choice for the news. sgrfrmi this is al jazeera. hello. welcome to the newshour life from doha. thailand's former prime minister is scheduled for meeting the junta following thursday's coup. >> attacks have killed more than 30 people. a former war lord from the democratic republic of congo is sentenced to 12 years in jail for the massacre of hundreds of

villagers. hollywood, tax breaks are constructing a profitable movie industry in new orleans. but first, the former thai prime minister yingluk shinawatra is among politicians summoned to a meeting following thursday's coup. yingluk has been banned from leaving the country. the coup has been widely condemned by the international community. this report from bangkok. >> reporter: once the stage for the anti-government move in bangkok is taken down and removed the morning after the military coup. the protesters left thursday night. most felt their effort of more than six months paid off because of their goal of removing the

current government had been reached. >> this woman we want to work friday morning and is relieved the army is in control? >> personally, i support cou coup de tate. if the army didn't do it, the country would be a real mess. >> this is the army assembly hall where more than 100 people from both sides of the political divide have been sum opinion by the military rulers to discuss the situation. it's one after few spots in bangkok where it looks like a coup has taken place. >> one of those summoned to the talks, prime minister yingluk shinawatra. she and others have been banned by the army from traveling outside of thailand. long gen yem feels betrayed. she was outside the compound where the talks were being held showing her support for yingluk. >> translator: because she is

the only woman who was elected by the people, we want her to be the prime minister again, and we want to support her to fight for the people. >> the streets of bangkok appear to be normal. but with detentions, travel bans, control over the media and the constitution suspended, there was no question that the army is in control. they have given no sign of when the country will be returned to democracy. >> another correspondent, veronica on the streets of bangkok a few hours before the curfew kicks in. veronica, it's an indication from what i can see behind you of how polarized thai society is. >> yes, indeed. just a few hours ago, there seems to be a spontaneous outpouring of protests against

the imposition of military rule in thailand. we saw maybe a couple of hundred people holding makeshift signs, lighting candles at this main intersection in bangkok next to the mbk shopping mall which millions of tourists who come to bangkok will be familiar with. it's a major tourist attraction, shopping center. at that point, police and soldiers gathered about 100 meters from where i am. >> that's why there is an ambulance behind me and they are still there. most of the protest ants have left. it was an interesting test of what military rule could mean for thais because the letter of the law says that gatherings of more than five people are not allowed if the police and soldiers arrest all of them. there were a couple of people who were taken away, dragged

away in military police vehicles, but it goes to show that not everyone agrees with the that this is to bring peace in order to society. they would rather protest against the way it's been brought in. >> everybody must be awaiting this road map of timetable and schedul schedule and elections for democratic rule. they have been the military, that is, have been very careful not to set any deadline at this point. very interestingly, i spoke to a retired general. a former supreme commander of the armed fors. he is also a former senator. he is very familiar with the military's role in thai politics.

he said this was not a well planned takeover and he knows the general and that the general probably didn't want to -- did not want to take power but he felt that he really had to. he was four months away from retirement. a year or 2. it's according to that person. the military, itself, who are in control have simply said: we will be here for as long as it takes. >> all right. for now, veronica, thank you very much veronica on some interesting times in thailand today five suicide bombers were behind an attack on a market in china's northwestern xanxan region o in the regional capital. the government is becaming

wuiger separatists. one day after the bombing, security forces are understandably nervous. police patrols are high proceed tile. no one has claimed responsibility for thursday's attack. the government blames wuigur separatists. the skofrminged pavement where it happened, a predominantly chinese neighborhoodcorched pav happened, a predominantly chinese neighborhood. >> most of the dead are injured and elderly. they came to the market to get cheaper food. i am sad about it. in the nearby wuigu real estate neighborhood, the scale of the violence has come as a shock. even though we are wuigurs, we

are also victims. >> assessing the mood of ordinary wuigurs is not easy. we were outside a mosque om to be briefly detained by the police. the control of information is tightening. eventually remember allowed to resume our work from several plain clothes officers followed. whispering to wuigurs not to talk. >> they are worried for other reasons. >> many are reluctant to talk because in the back of many of their minds are the memories of the riots here almost five years ago when 200 wuigurs and armed chinese were killed. >> victims of thursday's attack were overwhelming lick hahn chinese but they included wuigurs as well. state television showed injured recovering in hospital. the question now perhaps is whether this community can also

recover. adrienne brown, al jazeera, w t western china a court sentenced a former mining tycoon to death, you found guilty of merged. two help are among 36 charged with similar crimes. hun's sentencing is part of the wider corruption crack down to the former execute chief russian president says he will respect the choice of ukrainians on the election on sunday. speaking at an economic forum, vladimir putin says he understands that ukraine wants to emerge from crisis but he said it would have been better for crain to hold a referendum and adopt a new constitution. >> i am an optimist i am not losing hope. i am not losing confidence that the situation in ukraine will calm down sooner orrer.

we will find courses to streamline our relations in ukraine, itself, known as cho chocolate kings. for making final campaigns ahead of sunday's election. al jazeera's nick speicer reports now from southern ukraine on the man he thinks can solve the ukrainian crisis. probably needs something like a savior. retail politics. >> organization of the country and european association. if elected, he won't be

ukraine's first billionaire president. from his home region where he made his fortunate, he will be a tough president and unite ukraine. his money comes from the chocolate candy brand. he says he will sell that company if elected but not his t.v. channel. he said his coverage of the protests in kiev last winter saved the country. demonstrators, standing between them an the police earned him the res spent of many. so does a hefty political resume. he helped lead the orange revolution, a people power fight against an attempt to steal the presidential election in that year. he served as economy minister. >> this is about the future, about ukraine. a key treat topic bring ukraine closer to europe as he told

al jazeera right before all of the unrest began. i hate that he has to keep this unfair political judicial system. this is the level of the corruption. the political association. he was polling so well it looked like he might win more than half the vote eliminating the need for a second round of voting. >> if he is elected, he will face giant challenges, a country fighting armed separatists in the east of the country which the government says are controlled.

a company on life support where a majority in east and west want peace, prosperity and if possible a new politic free of correction. after being accused of being an accessory to war creams, nadine barber reports from the hang. >> reporter: the international criminal court had already convicted him of several charges including murder and pillage. on friday, he was jailed for 12 years, although allowing for his time in custody, he will serve about half of that. >> it is viewed by some that he h

has. >> judges found him guilty of four counts of war crimes and one count of crimes against humanity. they relate to a 2003 attack on bogorhum in congo targeting civilians. up to 200 people were attacked while they were sleeping and hacked or shot to death. many women were raped and used as sex slaves. judges accepted child soldiers were used in the attack. >> at a time lasted more than four years. in the end, his sentence was nowhere near the maximum 25 years which the prosecution had asked for and some observers say the icc should be sending a stronger signal to people implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity. >> the legal team are worried that a sentence seen as lienience could lead to further atrocities. >> i am not 12 years is that

much for someone for many years, committing those crimes for many years. is the icc prosecute, the fact he was acquitted to any connection to the sexual crimes is a disappointment? >> 60% of the individuals charged by the icc have been charged with some form of sexual violence. so the intention of the prosecutor to prosecute these crimes is ambiguous. i don't think we are seeing the results or juris prudence that are supporting the detevent factor of the former accountability process. >> the defense team has already appealed against the convictions and could now appeal against the sentencing as well. for now, this former con gol ease war lord is starting a jail sentence far from his native country. the hague. the international criminal court

has been active for 12 years. how successful has it been in pursuing and bringing war criminals to justice? one was a conviction of the former president charles taylor in 20 children. he was charged with aiding and abetting war crimes during the brutal civil war in sierra leone. the current vice president is on trial at the hague. he is accused of organizing ethnic violence following the 2007 election in which around 1200 people died: the icc has faced criticism for targeting african war lords rather than pursuing crumbs in other parts of the world. he is writing a book about the

role of the international criminal court in africa. thank you very much indeed for joining us, phil. tell us first of all, why does the international criminal court have just in its entre, a list of african alleged war lords? >> i think the icc thought that africa was going to be easy. it started its work in africa because it thought that it could get result there. this was also about the icc trying to make its mark. >> do you think that was i will advised because at the outset, there was a wave of enthusiasm in african countries for the icc and now there is res he wantment or disaffection across many african countries as a result of them feeling.

the i ccs please, sir office underestimated how difficult these cases would be in africa. i think it underestimated how politically difficult it would be. in these investigations. i think some of the problems have faced in the courtroom in terms of trying to get the charges to stick against these suspects has been because of under estimating just how difficult and how complex is. >> that's why we have seen on many of the charges form and in many cases collapse in the hague. we would have to be skeptical

about how the icc has been. we have only seen two successful convictions thus far. a range of african cases haven't got to trial because the evidence that was brought against certain individuals wasn't strong enough. many cases collapsed even before the trial face. at the moment, aphon investigators have to take this continent seriously and they have to hire african experts who know the local terrain extremely well, can gather evidence, who understand that the politics and could can build systematic criminal cases. relying onphon experts who don't know africa at all. i think that's having a big impact in the courtroom. >> bill clark at london university. we look forward to reading your book. thank you. more to come here on the newshour.

. >> the changing for tunes of egypt's coptic christian minority plus. >> reporter: new orleans is becoming known as the hollywood of the south. we will show you how the film industry is changing the face of the big easy. the face of u.s. ball won't be heading to the world cup. we will have more tof the detais in just a little while. a send person died in istanbul after violent protests overnight. the unrest comes just ahead of the first anniversary of anti-government demonstrations. the govern has appealed for calm. we can go life now and speak to our correspondence anita mcnaughton. tension is pervading in istanbul as it prepares to mark that one year anniversary.

extremely tense, inflammable situation. also being liberally bandied about. the governor has come out, the governor of istanbul to say that there will be an open and transparent forensic investigation into the fatal shooting of the man. where he died of his injuries later. that will injury was sufficient to kill him a few hours later. the other death a little harder to pin down. a fragmentation bomb is what the please are saying was responsible for his death. a bomb was hurled at police, trying to control the rioting

situation. we have a prime minister that should tie urduwan. what sort of things do you expect the police to do? when as we can see from the videos we shot at the time, petrol bombs are being hurled at police and they have to act in self defense. the police, themselves have also issued a statement saying they are trying their best in a very difficult time to operate, the street protests are continuing. we have hundreds gathered outside of this religious house of worship at the moment waiting for the funeral of the man supposedly innocent man who died while attending an unrelated funeral of a man whose death was unrelated to the process, themselves. so an ununfortunate chain of events now. >> what is it that is bringing people out on the street still? and particularly, in this part of istanbul? >> well, we have been there before. i have reported before. it is a particularly sensitive part of this big city.

it's the place where berkin elvan, the young turkish boy who was hit by a gas canister during the riots and was in a coma for months afterwards and then died, it was the scene of his funeral at the same relimingous house of worship that the shooting happened yesterday. it's that area that has been particularly sensitized to allegations of police violence. there is another problem going on in the background here, another fault line if you like under the "tour of turkey." this area is not only a leftist pro-unionist area. the mine disaster. but this is also an area strong with the levy community, an offshoot of shiia islam numbering millions and they feel that they have been unfairly targeted by this government. not now and only now.

the rep precepted disproportionately. they say they feel a move against them. a long-standing grievance here not helped by recentents. >> on the ongoing troubles in istanbul. let's look at egypt now and security official there. it has been killed in the sinai peninsula. the head of a group died with three of his associates. he has been behind a series of security forces since the eerm deposed mohammed morsi in july. an estimated 8 million coptic christians were subjected to several attacks during the last phase of the morsi government. even now, the community faces an uncertain future just as the

country prepares for elections next week. nicole johnston reports. >> reporter: a minority out numbered by muslims. 10% of the population. over the years, many in the community have done very well in business. still they suffer from discrimination and attacks. >> hasn't changed a lot sips the overthrow of hosni mubarak in 2011. many christians were uneasy when mohamed morsi was elected president two years ago. christians were worried about the growing influence of the group and the protection of their rights. so when morsi was over thrown last year, many christians were relieved. their pope spoke at a news conference supporting his downfall. all of this was too much for

muslim brotherhood supporters. they blamed copss for conspiring to overthrow president morsi and things turned ugly. >> in cities across the country, enraged people targeted and burned churches, 37 churches, i think, were destroyed or badly damaged. there was a pattern where police did very little to intervene even though the writing was on the wall. it was clear this kind of thing was at risk of happening. in the still, they were set on fire last year. two were accused of attacking police station. an egyptian court has sentenced more than 600 people to death for carrying out the violence. many supporters of the muslim brotherhood accuse the christians of having supported

the military oust -- backed ouster of morsi and their continuing to support the military-backed government of egypt. as the repress tightens against the muslim brotherhood and they are suspected supporters, the animosity toward the christians has grown. many christian agree. it looks like the former head of the military, abdullah fattah and sisi could be their preferred candidate for the next president. al jazeera. >> the trial of three al jazeera journalists has been adjourned until june the 1st. they have now been held in an egyptian prison for 146 days. they are falsely accused of conspiring with the outlawed

muslim brotherhood. >> we have made disappointingly little progress so far. almost getting to look as if the attempts to grind us down are succeeding. >> that's not just ours as a family. the efforts of a lot of other people. >> helplessness, angst, frustration like you wouldn't believe you can't help but feel angry over this whole thing because it's unjust and unfair and everything else. i am there is a lot of unfairness in the world.

five months, a bit more. go on. this is the hard part. you al jazeera has written to several of the country's political figures. asking to help

>> we are keeping a close eye on it at the moment, not a very big name. it's a tropical disturbance, 92b. now, at the moment, there are rainfall rates of 191 millimeters per hour, a phenomenal amount of rain. it's a great concern. what's going to happen because may is one of the most active months for tropical cyclones as far as bangladesh is concerned. these storms have impact along the coast. at the moment, because of the way the winds are knocking the tops off of the clouds, going to 17 kilometers in the atmosphere. by the way, there is likely to be an awful lot of rain or rainfall totals across neighboring myanmar, but bangladesh will bear the brunt of the rain. as this moves north.

we will keep you posted. >> thank you very much. more to come here on the newshour. >> in athens, dwreekz are being offered a choice of 46 different parties in these european elections: fighting winds in australia, sydney's lafamous landmarks are lit up for a festival of light. montreal had a thriller against the rangers in the eastern conference find. find out who came out on top.

hello. top stories: army general in charge of tie lapped has met rival politicians in bangkok following thursday's coup. lingling yingluk shinawatra has been banned. the con gol ease war lord has been sentenced to 12 years in prison by the international criminal court. he was convicted of being an accessory to war crimes including murder. five suicide bombers were behind a deadly attack on the market in the northwestern xingx a ang region. 31 people were killed at a market there. more than a century is could not

to go cause heartache and ruin livelihoods in europe's balkan region. 51 people are have been killed. tens of thousands of people have been left homeless in serbia, bosnia and croatia. barnaby phillips has this report. in the town in northern bojna, they are trying to keep spirits up. some 20 people died any town. household possessions now sticking piles of rubbish. cleaning up is a daunting job. some people complain they are not getting enough assistance everything we buy. it's expensive. people here in the war, i don't know how to say it.

25 kilometers to the south of toboj is the town of moglaz. it was almost swept away by landslides and water. but at least here people are pulling together. 500 people are coming after finishing their night shift to make the railway function again because it's the backbone of every country's economy. much of the machinery and the rolls of paper. this is a coal mine. here, too, machinery has been badly damaged. an economic impact for a long time to come. barnaby phillips, al jazeera. one of the largest exercises in democracy, millions are going to the polls in the eu the next

few days. around the continent new parties are stealing ground from traditionally powerful. most perhaps in greece. from athens. >> reporter: you know a country has a problem when even the rich aren't happy. this luxury car dealership has n isn't having a good time at all. >> business has been at zero. >> the dealer speaks bitterly about the state's persecuting the well-off, of a political culture which discourages those who have money from spending it. >> the greek economy is trying to say we are getting better, which is not true. we have certain figures that are better. these figures don't filter down to the average public. >> if the rich are disillusions, so many others have more questions than answers. the issue in greece is for the

young people to find a better future. we need to get something good behind. these mentioners say old ways of thi thinking are causing problems for future generations. it's a problem that goes back many years. we have always survived on borrowed money. shrunk by 25% since the last european elections. all sides have been able to inspire people with a vision of where greece goes from here. the consequence of this has been the fragmentation of greek politics, particularly on the left, the party which ruled greece for years and years has disappeared without trace. in these e legs, greeks will be offered a choice. there are fewer than 46 different parties. >> agentens show how this plays out. the far right golden dawn holds a local rally. they are on 10%.

down the road, there is a brand-new party called patarney, or river. the setting is ancient greek. it's conversational. the centrist party is by non-politicians. at 3 months old, they have 7% of the vote. >> you have to realize. what they need to do to get into government. they should be finding answers. if there is anything good to be said about greece's troubles, it's perhaps the people love talking politics as always. all of the sharp politicians are claiming to be intend nowadays. all the new politics have in common is you won't get far if you are linked to the past. lawrence, al jazeera, athens. in afghanistan, five policemen have been injured after gunmen launched a pre-dawn attack on the indian continent in harat

province. the government opened fire on the building with rock rocket-propelled grenades. no staff at the continent were hurt. so far, there has been no claim of responsibility. al jazeera as hob taped video of the attack in marchley by azaw a. d rebels on government troops. this happened last weekend. as the rebels announce, mohammed v. ow reports. >> reporter: this shows the military base being attacked with machine guns. what looks like attacks flee the scene. a number of soldiers inside the base. a fighter relieves. soldiers were not captured they

have it under their control. on thursday, the president announced the ceasefire. he defaulted on his commitment of peaceful dialogue. our goal is to regain control. after that we will be ready to negotiate. it doesn't mean anything for us because we can't trust him. >> the government troops had been allowed inside under a temporary peace deal. but they accused government troops of trying to push them out of the town ahead of a visit last week by the prime minister. ethnic cleansic. they were heavily armed narco

terrorists. mr. president, there is one agressor. mlla who have atabbed the prime primary's peaceful delegation. >> french troops have a base took action during the assault. france says the military mission is solely to fight. calling for calm. presidential elections. the leading candidates have clashed in a t.v. debate on the most controversial issues. the city has more from the capitol bogota. >> columbiaians got a chance to see their two leading candidates confront each other in a live televised debate in what has been described as the dirtiestly campaign in this country's history. the last polls show the president and his main rifle are

practically tied. but that was before farc rebels agreed to renounce all ties to drug trafficking, a major break through. just leaped. shows him being briefed about sensitive military. the voices are not ours. this shows that this is a trick done to our cam paper. there can be no doubt about it. santos accused him of lying to the columbian people and things got more heated when he was accused of being a puppet of the former president, a fierce opponent of the current peace talks with farc rebels. >> the president hounded me because i wasn't precisely his party. you are going to have a tough

time. i demand respect. this is a debate of ideas. i won't. >> one of the biggest questions is whether the debate will give a boost to the floundering president. another mandate so that he could finalize peace talks with the rebels which he considers the hallmark of his administration. the festival of lights is hopping to bomb bard visitors to sidney this season has had tough tim times. success is proving to be rather ill lumnating. >> they are australian land marked not you believe seen in bright sunshine, but it's winter in sidney. that he means longer nights for a fet value of lights taken over the city. projections on water.

[blocks and convansz. an orchestra of light. an opportunity to i didn't to light a 1960s building. make it grow out of the ground. to ponder what use to be here before buildings. >> beautiful though the architectural illumnations are, the motivation for this event is economy, a strong australian dollar has hit the tourism industry hard. sydney is known as a summer city. the beaches are quiet between june and august. the city needed something to keep its tourists on their toes. >> we are looking for ideas of how to fill hotel rooms in winter in sydney. >> that's how it was born. >> running an ice cream business

can be tough in winter. during last year's festival, this shop's revenues went up 70%. >> every year, it seems to get better. more people. they come when the sun goes down and stay until 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 o'clock at night. >> expectations for this year's festival are higher than ever. >> organizers expect almost a million people to see the lights, contributing almost $20 million to sydney's economy. it helps this year's winter so far has been exceptionally warm. out door winter festivals do particular well when it doesn't feel much like winter. andrew thomas, al jazeera, sydney. >> . now to a remarkable story. an mer climber who fell on a m himalayan mountain, speaking of the difficult escape. john orr from kentucky managed to crawl with five broken ribs and a broken arm after falling

22 meters. in this some of the footage that he shot himself from inside the crevace. he was eventually rescued after he managed to send a text message to his friends. i was able to start climb up onto the ledge and evaluate my situation, i knew how badly injured i was. my right arm was in piercing agony. my ribs were hurting badly. it was difficult to breathe i knew you was going to die. people who recall into creff ises don't live. >> the screenplay has been written. much more to come on the news hour including: is it time for the u.s. football team, the washington redskins to change its name? half of the senate says yes.

>> i'm joe berlinger this is the system people want to believe that the justice system works. people wanna believe that prosecutors and police do the right thing. i think every american needs to be concerned about that. we do have the best justice system in the world, in theory... the problem is, it's run by human beings... human beings make mistakes... i'd like to think of this show as a watch dog about the system... to make sure justice is being served. wrongful convictions happen, we need to be vigilant. with our personal liberties

taken away from us, it better be done the right way. is justice really for all? it happens frequently. >> in the face of ball -- he has been the place for ball but no place for him at the 2014 world cup. landon donovan was left out of his 23 man squad for brazil. the l.a. galaxy striker was bidding to make his fourth world cup. the manager left him out. >> the disappointment is huge. i understand he took it professional because he is an outstanding professional players.

he knows i have the highest respect for him, but i have to make the decisions as of today. i have to make the decision what is good today for this group going in to brazil. i think the other guys right now are a little bit ahead of him. i told him that sand he understands it but obviously he is very disappointed. madrid clubs are gearing up to face each other in saturday's champions league final in lisbon lisbon. he might have a tough time ending that bearen run in this sunni's laliga title. he is optimistic about his side's choices? >> it's the greatest joy we can give to the madrid supporters. taking many years to reach this and win it. winning would be the biggest achievement of the last few years. this could be the end. it might be the beginning of a

new chapter. without too much pressure in winning the champions league, the sport might enjoy it more and the team as well. >> thanks very much indeed for that. now, we have some breaking news coming out of thailand and we can talk to our correspondent, veronica perdroza. we are hearing reports the former prime minister, yingluk shinawatra has been detained by the military: yes indeed. last few minutes, we have been able to confirm through a senior military official that yingluk shinawatra, formerly the prime minister of thailand has now been detained by the military. we don't know exactly where she is. and there was a conflicting report that she has actually been released. so we have been trying to check out with various sources what seems to be the situation. >> that's what we have confirmed that she has been detained. there was a report that she may be outside of bank cock. but that has not been done

firmed yet. yes, indeed, the former prime minister engining yinglu-- gyny shinawatra, the great dividing figure in thai politics has now been detained by the military who took over all functions of government at 5:00 o'clock yesterday afternoon. this napings under martial law. >>tion under martial law. >>. >> plumebly her legion of supporters aren't aware of this yet. >> i think that at a time community as it were are abuzz with these rumors. this was an outcome that people had said before martial law may bring her supporters out in their street -- out into the streets? great numbers however we are now under martial law, as i

mentioned. >> means coming out on the street has much more dangerous implications. a few minutes ago, i was at a major intersection where people were demonstrating against a coup and they were faced by lines of armed, ready to control the crowd soldiers who were very full about clearing the streets and what does the political landscape in thailand look like, then, if you remove the tachsen dynasty? what does it look like now? the people who support the shinowarta dynasty, this looks like as if the military is acting in a partial way. >> was one of the tests people were looking at when martial law was declared.

they wanted -- they were wondering whether the military was really interested in solving fairly, he can quitbly the political crisis. the people who support the shinowatrs. make a point that their government was elected. they were and -- they want the people they elected to be in power. there are yellow shirts, the kind of old establishment who make a point that the shinowatras are corrupt and have been nepotistuc and have spats and they want to remove all influence of the shinowat dynasty. they could not agree when they were brought together two days ago under martial law. at that point, they were all

taken when it was found out after a couple of days the talks that they could not agree, they were taken away into custody. the general has given a briefing to ambassadors on background. my understanding from sources who are at that meeting is the general said they would be released within a week. it was very dramatic spthat the person elected as prime minister is in jail, under detension under military rule. >> veronica, we make the point time and again that thailand has seen very many military coups. does this one differ at all from the last one? >> if you speak to human rights activists they will say that we are looking at some of the most severe restrictions in recent years. particularly on freedom of expression. they will point out that this is much more severe than the last coup that happened in 2006,

which i mentioned that that ambassadorial briefing and the ambassador said he sfrooud to answer the question of how this was going to be different. >> all right. thank you very much veronica. bringing us up to date with breaking news out of thailand. now, the american movie making business is looking at new ways to save money. states like louisiana offer tax breaks to film companies as an inceptive that's now paying off. film makers are taking the action to new orleans gaening a bit of a reputation as the hollywood of the south. andy gallagher reports. >> the garden district is already a famous neighborhood. now, it's getting en more attention. film cruise have become an increasingly common site in new orleans. features formerly produced in california have moved south. it's offering production companies big tax breaks, and its worked.

louisiana is now the top location for blockbuster movies. >> represents a major change in the movie business. >> last year, louisiana made more than a billion dollars from the film industry but all of this is about more than just cold, hard cash as the industry haz-mat toured. it's led to jobs, opportunities and now well established businesses, many run by local people. >> it's estimated that the film industry here has created 14,000 permanent jobs. equal to the state's seafood industry. tax incentives were launched 12 years ago and few had any idea they would be so successful. >> there were businesses to service the louisiana film industry and now we are servicing georgia and canada and new york and china. one of those businesses includes to andre champagne. he started his company with a handful of vehicles. now he has a fleet of more than 300. he said his success is down to

incentives for hiring locals. >> the industry affects so many different job sites and positions. i one of the greatest economic development business incentives and stimulant packages i have ever seen. wloouz's newfound fame as the hollywood of the south has seen skilled workers moved in to the state from the industry's more traditional locations. for many, it's a change they don't regret. >> the work will come get you. you don't have to filed the work. you know, here, you can really be a big fish in a small pond. in los angeles, i don't care who you are. you are a very small fish in a very big pond. the next time youboy a ticket to watch the latest blockbuster, chances are it was made here in the hollywood of the south. >> 3, 2, 1. >> andy gallagher, new orleans, louisiana. there is more to come on the developing situation in thailand. stay here with al jazeera.

>> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america just how safe is our nuclear arsenal from a terrorist attack? a failed security test has many wondering. also, thailand turned upside down by a military coup. we take you to bangkok. chicago place say crime has plunged. a closer look shows that the department may be cooking the books how you can ruin someone's impression of you with the first word you say to them? hello, i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this," here is more on what is ahead. >> thailand's army chief