as istanbul, it was the seat of the turkish-ottoman sultans.fter the first world war, the last remnants of the ottoman empire disappeared. turkey, on the losing side, was reduced to its present size. in the 1920s, the political leader ataturk founded the modern turkish state. ankara, to the east, became its new capital. one of ataturk's major goals was economic modernization. development was focused on the cities. the effort led to mass migration from the countryside to urban areas. many villages were completely abandoned, especially in the 1950s and '60s. ( speaking turkish ) translator: this village of formerly 120 families now only houses 35. these 35 households mainly consist of elderly people-- old-age pensioners. i don't think anyone will stay, seeing what the village has come to. ( man speaking turkish ) translator: in our home area, there is no industry. there is no work. that's why people come to istanbul-- to work for daily wages. ( speaking turkish ) translat: according the census of 1990, istanb had seven million inbitants, but now

. >> she still feels a sense of dread as she walks towards police headquarters in istanbul.ay she has brought a friend with her for support. more than 30 years ago, when she was just 19, she was arrested and held here. the military had just seized control and student activists were being rounded up. >> the police officers ripped out my hair. it has never really grown back right. they gave me electric shocks. they pinned me to the ground. and they asked me over and over if i was a virgin. >> on the morning of september 12, 1980, tanks pulled into the streets of turkey. the military coup came after mounting violence between leftist and right wing groups. many feared the country was heading towards civil war. the junta was led by former army chief of staff kenan evren. in days, security forces arrested 650,000 people. many were tortured. kenan evren is now 94 years old. despite his age and failing health, many turks want to see him tried in the court of law. >> the former generals should face court proceedings in accordance with modern laws. >> i do not get the impression that

. >> she still feels a sense of dread as she walks towards police headquarters in istanbul.ay she has brought a friend with her for support. more than 30 years ago, when she was just 19, she was arrested and held here. the military had just seized control and student activists were being rounded up. >> the police officers ripped out my hair. it has never really grown back right. they gave me electric shocks. they pinned me to the ground. and they asked me over and over if i was a virgin. >> on the morning of september 12, 1980, tanks pulled into the streets of turkey. the military coup came after mounting violence between leftist and right wing groups. many feared the country was heading towards civil war. the junta was led by former army chief of staff kenan evren. in days, security forces arrested 650,000 people. many were tortured. kenan evren is now 94 years old. despite his age and failing health, many turks want to see him tried in the court of law. >> the former generals should face court proceedings in accordance with modern laws. >> i do not get the impression that

and when he delivers his state or authorities or service or life in istanbul. but i was mentioning a moment ago about the u.n. envoy kofi annan and that of a secretary of state hillary clinton referring to an and six stage peace plan clinton has already accused president assad of refusing to act according to the six staged peace plan saying it's just another addition to his list of in actions well let's get some more details on the whole concept of what's going on a journalist and political analyst crystal forestalled live in berlin good to see you today or the friends of syria group pledged to give funding and communication a quick run to the opposition is this in your view possibly a shift towards military aid for the rebels. not at all it's just to show how much of the already flowing military aid to the rebels is being dealt with other table and to be clear on these so-called salaries they are being paid since a long time since the beginning and since we have an eyewitness now the ex lebanon correspondent of zero mr ali hashem winter away in disgust from je

so this prevented any kind of deal in istanbul. and after that, pretty much you had a growing march to war. what can i say? there were concerns that israel was about to -- was about to take action in regards to iran's nuclear program as an existential threat. and that was what was stopped at the beginning of this month. and now we have the talks coming up again. so these talks with not taking place in a hopeless atmosphere where people are just going through the motions. these talks are actually a chance for a new start after there has been a step back from going to war. so i guess the question to ask is, what is the chance of success at these talks? i think that certainly the p5 plus 1 and certainly the united states are coming into these talks with low expectations. and the success of the talks will probably be if a second round is scheduled. the second round would occur fairly quickly because the idea would be to be start moving ahead. but this is not the meeting at which there will be a dramatic break through. this is not the m

gary lane has that story from istanbul, turkey. >> reporter: april 18th, 2007, three are stabbed at a bible print shop. their throats slit. one year later the widow said the anniversary is just another day of remembrance. >> everyday i have to live without him. >> five suspects went on trial. five years later, still no conviction. church attendance dropped immediately in malt i. >> they documented 12 attacks against christians in 2011. this has led u.s. commission on international religious freedom for the first time to list turkey as a country of particular concern. nina shay says the turkish government is suppressing christian worship. result christian numbers are dwindling. >> they are very frail. we are going to see them vanish if turkey doesn't give them religious freedom. >> turkeys ambassador in washington calls this cpc politically motivated. the turkish government will not act against muslims. prime minister erden is shifting away from a pro-western position. >> to islamist, for example, the alliance with hamas. >> that alliance led to a shoot out on a flotilla found for gaza

live from istanbul we'll check in with you later thank you. and the u.s. is one of the countries that supported special envoy kofi annan peace plan but still continues to push for a change in syria well that's a stance that's not helping end the war according to dr good provider from the center for research on the arab world. it is the main goal of washington actually to oust the government of bashar assad's so that. the very positive response which school fiance plan has received they could not school anything else but supporters also but the latest comments still we are very skeptical. the syrian government has to act immediately they have to stop the fighting immediately again it's the same position they take in vague blame all the responsibility for the fighting to the syrian government whereas the kofi annan plan pioli says just as russia and china have always said both sides have to stop fighting. syria as i need brink of civil war we revisit one of the most controversial events of the arab spring. to many parties who have interests that the it doesn

see istanbul. talk more about the upcoming gathering in istanbul let's go to joy poindexter blogger and peace activist. thank you for joining us so damascus says the battle to topple the state is over but it's not true given that arms are reportedly continuing to flow into rebel hands you know i mean i think as long as there's fighting going on and long as there is interference coming from other countries or road organizations. arming one side if you know that we're not going to really see an end to this now why do you think the assad regime has if you guys refuse to lay down its arms for us in response to kofi annan appeal to stop military activities as the stronger party in a good faith gesture. well i mean i think that they obviously are under pressure whether it's from you know the members of their own party or people on the outside looking in and seeing that as an act of weakness perhaps they're kind of acrobatics up against the corner you know it's against a corner right now and maybe doing t

well the syrian national council has been here in istanbul a for the past week trying really to overcomesome of their internal divisions and present a united front here today their ain't really. to seek recognition as the sole representative of the syrian people that they're going to be recognized as the leading but they censored certainly still a lot of problems even from within and a lot of criticism again as we said from countries such as russia and from the from people within the country as well that they're not representative of the syrian people and that's really going to be quite a big issue they've actually seen outside the conference center. for a government. with a run in with some of the opposition groups we saw first by the riot police who have a strange situation actually a huge number of the riot police there in scenes getting a little bit chaotic certainly that's not going to be a welcome distraction a tool for morse going in on an inside the conference and these tools continue of it's going to be very interesting to see if the friends of syria can overcome some of the maj

accomplish a peaceful solution to this crisis because people have gathered in istanbul are the same we have gathered previously in tunisia there is a group where he lives. and there were members and they are actually trading with the innocent the blood of innocent civilians who have been killed almost seven or eight thousand of them and that's half of them are army soldiers and security forces have been butchered by those on the guns fans are absolutely i would support a peaceful enemies of syria would go on. arming and training and financing those islamic fanatics who have been trying to dismantle the very existence and their mind the very existence of a secular state in the city and out of republics need ali kamel i wish we had more time for this we turn here in our to see a former syrian ambassador to turkey thank you for joining us live from damascus thank you thank you letter. the doors of egypt's electoral commission have closed for presidential hopefuls to submit their applications on this just ahead of the first round of the vote next month several candidates are hoping to fill

you are in istanbul. what is the latest you can tell us of events on the turkish- syrian border? >> the first thing is to find out whether these shots were fired, targeted at the turkish territory, or whether these were stray bullets coming into turkey from a fight going on inside syria. so far, the turks have made no official announcement. i suspect we will hear more about this as this clears up. >> turkey is also talking about implementing "certain measures," if the assad regime does not back down. have you heard about what those measures might be? >> everyone in turkey expects those measures would be the direction of a safe zone inside syria, a buffer zone to give refugees in syria of protection area. the turks have been preparing for this for quite some time, military preparation. people here in turkey are expecting their governments to declare the erection of the buffer zone critiques -- pretty soon now. >> alright. thank you for talking to us from istanbul. >> dozens have been killed in clashes between the army and al- qaeda-linked militants. the death toll is being put as

cric crisis, but it is aits about ars istanbul government syria. and we fowler. that he will get, damascusomehw commitments, similar guarantees assessing the situation in armed groups keing journalists away. so everything t failedhe christians?is iunlawful. this is against international >> fancially speaking, sending , multipart sending visualizing ar them.ledy the armednnedthe highy >> testimony and tried to regiol declared publicly in ca it' demo thharies. >>om the beginning their agenda, >> for their groups sponsored by some what io turkey or qatar snd qatar helpef about the>> is a pity. >> you're familiar wiopinthn ann so we are a sovereign blame pery speakingse when foreign journalists and sya cu are they not? >> no arena.two. >> rose: theg collective conversation takilaeoint, the live, where they are hosts. >> rose: you'reutthe current ree istanbul onsbut the current president against theb fa notified mr. kofi annan people crisis we areor the mail going through. so that he will get similar commitments, similar guarantees that everybody will be on board of t

jonathan head is monitoring events from istanbul and)r's me now.than, like another tall order, but what chance do you feel he's got? >> i think givenç that the ann plan specifies that two-hour break in hostility and the fact that the syrian government has finally set up a deadline toú withdraw its forces, it is a reasonable request to make. despite the syrian's acceptance of the plan, the firing by some accounts hasç actually intensified. we are getting dailyly reports of intense attacks by syrian forces apparently trying to take as muchç ground back from the opposition. so it is arguably a worse time now for civilians than at any other time in the conflict.ç we have seen entire villages evacuating. all of those need treating. u.n. estimates are something like a million people displaced. and any pzoqortion of those have actually gone outside to places like turkey here for shelter. it was a key point of the discussion here in istanbul.ç we'll see how far he gets. it is there in the anian -- anan plan. making it work will be difficult. one of th

on april 1, the turkish government held a meeting in istanbul calling... working first against kofi annan's mission because they called in that meeting for sponsoring the opposition, external opposition, arming the opposition, inciting to violence, paying salaries to these defectors and the armed groups members. so everything in that meeting in istanbul was against what kofi annan was calling for. so although the syrian government agreed on the 26th, the meeting was held on april 1 and was exactly running against what mr. kofi annan was saying. >> rose: with respect, others suggest the syrian government has been backtracking from its agreement and making new demands up until today as to what it would do and secondly as kofi annan suggested, you were supposed to begin withdrawing and that has not taken place. >> no. this is not an accurate explanation of what's going on. the dates fixed by both the security council and mr. kofi annan is april 12. on april 12, the syrian government will stop the... will put an end to the violence by the syrian governmental f

what happens in istanbul does not stay in istanbul.e always said that. >> that's no bull. >> let's hope it's not some bull. we have some video to prove it's not. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> the reason i said welcome to brian. i think that's the shortest period of time that he sat his you know what on the couch before we said good morning. >> i have a screen grab from probably 1998 that is very relevant for one of our guests today. >> really? >> so you went out to find it? >> there you go. what happened? >> you almost missed the show. >> well, that's not important but i could not find it yet. >> let's get -- >> preparing until the very last second. very admirable. >> thank you, steve. >> let's get to your headlines this morning. check out this new video. the storms keep coming, folks, for oklahoma now tearing across the state. state bracing for more destructive storms later today. at least two tornadoes touched down in woodward county in the northwestern part of the state. the storm brought hail sized golf balls hurting two peo

jonathan head, bbc news, istanbul. >> meanwhile the u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon has criticize the syrian government for pressing on attacks with -- for pressing on attacks on people who want president assad to stand down plfment ban said the use of the army should stop at once. security forces in bahrain have fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters who rallied in support of a leading human rights activists. demonstraterers held portraits into an activist who's been on hunger strikes to close for 60 days and is now in hospital. supporters say he's close to death. he's appealing against a life sentence he received for his part in anti-government protests last year. nominations for presidential elections in egypt closed this weekend. despite the overthrow of hosni mubarak in an uprising, tensions remain over the country's future. the muslim brotherhood, country's dominant movement, is being accused of lying and him pock rasy after going back on a promise not to contest the presidency. from cairo, earl daveys

for more on the refugee situation in turkey, the bbc's jonathan head joins me from istanbul.do we know where these people have come from, why this sudden surge? >> i think we do. don't forget, there have been surges like this before. about a month ago, we saw similar surges of over 800 or 900 people a day coming. it's when syrian government forces increase their attacks on villages and on the number of villages too. we've talked about a scorched earth policy before. it seems from what witnesses are saying, there is a policy of literally going from village to village, bombarding them, perhaps populations deciding to leave. so i don't think anybody's surprised by it. obviously the -- obviously it raises the spectrum of hour the government is willing to go. they became clear if the flow became unmanageable, then it would consider using its army to carve out a safe buffer zone. but they'd need bigger numbers before they consider that. they're now moving -- a lot of the refugees who come over, the other camps, they've got six camps in cathay province. they're moving into much bigg

jonathan head is in istanbul. why is this trial happening now? some people are saying this is part of the government's move against the military in general to secure their imposition. -- to secure their own position. >> this fwovet, which has its roots in islamism, has been in competition ar at rivalry with the military and tussled with them really for this almost 10 years it's been in office. at times, it looked as though the military might even be able to unseat it. the fact that they can put these generals on trial now tells you how far the tables have turned. it's not just these generals, remember, over the last three or four years, the government has supported prosecutions for alleged more recent anti-government conspiracies. and the military haven't been able to do anything about that. they really have been pushed back to the barracks, but this was a big coup. it transformed turkish society, had huge human costs, and up until 18 months ago, all the generals who carried out the coup had immunity under a clause that they themselves inserted t

country whereas damascus says it's fighting extremists sarah ferguson following the talks for us in istanbul now joining us live on the program sara what else what else came out of the meeting. i think it's. not. easy for the fighting. companies to make that call and. direct this simple. split is similar to the time. they find nothing. like. think that it's not the mission it's not. looking. forward to apologize or i'm sorry sort interrupt your obviously the weather it's quite blustery where you are when it calms down a little bit we'll get back to you because you just got too much noise on your microphone off you surf for the nest of all thank you are we do apologize for that some things are entirely out of our control now political analyst patrick henderson says that by backing the opposition the friends of syria are not bringing peace but rather making things worse on the ground up. it's unbelievable how it's got to this point where it seems ok to fund the opposition whatever form it is and let's not kid ourselves the u.s. and the u.k. have been backing guerrilla forces in syria for the l

a new round of nuclear talks wrapped up in istanbul, the first of more than a year. iranian negotiators sat down with envoys from 6 world powers including the u.s. one american diplomat calling the talks positive. but, saying there is an urgent need for concrete progress. and another round of negotiations are set for next month in baghdad and will the new negotiations with tehran be enough to prevent a potential iranian nuclear bomb and stave off a possible military strike on tehran's nuclear facilities. joining us, is the former u.n. ambassador, and fox news contributor, john bolton. >> good morning. >> eric: all the diplomats coming out of the meetings are enthusiastic with their smiley face on, they are happy iran is sitting down and talking. do you have your smiley face on? >> no. despite laughing. you know, look. this is really delusional. i mean, that is the only way to describe it. what iran has won here is five weeks delay until the next meeting. and, only in desperation can people believe that agreeing to another meeting is a real sign of success. what iran

further reports from the meeting in istanbul. well the conference has gotten underway here in istanbul we had the turkish prime minister giving the aping address now in that he said that the country doesn't interfere with any other country's internal policies but he said the syrian government continues to oppress the legitimate demands of the syrian people now as the conference is going on inside of actually got a demonstration of syrian people just outside the building the turkish prime minister also saying that twenty thousand syrian people now inside turkey who were forced to flee from the violence now the friends of syria conference today is going to aim to provide support to the main opposition body the syrian national council and they're going to be looking to make that body stronger and also you can expect to see today probably pledges of both humanitarian and financial aid as well now the opposition body to the first time have called for the neighboring countries to allow the free syrian army to be arms we heard the saudi

reena ninen is traveling with secretary clinton in istanbul, turkey. reena?> reporter: thank you, jake. several gulf states have decided to pay the salaries for those joining the syrian free army. the move is designed to try to get the factors to move from president assad's military into the opposition. the u.s. has agreed to pledge an additional $12 million in aid for a total of $25 million and to provide communications equipment to help the syrian free army organize. secretary of state hillary clinton sat down with abc news to discuss the future of assad's regime. >> we think assad must go, the sooner, the better for everyone concerned. but we also know that we require a multipronged approach to to problem. >> reporter: u.s. aid includes medical supplies for refugees, but inside syria this weekend, the violence claimed some three dozen lives. just last week, assad agreed to a cease fire as part of a new peace plan. but there's no sign that is about to happen. reena ninen, istanbul. >> thanks, travel safe. >>> and secretary of state clinton is hailing histor

there was no real negotiating in istanbul. it was laying out positions.y'll be talking with the european union about what the negotiating arguments are. we know what the u.s. wants, which is halting the enrichment of uranium that goes to 20% level, because it is such a short skip from there to a weapons grade. >> andrea, i described the istanbul meeting as a preliminary consultation to schedule a very complicated surgery. it is kind of a nuclear hysterectomy which we're asking iran to do. and i see it unlikely that israeli national security interests, iranian ideology can intersect in a peaceful place. my concern is that this is a conflict which isn't going to be resolvable. a conflict we're going to have to manage. >> how do you manage this conflict given the three conflicting voices that you describe? >> i think if we can deescalate. for me the virtue of these negotiations aren't to try to resolve the conflict but to try to deescalate. perhaps we can take steps to get iran to cap enrichment at a certain level. i don't think they're going to give up enri

and the agreements reached in istanbul during the friends of syria conference it sends a little bit of mixed signals the first mixing signal is that there is two. main streams of ideas one supporting arming the syrian rebels and the other one supporting. assisting the syrian rebels with non-lethal equipment and that is led by the united states and western allies. the saudi predatory kuwaiti initiative who are going to be fitting the bill for paying the salaries of the syrian rebels. on the first examining four it's a little bit positive as it will provide an incentive for other syrian soldiers to defect the syrian army and join the. liberation of the syrian free syrian army which is consisting of the rebel forces on the u.s. the administration is reluctant to provide arming the rebels until a proper vetting process will be taking place i think that's an important point i think a lot of people wonder as we did with the situation in libya and lot of people wonder who are the rebels and how do we figure that out when you start sending even when we're not talking about weapons we're just t

most of them are below the poverty line they do not have even money to travel from visit istanbul which is about two hundred miles away about i think twenty military checkpoints but everything they are strip searched and it's quite. for them to reach to stop to to court to caution to get to meet me because i cannot travel because of security reasons to visit istanbul so it's a very bad situation for them he think if there is any positive side the use of drowsing clearly there are a lot of legal questions that don't have the answer and there is great secrecy in the program. is it better to have or worse and i'm wondering what your opinion is for there to be a drone strike that kills from afar that maybe you don't know that it's coming or for you know a special ops team to come and raid your home in the middle of the night. well first of all i would like to say that there can be no upside in killing in specially in extrajudicial killing so this whole program is flawed because it's illegal it's against the law it is the due process and they can be ignored just difficult for this yes the pr

we, of course, had istanbul and bonn to make. chicago is important as ambassador, you mentioned. and tokyo is going to of course give us the financial commitment that is required. i think that's what is missing probably is the messaging the afghan people into the region. that the international community means business, international community, not just about any door in 2014, but continued the work that started in 2001. and accomplishing the job with the afghans in the driver's seat, of course. so as you draw down, as you pull out your troops, as you diminish the financial contributions that you have made over the years that have been tremendous, and i as an afghan and absolutely grateful or what the international team has done, and the blood that has been shed on all sides, i think that we all realize that we need to end this, but in the end not just saying the war will end in 2014. it's how reach come in 2014, we need to be able to say we are now going to enter a political settlement period face. and beyond that we need to make sure that we consolidate for the peace in afghanis

the mayor was successful in getting a direct flight established to istanbul. the city is also grooming itself for taurus, trying to get its garbage problem under control. the first 2500 containers for a new garbage separation and recycling system modeled on germany's are alrea in use. >> we want to profit from the experience and know-how german cities have with waste management. >> is changing so much that he has provoked resistance from the city's traditional conservative establishment. during the 2010 election campaign, the head of the greek orthodox church refused to give his blessing. the clergyman is still skeptical about the mayor. >> he has his dreams and ideas, but i do not think that are always in line with the will of the majority in the city. >> but the mayor is not worried. he is certain that the city's modernizers are growing stronger. >> without a tie in with my gold earring, i am not popular with the sleepy conservative men in suits who do not want to change anything, but their number is dwindling. >> because no one can fail to see that a lot mu

. >>> incredible boat rescue off the shores of istanbul.t caused >>> let's take a look at this amazing video of a boat fire at a port in istanbul, turkey. fire tore through in minutes everybody hanging on for dear life they were rescued safely, crews say if the boat had not been sailing through a busy port those onboard might not have survived. >>> turning to baseball. giants cain and phillies lee in a pipper's duel last night. cain allowing just two hits lee throwing 10 scoreless incredibly neither factored into the final decision in the bottom of the 11th, a single over the second baseman scoring giants won 1-0. the a's won their second straight game over the angels last night in anaheim. a three-run homer in the first, colon pitched eight scoreless innings he threw 38 consecutive strikes between the 5th and 8th inning the a's shut out the angels 6-0. >>> an almost must win tonight for the sharks again the blues. san jose trails 2-1 after dropping tuesday night's game to the blues. tonight the coach plans to put the center thornton on the

the new james bond is in istanbul. >>> 70% of the polls say the economy is in bad shape, but that's down from the past four years. however, 40% say they've fallen behind financially themselves while 64% worry about how to pay their housing costs and 38% say higher gasoline prices have been a serious economic hardship. >>> still ahead on wjz eyewitness news at noon, still a gray day outside. your local forecast is two and a half minutes away. >> first, a look at the midday stocks followed by the power ball numbers. my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if

iranian negotiators are meeting in istanbul with envoys from the u.s. and other world powers, aimed at addressing concerns over iran's atomic program. the west does suspect that iran is working to develop a nuclear weapon, but iran is continuing to claim that its atomic program is intended for peaceful energy-producing purposes. so what can we expect from the latest nuclear talks? some are optimistic, some not so much. former u.n. ambassador to the u.n. has plenty to say about it. he'll join us live to weigh in. that's coming up for you. >> looking forward to that. >> president obama is working to stamp out a political firestorm that was triggered by democratic strategist hilary rosen's comments about mitt romney's wife, saying ann romney who raised five sons "hasn't worked a day in her life." some democrats fear rosen's comments could affect women at the polls. president obama weighed in, saying ms. rosen apologized, and that was appropriate. now i think we need to remind ourselves that we've got some big issues to debate in this country about tax poli

the 767 was flying froms stan bull, turkey to kennedy air -- from istanbul, turkey to kennedy airported it and found nothing the aircraft was refueled and the 206 passengers and crew continued on to jfk. >>> in oklahoma the death toll has from a series of violent tornadoes -- katie marzullo is here with more. >>> >> reporter: authorities have not released the age or gender of the most recent victim but that makes six the other five are two men and three children. video from storm chasers is amazing. more than 75 twist reported in 24 hours. many people are surprised and relieved there wasn't more death and destruction. >>> shock and awe is obvious in these voices. some are -- is obvious in these voices. some are chasing, some are fleeing. the latter is what the national service urged everyone to do, taking the unusual step of warning region more than 24 hours in advance saying the upcoming event could in their words be life-threatening. >> i got a big gash. >> reporter: the town's warning siren didn't go off because they were disabled by lightning. the mayor was almost in tears while r

the 767 was flying froms stan bull, turkey to kennedy air -- from istanbul, turkey to kennedy airported it and found nothing the aircraft was refueled and the 206 passengers and crew continued on to jfk. >>> in oklahoma the death toll has from a series of violent tornadoes -- katie marzullo is here with more. >>> >> reporter: authorities have not released the age or gender of the most recent victim but that makes six the other five are two men and three children. video from storm chasers is amazing. more than 75 twist reported in 24 hours. many people are surprised and relieved there wasn't more death and destruction. >>> shock and awe is obvious in these voices. some are -- is obvious in these voices. some are chasing, some are fleeing. the latter is what the national service urged everyone to do, taking the unusual step of warning region more than 24 hours in advance saying the upcoming event could in their words be life-threatening. >> i got a big gash. >> reporter: the town's warning siren didn't go off because they were disabled by lightning. the mayor was almost in tears while r

at a conference in istanbul, turkey, a conference joined others in saying the syrian people will not be left alone. she says sanctions are starting to work. the government crackdown shows no signs of letting up. >> today the international community sent a clear and unified message that we will increase pressure on the assad regime in syria and the opposition. nearly a week has gone by since the regime pledged to implement kofi's plan. but since then, they have launched new assaults rather than allowing access for humanitarian aid. they have tightened their siege. and rather than beginning a political transition, the regime has crushed dozens of peaceful protests. >> the protests and the fighting continue across syria. president as sarks d h srksassa accept the peace plan proposed. in beirut, he says talk is cheap. >> this is the impact of the joint nation's peace plan in syria on fighting. since the syrian government accepted the plan last tuesday, little has changed. the army of bashad and assad continues its crackdown and on the offensive. it calls for armed forces to stop using he