mr. assad had too much blood on his hands. >> there is no way, no way possible in the imagination that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. one man, and those who have supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage. >> no one should have worried that the diplomatic nicities would obscure the real issues here. one side thinks these discussions should be all about regime change. the other side believes the talks should be about anything but a transition of power. at the end of the first day of meetings, the two sides seem as impossiblely far apart as ever. what then can be achieved by the end of this week? >> i think by the end of this week it will just be going on. there has been an immense effort to bring the syrian regime and opposition together at all. so no one should expect a break-through this week. >> the rebels actually waging the war in syria are not delegates to these talks. they may fight on whatever a

the delegation mr. assad sent here obviously does not want to counsel the removal of mr. assad. sometimes the fighting on the ground seems irrelevant to what is being discussed here. partly because the rebels have turned on each other in the north of syria. they are fighting each other and the government is forging ahead because the rebels are fighting themselves. most of the ones i speak to are fighting for an islamic state, not a democracy, and they are going to continue fighting regardless of what happens here. >> we will be hearing more about top stories from the former jordanian foreign minister later on in the program. in other news, there has been a drop in stock exchanges across slowdown sparked by a in emerging economies. recent data from china, turkey, and south africa has disappointed the markets. in new york, the dow jones plummeted 318 points, its biggest daily drop since june last year. a british man and woman have been jailed for sending threatening and abusive twitter messages to a feminist activist. john and isabella sent the --ets after airline launched carolyn

mr. assad's major benefactor. not at the conference, then it's hard for anyone to tell how they are going to reach any agreement. the most they can do is probably result in obtaining some humanitarian agreements that will provide greater relief to the refugees and those who are suffering in the cities that are under attack. >> and that would be something for sure. >> absolutely. >> let me turn to iran, if i can. short-term deal on its nuclear program started yesterday, limiting uranium enrichment, granting full access to inspectors, eluded stockpiles halted production on the separate plutonium plant. in exchange, sanctions were lifted, including oil exports, auto and airline parts, gold, other metals. rate this where we are now, ambassador, how important is this step? >> well, they reached an important step. there was reciprocity, which is what the iranians and the americans and the p5 countries agreed to, the european countries that are part of the negotiation table, but now the really hard negotiating begins, be

. >> these opening shots on what will be very tough negotiations and whether mr. assad has any role in the future of syria is the epicenter of these negotiations. but this issue will probably be left until the very end of these talks. in the meantime, they will be trying to work around the other issues on how to structure the transitional authority, and at the very and decide what assad's role will be in this. but it is not really clear at this moment how the government representatives here will accept or not the demands of the opposition. a short while earlier, a special saider to president assad even though members of the international community want mr. to go, he stressed he is popular in syria and the decision whether he has any role in the future of syria should be divided by the ballot box of these are old being salvos to jockey for advantage but at the same time he mentioned that many syrians in the current regime are -- you are not tarnished by atrocities could be acceptable. basically here the syrians are trying to avoid what happened when saddam hussein fell i

mr. assad's future was a redline.o one can touch the presidency, he told the serious state news agency. and during rebels the fighting inside syria are not represented here. state, notn islamic a democracy. some rebel groups are part of al qaeda. they will fight on whatever happens in the talks. assad seemsresident to be winning. no one really expects a peace deal in switzerland this week. the optimists hope that a durable cease-fire might emerge. that is something there has never been in almost three years of serious civil war -- syria's civil war. toas peace talks are about get underway, there are growing concerns for the millions of syrians who have been forced to flee into neighboring countries. in lebanon, refugees make up quarter of the population, and hundreds of families are in danger of becoming homeless once again. our middle east correspondent reports on lebanon's northern -- northern border with syria. roadside, this family, all nine of them, have nowhere to go. they are refugees from syria. , and theseir

we know to date is that one party might show up the bad guy according to the washington consensus mr assad i wouldn't say he's a great guy but there's the other bad guys in the in this situation have almost no interest whatsoever in talking they just want to continue the war any optimism that two thousand and fourteen may see the end of this really truly horrific civil war. i can't see any optimism of peter i think the time has come and gone for the united states to at least act as a good faith. negotiator leader and that in this conflict that i see that you know in reading in recent in recent days and weeks that the that the the democracy movement that was the kernel of the revolution there in syria has pretty much been wiped out and overtaken by extremist factions regional fighting interests interest throughout the middle east and meddling and i think that unfortunately it's a syrian people that are suffering. and during a most terrible winter and poverty and in refugee camps and i don't see that the obama administration has shown any diplomatic leadership in this conflict and i think th

we know to date is the one party might show up the bad guy according to the washington consensus mr assad i wouldn't say he's a great guy but there's the other bad guys in the in this situation have almost no interest whatsoever in talking they just want to continue the war any optimism that two thousand and fourteen may see the end of this really truly horrific civil war. i can't see any optimism peter i think the time has come and gone for the united states to at least act as a good faith. negotiator a leader and that in this conflict that i see that you know in reading in recent in recent days and weeks that the that the the democracy movement that was the kernel of the revolution there in syria has pretty much been wiped out and overtaken by extremist factions regional fighting us interests interest throughout the middle east and meddling and i think that unfortunately it's a syrian people that are suffering. and during a most terrible winter and poverty and in refugee camps and i don't see that the obama administration has shown any diplomatic leadership in this conflict and i think

parliament now with regards to snap elections what we're hearing from the ukrainian prime minister mr assad of is that well in his opinion that's just funds the fold that they just not possible it's not plausible to hold elections search short notice now he also was talking about those that have been involved in the clashes these rioters that have been involved in clashes with police describing them as militants not as day saying they're not demonstrators they're not protesters that the fight in his words militants now. we spoke to we went along over just behind me where the main flash point has been as it's all quite know due to the cease fire but we went along there to find out what would be going on if no solution can be found what will happen here in kiev if they can talk things out. war war we've just see vitaly klitschko one of the leaders of the opposition here of course the former world heavyweight boxing champion delivering a speech to the writers here on the front line the very front line of the barricades here just in front of the arts say this wall of fire that exists between th

talk, david, but you failed to mention one name, the most mysterious president at the moment to me, mr. assad in syria.

sides and i am not and i want to make it very clear i guess enter my viewers i am not defending mr assad at all all right let's be clear about that all right go ahead you can finish up one more minute before we go to the break i just have to say that. assad here carries most of the blame i'm not saying that the opposition forces on the ground or or you know should should be should be or. groups on the contrary so who are very dangerous and very vicious on the other hand i think the u.s. has a responsibility to. be very forceful in the messaging too and i think that russia has a very important role to play in with its influence on the broader the brought him to the table ronnie's or to the occasion at least that's one thing the russians have done here and it's a positive thing in the chemical weapons issue as well our gentlemen we're going to go to a short break should we're going to go to a short break we're going to. short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on syria stay with our. look. today got a lot of housing for only people but the government is not fund

were brought in to tackle the violence here in kiev and we've also heard from the prime minister mr assad of who said that. he was he was ready to resign and his whole cabinet resign if the parliament here in ukraine decided they weren't up to the job now that's one of those things that's going to be up for discussion at a special session of the ukrainian parliament that will be held next week that was announced by by president victory on a call which also up for discussion. session upon the will be the possibility of holding of holding elections really a lot of it comes out just how feasible it is we heard from prime ministers out of early on thursday who basically said he and his. opinion it just wasn't feasible to hold snap elections the actual logistics of it just wouldn't be able to wouldn't work also that sets for discussion what we hear coming out of these talks is there will be an investigation into the deaths of people who've been out here on the streets of kiev now. two people died from gunshot wounds now we're hearing from the authorities that the type of bullet the type of fir

great deal of leverage in syria let me ask you this it's a concrete question can iran help convince mr assad to actually allow a humanitarian corridor and stop bombarding residential areas. well i don't think we need to do a lot i think it is necessary for all of us to understand that humanitarian assistance to people in need should be allowed to go in it should not be a pretext for intervention it should not be a pretext to try to help extremist groups that are fighting each other and fighting the people of syria and bombarding each other and bombarding the people of syria killing even their own prisoners in mass executions . this is not a way out of this humanitarian tragedy we need to send humanitarian assistance to syria be had been providing humanitarian assistance to syria all through these years we don't make a lot of fuss about it we believe that is our humanitarian responsibility and you don't need to make a lot of first when you are basically conducting yourself in a way that is. appropriate as responsible states in the region we will continue to do the. and we continue to do that

we know to date is that one party might show up the bad guy according to the washington consensus mr assad i wouldn't say he's a great guy but there's the other bad guys in the in this situation have almost no interest whatsoever in talking they just want to continue the war any optimism that two thousand and fourteen may see the end of this really truly horrific civil war. i can't see any optimism of peter i think the time has come and gone for the united states to at least act as a good faith. negotiator. leader and in this conflict that i see that you know in reading in recent in recent days and weeks that the that the the democracy movement that was the kernel of the revolution there in syria has pretty much been wiped out and overtaken by extremist factions regional fighting interests interest throughout the middle east said meddling and i think that unfortunately it's a syrian people that are suffering. and during a most terrible winter and poverty and in refugee camps and i don't see that the obama administration has shown any diplomatic leadership in this conflict and i think that

were brought in to tackle the violence here in kiev and we've also heard from the prime minister mr assad of who said that. he was he was ready to resign and his whole cabinet resign if the parliament here in ukraine decided they weren't up to the job now that's one of those things that's going to be up for discussion at a special session of the ukrainian parliament that will be held next week that was announced by vice president dick the un of course which also up for discussion. that session of parliament will be the possibility of holding of holding elections we've also been seeing a reaction to what's going on here in kiev from other afield from abroad the european union has been particularly vocal on thursday we heard from. mr but also the president of the european union he had a he held a phone conversation a phone call with. with ukrainian president viktor which he said he was deeply concerned that conversation is over to shoot him that they would no be no state of emergency called in ukraine and they was no plans at the moment to to involve the military. extra type of security ser

. >> i said, mr. assad, if had to get one lawyer in damascus, it will be you.you argue the case? he said i'll consider it. within 20 minutes he called us back and said you're released. that was a big deal for us. >> it was very, very quick. and from the room where i was being held to the hotel in 20 minutes and it was all over. so it was quite the whirlwind. >> at the white house president reagan praised reverend jackson for his efforts and called goodman an american hero, description that the humble man says he still isn't comfortable with. goodman went on to become a lieutenant commander in the navy before retiring and starting his own business. >> incredible story. thank you very much. >>> this just in. i'm looking down at the state wires on this one. a an update on a story we brought you earlier. the cincinnati bengals have just announced that local fans will in fact be able to watch their home playoff game on sunday. we mentioned the nfl requires home teams to sell all their tickets to avoid a tv blackout, and here is part of the tweet from the bengals. to

we know to date is that one party might show up the bad guy according to the washington consensus mr assadi wouldn't say he's a great guy but there's the other bad guys in the in this situation have almost no interest whatsoever in talking they just want to continue the war any optimism that two thousand and fourteen may see the end of this really truly horrific civil war. i can't see any optimism peter i think the time has come and gone for the united states to at least act as a good faith. negotiator a leader and in this conflict that i see that you know in reading in recent in recent days and weeks that the that the the democracy movement that was the kernel of the revolution there in syria has pretty much been wiped out and overtaken by extremist factions regional fighting us interests interest throughout the middle east said meddling and i think that unfortunately it's a syrian people that are suffering. and during a most terrible winter and poverty and in refugee camps and i don't see that the obama administration has shown any diplomatic leadership in this conflict and i think that

john says mr assad spray and set piece for the time being. now these here represents the country and authority that is accepted and has started to implement the decision on the enemy nation and destruction of the micro discussing these out and instead be. countries like the construction and the united states but i didn't go so many others cannot ignore. join us in the diplomatic reality here is the one that i've stated several times on this platform that is the international community has very little leverage or control over the situation in syria. it's doing desperately whenever can the geneva framework for these negotiations is the best it has been able to come up with when whatever he talks about the possibility of further offences humanitarian corridors is that doable. i have no idea i think again it's the team and in terms of trying to come up with some immediate demand for bulls to address something other than the core and so far the result of all political issues. and you know you shouldn't try to get whatever you can because as i beli

talk, david, but he failed to mention one name, the most mysterious president at the moment to me, mr. assads yria. give the us your analysis of that. >> there's no question that he is not only mysteries but a president and an autocrat at the same time. clearly, this is a very, very difficult situation. how do you remove a president who has functionally no term of office and the power of the state behind him, the power of the military behind him? that is a conundrum that we have not yet managed to figure a way out of. i would like to see a system where the international community could in fact joined together to bring about a change in the regime such as assad. we are not there yet. we don't have a united nations or any multinational contract in any fashion that has been able to successfully do that. that is really a major hole in the international system today. being propped up by some of the most of your presidents currently an office --the most imperial presidents currently in office, namely mr. putin and the array names -- and the iranians? >> certainly the iranians have helped out. we h

but on the other part of syria you see not the moderate forces of opposition to mr. assad, you now see al qaeda-related forces overpowering moderate opposition to assad and you see that because of america's foreign policy which said we supported the free syrian army but in reality has not supported the free syrian army. if you look in egypt, you see the egyptian people stand up and say we don't want to be -- have one dictator replaced by another. we don't want the muslim brotherhood to run our country and change our constitution. we have no idea where the president's at in this. we've taken a very important ally in the middle east and basically told them we're not interested in their political future. you look at the instability in lebanon. you look at the questions of the people of afghanistan about what's going to happen post-2014 as america is committed to defeating al qaeda and defeating the taliban. i could go on and on. you look at the deal we have with iran. basically given iran the option of continuing to enrich uranium. mr. speaker, five years ago i could not have

you failed to mention one name who is the most mysterious president at the moment to me, mr. assadia. give your analysis on that. >> there is no question that al-assad is serious and at the same time as hard to say what is going to happen to us and clearly this is a very difficult situation. how do you remove a president that has functionally no term of office and the power of the state behind him that is a conundrum that we have not yet managed to figure out how to get out of. i would like to see a system where they could join together to bring about the sections. we are not there yet. we certainly don't have the united nations or any sort of multinational compact in any fashion that has been able to successfully do that and that is a major in the international system today. >> it's cropped up by some of the most imperial presidents currently in office mr. putin. semidey have helped out but the question is how long this is going to go on. they're trying desperately to have some sort of a agreement with the space nations. it's hard to see how they can continue to support quite the

talk, david, but you failed to mention one name, the most mysterious president at the moment to me, mr. assad in syria. give us your analysis of that. >> there's no question that he is not only mysteries but a president and an autocrat at the same time. clearly, this is a very, very difficult situation. how do you remove a president who has functionally no term of office and the power of the state behind him, the power of the military behind him? that is a conundrum that we have not yet managed to figure a way out of. i would like to see a system where the international community could in fact joined together to bring about a change in the regime such as assad. we are not there yet. we don't have a united nations or any multinational contract in any fashion that has been able to successfully do that. that is really a major hole in the international system today. >> is he being propped up by some of the most imperial presidents currently in office, namely mr. putin and the iranians? >> certainly the iranians have helped out. we have a new regime in iran that is trying some kind of agreement wi

mr. assad's position at all going into these talks? >> you would like to think oh so. these are 55,000 pictures involving 11,000 people killed in prison. this is a crime of unspeakable pro pores, far greater, for example, than the poison gas attacks, which he's perpetrated in the past. does it change -- it obviously undercuts any notion that he is a remotely humane actor, but is it going to change the nation of the conversation over the next several days? i doubt it very much. >> we'll to have leave it there. obviously there is more to discussion and we'd love to have you back. thank you. >> the remains of a missing boy from queens, new york have been identified. the parents of the 14-year-old received the sad news tuesday. police found parts of a body along the east representative arer, hoping it was not the boy. the boy who is autistic and mute walked away from his school and went missing. his disappearance launched a city wide serve. his parents plan to file a wrongful death sued against the school he attended. >> texas is set to execute a mexican sit 10 today. the

secretary of state john kerry saying there is no future for syria if it stays in power mr kerry saying that assadot be any part of a new government that assad has no credibility and there could be no place for the perpetrator of the violence in syria in fact it's been it's been reported countless times from our analysts and reporters around the world that indeed the violence that's been ongoing in syria is the result of both sides of both sides of this continued war of both committed atrocities it is a two way street the focus is supposed to be peace and not about a transitional government in fact john kerry referring to the syrian leader assad saying that in till the transition takes place that can be no end to the terrorism in syria and that the syrian people must choose a new leader otherwise syria cannot move forward peacefully or with dignity so there we have the u.s. secretary of state there the kickoff to the geneva two talks that may condition for the talks that there are no preconditions and the u.s. secretary of state john kerry just laying out preconditions for the kickoff of the peace

doesn't mean siding with the assad regime there protecting deadline land one of the syrian regime is not allowing the other also armed groups also to i have a question for you mr despite criticizing them for siding with the assad regime and you can argue whether it is legitimate or not but mr brazilian himself had no qualms about associating himself with brigette tape aired on a leader who openly supports the militarized syrian opposition so it seems that currents various political parties within the larger kurdish community i've really losing what was that strength for a long time and that is. there now. longer above the fray as they always used to be their eyes are no longer fixed on that ultimate cause they are part of all those various alliances that we if you allow me just to answer that question in a bit details you know the prison bars on a strategem courtesan reason struck easy for the kurds in syria we don't intervene we don't dictate what they should want under should not want our advice for the cd and has based on already experience in iraqi kurdistan that the syrian kurds they should not side with any with any whether it's the free syrian army whet

mr. ban ki-moon, he stated that assad is -- has committed crimes against humanity.we are having reports from, you know, parties like the united nations saying that he committed crimes against humanity. he cannot deny that. at the same time, today, for example, assad's foreign minister stated that the west is actually helping al qaeda or the extremism. so this kind of statement would show you how much this regime lies, you know, and rhetorical about everything he says. the terrorism -- al qaeda it itself, we are the ones fighting al qaeda. the syrian people are fighting al qaeda. you know we are doing that in the north in aleppo, fighting this i.s.i.s. group, fighting two fronts, al qaeda on one front and the regime on one front. and both of them are actually terrorists. the regime is practicing state terrorism and al qaeda, of course, the extremists that you all know. so it's a difficult situation for the syrian people. but, of course, we are counting on the support of the people. we are having demonstrations against al qaeda and aleppo and many places in syria. so

assad must go let's not talk more and as. a soldier expert in middle east history and politics at bill candy university mr jeremy salt welcome to all very nice to see you here so they can turkey suggesting the kind is actually better than assad remaining in power no i think the turkish foreign minister is saying from his point of view that there is bad as each other. of course is quite dangerous because the group he's referring to she's like state of of of iraq of the levant has already threatened to carry out suicide bombs inside turkey that carried out one bombing last may in the border town of write how they were to more than fifty people so this is a very dangerous group to be moralists describing his evil but the ground is changing very rapidly in syria and we know what's going on now is that the united states and allies need to go to geneva with a credible syrian opposition at the moment i don't have one because the syrian the free syrian army is not credible the syrian national coalition has no support inside syria so what they're trying to do now and your previous report indicated this is to create a cohesion fighting

anything that resembles prisoner exchanges and the willingness of the assad regime to commit humanitarian supplies, it doesn't bode well. and mr.-- the u.n. representative obviously is probably as accurate as anyone. >> and you know, the asad regime has been spinning itself as the -- against terrorism. but then there is reporting that the islamic state and iraqian and syria, al qaeda linked are now controlling many of syria'sel oil fields and there are reports har thetists are selling some of the oil they are getting to the syrian government. why is this going on and there's one theory that assad may be actually doing this in order to weak 10 more moderate elements of the opposition and strengthen the more extremists so he can position himself as the anti-terrorist leader. >> isn't it ironic that the arsonist in chief is trying to women himself as the firefighter in chief. and asadd, i mean, when i read this article and as you reported it you shake your head and say this can't possibly be. but given the diabolical nature of what goes on for plotting and mcvailian politics in the middle east, just think about the fact that what

. >> in response the syrian foreign minister's assad had no intention of stepping down. >> translation: no one, mr kerry, in the world has the right to give legitimacy or to withdraw legitimacy from a president, a government, a constitution or a law or anything in syria, but syrians. >> the opposition says the syrians are brutalized. the government is accused of torturing protesters and targetting population centres. >> the opposition in the u.s. calls them introns gent and point to this moment when the foreign minister overran his charge >> i must finish my speech. >> no, no, no, i have to give the same time to other groups. >> you live in new york. i live in syria, i have the right to give the syrian version here in this forum. >> yes, of course, you do. >> this is my right. >> the u.s. is desperate to convince syria to start listening and stop the violence. kerry is trying to do that by isolating assad. >> today people can more clearly understand how alone assad is in standing up for himself. not for syria. and the resolution to this crisis cannot be about one man's insistence, or one family's

. >> reporter: president assad said he had no intention of stepping down. >> no one, mr. kerry, in the world has the right to give legitimacy or withdraw legitimacies from a president, government, constitution or law in anything in syria but syrians. >> syrians are being brutalized. the government is accused of torturing protesters. the opposition and the u.s. calls the regime intransijent. >> i must finish my speech. >> then i have to give equal time-- >> no, you live in new york. i live in syria. i have the right to give the syrian version here in this forum. >> kerry is trying to isolate assad. >> today people can clearly understand how alone assad is in standing up for himself, not for syria. and the resolution of this crisis cannot be about one man's insistence or one family's insistence of clinging to power. >> reporter: assad supporters along with their allies, russia and iran, aren't going anywhere. today they chanted loyalty to the government. just a few blocks away the opposition held demonstration with a mock funeral. the hope here in montroex is for the two si

assad had no intention of stepping down. he called it terrorism and waved his finger at the u.s. >> no one, mr. kerry, in the world has the right to give legitimacy or to withdraw legitimacy from a president, a government, a constitution or a law or anything in syria but syrians. >> the opposition said syrians are being brutalized. the government is accused of torturing protesters and indiscriminately targeting population centers. >> what syrian people are talking about, are they the 9.5 million displaced because of the bombing of his warplanes, artillery and scud missiles, are they the 725 millions already outside of the border who are now refugees. is he talking about something else? >> this moment when the syrian foreign minister overran his time. >> then i would have to give equal time-- >> no, no. >> to opposition groups. you live in new york. i live in syria. i have the right to give the syrian version here in this forum. >> yes, of course-- >> this is my right. >> the syrian people are the one who is are suffering. outside of the conference the opposition held a demonstration with a mock

. >> reporter: in response the syrian foreign minister said assad had no intention of stepping down. >> translator: no one, mrkerry, in the world has the right to give legitimacy or to withdraw legitimacy from a president, a government, a constitution or a law or anything in syria but syrians. >> reporter: the opposition says those syrians are being brutalizeded and the government accused of torturing protesters and targeting population centers. the opposition in the u.s. called the asaid regime and point to the moment when the syrian foreign minister over ran his time. >> i must finish my speech. >> i would have to give, no, no, no more time to the group. you live in new york, i live in syria. i have the right to give the syrian version here in this forum. >> yes, of course. >> reporter: the u.s. is desperate to convince syria to listen and stop the violence and kerry is trying to do that by isolating assad. >> today people can more clearly understand how alone assad is in standing up for himself, not for, syria and the resolution to this crisis cannot be about one man's instance or one family's instance abo