22/01/2014 Newsround

Hello. You're live with CBBC this Wednesday morning. I'm Leah with all

the latest from the Newsround team, including: Murray goes head to head

with Federer for Aussie Open glory. And The mysterious beaver that's got

scientists all confused. But first, peace talks aimed at

bringing an end to the war in Syria will start today. The talks in

Switzerland bring the Syrian government face to face with the

opposition for the first time. More than 100,000 people have died in the

conflict since 2011, which started when rebel groups tried to overthrow

the country's president. Leading figures from around the world will

oversea the talks, including Britain's Foreign Secretary William

Hague. This is the opportunity for Syrian leaders on all sides to bring

an end to this bloodshed, to save this country, to put an end to the

extraordinary misery. Next, another winter storm has hit

the east coast of America. Up to 12 inches of snow has fallen in parts,

forcing lots of school to shut and thousands of flights to be

cancelled. The snow has covered the streets of New York City and

Washington DC is expected to get its heaviest snow fall in three years.

This second storm has come just two weeks after the polar vortex brought

heavy snow and freezing temperatures to the same area.

Now, it's a big day for Andy Murray as the British number one takes on

Roger Federer in the quarter finals of the one of the biggest tennis

tournaments around - the Australian Open. Federer's won more grand slams

than any current player, but Murray beat him in the semi-finals of this

tournament this time last year. So Ayshah's been looking at who's

likely to come out on top. Murray versus Federer is the chance

for old rivals to meet again and a chance to see if both men are back

to their best. A lot has been written about Murray's recent back

surgery, but after four rounds of testing in Melbourne, his coach says

he has no excuses. Even if he was really ready and he hadn't had any

setbacks, you still never know what is going to happen. He could still

lose the match easily, it doesn't really matter. Andy has had a good

run in Miami. Many thought Federer's own back trouble and a disappointing

2013 kept him stuck on 17 grand slam wins, but his partnership with

Stefan Edberg may be the key to changing that. This match throws up

more questions than it answers - no one, not even tennis superstars,

knows what's going to happen. If it is warm, on the court, I go for

Federer. I'm confident it will be married. He's not going to be

physical, it is a match he knows he can win. Andy Murray has been saying

that he doesn't expect to win the Australian Open, but he's also been

saying that expectations can change, and if he can beat Roger Federer for

the first time in a grand slam they certainly will.

Well, that game starts in just under an hour, but Rafael Nadal's on court

right now in his quarter final match against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov.

And he is just beating them by three sets to one. Earlier, in the women's

quarter finals, defending champion Victoria Azarenka was beaten by

Agnieszka Radwanska and Sloavkia's Dominika Cibulkova knocked out

Simona Halep to make it through to the semi-finals.

For the first time in over 30 years, Britain will have its biggest squad

at the Sochi winter games next month in Russia. Three-time winter

Olympian Chemmy Alcott has been selected, despite breaking her leg

in 2012. There will be a record number of 19 skiers and

snowboarders, including freestyle silver medallist James Woods. Former

Olympic sprinter Craig Pickering will be part of the ten men who will

make up two bobsleigh crews. Altogether, Team GB will have 56

athletes at the games! Finally to the mystery beaver that's

been caught on camera tucking into trees. A farmer in Devon set up this

night-vision camera to find out what was causing the teeth marks in his

the bark. He discovered it was this little fella, but experts are

confused, because wild beavers are extremely rare in England after they

were hunted to extinction during the 12th century. I'd seen something

similar before in Canada, but I thought, no, we can't have anything

like it be fair here, can we? So we decided to put out a camera on the

site when I'd seen it nor the trees. And to our great surprise,

yes, it was a beaver. Fantastic! That's it for now, but tune in in

half an hour when we'll have news of this amazing ice palace and Man

City's 9-0 win.