, but now he is demanding that the americans stop all drone attacks in the next three weeks, otherwise she says the blockade of nato supply routes will go ahead. >> the people of pakistan want peace, so we will do whatever it is in our hands, to put pressure madness.s. to stop this . all it is doing is fanning analysis and. >> the americans are very unlikely to drop their drone

strikes. they believe they are weakening the militant groups. while the prime minister of pakistan is opposed to the drones, he does not want to with the united states by blocking nato supply routes. >> stay with us. still to come, a series of explosions in china leave at least one person dead. venice is supposed to be the city of dreams, but in recent years it has also become the city of colossal cruise ships. long campaign by preservation's and locals, they are looking to change these vessels.

>> soon to be a site know more, gigantic cruise ship sailing into the heart of venice, dwarfing the ancient city. a sticking point for many who bitterly oppose the traffic and are arguing that it is damaging the cities fragile lagoon. cut the have plans to number of cruise ships by 20% from january. ships of more than 96,000 tons will be banned permanently next year. approvedal has been that will allow ships to enter the lagoon from the west, avoiding the historic city center. >> we have found solutions that in my opinion are very good. >> concerns over big ships too close to the shoreline amplified in january of 2012 when the --

cost the concordia ran aground. 32 people died. the ships currently pass within 300 meters of st. mark's square. the new restrictions have not been welcomed by everyone. there is a powerful lobby in venice that favors the economic benefits that the cruise ships bring. others see this only as a first step victory, calling for even tighter measures. >> do not forget more stories on the website. bbc.com. as soon as the small blast outside the regional communist killed oneuarters person and injured several others, no explanation has been given but tensions are high in china after a car ran onto taman

square in beijing last week. the government called it a terrorist attack. being linked in any way, lucy? >> not at all. not by the government, who has not said anything officially, yet, about this attack, or anyone else either. very different kind of attack from the one we saw last week. a series of small explosive devices placed outside the local offices of the communist party. there are certain aspects that will probably worry security but as i say at the moment there is no official word on who might have carried them out or why. >> what could the possible motivation be? describing the area whe it a big coal mining

area. >> with lots of heavy industry. crucially it is one of the areas in china where a lot of poverty exists alongside great wealth that comes from those activities. the inequality here has been talked about a lot in recent days in china. country is -- the headed towards a key economic and some of these social grievances will try to be addressed. possible that is one speculative causes to widen individual may have planned this out. china does see this kind of small-scale attack from time to time. province in this same itself, recently an elderly man carried out an explosion because he was upset by a court decision.

they say that there are aspects of this decision that will have security forces here concerned. >> what sort of records to police have in actually solving these crimes? what happened in the incident with canavan square, the authorities came out quickly and provided an explanation on what happened, but we have not seen that in this case and we are being told by the foreign ministry that the police are resisting any kind of label at the moment. china does have a history of these sorts of smaller incidents similar to the one we saw last week. >> thank you very much. the former boyfriend of amanda knox, u.s. student, has been called in for a retrial hearing in an italian court.

the former lovers are being accused of killing a british student years ago. there have been many twists and turns to the case. they were not formally charged with murder until july of 2008, along with another man. a few months later he was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in jail having requested a fast- track trial. december 2009, amanda knox was found guilty of stabbing a meredith kercher to death. but that decision was overturned and amanda knox left italy immediately. she has not decided to return for the subsequent trial. is there anything new to come

out of this case? >> it is curious, there is no new evidence. the only evidence they are looking at is evidence that has been thoroughly examined before. in particular there is more focus on the knife. a knife that was found in the it had of the flat. and been claimed that the knife handle had the amanda knox dna on it and that this particular one had meredith kercher's dna on it. forensic evidence coming out today in florence has inc. couldn't -- has concluded that there is no dna of meredith kercher on the tip of the blade, which would seem to weaken the case of the prosecution significantly. >> evidence like this that is either there or is not, how many -- how could so many mistakes have been made?

>> the forensic investigation was full of errors that have been pointed out and have enabled this case to drag on for such a long time. every time someone says it is clear what happened or did not happen, someone has another look at it. >> spontaneous declarations are possible. how is it that in this retrial he is there and the other accused is not? >> amanda knox has declined to come over. she has already been in jail for four years maintaining she was completely innocent. there was no forensic evidence inside the scene of the murder, no trace, forensically, which has always been a major problem for the prosecution. and of course she cannot be cross examined.

>> has any attempt be made to beent the man who has convicted? for him to actually tell the truth about what happened? >> he told them recently in a letter sent to an italian news program that the true killers of meredith kercher were still free. whether he decides to give evidence, i do not know. not deny that he was present, his forensic presidents was all over. particularly salacious trial, especially the first one. how much of that was true, about the promiscuity and satanism? be a terribly sensational trial. >> this is why it got so much attention, prosecutors painted

the picture of a hollow wean satanic ritual gone wrong. >> so they just made it up? >> it looks like it. >> extraordinary. how long will this process dragged on for? one thinks about silvio berlusconi and his trial going on for years. arehe trouble is that you again looking at a very long, drawnout thing again. they will inevitably appeal. we are looking at another three or four years before comes back to the supreme court. >> you cover the first trial, do you have any desire to go back and do this again now? people find it completely captivating, i am sure there will still be a lot of attention. >> and that the center of this there is a horrible murder.

>> a very sweet girl who lost her life for no reason at all. >> coming up in the next half- valley coulddan prove to be a key part of the resource. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years,

and union bank, . >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

welcome back to "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. here's some of the stories we're following this hour. police in inland china are investigating a deadly bombing near a communist party bombing. the international atomic energy agency is sending experts to japan to help analyze ocean water around the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. investors and financiers are

weighing the opportunities and risks in latin america and the caribbean, a market of 600 million people. police in central china are investigating explosions near a communist party building. the state run xinhua news agency reports handmade bombs have gone off. it said one person was killed. eight others were hurt. the agency says the explosion took place in the city of taiyuan. it quotes witnesses as saying they heard a blast. and after 20 seconds they saw smoke and sparks. a short while later, a minivan exploded. some witness say they heard as many as seven blasts. the news agency says small iron balls were scattered around the scene. and that suggests handmade bombs were used. photos posted online shows the damage to nearby cars, but someone has been removing the pictures. authorities tightened security after an incident last week near beijing's tiananmen square as a

sport-utility vehicle veered into a crowd of tourists and then crashed. five people were killed. the authorities say that incident was an act of terror. experts from around the world are starting to take a more active role in what's happening at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. the agency is planning a series of fact-finding missions in northeastern japan in the coming weeks. the first will look at leaks of radioactive water into the pacific ocean. iaea officials have sent two members from the marine environment laboratory in monaco. the experts will stay in japan through next week. the experts will test samples of ocean water and analyze them for radioactive materials. and they'll ask officials at the plant how they monitor the water. the people in charge of the operation say radioactive water has been leaking into the ocean. the iaea plans to send another team of experts later this month. they'll monitor the decommissioning process for the reactors.

iaea chief yui can kkio amana says japan needs to deal with international organizations to deal with the problems at the plant. he says this will help the country regain trust. the arab envoy says diplomats have been unable to agree on a date for peace talks. u.s. and russian delegates have been trying for months to bring representatives of the syrian government and the opposition together. but lakhdar brahimi says they failed to work out the details. >> we were hoping that we were in a position to announce a date today. unfortunately, we are not. >> brahimi met with delegates from the u.s., russia and countries neighboring syria. they've been trying to finalize plans for talks in geneva, but brahimi said syrian opposition leaders are still arguing over who would attempt. they'll work to see if they can hold a conference before the end

of the year. the head of the group charged with disposing of syria's chemical arms says his experts face challenges in a civil war. he says it seems practical to destroy the weapons outside the country. he heads up the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons. he delivered an update on the mission in syria to the group's executive council. he said syrian officials had met a november 1st deadline of destroying all production facilities or rendering the machinery inoperable. he said the syrians have dest y destroydestro destroyed 99 of the more than 1,200 unfilled warheads and are continuing with the process. syrian officials have proposed that the destruction of the arsenal be shifted to outside the country. albania and belgium are among the countries being considered. both are geographically close to syria and have experienced destroying such weapons. the leaders of the organization say they revised thela