. >> and in china - an anticorruption activist gets a 4-year imprisonment sentence. >> hello, the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to homs is the talk of the day. lakhdar brahimi, the delegation leader, said a convoy ready to go into the city as soon as the bashar al-assad government gives the approval. prisoner exchanges and ceasefires will be discussed. a deal on any issues will be the first tangible win, which the opposition says could set the tone for the rest of the negotiations. >> we need to open the humanitarian corridors so people can survive. our main purpose to negotiate is to enter into transition with the regime, from dictatorship to democracy. >> protesters in homs were among the first to rise in in the spring of 2011. today it is a battle ground. surrounded by government forces for a year, and homs is divided - with supports of the coalition. conditions are dire. >> translation: the old pard of homs has been disseized for a year. nothing gets in. there are 500 families here. about 2500 people, most of them are children. we have spoken to international donor organizations

a spanish court opened anticorruption proceedings against him and more than a dozen others. the charges prompted outrage among ordinary spaniards. they felt the trade, even though he insisted he had committed no crime and denied any wrongdoing. he has since been dubbed by his critics the chorizo, a spanish sausage, which is slang for crook. they want to see him behind bars. supporters of the princess believe she has been wrongly implicated. she denies any knowledge of her husba's alleged embezzlement. she managed to fend off an earlier summons last year, but now it seems she will have to appear in court in march, a first in the history of the spanish royal family. >> just before we take a break, this from sports -- the defending dakar rally champion has taken the lead again after stage two of the grueling off- road race. >> driving in temperatures of up to 40 degrees celsius, he also navigated through 433 kilometers of sand dunes and creek breads -- creek beds. he is now 28 seconds ahead of the second-place red bull pilot. >> still to come, a peacemaker has his work cut out

china champs down on journalists at an anticorruption campaigner. and business in afghanistan being taxed twice. how the taliban and afghanistan are cooperating over cash. >> it has taken eight months of planning and three years of devastating war to get them around the table. the peace talks on syria known as geneva ii has begun. the meeting has. the negotiations between the syria government and the opposition starts on friday. so far what we have had are the opening comments from all the main players - that includes the two syrian sides and ban ki-moon, the secretary-general who you see and major players from the u.s. and russia. as you'd expect, they are talking tough even at this early stage. >> translation: syria the independent state shall do all that is necessary to defend itself as it deems appropriate. and that, without listening to all the cries, the statements, and the positions that have been announce the by many. such are pure syrian decisions. >> that was walid al-muallem the diplomatic foreign minister for syria. you had talked about

wealth ofrency of the the leaders is part of our national anticorruption campaign. this pledge is also about the crack on graft. they must make public their assets and wealth. why did they put him in jail question of why do they put him on trial? on chinesealled politicians to fully disclose their interests. three other activists are currently awaiting trial. it comes as a report by international newspapers details white bread tax evasion and offshore holdings by wealthy chinese. many of whom are linked to influential prime minister party members. thailand, a top pro-government activist has been shot and wounded. he was hurt in northeastern thailand, a stronghold of the prime minister yingluck shinawatra. thousands of protesters have turned out daily in bangkok to push the prime minister out of power. a state of emergency is on now in the capital. inthe world economic forum doubt post, switzerland, u.s. actor matt damon has been awarded for his charity work. whichounded water.org, works to provide access to clean water and a decent toilet for as many people as possi

several anticorruption activists have been sent to jail.of activists were arrested last year after posting an open letter online and organizing a rally in beijing calling on the country's leaders to disclose their assets. charged with disturbing public order, they are awaiting trial and could be facing up to five years in prison. >> web users in the united arab emirates and visiting tourists post videos and photos under the hashtag, promoting the state and explaining what they like about it. the online campaign was organized by the tourism board. they want to showcase the beauty, unique identity, and true culture ofa7guc 01/08/14 01/08/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! i had a short crowbar. i put it in there and yanked that sucker. at one point, i heard a noise inside the office. i'm like, are they in there waiting for me? basically said to myself, there's only one way to find out. i'm going in. >> one of the great mysteries of the vietnam war europe has been solved.

they want an interim government appointed to implement anticorruption reforms.uck shinawatra is determined to push ahead with the poll. >> the leaders of the protest movement issued a familiar call for the supporters to stage their biggest rally yet. their supporters will fill the street of bangkok to bring it to a stand still. that will start today and run through the election on sunday. the focus not just in bangkok, they want the supporters to gator in other centres to set up stages outside government facilities such as the city halls. the aim to disrupt the election. the leaders of the movement are saying they will not stop people voting on sunday, but people are free to vote, but by doing so they'll be supporting the regime, as they call it, referring to the government-led by the prime minister yingluck shinawatra. a government they want gone from office. security remains concerned for the election on sunday. the police saying that they'll deploy some 200,000 officers around the country. the military saying they'll step up security. >> away from the opposit

this comes in the context of a more broad anticorruption campaign where putin is trying to show that he's doing something about it. putting hises lieutenants in charge of the anticorruption campaign cracking down on a few people that makes the campaign look serious, and of course over the past 14 months or so, trying to get some of his oligarch friends to bring some of their overseas assets home. i suspect the reason has less to do with cleaning up the government than making them less vulnerable to western law enforcement authorities. i'm at about eight minutes now. i think it's very important, something we haven't talked about very much, what happens after sochi. sochi in many ways is a temporary stop on a number of processes going on in the system which i think will bear further retention. number one, would be there have been a number of carefully designated signs that putin is liberalizing the system. which he isn't particularly very much at all. but also the sochi events may have even postponed a more overt and serious russian dealing with the ukrainian situation because the russ

xi emphasized results achieved in 2013, such as economic policies and anticorruption efforts. he says his government has drawn a grand blueprint for the country's future development and will press ahead with reforms in 2014 to make the country rich and strong. >> translator: the chinese are pursuing the dream of realizing their nation's great rejoouf nation. i hope that people from various countries will also realize their dreams. i sincerely hope people from all countries can understand and help each other while striving for their own dreams. >> xi made no mention of china's territorial disputes with other countries. >>> the president of russia has also outlined his vision for 2014. vladimir putin says he hopes the new year will bring better relations between his country and japan. putin wrote letters to world leaders, including prime minister abe. he told abe great progress was made last year in bilateral relations and he said he appreciated the prime minister's visit last year. putin said he hopes to further promote relations and work on common issues affecting the asia pac

. >> and in china - an anticorruption activist

a new report by a russian anticorruption group says the total cost for the games has soared to about $50 billion-- more than five times as much as the last winter games. yet the best play to discover why costs have risen so high may not be among the gleaming new venues but on this street in a town just outside of london where valery morozov, once a olympic contractor lives. he fled russia for fear of his life, he told us, because he couldn't stand the corruption anymore. >> i was informed that there is a contract on my assassination. >> reporter: because you knew too much, because you could finger other people? >> no, because they miscalculated me. >> reporter: miscalculated, he said, because the local olympic organizers told him to add about $30 million to his bill for various sochi construction projects and then pay that money back to them as kickbacks. where was this extra money supposed to go? what was it for? >> the only one reason for this was their pockets. >> reporter: their pockets? >> yeah. there was only one reason. >> reporter: morozov rebuilt some of the crumbling facili

now the site has been built by the prominent anticorruption many caves, alexei ei navalny. , making them the most expensive games ever, even more expensive than any of the summer ones where far many more athletes actually turn up. now navalny says russia has spent twice as much as necessary to build at least 10 of the olympic venues bolshoi stadium and the speed skating stadium that's very attractive as can you see. not surprisingly president vladimir putin has rejected out of hand, claims of rampant corruption. honest mistakes by investors that underestimated the cost. in a rare tv interviewed he gave comment, that anybody got this evidence of corruption please show this to us, so far we haven't seen anything except for speculation. last year the russian government's audit found about 15 billion rubels ofen reasonable financing, the sochi government isn't commenting but when asked the spokesman for the international olympics committee says, the ioc stands against any form of corruption. tony. >> john terrett, thank you. we're going to take a look at the day's headlines. when we return.

now the site has been built by the prominent anticorruption caves called alexisei navalny and he paintspretty vivid picture of the cost overruns and the conflict of interest in sochi. the russian government has spent $51 billion on the sochi games so far to deliver them as a complete package, making them the most expensive games ever, even more than the summer games where more athletes turn up. navalny says that russia has spent five times more money than necessary, the bolshoi snow-ice palace, fish stadium, opening and closing ceremonies and this one here which is very attractive to me this is for the speed caiting. not surprisingly, president vladimir putin has rejected all claims of corruption out of hand. in a recent tv interview he said these worth, if anybody has got this information referring to the allegation corruption then please show this to us. but so far we haven't seen anything but speculation. now last year the russian government's audit chamber which is like the general accounting office, found 15 billion rupels behind me when asked a spokesman for the international olym

. >> the international cricket council's anticorruption council is hearing arguments. it's the biggest domestic sporting event in this country by far. those who are found guilty could face lifetime banning from the game. among those accused is english cricket player darren stevenson. stevens. he has tearfully admitted to the media that he has done a few bad things. eventually becoming the captain of the national team. the whole thing has left a sour taste for fans i in bangladesh. indian league, seems it cannot keep their hands clean. >> third test in chaja. they close day 4133 to 5. lead of 220 runs with five wicts iwicket cetera atwickets at han. check out aljazeera.com/sports. let us know how you like our new look. >>> the portland trail blazers beat the dallas mavericks, trailed early, the pacers seized control by the earned of the first quarter and led for whole game. paul george was the star of the show. mvp bagged 36 points, pacers cruise to their fourth win in a row, final score 106 to 92. a bobsledding team from jamaica looks to be heading to the sochi winter

still ahead on the newshour, one of china's leading human rights activists is gaoled for his anticorruption campaigns. plus, keeping the home fires burning. we report from china's rural heartland as millions gather for the new year festival. and coming up in sport, the australian chinese community celebrates the oldest grand slam winner. >> a suicide bomb attack in afghanistan killed four people and wounded 22, including children. the bomber detonated explosives next to an army bus. two killed were afghan air force task and the taliban said it carried out the attack. >> this is the latest attack in a surge of violence in kabul. >> afghan national air force staff from on the bus that was attacked at 7am in eastern kabul. it's common at that time of the morning to see government employees being bussed from their homes to a place of work, whether security staff or working as part of the bureaucracy in the capital. in this says a suicide bomber on foot wearing a suicide vest attempted to board the bus. he was unsuccessful but did debtonate his explosives outside the bus. the government, years a

glaxosmithkline dealing with anticorruption investigations since last july, that it bribed hospitals and doctors and officials. third quarter sales for them took a big hit, drug and vaccine sales falling more than 60% in china and even yum brands which has built the most successful foreign brand in china with more than 600 pizza huts and kfcs around the country has been dealing with backlash over alleged use of growth hormones and antibiotics by two chicken suppliers. we have seen it hit the yum stock and sales over the last year. december numbers just out showed softer numbers for specifically pizza hut. so problems there with demand and problems with the reputation. wrap it all up, companies and investors have to be aware, there is a growing risk of getting a piece of that massive middle class which is estimated at 300 million people and growing and that risk seems to be growing, tyler. >> sara eisen reporting. now to robert frank. it turns out that many people in china are trying to get some of their money out. >> they are trying to escape. that's right. luxury sales are falling f

despite the anticorruption members -- measures and everything.y, investment growth is really the most important, the biggest swing factor, and you see the investment number, and also given the backdrop that liquidity conditions have been tight, credit has been slowing -- it doesn't look very, very good into the new year. >> a lot of people, including, i think, the prime minister, the -- he looks,ina for instance, at electricity usage. eight .3%.t, up that tells us we've got perhaps stronger growth than the 7.7% level. >> it is not always 141, the one, theion -- one-for- correlation. q4, the growth is still resilient. it is really the outlook we worry about, especially the financial risk in the system. we have some trust problems already. what could be the implication to the economy? these are the things we watch more closely. >> what is going on with the economy at the moment? we are seeing it try to wean itself off the amount of investment the state can put in. how successful, interview, has beijing been? >> i think they are doing a reasonably g

goldman sachs says you will see intensified anticorruption rhetoric and occupants coming from china.there are a lot of headwinds out there. burberry is focusing on one. foreign exchange. it will be a continued headwind for burberry going into the second half. the question is, can they sustain their margins? we have talked about this. some of the products, specifically within beauty, deliver nice, upbeat margins. bags are us. i cannot see myself with one of those huge, big bags. but the coats? oh yes. >> i would love to see men wearing bags again because then i would have to carry less. the chinese private equity firm is considering a bid. i am going to get you a bag. [laughter] >> guy and i. >> no. the future.men are >> not the kind of bags you are thinking about, i think. making a bid.s jonathan ferro joins us with more. >> i am not going to talk about handbags. but a company with $6.8 billion at play. interested in united biscuits. normally people in this country would not have heard of them, but brands they definitely have heard of. digestive, penguin biscuits. it is a brand we al

and strengthening the core leadership of the communist party and undertaking a very, very sharp anticorruptioncampaign and setting up control mechanisms. strengthening control mechanisms. is that it ishis undertaking a liberalizing economic policy through leninist means. is that going to work? we don't know. , this willnot work be a huge source of instability over the coming years. i think president obama, in his meeting with the chinese president, was absolutely correct when he said that the united states has a huge stake in china successfully enabling these reforms. third big theme globally was the from thece of al qaeda series of setbacks that it suffered, culminating in the killing of osama bin laden. geography -- the core was syria. syriannd the whole conflict is looking increasingly like afghanistan in the 1980's and iraq in the last decade -- a magnet for jihadist and a focal point for increasing extremism. the new form of al qaeda is somewhat different from original al qaeda. the defining characteristic of al qaeda as an organization of and by osama bin laden was a focus on the foreign

well as strengthening the core leadership of the communist party and undertaking a very sharp anticorruptioncampaign and it is undertaking a liberalizing economic program and, you know, will that work? we just don't know. if it does not, this will be a huge source of instability over the coming years and i think that president obama and this includes the reemergence of al qaeda from the series of setbacks culminating in the killing of osama bin laden. and i would think that the core geography here would be theriaque and in retrospect the whole syrian conflict working increasingly like afghanistan in the 80s and iraq in the last decade in terms of jihadist and a focal point for extremism. so a new form is somewhat different from the original al qaeda. and a defining characteristic of al qaeda as an organization with a focus on the far end of it. tejada's and is the brand that is now and it's all about building local alliances as it does with original al qaeda and those are the big macro themes. i want to close by focusing on the two regions and drawing a contrast because i think you have a lo