behind the scenes at >> hello welcome to another news hour at al jazeera and hour headquarters in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes, angela merkel and president hollande head to moscow to enhance peace in draughn but can they convince president putin. >> rallying for support for king abdullah in jordan for destroying isil. >> the plane that crashed in the

river lost power after takeoff. >> from baghdad to berlin, a film festival in the german capitol. >> we begin with a new diplomatic push to slash conflict in ukraine. angela merkel's promised to use all her power to get president putin to sign a new peace plan after meeting with president poroshenko. civilians in donetsk are bearing the brunt of the conflict. following all the diplomatic angles, we've got chancellor merkel appearing that pour cold water on this, saying she doesn't know if it will be

possible to even get a ceasefire. president hollande more upbeat saying more than a ceasefire he wants a comprehensive peace agreement. what sort of reception will they receive? >> they'll receive reception from value put in which he will most likely present his idea of what he thinks should be done on the ground in ukraine. we know from john kerry he revealed yesterday that he sent a proposal to the european leaders a few days ago. they've been looking at it, they've been thinking it over and they have come up with a counter proposal, something that they think is a better solution. that's what they're bring to go moscow. what exactly that solution is, that counter proposal we don't know yet because they've been tight-lipped boo b. it at that there are rumors that this is going to be some keep good cop routine to what the americans

have been proposing, they are the bad cop. merkel and hollande might sit down and say look, vladimir, we don't want the americans arming the ukraine army, so let's freeze this conflict where it is where the front lines are at the moment and try to move beyond this. let's stop this inflaming into a wider european war. now, putin has suggested that he might want some sort of u.n. piece keeping force on the ground or at least his people have been suggest that go, but again, we don't know the details of this and we don't know what success might be achieved, because as you say, angela merkel has been -- well, she's been pouring cold water on any hopes of ceasefire. she's been saying that we don't know if it will be achieved today or further talks will be needed. we don't know whether talks will be short or long or whether

these will be the last talks. >> joe biden has been making some pretty strong remarks about vladimir putin saying it doesn't matter what you agree with putin he's going to ignore it anyway. is there any reaction to that? >> this will be dismissed as r rhetoric, as most things the u.s. says are dismissed as. whenever the americans people from washington, diplomats, et cetera say things that criticize value put and kremlin hierarchy they tend to respond with similar accusations right back, because there are two very, very different narratives about who is at fault in the ukraine who is to blame for the tense situation in geo politics right now. when they say putin cannot be allowed to redraw the map putin will say what about kosovo, we didn't like it, serbia didn't

like it, but it was pushed ahead anyway. when he ignores agreements, putin will say nato promised it wasn't going to expand eastwards, those promises were broken. there's very little trust on either side. >> many thanks, rory. while that diplomatic push gathers momentum, the situation for people living in eastern ukraine is getting more desperate. hundreds of thousands have been forced to leave their homers and find a safe place to shelter. charles stratford is following events from donetsk in eastern ukraine. where are those people going? where can they find safety? >> well, certainly here in donetsk, the shelling has continued both overnight and into the day from various different locations around city both incoming and outgoing. the people here certainly in donetsk afraid, continue to live in fear. we passed massive queues of

people waiting for aid. they have very little hopes in these talks, a lot of finger pointing toward the ukrainian government and finger pointing toward the west. people are dying here on a daily basis, as well. we went down to the largest morgue here and spoke to the head guy down there. he said four people had been taken to the morgue in the last 24 hours. he said something like 500 people in the last months have been brought in, and he said around 70% of those were civilians. but, of course, that kind of exposure to the violence among civilians isn't just here in the area controlled by the separatists, but also across the front line. yesterday, we went to the town of cremators and spoke to civilians fleeing. >> she and her children are

lucky to be alive as the shells exploded around their home, volunteers braved the artillery and mortar fire and drove them to safety. >> when we were evacuated the rockets started range down on us. the volunteers told thousand get down and cover our children's heads. i took the risk, because i had to save my children. >> tatiana and three of her four children are staying at a shelter set up by volunteers. her ex-husband and eldest daughter are still hiding in a basement in their besieged hometown. there are 50 others here who have also fled the violence. the makeshift dormitories are cramped, the air is stale because the children get cold if the windows opened in winter i'm scared. i feel lost, it's hard, but there is no way we can go back home. >> it's estimated that more than 900,000 people like tatiana and her family have been forced to flee their homes. as the fighting gets worse the

number of civilians killed or wounded in this conflict increases by the day. there's been a sharp escalation in fighting over recent weeks while both the ukrainian government and accept are separatists blame each other for failures in recent truce talks. ukrainian military pour in more troops to the front line. it seems the increasingly well-equipped fighters do the same. russia continues to deny supplying the separatists with soldiers or weapons. just as in separatist controlled towns, they are full of wounded civilians and soldiers. none of these soldiers could ever predicted the violence they would be subjected to. tatiana hopes the rest of her

family will join them soon. >> there may know be a ceasefire in debaltseve. what can you tell bus that? >> that's right yes. that town where we saw that report a few seconds ago is not far from debaltseve. it's a town that the rebels say they have surrounded. it has seen some of the worst fighting we've seen. there was a humanitarian corridor that was negotiated by both sides so bosses could go in and get some of the wounded civilians out. now, we were down in debaltseve only a couple of days ago without a humanitarian corridor, and the scenes were quite catastrophic really, heavy shelling from both sides very few people on the streets, very little indication of many people living there at all but we hear a dozen buses have gone to

debaltseve to pull some of those wounded and very terrified civilians out of the town. a separatist spokesperson said they are expecting to pull out around 1,000 people and those people will be given a choice whether they want to be evacuated into separatist-controlled territory or crain. just on a side note with the level of optimism here among the separatists with respect to these attempts at a truce negotiation, a rebel spokesperson here hasn't dismissed the idea of everything being cots traffic. he said there is still hope for something he described as constructive coming out of these talks. he also scribbled the minsk agreement last september as being an imitation of true negotiations and with respect to this idea that the americans may now be contemplating

providing weapons, he said that would do harm to both the russian federation and many countries. >> charles stratford in donetsk. >> thousands have rallied in jordan's capitol to show solidarity with the family of pilot muath al-kaseasbeh. he was killed by the islamic state of iraq and the levant after being taken hostage in september. sheer showing 40 for the campaign against the group june 000s have participated in this protest in downtown amman in support of the government and king abcall this and the army. they are right now chanting in support of the king. they say that the best thing that happened out of the tragic death of muath al-kaseasbeh is that it has united people together. the jordanians are now speaking with one voice. they say that before, there were

people who didn't agree with the government's role in the international coalition against isil and now they do. people also had doubts and were wondering why jordan was participating in the coalition. now they have their answers. they say they want revenge and they want to it come soon, because they people that the killing of muath al-kaseasbeh and the manager in which he was murdered has hurt and touched every single jordanian in every single home. now, the jordanian army has also said that tens have its own fighter jets and outside the framework of the international coalition against isil has shelled targets isil targets in iraq and syria on thursday. the army says that all these targets that were shelled were destroyed and they include weapon storage facilities as well as training camps. the army said that this is just the beginning and that they will make isil pay for every

hair on muath al-kaseasbeh's body. what we're going to expect next is a very active and pronounced role for jordan in the international coalition against isil and it's now even talking about supporting troops fighting isis on the ground, such as the kurdish peshmerga forces, the rack army and the moderate syrian opposition, which jordan had been reluctant to assist in the past. >> meanwhile iraq's prime minister has promised that his military is close to defeating isil in iraq's second largest city mosul. that's strategic because of the proximity to the mosul dam iraq's main water and power resource. al abadi made the comments after meeting with german chancellor angela merkel in about her lib. they were discussing efforts to help defeat isil and current falling oil prices.

>> they are prepared to provide all forms of assistance, military intelligence and security and also require a great deal of training are for our security and police personnel to gain control of the areas liberated where isil fighters have been forced out. these areas are under the control of security forces, namely the police, and that's why we're seeking assistance in terms of training. in terms of the economy we're facing a great crisis by virtue of the decline in oil prices. we have genuine intention to say rebuild infrastructure and establish a partnership between private and public sectors in iraq. >> mr.al al abadi said it needs more backing from the international community. >> iraqis are asking for more help from the international communities. in the words of prime minister al abadi, we are facing a well trained enemy an enemy which is

developing quality weapons and at the end of the day yes isil has not been able to take more territory. we've seen the kurds in the north manage to recapture a number of villages, the iraqi forces capture areas in the south, but isil still controls the main urban centers mosul tikrit cities in anbar. this war cannot just be won militarily. there needs to be unity in iraq, reconciliation because what we're seeing is new facts being created on the ground and communities still distrust each other. in the south when shia militia's capture territory the shia population don't return. when the kurds push forward in the north villages end up depopulated. iraq's prime minister needs to find a way to bring iraq's community politicians together and make this a fight or iraq, for the time being it seems

each community is fighting for their own territory. >> plenty more still to come here on the news hour. after an encouraging downward trend, the ebola virus that slider up again with a rise in new infections. we'll tell you why. >> we're in bangkok where start ago business could be a bit of trouble, but it isn't dampening all entrepreneurial spirit. >> the latest on the tournament p.m. >> investigators in taiwan are have you not raveling why a plane crashed do a river. one engine appears to have failed before the second engine was apparently manually shut down. search teams are still trying to recover bodies from the wreckage which is sitting in freezing waters.

we have a report from taipei. >> for a third day they searched waters of the river for the missing flight, and more bodies were brought to shore. among those found, two young boys, 11 and 12, still strapped into their seats. the cause of the crash started to emerge. investigators announced what the black boxes revealed, engine two appeared to malfunction automatically tilting its blades to no longer give thrust. one engine was shut down. >> essentially you're saying the pilots made a decision to shut down the one engine that was still providing thrust to the aircraft, is that correct? >> the pilots actually they did discuss reduce the power on number one but right now, we can only stick from the data. data indicate the engine be cut

off, but we do not know why or who did it. >> what is clear is that by the time the plane made its plunge to the river clip ago tax see and the bridge, one engine was spinning us leslie, the other not turning at all. in a police car park shown the footage, of all the stories of survival from this crash surely one of the most remarkable. >> it goes without saying how lucky the driver and passengers were. large parts of the vehicle look untouched, but in the front this slice taken out by the wing tip. two lives saved by a mere fraction of a second. >> another amazing escape, in the momentses after the crash a passenger freed others from their seats. he'd been sitting in the safer rear out of habit because it makes it easy tore get away with more hand luggage. he said he knew there was a problem as the plane took off. >> it felt unbalanced in the

cabin. i guessed there must be something wrong with the engines, then i felt the plane seemed to turn around. i told the other passenger to say protect themselves. >> but the survivors were the minority. most onboard are now being mourned, including the flight crew whose decision-making is now at the heart of this investigation. taiwan's vice president hailed them for their heroics saving lives with the last seconds of their own. >> protestors have gathered in two suburbs of egypt said capitol. this was the scene in the neighborhood of sadat rallies against the government. protests have also been taking place east of cairo. >> al jazeera journalists baher mohammed and mohamed fahmy have spent 405 days behind bars in egypt accused of reporting false

news charges that they and al jazeera deny. peter greste arrived back home in australia after being released this week, mohamed fahmy and baher mohammed are still in prison. al jazeera demands their immediate release. >> airstrikes on the out skirts of damascus is rising, 70 people have reportedly been killed so far in the latest raid. the government targeted rebel-controlled areas in the city's east. >> in the moments after the bombardment, panic sweeps through. homes, businesses, entire streets are decimated and bodies line the streets. >> we were hit by more than 14 air raised. we rescued people in the buildings, recovering victims cut in pieces from under the rubble. >> this is the eastern edge of damascus. syrian jets hit the area on

thursday. the number of dead continues to rise. the injured were brought here, but the hospital is full, and medical supplies were lacking even before the bombardment. >> rockets hit during the early hours of the morning. >> the syrian government said the attack was in response to shelling by opposition groups by military in the capitol. they say it wasn't only soldiers killed but civilians too. they are accused of hitting civilian areas to inflict maximum damage, something the government denies. >> the objective of this operation is to strictly prevent the regime from targeting civilians. the war is between us and the regime while the regime is targeting civilians in the areas held by us, we respond by

targeting their military areas only. the more they target our civilians, the more we will rocket their military positions. >> that has played out across the country for four years and killed at least 200,000 people. al jazeera. >> the united nations has expressed concern about the increase of new ebola cases in west africa. the infection rate had been dropping in recent months, raising the hope that the worst was over. almost 9,000 people have died from the disease since december, 2013. more now. >> in a village in southeastern guinea health education teams from the united nations spread the message about ebola. this in itself is progress. many communities who were once suspicious are aid workers are start to go pay attention to their efforts. >> yes ebola is still here. as long as the world health organization doesn't announce the outbreak i guess over, we will stay vigilant.

>> in the past week, the number of new cases went up for the first time this year in all three of west africa's worst-hit countries, liberia, sierra leone and guinea. the rise ended what had been an encouraging downward trend. >> good progress is being made, but the outbreak still presents a grave threat, and we really hope that there will be no complacency among anybody involved in the response. >> there are concerns that the battle against the disease will be side tracked by a lack of money. >> at the end of february, we will start running out of cash already, which means two or three weeks from now. the one thing we can be sure of, there will still be ebola in two or three weeks. we cannot be sure that we will have the money we need to make

sure we stop that ebola. >> but there are some positive signs, the largest clinical trial being run by french researchers revealed encouraging results and liberia has recently started the first vaccine trials but it's in its early stages. the w.h.o. warns that more needs to be done before the rainy season begins in april which will make it difficult for health teams to reach affected areas. al jazeera. >> let's get some weather. if it's range where you are right now spare a thought for the poor people of madagascar. it's not just raining there, it is really, really bucketing down. here to tell us more, our meteorologist. >> spot-on. we have the potential for catastrophic flooding over the next few days. look at that swirl of cloud in the mozambique channel. it has been raining here for

weeks and we are going to see heavy rain, but the potential for a tropical cyclone to come through over the next couple of days. it has really been bucketing down in the southwest of the country, 26 millimeters of rain in 24 hours. on monday, we saw 112 millimeters of rain. further north we saw 400 millimeters of rain. across the western coast of madagascar in the course of only four days, that is over a month's worth in only four days. we have saturated ground and here we go with our developing system. it looks likely to develop into a tropical cyclone as we go saturday into sunday. winds could gust to 100 kilometers per hour, very, very heavy rain. could see similar rainfall to that so certainly a potential of 500 millimeters of rain or so. that will be south through the weekend. you can see that legacy of showers continue to feed its way

right across that western side of madagascar. it will cause flooding then. the only consolation i can offer, it is a little drier for mozambique and malawi. >> the 56th annual berlin film festival is underway and one filmmaker is out to challenge stereo types about his home country, iraq. we spoke with him about how his own family history reflects a forgotten side of the war-torn nation. >> this is what millions think of when it comes to iraq, sadaam hussein and war. this is what he wants the world to see the other side have iraq a history lesson through iraq eyes, a country that once felt liberal compared to neighbors, at least. a snapshot in time. >> it's surprised to see that my arms and my uncle's that their in the 50's, alive, which compares to everything in the

west but with their own roots they listened to modern arab music, they had their writers poets, everything, you know? it's like it gives an idea of what could have happened if the country would not gone into war and dictatorship. >> i was born -- >> iraq odyssey tells the country's story through family members, now scattered from london to l.a., new york to new zealand. it shows iraq's fonder days and how the course of its destiny changed. >> iraq became, you know, in the front line of the cold war between the soviets and the west. that ended up, really then in the dictatorship and all that war, so it was really a lot. >> this is not a religious film. in fact it's the opposite. secularity runs through it. times may have changed but he feels iraq's better days can

return. generation y. is tasked with that. >> there are so many young people now. for them, the take tater ship, there is no experience that have so they only know the chaos of the war but they now try to do new things. they use the social media they know how to, you know, what's going on in the world and they saw of course the arab spring, you know. the thing which i feel now that people are not afraid anymore. >> it is an optimistic outlook from a man who has seen and captured it all. al jazeera at the berlin film festival. >> not sure what was going on in the background. still to come on the news hour, as the price of oil goes down, the price of basic goods going up in nigeria. we'll report on a looming currency crisis there. >> poetic justice prisoners get a dose of shakespeare as part of a new education program in new

york. >> another bad day for tiger woods as he pulls out of his latest tournament. details coming up later in sport.

>> hello again. our top stories this hour, the leaders of france and germany are head to go moscow for talks on the conflict in crain. thousands have rallied in jordan

in solidarity for the family of pilot muath al-kaseasbeh. he was killed by isil. demonstrators support the governments campaign against the group. >> investigators in taiwan have begun to unravel why a plane crashed into a river. they say one engine failed before the second engine appeared to be manually shut down. >> let's look at how jordan's policy toward the fight against isil is changing, the brutality in which jordanian pilot muath al-kaseasbeh was killed appears to ever transformed the kingdom's role in the coalition to a point of pride. for months now jordan has been taking part in the u.s. coalition, but strikes were limited to syria. now, though, the military extended its operation into iraq and moved its troops to the border there all part of the

government's "harsh response" to the killing of the pilot. these pictures posted by jordan's military show pilots writing messages in chalk on bombs about to be dropped on isil. one says that islam has nothing to do with isil. u.s. politicians are calling to increase military assistance to the kingdom. washington already provides jordan with $1 billion in economic and military aid annually. the u.s. is sending aircrafts and troops to help rescue pilots down in rebel-held territory. let's get a view on all of this now. a political analyst and professor of middle east he were history at qatar welcome. what do you make of jordan's response to the killing of its pilot, is this military response more about appeasing domestic anger than the actual threat

posed to jordan by isil? >> a member of this u.s. coalition, after december, jordan has moved to be in the eye of the storm in that coalition and gradually its role's been increased and with the killing of the pilot basically the focus was on jordan for two reasons, one for domestic reasons the government feels itself under pressure from the public opinion because there was discussion in jordan about why we are in this war from the beginning. there was a need for quick response. the second reason was basically for the jordanian commitment toward international committee from the beginning on the we're on terror in general context. of course jordan as you mentioned has a strong ties with the united states, and united states have supported jordan economy and military for years. for those two reasons jordan feels now the government should respond quickly to at least

please. opinion and calm down the situation in jordan in particular and move on toward more contribution of the other players of the coalition. >> what are the dangers in this for jordan? first of all being involved in the coalition's fight against isil in the first place but secondly of upping its commitment. >> because of course, jordan will not be capable to be -- to act or to be in this -- to play this role basically because this is, you know, a consuming war and in the last six months, basically, there was an effort from 60 countries, 20 of them, they had meeting january 22 in london and they will have a meeting on the eight of february and another meeting on the 18 of february in washington, so jordan cannot play the role itself. it has to cooperate with other countries. the united states of course is one of the many players and

without having united states onboard, jordan cannot continue playing this role. of course, those moments in those days can be understood on the domestic context. >> you talk about the opposition to the war. the public anger over the killing of the pilot, how much support is there within jordan, not support that's the wrong worth, sympathy, perhaps within jordan for isil itself? >> you know, according to the views we were gathering last more than one month, there was two fronts, some people who actually discussing the legitimacy of the war showing the legitimacy of what's happening with isil. after the killing of the pilot it seems things have been changed rapidly and it seems that it's hard to find someone coming in public and say that what isil did was acceptable.

that was an indication, basically that there is, you know changing of the mood in jordan when it comes to isil. of course, there was also discussion about, you know, what isil's doing how to affect the stability of jordan, all these portion remain on the table been, you know, within the elite circle of jordan until the end of this war. >> many thanks indeed. >> baghdad's decades long cure fee ends sunday. some form has been in place since the u.n. entered iraq in 2003 hammer perking commercial activity and the movement of civilians. despite the war some neighborhoods have become more stable. that's encouraging investment. we have a report now from baghdad. >> you night think this traffic jam is made up of iraqis trying to leave baghdad.

they're actually russia to go get to shops and restaurants in one of baghdad's most fashionable neighborhoods. during the civil war here, iraqi's mostly stayed in their own neighborhoods. as the tax declined, investment increased. there is now so much money at stake, some people say it protects the area from bombings. here within a few blocks is almost everything fashionable iraqis could want. there are no american chains here but some try to come close. while in other neighborhoods jewelry stores are still the target of attacks these have been immune. it's the first time the family has been in baghdad since they left for syria and then the kurdish region two years ago. >> the situation has improved, so we were encouraged to come visit. i didn't before, because i was worried about terrorism and

concern about my daughters and myself. >> people here make the most of the hours leading up to the midnight curfew. >> iraqi's love going out particularly in baghdad. the streets are filled with people shopping or going out for dinner or just getting out of the house. although 2 million iraqis have left because of the violence, those who stayed have adapted. >> on this bustling street corner catering to iraqis getting an early start on valentine's day. in baghdad there's an attention-getting twist. restaurants and cafes are packed. iraqi investors opened this franchise of the turkish chain last year. they plan to open 13 more. >> iraq people now have the money. they want to spend it. >> there's more to come. this 33 story complex will

include a shopping mall, hospital and a luxury hotel. it's the biggest private sector project in iraq. across the city are huge projects started by sadaam hussein and abandoned when the war came. business men say the future lies in private investments and enough stability to make them work. al jazeera baghdad. >> hundreds of people have marched through haiti demanding fuel prices be cut. demonstrators set fire to two vehicles in port-au-prince and police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. the government recently reduced the price of fuel to just over a dollar a liter but protestors threaten a second demonstration if fuel costs aren't cut even further. >> there have been protests in bangladesh's capitol against the opposition leader. her national party called for a transport last month.

demonstrators say the shutdown has led to violence on the streets. earlier, she was charged with instigating an arson attack on a bus, killing seven. >> the nigerian based armed group boko haram attacked a border town. the invasion marks the second time a down in a neighboring country has been raided by the group. wednesday, fighters killed dozens of people in cameroon. cameroon is where three days of crisis talks are being held to finalize the african union's plans to combat boko haram. diplomats and western nations and the u.n. are attending. last week, leaders agreed to send 7,500 troops to fight the armed group. fears of further attacks prompted security to be stepped up in nigeria ahead of next week's presidential election. a team from the international criminal court is in the country, urging all parties to refrain from violence before, during and after the

february 14 vote. >> no one should be incited to commit violence, that the election should be held and a warning that anyone who in cites violence anyone who commits crimes the prosecutor is watching and will not hesitate to take action against anyone who incites violence. >> there is a tough financial crisis in nigeria the economy underpinned by oil exports. the price slump is pressuring nigeria's currency. we explain from the capitol. >> she is shopping for toiletries in the nigerian capitol. the prices have nearly doubled because of the falling global price of oil. sellers buy goods in dollars

from abroad. the local currency has lost nearly 10% of its value against the dollar making the goods more expensive to import, so sellers have passed the increased costs on to customers. >> it's ridiculous. i came to the market today with an intent of spending 7,000 but ended up spending 9,000. when i was asking the man most of the things i used to buy for like 1,500 were now 1,800, 1,850 or even 2,000. everything had added money. >> nigeria's central bank has increased prices. oil has lost 60 percent of its value. >> at stores like these they've been preparing for the increased cost of importing goods. >> bringing in most of the goods

from abroad has kind of slowed down. we kind of expected it because of the drop in the price of oil. >> the situation is a little harsher for consumers who have to buy dollars when they travel abroad and they're having to spend more to get dollars. economists say the falling value is an important lesson. >> we should be more responsible. we should save at good times. i mean, if you look at some of the arab countries, you know, they've diversified their economy away from oil. >> nigerians are hoping that the price of oil stabilizes so that the country regains its income and prices can come down. >> there could be more pressure on the currency around the corner. the presidential election is being held in just over a week and there are concerns that if there's any insecurity, that could further weaken the

occurrence. >> stay with us on the news hour. straight ahead all the latest in sport include be anger from ghana's fans after they're attacked during the africa cup.

>> we want to take you to thailand where small and medium size businesses forel backbone of the economy but some business owners are struggling to compete against a handful of

powerful family-owned companies. from bangkok, we have a report. >> it's the perfect idea for a startup business, a service that helps young professionals deal with laundry in crowded and bustling cities. it's a high-tech automated locker system where customers drop off dirty clothes and pick them up clean. anytime they like, all of it can be tracked on line or from a smart phone. that idea became a reality two years ago when he started wash box 24. there are now over 30 locker locations across bangkok. >> we didn't even know that it was called startup. it's just something we were passionate about, could solve problems in life. >> but he faced his own problems. the lack of facilities and resource to say help startup businesses was preventing him from growing his company. >> if you compare thailand to singapore or honk cock, we don't have the luxury. we help ourselves do everything

ourselves. >> small and medium sized businesses make up 97% of all thai companies. >> thai commercial banks favor traditional business plans not startup ideas like wash box 24. when bond asked for a loan, they told him no. he looked abroad, entering and winning startup seed money contest that took him to finland and switzerland. a few families control the vast money and real estate in thailand. they are deep rooted and well connected. >> like this convenience store it's one of thousands of outlets owned by the central retail company, everything from small shops up to luxury malls. because of market reach wash box 24 has recently started working with central but some believe these huge companies are

part of the reason thailand start ups are struggling. >> the economy is being controlled basically by 10 families. we need to empower the 65 million people and not just the 10 families. >> so until that happens most looking to get their startups off the ground will have to look farther than this shrine in bangkok, a traditional spot for entrepreneur to say come and pray for business. most will look for seated money outside the country. >> time now for sport as promised. here's joe. >> africa cup of nation organizers under pressure to punish equatorial guinea's fans. there was violence as the crowd spilled on to the pitch eight minutes from time. at least 10 people were injured when angry fans attacked ghana supporters and players.

tear gas was used to disperse the crowds. it took 34 minutes to restore order in the stadium before ghana was able to complete their victory. their fans left jump set. >> i know equatorial guinea and ghana are friends. either you lose, win or draw. it's not fine. >> following that match the equatorial guinea's team apologized for the behavior of the fans. >> we are very proud with the tournament we have played. we have reached the semi finals, something historic for us. i would also like to congratulate ghana and apologize to the africa football confederation and everybody for the incident which happened today. we know this should not happen in the world of football.

again, i apologize. >> as you can imagine that violence overshadowed the game on the pitch. the violence was sparked before the break. ghana won 3-0 as they reach a ninth final in which they'll face ivory coast. our correspondent robin adams was at that match and joins me now. equatorial guinea are meant to be playing a third fourth placed playoff saturday. at this point, do we know will that go ahead? >> that match will indeed be taking place. it will be going ahead as planned on saturday, but whether or not they will be playing in an empty stadium remains to be seen. the organizing committee in meeting at the moment. we're waiting for their outcome on what kind of punishment

equatorial guinea is likely to place. the coach explained he is ready to play the game. >> those scenes were played across the world. that much was televised african football fans will be looking at this many disgusted by what they saw. >> absolutely. the equatorial guinea fans we had spoken to said the anger were from decision that is weren't going their way and somehow morphed into the violent scenes we saw play out at the stadium. the general feeling and consensus among african fans is that of disgust as you mentioned. many of them obviously strongly condoning in the strongest possible terms the scenes.

>> violence in football is a common phenomenon everywhere in the world and you can't just say that it's an african thing. we should be careful not to make it equatorial guinea look like africa as a country, you understand what i mean. from my personal experience, anybody who has been gassed before as entire gas you start, i mean, it's like you have pepper in your eyes, tears coming out and you are choking and that's the worst part of it, you can be vomiting and all that. i saw a lot of that. there was a small stampede as the security forces in the stadium were moving in to dispel the crowd after a long time i must say of doing nothing. that was part of the experience around it wasn't pleasant at all. >> what about possible sanctions

and punishments handed out to equatorial guinea. that is going to be standard, but as to whether they are going give them a ban as we said earlier, they are definitely going to weigh the politics of the situation. while nobody wanted to hold the africa cup of nations there, i am going to play that card very strongly indeed. >> tunisia's high on the agenda, thief had to apologize by yesterday's deadline midnight for august ethics and being biased. >> we understand that they are going to face sanctions. we don't know how the sanctions are going to be.

this is very important because don't forget, tunisia are one of the companies short lifted to hold the 2016 cup of nations. if this doesn't go their way it might result in them being banned but the tunisian, it seems like they just don't care. they are angry at the fact that they were kicked out unceremoniesly as it were. i got a message from colleagues that businesses have been shut down in reaction to all that is going on. teams were supposed to fly out by now and haven't. >> we'll keep on eye on developments. always good to have you around al jazeera. we will keep a close eye on those developments. back to doha for now. >> tense times at the african cup of nations. >> tiger woods has pulled out of the opening round of the farmer's insurance open because

of an apparent back injury. the former world number one struggled with his swing and short gain. the 14 time major winner was two over par when he decided to pull out after 11 holes. he was coming off his worst score as a professional at the phoenix open last week. that is all the sport for now. >> more than 1.5 million people are behind bars in the united states and statistics show three quarters of those will offend against once released. a new program is trying to reverse the trend starting in the classroom. >> at first glance, it looks like any college english class. >> we're going to read just that quote. what is the quote again? >> the man standing guard and the barbed wire are a to know r. constant reminder that this is taking place inside the correctional facility and most of the students are inmates.

matthew wilson is near the end of a 13 year sentence for armed robbery and joined the class for one reason. >> change. i knew i had to change. education is a part of that. education opens up doors. >> students from the outside also participate in the class. they say they're learning from the inmates, as well as their instructor. >> understanding how much they care about their education the time put into it. >> the prison to college pipeline is sponsored by john j. college of criminal justice in new york. what makes it unique is that it guarantees inmates a spot here or in any city university after their release. the idea is to provide an education that continues not only beyond prison, but also beyond the classroom. >> robert tate is now pursuing a major in english after serving 10 years for robbery. he says the program is a lifeline. >> my thing was when i came home find a job find steady

housing, find steady income, and, you know, get back to family, and start to build my life over again so i was starting at 30 years old as a 17-year-old. >> the program provides assistance with all of those things and more. >> specifically for our population coming back to the community after having served time it's vital to reestablish community, and a new community may be from the one that you left behind, so the campus becomes that place to find a new self find a new community and build a new life after prison. >> the new program is yet to see its first graduate, but participants appreciate the second chance to expand their minds and opportunities. al jazeera, new york. >> the news continues here on al jazeera in just a couple of minutes. i'll be back to update you on the day's top stairs. that's it. thanks for watching. see you again.

>> music superstar akon >> it is a way for me to make money. it's clearly a business >> lending his voice to those in need >> i'm in a position where i can make a difference >> his goal, to have africa be part of the modern world >> if you wanna keep africa stable, there has to be elections >> every monday, join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time... talk to al jazeera part of our special black history month coverage on al jazeea america

>>ing a america and president hollande head to russia. >> this is al jazeera live from doha. also ahead. >> investigators say one of the engines of a transasia plane that crashed into a river lost power after takeoff. >> after 10 years the occur fee