:00:04. > :00:08.Talking to the Taliban - Afghanistan tries to kickstart
:00:08. > :00:12.peace talks. After a decade of conflict, President Karzai's
:00:13. > :00:16.government says it's ready to meet the insurgents.
:00:16. > :00:21.In Syria, reports of more than 60 dead in fresh clashes after the
:00:21. > :00:23.withdrawal of Arab League monitors. Stephen Hester's Royal Bank of
:00:23. > :00:33.Scotland bonus - a minister says the Government couldn't be happier
:00:33. > :00:35.
:00:35. > :00:45.if he gave it up. And Novak's nocturnal victory -
:00:45. > :00:54.
:00:54. > :00:57.Djokovic's Australian Open win sets Good Evening.
:00:57. > :01:01.The Afghan Government is planning talks with the Taliban in an effort
:01:01. > :01:06.to move towards a formal peace agreement. The BBC understands the
:01:06. > :01:08.meeting will take place in Saudi Arabia or Turkey. The news came
:01:08. > :01:12.amid claims by former Taliban officials that insurgent
:01:12. > :01:15.negotiators had met with American representatives in Qatar. Our
:01:15. > :01:25.correspondent Quentin Somerville has the latest from Kabul for us
:01:25. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :01:30.now. For years, the Taliban have ridiculed President Karzai's
:01:30. > :01:33.Government saying it was a puppet regime. It was illegitimate. These
:01:33. > :01:38.two sides have been fighting and killing each other. President
:01:38. > :01:41.Karzai said he wouldn't meet the Taliban until they accepted the
:01:41. > :01:47.Afghan constitution. It now seems these two warring sides will sit
:01:47. > :01:55.down and talk to each other. For ten years, the war against the
:01:55. > :01:59.Taliban has ground on relentlessly. The fight becoming bloodier and
:01:59. > :02:03.deadlyier as each side failed to find victory on the battlefield.
:02:03. > :02:10.But now, even as the kill goes on, there are the first hints that the
:02:10. > :02:14.two sides may be ready to talk. The Taliban are far from ready to
:02:14. > :02:22.put down their guns. But, for the first time, they are plaining to
:02:22. > :02:27.speak to President Karzai's Government. They'll meet in either
:02:27. > :02:31.Saudia Arabia or Turkey. Previously the men who led these fighters said
:02:31. > :02:37.they'd only speak to the Americans from the new office in the Gulf
:02:37. > :02:44.state of Qatar. An MP says it is time talks happen Afghan to Afghan.
:02:44. > :02:49.We have to start the negotiations and the national community and
:02:49. > :02:53.Afghan Government have to start. Ham add Karzai met David Cameron
:02:53. > :02:58.this weekend. They signed a long- term partnership. Peace may be a
:02:58. > :03:02.long way off but the clock is ticking. There is pressure that
:03:02. > :03:07.nobody wants to be left out. That counts for the Taliban side, the
:03:07. > :03:10.Afghan Government side and the international side. There is a real
:03:10. > :03:16.opportunity to move towards negotiations and a settlement.
:03:16. > :03:19.is a war that will likely never be ended on the battlefield. These
:03:19. > :03:25.British combat troops and the Americans leave here in three years
:03:25. > :03:30.but the worry for Afghans is, are the Taliban serious about talks or
:03:30. > :03:35.simply just buying time? The Taliban have set out their
:03:35. > :03:40.conditions, people airl they want the Americans to return some
:03:40. > :03:45.Taliban leaders who are being held in Guantanamo Bay. They have not
:03:45. > :03:55.indicated if they are will to give ground. Could they accept women's
:03:55. > :03:56.
:03:56. > :04:03.rights? Any peace deal is many There have been fierce clashes in
:04:03. > :04:09.the South skirts of the Syrian capital Damascus. More than 60
:04:09. > :04:14.people have been killed today. Free Syrian arplty says its it's been
:04:14. > :04:18.strengthened by fresh waves of defection from Government forces.
:04:18. > :04:24.What's left of a military bus bombed by armed rebels close to
:04:24. > :04:27.Damascus. It s attacks like this which have provoked the current he
:04:27. > :04:32.is caplation according to the Government. Six soldiers died here.
:04:32. > :04:36.Others were woundeded but survived to tell the tale. Suddenly the bus
:04:36. > :04:41.seemed to take off and burst into flames he said. All the windows
:04:41. > :04:46.shattered. They were thrown out on to the ground. They opened fire on
:04:46. > :04:50.them as well. This is the Government's answer. A say can and
:04:50. > :04:56.bombarding places like Homs which has been a hot-bed of defiance from
:04:56. > :05:01.early on. Dozens of tanks and hundreds of troops are being thrown
:05:01. > :05:05.into battle in residential areas. The raiplg Eyam is no longer just -
:05:05. > :05:09.- regime is no longer just facing crowds of unarmed protesters. These
:05:09. > :05:17.are the men the Government calls terrorists and the opposition calls
:05:17. > :05:22.heroes who are defending civilians. The free Syrian army made up of
:05:23. > :05:28.deserters seems to be growing by the day. With the Arab League of
:05:28. > :05:31.standing down there are now outside witnesses. The focus is more
:05:31. > :05:41.strongly on intensifying discussions at the UN Security
:05:41. > :05:44.
:05:44. > :05:47.Council, the only hope left of a way out of the carnage.
:05:47. > :05:50.Rough seas and strong winds that have hampered rescue and recovery
:05:50. > :05:52.operations on the capsized Costa Concordia have caused the liner to
:05:52. > :05:56.slip slightly. The news came as Italian divers continued their
:05:56. > :05:58.search of the wreck before efforts to remove the ship's fuel begin. 16
:05:59. > :06:03.people remain unaccounted for after the discovery of another body
:06:03. > :06:06.yesterday. Greece has rejected German
:06:07. > :06:10.proposals for a senior EU official to take control of the Greek budget,
:06:10. > :06:15.saying it would be impossible for it to hand over control of tax and
:06:15. > :06:18.spending powers. The rejection comes ahead of an EU summit in
:06:18. > :06:27.Brussels tomorrow to discuss the Eurozone crisis. From Brussels
:06:27. > :06:32.Chris Morris reports. Preparing for what could be the first of many EU
:06:32. > :06:37.sum its in Brussels this year, the crisis rumbles on. This one's about
:06:37. > :06:41.the new fiscal treaty with tough budget rules which Britain isn't
:06:41. > :06:46.signing and about economic growth and job creation. But it wouldn't
:06:46. > :06:52.be a proper summit these daus without talk of Greece. It's still
:06:52. > :06:57.missing the fiscal targets set by international lenders which is why
:06:57. > :07:02.Germany wants an EU commissioner to take control of Greek policy and
:07:02. > :07:06.tax spending. I don't know if they want to make Greece an example for
:07:06. > :07:11.the other countries of what is going to happen. But to have like
:07:11. > :07:16.someone control everything, it is really a shame. It is like another
:07:16. > :07:21.occupation. There is some good news for Athens. A deal may have been
:07:21. > :07:25.done with the banks to write off a decent chunk of Greek debt. But the
:07:25. > :07:31.Greek Government says Germany's plan is an affront to national
:07:31. > :07:34.sonchity. There's no need for such a measure. We've gone a long way
:07:34. > :07:39.reducing the deficit. If you take into account we are in the fourth
:07:39. > :07:42.year of recession. The fall of the deficit has been quite big. So I
:07:42. > :07:48.think we are moving along on the right track.
:07:48. > :07:52.If only Greece were the EU's only problem. Unemployment in Spain has
:07:52. > :07:56.risen well above five million. More jobs will go after a Spanish
:07:57. > :08:01.airline suddenly shut its operations down. The debt crisis
:08:01. > :08:06.claiming more victims. So another summit taking place with the
:08:06. > :08:10.eurozone still dogged by uncertainty and a lack of economic
:08:10. > :08:13.confidence. Finding the right balance between imposing austerity
:08:13. > :08:20.and encouraging growth is now one of the top priorities for EU
:08:20. > :08:22.leaders. And many think they haven't yet got it right.
:08:22. > :08:26.The Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said no-one would
:08:26. > :08:31.be happier than the Government if the Royal Bank of Scotland Chief
:08:31. > :08:35.Executive Stephen Hester foregoes his bonus. There's been pressure on
:08:35. > :08:39.Mr Hester to give up his bonus worth nearly a million pounds with
:08:40. > :08:42.Labour saying it will force a Commons vote on the issue.
:08:42. > :08:49.The Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester may be out of sight
:08:49. > :08:53.but very much in mind. His own chairman refused a bonus. Some
:08:53. > :08:58.think Mr Hester may soon be in line for a much bigger pay day than
:08:58. > :09:00.originally thought. Ministers such as Iain Duncan Smith are caught
:09:00. > :09:04.between backing the Royal Bank of Scotland boss who they feel is
:09:04. > :09:08.doing a good job and calling for pay restraint at the top. It is for
:09:08. > :09:11.him individually to make a decision about that. I don't have a
:09:11. > :09:15.collective opinion on that as a member of the Government of the but
:09:15. > :09:21.the Government would be happen y if he took such decisions. But it is
:09:21. > :09:26.up to him. Stephen Hester gets a stallry of �1.2 million. He is
:09:26. > :09:31.entitled to share up to �4.2 million a year. He's on a long-term
:09:31. > :09:36.incentive plan which could have reached lfpls �5 million. He's
:09:36. > :09:40.unlikely to reach that now. The share price is below the 40p men
:09:40. > :09:46.mum required. A survey from High Pay Centre says only 7% of people
:09:46. > :09:51.think FTSE 100 bosses should e, ar more than �1 million a year. Two
:09:51. > :09:56.thirds felt lower ranking employees should sit on committees to decide
:09:56. > :10:01.bosses pay. That's normal practice in grpl any where executive pay is
:10:01. > :10:05.less toxic and whose companies are global success stories. We need
:10:05. > :10:10.workers on pay boards. They know what's going on inside a company.
:10:10. > :10:14.They know what's reasonable. They won't object to people who are
:10:14. > :10:18.really worth it getting paid what they need to be paid to retain them
:10:18. > :10:22.and recruit them. I think it will really take a lot of the heat out
:10:22. > :10:26.of this issue. The issue of executive pay here in the UK is set
:10:26. > :10:29.to intensify in the coming weeks. Banks are set to publish their
:10:29. > :10:34.bonus figures for their top people and the Government's set to
:10:34. > :10:40.implement new rules on executive pay. Added to that, the economy is
:10:40. > :10:44.stagnating and pay for many is flat line ing. The public and political
:10:44. > :10:48.move against the status quo is growing.
:10:48. > :10:52.United Nations inspectors have arrived in Iran to have the the
:10:52. > :10:57.possible military actions of Iran's nuclear programme. The team hopes
:10:57. > :11:02.to tour nuclear facilities over the next three days, look at documents
:11:02. > :11:08.and assess the nature of Iran's activities. Western countries
:11:08. > :11:13.recently imposed the tightest sanctions yet against Iran. At
:11:13. > :11:19.Tehran's airport a handful of protesters took the place of a red
:11:20. > :11:29.carpet. As IAE. Inspectors began a three-day tour of Iran. We hope
:11:29. > :11:32.Iran will engage with us on our concerns regarding the possible
:11:32. > :11:37.military announcements. We are looking forward to a start with a
:11:37. > :11:44.dialogue. A dialogue that is overdue. Here's where they'll
:11:44. > :11:47.expect to go. The inspectors will tour Iran's declared nuclear
:11:47. > :11:52.facilities. They'll analyse documents. They'll ask scientists
:11:52. > :11:56.why Iran is enriching so much uranium, more than it may need for
:11:56. > :12:01.civilian purposes. Iran's Government says this inspection
:12:01. > :12:06.will prove that its nuclear programme is peaceful. But previous
:12:06. > :12:10.inspections never managed to resolve that question. This short
:12:10. > :12:15.visit in itself is unlikely to provide a definitive answer. It is
:12:15. > :12:18.only a three-day visit. It is probably unlikely too much can be
:12:18. > :12:22.achieved within this time. But if they were to start negotiations on
:12:22. > :12:28.the particularly military aspects to the programme that would be
:12:28. > :12:33.highly significant. But Iran often prefers displays of power to
:12:33. > :12:39.negotiations. It recently carried out naval exercises in the Gulf.
:12:39. > :12:44.And it has even threatened to close the straight of home us. A vital
:12:44. > :12:49.shipping channel in the region. In turn, the West sent its own warning
:12:49. > :12:54.back to Iran. Keep the strait open and engage with the visiting
:12:54. > :13:00.inspectors. Sport now.
:13:00. > :13:04.Arsenal came back from two goals down to beat Aston Villa 3-2. It
:13:04. > :13:09.was quite a turn around in a game which saw the home side booed off
:13:09. > :13:13.at half tile. Earlier today, Sunderland drew 1-1 with
:13:13. > :13:19.Middlesbrough at Stadium of Light in their fourth round tie.
:13:19. > :13:26.The first half hour at the eplt rates may be have forgettable. The
:13:26. > :13:32.rest wasn't. Villa scored two goals. Dunn thunderous. Bent, acute. 2-0
:13:32. > :13:39.to the visitors. In the second half, they repaid their hosts with
:13:39. > :13:45.gracious penalty box activity. Richard Dunne harvested Ramsay.
:13:45. > :13:52.Walcott should have been going nowhere but Villa insisted he score,
:13:52. > :13:59.which he Z Darren Bent proved why he's a striker not a defender. Van
:13:59. > :14:05.Persie scoring his 347th goal of the season or 25th anyway! Arsenal
:14:05. > :14:09.face the winners of the replay of Sunderland and Middlesbrough. The
:14:09. > :14:13.lower league visitors provided the class in the first half. Bryan
:14:13. > :14:16.Robson's volley sublime. Robson's touch was anything but in the
:14:16. > :14:20.second half. His back pass carving open his own defence. The ball
:14:20. > :14:25.arriving in the path of a Sunderland man making his come back
:14:25. > :14:29.after 17 months out with injuries, Fraizer Campbell. His delight
:14:30. > :14:36.understand able. The draw for the fifth round has
:14:36. > :14:46.been made. The stand-out ties include: League Two Crawley Town
:14:46. > :14:48.
:14:48. > :14:52.Celtic will face Kilmarnock in the final of the Scottish League Cup
:14:52. > :14:55.next month after they beat Falkirk 3-1 at Hampden. The First Division
:14:55. > :14:58.side had been hoping to knock both old firm sides out of the
:14:58. > :15:01.competition having already beaten Rangers. But Anthony Stokes scored
:15:01. > :15:09.twice to secure the victory after Falkirk's Jay Fulton had earlier
:15:09. > :15:13.cancelled out a Scott Brown penalty. final in history between two of the
:15:13. > :15:18.sports greats. But after nearly six hours and at 1.37 in the morning
:15:18. > :15:22.the result had a familiar ring. Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in
:15:22. > :15:32.a five-set thriller to win The Australian Open. It's his third
:15:32. > :15:35.
:15:35. > :15:39.consecutive grand slam title, all Look closely at Novak Djokovic's
:15:39. > :15:44.trainers. He keeps a tally of the Grand Slam trophies he's won. In
:15:44. > :15:48.the first set against Rafael Nadal it didn't like like he'd be holding
:15:48. > :15:53.on to his title. It looked like he'd put his shoes on the wrong
:15:53. > :15:56.feet. He gave up on his racket before the first set was out. The
:15:56. > :16:02.change didn't stop his losing the first set. Things looked brighter
:16:02. > :16:08.for the Serb when he won the second set 6 will have 4.
:16:08. > :16:13.The third came even more easily. 6- 2. Djokovic of the on a role. But
:16:13. > :16:17.Nadal can never be accused of 2308ing. No such thing as a lost
:16:17. > :16:21.cause. He saved three break points. It took a tie-break to separate
:16:21. > :16:26.them in the fourth. One of the great. The importance of such
:16:26. > :16:33.moments in the match can be gauged by the number of Nadal fist pumps.
:16:33. > :16:38.Into a fifth set and hour. Fatigue a possible factor as they passed
:16:38. > :16:44.the mark for the longest match in Australian history. Djokovic found
:16:44. > :16:51.himself serving for the match. COMMENTATOR: It's over. You have to
:16:51. > :16:56.say the man deserves it. T-shirt was off again. The champion's every
:16:56. > :17:03.sinew stretched to breaking to defend his trophy. A third
:17:03. > :17:05.Australian Open title for Djokovic. What a way to start the year.
:17:05. > :17:08.England's Robert Rock held off the challenge of former World Number
:17:08. > :17:13.One Tiger Woods, and US Open Champion Rory McIlroy to take
:17:13. > :17:17.golf's Abu Dhabi Championship. Rock went into the final day sharing the
:17:17. > :17:19.lead with Woods, but birdied three of his first six holes to set up a
:17:19. > :17:22.one-shot victory on 13 under. McIlroy finished second, while
:17:22. > :17:32.Woods fell away to share third with Graeme McDowell and Thomas Bjorn.
:17:32. > :17:33.