:00:00. > :00:00.portion of that low. He watching the weather forecast, we will update you
:00:00. > :00:14.-- keep watching the weather forecast.
:00:15. > :00:17.This is BBC World News Today with me Tim Willcox.
:00:18. > :00:19.The Headlines - A potential breakthrough at the Syrian peace
:00:20. > :00:23.A representative of President Assad is at the UN organised talks
:00:24. > :00:26.in Geneva - and in the last few moments a main Syrian opposition
:00:27. > :00:28.group - which had earlier refused to attend -
:00:29. > :00:32.A mother who took her son to Syria becomes the first British woman
:00:33. > :00:34.to be convicted of joining self-styled Islamic State.
:00:35. > :00:40.She denied ever encouraging terrorism.
:00:41. > :00:43.It was never my intention to enter into Syria.
:00:44. > :00:46.Economic growth slows sharply in the United States as consumers
:00:47. > :00:50.And we'll be covering all the angles on the revelation that ancient
:00:51. > :00:52.babylonians were the first to use geometry 1400 years before
:00:53. > :01:04.Astronaut Tim Peake asks students to give him a hand with his
:01:05. > :01:09.experiments. We start with what appears to be
:01:10. > :01:13.a potential breakthrough at the first Syria peace talks
:01:14. > :01:18.for two years. A main opposition group -
:01:19. > :01:23.the "High Negotiation Committee" - which had refused to attend -
:01:24. > :01:26.now says it will take part. The HNC says it has received
:01:27. > :01:29.assurances from the US Representatives
:01:30. > :01:35.of President Assad's regime have The group - led by Syria's
:01:36. > :01:45.ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al Jaafari is now meeting UN
:01:46. > :01:48.special envoy Staffan de Mistura. The aim is to bring peace
:01:49. > :01:51.to a country where at least a quarter of a million people have
:01:52. > :02:14.been killed, and more than 11 We still do not know the
:02:15. > :02:19.negotiations. We know that -- we do not know when they will arrive and
:02:20. > :02:27.meet with the UN special envoy, but that is a good start for an already
:02:28. > :02:31.speculated and failed negotiations. There are other glaring omissions
:02:32. > :02:38.aren't there. Where are the Kurdish groups? The nonrepresentational of
:02:39. > :02:47.the Kurds inside the high negotiation committee... But there
:02:48. > :02:50.is a team who the Turks consider a terrorist group and they have made
:02:51. > :02:57.it clear they should not take part. They were not included in this
:02:58. > :03:02.negotiation, however the special envoy considered many members of the
:03:03. > :03:13.opposition as consultants since they were not represented in the Riyadh
:03:14. > :03:17.meetings last month. Mistura knows it will be the most difficult task,
:03:18. > :03:23.but he has put a time frame of six months on this. He made it clear it
:03:24. > :03:30.would be proximity talks, they will be face-to-face. He already said it
:03:31. > :03:33.will take a long time, six months is the announcement. It may be more
:03:34. > :03:39.than that given the difficulties these talks are facing, but it is
:03:40. > :03:52.just one step in 1000 mile road ahead. We have more on what lies
:03:53. > :03:57.behind the U-turn. The opposition found itself in a situation quite
:03:58. > :04:01.similar to that before the second Geneva conference two years ago. A
:04:02. > :04:06.lot of pressure to go, very difficult to show for it, very
:04:07. > :04:10.little to tell their supporters, to promise their supporters in terms of
:04:11. > :04:15.gains from these negotiations. They finally seem to have yielded to this
:04:16. > :04:21.pressure. They got promises from the UN and also from the American US
:04:22. > :04:27.Secretary of State John Kerry that there will be a full implantation of
:04:28. > :04:30.Security Council resolutions including humanitarian aspects of
:04:31. > :04:34.those resolutions. But even after the announcement came that they
:04:35. > :04:38.would be heading to Geneva, some members of the opposition were still
:04:39. > :04:43.suggesting that this does not mean they are participating in the Geneva
:04:44. > :04:47.negotiations or talks, they may just go to Geneva and wait until
:04:48. > :04:51.something concrete happens on the ground in terms of the promises
:04:52. > :04:55.given to them. That is just one statement coming out of one of the
:04:56. > :05:02.opposition members. The first few hours perhaps of Saturday will show
:05:03. > :05:06.whether this is a clear commitment to take part in the talks or whether
:05:07. > :05:12.the opposition is still trying to see whether anything will happen on
:05:13. > :05:20.the ground. Stay with us for more on this. In a few minutes we will be
:05:21. > :05:23.speaking to a spokesperson from the Syrian Society in Washington. He is
:05:24. > :05:26.about to head to the talks in Geneva.
:05:27. > :05:29.A young mother has become the first British woman to be convicted
:05:30. > :05:32.of travelling to Syria to join the Islamic state group.
:05:33. > :05:34.26 year old Tareena Shakil - a former health worker -
:05:35. > :05:36.ran away with her toddler in October 2014.
:05:37. > :05:39.She was arrested when she returned to the UK four months later.
:05:40. > :05:42.The jury at Birmingham crown court also found her guilty of encouraging
:05:43. > :05:45.Our correspondent Sian Lloyd reports.
:05:46. > :05:47.Tareena Shakil, a British mother convicted today of being a member
:05:48. > :05:55.The banned terror group notorious for its violence and brutality.
:05:56. > :05:58.She took her toddler son to Raqqa in Syria,
:05:59. > :06:05.The court was shown this picture, her child
:06:06. > :06:11.She dressed him in IS clothing and wore a similar balaclava herself.
:06:12. > :06:13.She urged others to join her in Syria.
:06:14. > :06:23.The court has been clear, they have found her guilty
:06:24. > :06:28.At the moment she should be treated as a dangerous individual.
:06:29. > :06:30.Tareena Shakil was arrested when she arrived back
:06:31. > :06:38.She told police she was kidnapped by a man she met on holiday in Turkey.
:06:39. > :06:41.It was never my intention to enter into Syria.
:06:42. > :06:52.Whilst being on holiday I happened to meet a young Turkish man.
:06:53. > :06:58.I liked him, and we developed somewhat of a relationship.
:06:59. > :07:04.This image shows the former health worker at East Midlands airport.
:07:05. > :07:07.The journey was planned not as a holiday, but her route
:07:08. > :07:15.During the summer of 2014, Tareena Shakil became increasingly
:07:16. > :07:19.interested in extremist material, searching for it on the internet.
:07:20. > :07:23.But she went further and began encouraging others on social media
:07:24. > :07:31.Tareena Shakil told the court she went to Syria only to live under
:07:32. > :07:35.the rule of Sharia Law, and denied joining IS.
:07:36. > :07:38.She said she had made a mistake and wanted to come home,
:07:39. > :07:42.describing her escape in a taxi as she made for the Turkish border,
:07:43. > :07:46.carrying her son and his bag of nappies in her arms.
:07:47. > :07:52.I threw 9000 Syrian dollars at him, grabbed my Pampers, everything,
:07:53. > :07:56.this bag, the blanket, and I just ran.
:07:57. > :07:59.The jury was unanimous in finding her guilty.
:08:00. > :08:24.Chinese state TV has reported that all four surviving miners trapped
:08:25. > :08:26.after the 25th December mine collapse in Shandong
:08:27. > :08:34.The men had spent 36 days trapped underground.
:08:35. > :08:41.The gypsum mine in eastern China's Shandong province collapsed
:08:42. > :08:53.A suicide bomber has attacked a market in northeastern Nigeria.
:08:54. > :08:56.Police say at least three people were confirmed dead in the town
:08:57. > :09:02.of Gombi in Adamawa state - a resident said he saw
:09:03. > :09:04.Government troops recaptured Gombi from Boko Haram in 2014
:09:05. > :09:10.but the insurgents have since made several attempts to retake
:09:11. > :09:12.Police in south-west Germany say a grenade has been thrown
:09:13. > :09:16.The device didn't explode and was found by a security guard
:09:17. > :09:18.near buildings which house one hundred and 70 people.
:09:19. > :09:29.Anti-mafia police in Italy say they've captured two
:09:30. > :09:31.of the country's most wanted fugitives at a mountain hideout
:09:32. > :09:35.The two men Giuseppe Ferraro and Giuseppe Crea are high-level
:09:36. > :09:37.members of a crime group that controls much of the
:09:38. > :09:40.They'd been on the run for more than a decade,
:09:41. > :09:44.and had been linked with a string of murders.
:09:45. > :09:47.Fresh data on the health of the US economy is out,
:09:48. > :09:51.Growth is slowing down - and in the 4th quarter of 2015
:09:52. > :10:01.was at just 0.7%, compared with the same period a year before.
:10:02. > :10:09.It is much slower than the previous quarter. It also included a
:10:10. > :10:16.significant slowdown in the sale of durable goods. As the name suggests
:10:17. > :10:21.they are Giroud ball, they last for three years, a sign of investment,
:10:22. > :10:26.they were disastrous. There is a lack of confidence in the economy.
:10:27. > :10:29.You have to remember there is a sharp hip of investment in mining
:10:30. > :10:35.and the oil industry in the United States. The break even price is very
:10:36. > :10:43.much higher than it is the Saudi Arabian producers. So they have put
:10:44. > :10:48.up interest rates marginally, what will they do? They cannot put it
:10:49. > :10:54.back down, that destroys credibility. You can delay the next
:10:55. > :10:58.rate rise. The expectation was it would be March, that has been pushed
:10:59. > :11:02.out to June. The problem they have is the bank of Japan, the European
:11:03. > :11:06.Central Bank, both of those, they are in charge of large economies,
:11:07. > :11:11.they are moving in the opposite direction into negative interest
:11:12. > :11:17.rates. The big companies and countries are being charged Julie
:11:18. > :11:27.thereby laid -- charged to leave their money. A strange situation.
:11:28. > :11:39.That divergences rages raises questions in investors minds. --
:11:40. > :11:43.raises questions. There is a variety of uncertainties which seem
:11:44. > :11:47.difficult to measure. One is the fallout in the Chinese economy,
:11:48. > :11:52.particularly the stock market and to what extent that is indicative of a
:11:53. > :11:55.very bumpy transition to a more domestic consumption led economy.
:11:56. > :11:59.The price of oil, there does not seem to be any prediction that would
:12:00. > :12:06.be bad, you would think it would be good for inflation. India would be a
:12:07. > :12:11.good example of that. Where it represents a sharp fall in
:12:12. > :12:17.investment, that is where it is taking a hit. There is some fallout,
:12:18. > :12:26.even countries that are not related. You meant shouldn't Japan. The
:12:27. > :12:30.reason why the bank of Japan is doing this, this has always been a
:12:31. > :12:36.problem in the Japanese economy, the rate of social reform is not fast
:12:37. > :12:39.enough. It is an economy based on particularly large companies and
:12:40. > :12:45.there has been a lot of intermingling between states and
:12:46. > :12:49.companies. Japan was suffering from exactly the same problem that we may
:12:50. > :12:53.find ourselves suffering from. They were doing what we were calling
:12:54. > :12:56.pushing on a piece of string. You can lower interest rates as much as
:12:57. > :13:04.you like, but the demand will not be stimulated and that is the fear.
:13:05. > :13:08.Still to come bringing a bit of the scientific wonder of space back to
:13:09. > :13:19.Earth. Why the British astronaut Tim Peake wants students to help with
:13:20. > :13:20.his latest experiment. The British Royal Navy's state-of-the-art
:13:21. > :13:32.destroyers keep on breaking down. It's billed as one of the most
:13:33. > :13:35.advanced warships in the world. The Royal Navy's Type 45 Destroyer,
:13:36. > :13:37.fitted with sophisticated Each ship costing
:13:38. > :13:44.more than ?1 billion. But it has had one big problem
:13:45. > :14:05.that The Ministry of Defence says that
:14:06. > :14:09.the ships are still seaworthy. Plans are to add another engine. That will
:14:10. > :14:13.not be easy or cheap with the engine department deep in the bowels of the
:14:14. > :14:23.ship. The MOD will not say how much it will cost or who is to blame. You
:14:24. > :14:33.watching BBC world News. Our main story. As peace talks aimed at
:14:34. > :14:39.ending Syria's wars begin, the high negotiations committee agrees to
:14:40. > :14:41.take part. The International Olympic Committee says the venues for the
:14:42. > :14:44.real Olympics will be inspected daily in the lead up to the games to
:14:45. > :14:51.minimise the risk of the zika virus. It says any puddles of stagnant
:14:52. > :14:53.water, where mosquitos can breed, The mosquito-borne disease has been
:14:54. > :14:57.linked to a surge in brain defects among new-born babies
:14:58. > :14:59.in the Americas, where it's been Little is know about Zika,
:15:00. > :15:03.but it was first discovered The BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga has
:15:04. > :15:21.been there, and sent this report. This is zika forest. It is a
:15:22. > :15:26.forgotten place. 70 years ago the monkeys here were found to harbour a
:15:27. > :15:30.virus causing today's international health concern. As with so many
:15:31. > :15:37.discoveries, the scientists working here almost 70 years ago were not
:15:38. > :15:40.looking for this virus, they were looking for yellow fever. That is
:15:41. > :15:47.when they came across a new microorganism which they named after
:15:48. > :15:52.this forest. This doctor has studied zika the years. He says there have
:15:53. > :15:56.only been two confirmed cases of the disease in Uganda. I asked him why
:15:57. > :16:01.it is proving so dangerous in other parts of the world. One of the
:16:02. > :16:06.reasons is because the virus has moved into new territory and in this
:16:07. > :16:13.territory it is attacking people who have never been affected by viruses
:16:14. > :16:17.which are similar to the zika virus. In which case their bodies are not
:16:18. > :16:20.adapted or they do not have the immunity they would have if they had
:16:21. > :16:28.been affected with viruses which were similar. These mosquitoes are
:16:29. > :16:34.similar to those spreading zika in Latin America. Scientist hearsay
:16:35. > :16:37.mosquitoes in Uganda are not good at transmitting the disease.
:16:38. > :16:42.Nevertheless they are on the lookout especially as transmission is spread
:16:43. > :16:48.around the world. We have base available system which is
:16:49. > :16:54.continuous. It is doing the work of trying to find out which type of
:16:55. > :17:00.mosquitoes we have in the country. We have the indigenous type, the
:17:01. > :17:05.forest type, or we have also other types which have been imported into
:17:06. > :17:09.the country. This is the only laboratory in Uganda that tests for
:17:10. > :17:14.the zika virus. Blood samples are brought here from across the
:17:15. > :17:19.country, they are tested, labelled and stored. Outbreaks of the disease
:17:20. > :17:23.are not that common here. The last confirmed case with several views
:17:24. > :17:28.ago. Another challenge for the scientists here are the fact that
:17:29. > :17:33.people do not often report symptoms of the zika virus. They are either
:17:34. > :17:40.not aware of it or they assume it is malaria. A new initiative is going
:17:41. > :17:43.to start in April of this year to try to get a better sense of how
:17:44. > :17:49.widespread the disease is in the country.
:17:50. > :17:59.Time for us to catch up on all the sports news. We will start with the
:18:00. > :18:02.FA Cup as Premier League Manchester United are taking on championship
:18:03. > :18:07.side Derby County in the fourth round and here is the current state
:18:08. > :18:14.of play at Stadium. Manchester United lead 2-1. Wayne Rooney got
:18:15. > :18:23.them the lead. They are now in the second half, United have the lead
:18:24. > :18:28.once again. 25 minutes to go. Andy Murray is through to his fifth
:18:29. > :18:32.Australian open final, he battled the Canadian Milos Raonic in five
:18:33. > :18:40.sets. He and Jamie Murray become the first brothers to reach the singles
:18:41. > :18:47.and doubles finals of a grand slam event in the open era.
:18:48. > :18:54.The Canadian is known to his service which can top 140 mph. He also
:18:55. > :18:58.dazzled Andy Murray with his movement and touch in taking the
:18:59. > :19:05.opening set. There was little between them as they pushed each
:19:06. > :19:08.other hard, but the world number two eventually got back on level terms.
:19:09. > :19:12.Andy Murray could not find momentum to take control and when the third
:19:13. > :19:17.set went to a tie-break, Milos Raonic proved too powerful. The
:19:18. > :19:22.match then swung on a twist of fate with Milos Raonic hampered by injury
:19:23. > :19:26.and Andy Murray was able to take it to a deciding set. The frustration
:19:27. > :19:33.was clear to see as hopes of becoming the first Canadian man to
:19:34. > :19:38.reach a grandson final slipped away. -- grand slam. The result was now
:19:39. > :19:41.inevitable and while there would be sympathy for Milos Raonic, Andy
:19:42. > :19:43.Murray will be hoping that his luck class against Novak Djokovic in the
:19:44. > :20:03.final. -- last. He definitely slowed
:20:04. > :20:04.down in the fifth set for sure, that was
:20:05. > :20:09.unfortunate for him. because he was struggling
:20:10. > :20:11.with his movement and The fourth set,
:20:12. > :20:14.I thought he was still moving pretty good towards the end,
:20:15. > :20:18.but he obviously got a bit lucky You have to focus on your side
:20:19. > :20:23.of the court as best as you can. Martini Hingis has written
:20:24. > :20:25.another chapter in her Alongside doubles partner
:20:26. > :20:28.Sania Mirza they clinched their first Australian
:20:29. > :20:29.Open doubles title playing at the bottom
:20:30. > :20:32.of your screen, beating Czech pair Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie
:20:33. > :20:34.Hradecka in straight sets. Having come out of retirement
:20:35. > :20:40.in 2013 to return to doubles The pair nicknamed 'santina' adding
:20:41. > :20:43.the title in Melbourne to their Wmbledon and US Open
:20:44. > :20:45.doubles titles last year, a winning run stretching
:20:46. > :20:47.back 36 matches. A member of the culture media
:20:48. > :20:50.and sport select committee says the head of the IAAF - Lord Coe -
:20:51. > :20:53.needs to clarify what he knew about allegations of bribery
:20:54. > :20:55.surrounding the bidding process for the 2017 and 2019
:20:56. > :20:57.World Athletics Championships. Lord Coe told a parliamentary select
:20:58. > :21:00.committee in December that he'd never been offered a bribe or known
:21:01. > :21:03.of someone being offered a bribe. It's since been reported that
:21:04. > :21:05.Lord Coe had discussed rumours of bribes around the vote in 2011
:21:06. > :21:09.with head of UK athletics Ed Warner. Damian Collins MP says this
:21:10. > :21:20.raises fresh questions. He gave the impression that he had
:21:21. > :21:30.never heard of bribery in athletics, but allegedly he was aware
:21:31. > :21:37.that the Qatari bid team were handing out brown envelopes
:21:38. > :21:57.to the IAAF members. He warned the head of the UK bid
:21:58. > :22:00.for the World Championships. The key questions would be why did
:22:01. > :22:03.he not tell the select committee, and did he take this
:22:04. > :22:05.matter up with the IAAF Lord Coe denies any knowledge of any
:22:06. > :22:10.bribes and denies making any such His spokesman says he has always
:22:11. > :22:13.been consistent and re-iterated that he doesn't know of anyone who's
:22:14. > :22:19.been offered money. That is all your sport. Just a
:22:20. > :22:22.development in the Hillary Clinton e-mail story. The US State
:22:23. > :22:23.Department says it will not allow the release of some of Hillary
:22:24. > :22:25.Clinton's private e-mails because they contain information that it
:22:26. > :22:29.considers top secret. There are seven e-mail chains in an unsecured
:22:30. > :22:33.account used by Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State. She has
:22:34. > :22:39.come under close scrutiny over the e-mails in her campaign to run for
:22:40. > :22:43.president. Here is what the State Department spokesman had to say.
:22:44. > :22:51.I can confirm that as this investigation into the e-mails, the
:22:52. > :22:57.State Department will be denying in full seven e-mail chains found in 22
:22:58. > :23:01.documents representing 37 pages. The documents are being upgraded at the
:23:02. > :23:04.request of the intelligence community because they contain a
:23:05. > :23:08.category of top-secret information. These documents were not marked
:23:09. > :23:11.classified at the time they were sent. These e-mails will be denied
:23:12. > :23:18.in full meaning they will not be produced online. I do not need to
:23:19. > :23:26.remind any of you that in a response to a formal request it is not
:23:27. > :23:29.unusual to deny providing a document in full. I understand there is great
:23:30. > :23:35.QB has achieved that I will put that out at the top, I will not speak to
:23:36. > :23:48.the content of this e-mail traffic. -- rate curiosity, -- great
:23:49. > :24:05.curiosity, but I will put that out at the top.
:24:06. > :24:08.British astronaut Tim Peak has asked school children in Britain
:24:09. > :24:10.to help him in one of his scientific experiments.
:24:11. > :24:13.He wants pupils to plant seeds of rocket leaves that have been
:24:14. > :24:16.Their growth will be compared with normal plants to help
:24:17. > :24:18.researchers develop new varieties of crops that could be grown
:24:19. > :24:23.This report by our Science Correspondent, Pallab Ghosh.
:24:24. > :24:26.Ever since Tim Peake blasted off, his adventures in space
:24:27. > :24:30.Now from the space station he is doing it again.
:24:31. > :24:33.We are going to get a packet of these space seeds when Tim Peake
:24:34. > :24:36.comes back down to earth, we're going to do some experiments
:24:37. > :24:39.He is asking schoolchildren to help him with one
:24:40. > :24:42.I'm looking after two kilograms of special space
:24:43. > :24:44.seeds which is ready for our special mission,
:24:45. > :24:47.Now that these seeds have been on the
:24:48. > :24:49.International Space Station I will pack them up at the end
:24:50. > :24:52.of their mission and send them back to earth
:24:53. > :24:55.and when they arrive they will be sent to thousands of schools to grow
:24:56. > :24:58.alongside the seeds that haven't been up here in space as part
:24:59. > :24:59.of our special science experiment.
:25:00. > :25:02.Once they plant the rocket seeds,
:25:03. > :25:05.instead of the stem going up it will go down and the roots will grow
:25:06. > :25:07.up instead, that's what I'm thinking!
:25:08. > :25:09.I've been watching virtually every broadcast
:25:10. > :25:12.he has done, I'm really excited, and my aim is to be like him.
:25:13. > :25:14.I think it's incredible that all of our schools
:25:15. > :25:17.in the country are going to be involved in something so important
:25:18. > :25:21.The pupils at Walton High School in Stafford are among
:25:22. > :25:23.children from 10,000 schools expected to help Tim in his project.
:25:24. > :25:25.The experiment by pupils here could ultimately help
:25:26. > :25:27.scientists develop crops that astronauts could grow
:25:28. > :25:30.on the International Space Station and in the future it could enable
:25:31. > :25:31.people to grow their own crops
:25:32. > :25:46.Eating on the Space Station has never been straightforward.
:25:47. > :26:10.That is all from me and the team, goodbye for now.
:26:11. > :26:15.Thanks for joining me for some of the world weather headlines.
:26:16. > :26:16.Australia