>> don't try this at home. >> "techknow" where technology meets humanity. next monday, 5:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. this is al jazeera. this is al jazeera. >> hello welcome to another news hour from al jazeera from our headquarters in doha. i'm adrian finnegan. coming up in the next 60 minutes, following egyptian air strikes on libya following i.s.i.l. terrorist aarticulates. tens of thousands of people is

in the denmark protests against shootings. we begin this newshour in libya where egyptian jets have carried out air strikes against islamic state of iraq and the levant. apparently shows members of the group decapitating 21 egyptian hostages. the strike comes at a time of political unrest in libya warring armed factions and two rival governments. i.s.i.l.'s ideology appears to be spreading outside its brace base in iraq and syria. we'll be looking at why and why more groups are pushing legislationallegiance to it.

egyptian is buying 24 rafal fighter jets. what's happening on the grounds in libya. kaitlin mcgee reports. >> reporter: on roads and highways in every province of egypt armed vehicles like these have been deployed. their job is to keep public buildings and property safe and secure. egypt is feeling under threat. it carried out air strikes on libya on monday in receipt retribution of killing of 21 egyptian christians against the islamic state of iraq and the levant. this strike hit the libyan street of derna. held by i.s.i.l. linked fighters but the strike also dild civilians andkilledcivilians and children.

general says areas of the eastern city of benghazi and sirte where the egyptian hostages were first seized were targeted. >> translator: we wouldn't hesitate to fight them and it's the same thing that applies for egypt. for groups that carry out such crimes borders aren't going to be an issue. >> the rival government, the national congress based in tripoli crit criticized the egyptian air strikes. >> translator: this horrible strike carried out by the egyptian military is a clear breach of international law and the u.n. charter. >> the air strikes came just hours after egypt's president abdel fattah al-sisi warned it

would retaliate against the killing of the 21 young men. wiping out terrorist groups in the sinai peninsula in the east of the country. it's not only egypt that has been threatened by the rapidly deteriorating security situation in libya. i.s.i.l. has made a direct threat against italy. the italian embassy in tripoli has been evacuated and along with egypt and france, calling for u.n. action. >> peter becktold, u.s. department of state joins us from portland in oregon. peter, what are we to make of egypt's air strikes in libya call for international military intervention in libya? >> well, i'm afraid that he felt he had to do it, similar to king abdullah of jordan and similar to president obama.

because as leaders they need to appear to be protecting their people and to punish those who do harm to the citizens. the problem as your setup piece really well pointed out they are welcomed to some in libya and not by others. >> what is the significance of today's deal between egypt and france to buy military jets? >> france has been looking to export its military hardware for some time and they have had difficulties doing so in the gulf because the united states primarily and great britain secondarily had that market. and france was pushing to sell its hardware in libya. now that there is a meeting of minds between the governments of

france and president -- former general sisi in egypt they both see extremist radicals in their own citizens as the number 1 threat. and so i think they have come closer together to cooperate. >> and what of i.s.i.l.'s tactics and the armed group responsible for weekend's apparent beheadings, is i.s.i.l. spreading its tentacles to north africa now? >> this is an excellent question. in my own mind i try to distinguish between the organization and the idea that it represents. organizationally, you know a lot of people say such a group is linked to i.s.i.s. as they used to say such and such a group is linked to al qaeda. they are not formally linked. there is no central organization that hands out membership cards. but the ideas are often shared.

and the ideas that they, from their point of view, are, you know under, youknow under attack. when i saw that scene on your television, the person that brandished the knife said, this is in response to your new crusade. of course the fact that they forced the unfortunate prisoners to wear orange jump suits clearly indicates retaliation for guantanamo. so this is just a terrible cycle ever retribution and it needs -- of retribution and needs to be stopped. >> we'll have to leave it there peter becktold in portland, oregon. from paris nadim baba

reports. >> after egyptian planes bombed targets in libya present foreign minister was in egypt signing a arms deal. >> first to choose the rafali jet fighters. >> the contract includes 24 french bit rafalle fighter jets, their first ever foreign sale as well as a naval frigate. the company that manufactures the jet has struggled to get contracts in recent years. >> there is a political element i mean this type of deal put closure of french and egyptian political authorities. and in a time where they all have to fight jihaddism, it is good to have close connection

between the french and the egyptians. >> before monday's signing francois hollande spoke on the telephone with his egyptian counterpart, abdel fattah al-sisi, expressing sympathy over the killing of the egyptians by i.s.i.l. agreeing the outside world should be doing more. >> paris says the military deal demonstrates the existing trust between france and egypt and a new step in egypt's quest to find military assistance other than that of the u.s. egyptian counterpart with an assault rifle now egypt is getting new advanced military hardware as it flexes its muscles in the middle east. nadim baba, al jazeera paris. >> still to come on the

newshour. singing to russia's hungry gets ready to host president putin at odds with the european union. she forced off her attacker, the death of one woman shining the light on women's rights there. unhappy ending for lance armstrong. sports in about 40 minutes. thousands of people in denmark's capital have attended a memorial for the victims of gun attacks over the weekend. five were injured and the suspect was later shot dead by police. from copenhagen, 96 nick spicer reports. >> shot dead by police, some

danes are leaving flowers. he was part of a community now struggling to fend our fears that muslims will reconcile attacks with the young man they knew. >> that's all. i saw him from time to time and would say hello and he was a regular guy. so for me, it's interesting to see what had happened. >> was he religious at all? good not at all. he wasn't like that. if i will expect something like this i would expect it from other people not from him. >> after a while young men who didn't want to talk to the media came to take the flowers away. one saying they weren't appropriate. a synagogue guard was shot dead in the second of the attacks. on sunday israel's prime

minister benjamin netanyahu said danes should move to israel. they said that wasn't going to happen. >> i want to send a message from here around the world. we will not let terror dictate our lives. we will not. we will continue living as jews here in denmark and everywhere else in the world. their goal is that we will go around and be afraid. >> that message was repeated by the country's prime minister. she says the gunman appears to have acted as a lone wolf. >> this is a young man of 22, born in denmark. he was flown by the police for several criminal acts including severe violence. and he was also known to be linked to a criminal gang in

copenhagen. but i want to make very clear that we have no indication at this staijt that he was part of a cell, or that took him to where he -- stage had he was part of a cell that took him to where he was now. >> the remembrance ceremony was held at the site of the first attack where a discussion on free speech was taking place. it was a ceremony of remembrance but also a ceremony as the prime minister said for danes to stand together and come out stronger. nick spicer, al jazeera copenhagen. talks between greece and its european counterparts in brussels has ended. greece will run out of money and face defaulting on its debts. greece's prime minister alexis tsipras wants to refinance their

loans and the snins assistance insistence that they extend is ridiculous. john siropolous has the story. >> greece accusing its creditors of a bait-and-switch strategy. earlier finance minister said he had been presented with a draft text, a communique that he was willing to sign. had spoke of an extension of the loan agreements only. with opening up the possibility of a discussion over the terms of those loans which is factually what gross has asked for. -- greece has asked for. it wants to unbundle the government spending cuts and deregulation that creditors have asked for for the last four years, some of which greece has done but much of which still remains to be done.

greece wanted a four month period to renegotiate that package of terms. however he said just before the euro group meeting began this draft communique was withdrawn by the euro group president and replaced by a separate communique which demanded that greece sign on to memorandum of policies and reforms as they have been agreed to, in the past with no grace period for negotiation, only once the greek government had signed onto an extension of those terms beyond the end of february, when the agreement and the financing program that grease is in come to an end -- greece has come to an end only then would they agree to sit down over negotiations of what to change over that program. >> robert arnold an economist and author acknowledge robert good to have you with us. who is going to blink first

greece or the euro group? >> well, the euro group unfortunately has, you know, once again said that they are -- they signaled very clearly that they are not willing to change course. what the new greek government has said is, the program that you have had us on for these last five years is not working. it's clearly not working. we don't agree to continue to do something that's clearly not working. who is going to blink first? we still don't know. there's a witching however in terms -- there's a witching hour at the end of this month. so you could argue that there's still another week for everybody to continue not to change their position. but it doesn't look very good at the moment. >> robin you've a economist. is what greece is asking the euro group to do completely unrealistic?

>> no, it's completely and totally realistic and reasonable reasonable. president obama said as much. when his response to the syriza victory, that it's not working for greece, spain portugal, ireland either, is completely reasonable. they want to paint the finance minister as radical. he's not saying anything different than joe stiglifson said. these are nobel winning economists who say they feel the consequences are completely unacceptable. >> why do they keep doing this do you think? >> well, they're wedded to a

philosophy that says that the first thing, that the priority is to bail out the banks and the priority is to take care of loans and debt that is literally unpayable. their philosophy is you cannot forgive any debt, even when it becomes completely unpayable. even the imf knows there's a big chunk of the greek debt that is literal unpayable at this point. all of their austerity policies what have they accomplished? they have created misery in greece 25% unemployment, hospitals that aren't working anymore. it is a humanitarian crisis that is at the level of the depths of the depression here in the united states. and the whole point of that was to get the debt situation under control. but the debit to gdp ratio for greece and not just for greece, for spain portugal and ireland

has more than doubled as a result of this program. it is a terrible program that isn't working even on its own terms. and syriza finally was elected because they said to their populace we see it's not working and we won't participate in something that is not working. >> robin arnold, in portland, oregon thank you. pro-russian sprachts separatists in eastern ukraine fighting in debaltseve is threatening to undermine the truce. charles stratford reports from donetsk. >> the ceasefire might have had effect elsewhere but around debaltseve it has had little effect. several thousand ukrainian troops are encircled by

separatists. >> putin says there is a ceasefire. it doesn't make any sense. you can see it for yourself. this position we are securing, they say a column of tanks is coming, we don't know. i have to run there's not much time left. >> at a checkpoint a few miles away you could hear the shelling. they need to take the town, an important strategic town. >> in fact there's none. you can hear the fighting going on and the snipers working in the distance. >> reporter: the fighting in debaltseve is putting real pressure on the ceasefire. the army won't withdraw the heavy weapons until it stops. that's meant to start on tuesday. also rejected a separatist proposal to create a safe corridor for ukrainian

withdrawal. on the diplomatic front 1st of the architects of the deal admitted the latest fighting was a great concern. >> translator: i have always said there are no guarantees that what we are trying to do will succeed. it was an extremely difficult task. >> he made it clear he wanted debaltseve in separatist hands and urged ukrainian troops to lay down their arms. some fear the fighting will continue until that happens. charles stratford, al jazeera debaltseve, eastern ukraine. >> visiting huh hungarian president robert forester walker reports from budapest. >> this old russian tune was a

hit for those who lived behind the iron curtain. now mixed feelings about what russia and president vladimir putin has to offer on his visit to budapest. >> i don't think it's a good idea to make bargains with putin. no. >> it makes sense to serve our economic and political problems within the european union. >> you won't find many soaft soviet symbols except here. hundred gairans alsohundredhungarians following the uprising so the relationship

between moscow and budapest is historically a complex one of antagonism and dependency. today's dependency is on energy supply. the country gets 80% of its natural gas from russia, a hither to cheap and reliable partner. the contract is expected to be signed with putin's visit. western critics cues hungary of getting too cozy with the kremlin. alarm bells are ringing. upon their complaints, hungary has served russia's interests by disrupting gas supplies to ukraine. some believe russia's president and hungary's prime minister depend on each other. >> for putin this is important in terms of showing that he has territory of for orban this is crucial his political rule very

much depends on the principle of cheap oil and gas prices. >> hungary never gains a course between east and west. robin forester walker al jazeera, budapest. >> president manseur mansour hadi, supporters of hadi said they were basing themselves in aden. hadi has been under house arrest since houthi leaders took power earlier this month. hand back power some political parties in yemen don't feel that the u.n.'s gone far enough. jamal al shayal has more from aden. >> extremely disappointing what

they have told us when we ask their view about the u.n. security council resolution. they say it was very weak, the fact that it doesn't even have the word coup in it is something very disappointing as far as their concern. the main issue is that the u.n. resolution doesn't provide any sort of consequently action quengs consequential action. verbal condemnation of the paragraph. add to this that many of them have already expressed negative sentiment towards u.n.'s attempt to try and get all sides to agree on some sort of power sharing deal. they have already said they are losing confidence quickly with the houthis have just been getting more and more powerful, not only from a territorial perspective but from a fire

power point of view. on the security front in aden there have been clashes between what are known as local popular forces that were set up by president ab tule mansour hadi prior to his having to resign, from any upon houthi advance and members of the security services who it is understood are loyal to the houthis. aden so far has been the safest of the main cities but that could change if the situation here deteriorates further. >> turkey's government says it will do more to ensure the safety of women after the murder of a 20-year-old are student by a bus driver. bernard smith reports from istanbul. >> ozgecan aslan fought back and this caused her her life. the last passenger on a mini

bus, when the driver tried rape her and fought back. the brutality shocked no. this country. the daughters of turkey's president visited ozgecan's mother to indicate their support. >> she sacrificed herself to protect her honor. my daughter didn't deserve this. >> the mini bus driver who police say has confessed bears the scars of ozgecan's resistance. with the help of his father they burned her corpse cut off her hands and buried her. women protested in more than 30 cities. >> the murder of ozgecan was the

last straw. in other cases there have been excused like she laughed on the phone or something but in ozgecan, there is no execute. >> the hashtag has been tweeted more than 3 million times since friday. turkey's prime minister says the country will do more to protect the rights of women. sliding down world economic forum's measure offing women versus men turkey is 125 out of 132 countries. ozgecan's coffin was carried by women a notable break with custom. but with emotions raw there was no appetite for keeping traditions. bernard smith, al jazeera istanbul. some breaking news out of japan this year. the u.s. geological survey says

there has been a 6.9 magnitude quake off the island of honshu. a tsunami warning one meter wave could hit hawarti prefecture in the next hour. trouble at sea. the new and dangerous threat being faced by the italian coast guard. and we'll tell you why this farmer in stowrn southern senegal is too scared to step on his own land. and breaking a world record twice, in two days. we'll tell you about that incredible effort later this hour. hour.

>> abducted. imprisoned. tortured. we talked to a cia insider... >> what is our definition of torture, and what are we allowed to do? >> and a former prisoner who was never charged. >> he was beaten, he was denied sleep. >> find out what really happens in a cia black site. >> you will do whatever it takes to get this man to talk. >> an "america tonight" in-depth report. tomorrow, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

>> america's first climate refugees >> this is probably a hurricane away from it being gone. >> who's to blame? >> 36% of land lost was caused by oil and gas industry... >> ...and a fight to save america's coastline. >> we have kinda made a deal with the devil >> fault lines al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> today they will be arrested... >> ground breaking... they're firing canisters of gas at us... award winning investigative documentary series... the disappearing delta only on al jazeera america >> hello again adrian finnegan in doha with the top stories on al jazeera. egypt has carried out air strikes against the islamic state of iraq and the levant in

libya, in response to 20 egyptian citizens being killed by i.s.i.l. talks have ended without agreement in brussels parties have until the end of the month or greece will run out of money and face default on its debts. the ukraine ceasefire is holding but fighting in the town of debaltseve is threatening to undermine the truce. more now on our top story the emergence of i.s.i.l. linked fighters in lib yap. to rival governments vying for power, to topple the former leader moammar gad fiz have gadhafi

have noun turned against each other. >> in the east, a renegade general formed libyan national army and since may of last year he waged a war from what he said were terrorists, and the council in eastern libya. he's backed by powerful militia and is accused of being infiltrated by foirmer former backers of moammar gadhafi. of a weeks of infighting the gnc refused to disband and accused haftar of staging a coup. fighters known as the shield of libya loyal to the gnc forced the new parliament out of the capital. those elected politicians then relocated to the eastern city of

tobruk and forked a cabinet there. tripoli fell under the control of dawn of libya fighters and made up of thousands of well armed former rebels. those forces became loyal to the gnc and its own government. in november the sprem constitutional court declared the annulment of the government in tobruk, also pushing for a power sharing deal to end the crisis. now groups claiming allegiance with i.s.i.l. are stepping up into an already crowded battle ground and widesser regional clash of interest and the proxy wars are only making that mess worse. the internal and regional clash is likely to go on for some time and libya four years after colonel moammar gadhafi was forced out of office and killed is nowhere near stable or l

secure. al jazeera. s publicly supported the rise of i.s.i.l. in libya. ahmed former close aid of moammar gadhafi made the comments during a tv talk show. >> i'm with i.s.i.l. why not. because our youth have been deprived of opportunities. this islamic state of iraq and the levant should be in the region for over 50 years. >> threatening to push thousands more into boats to escape to europe. in the latest incident the stanley coast's coast guard was threatened by people smugglers armed with kalashnikovs. claudio la vanga reports. >> perilous journey through

stormy seas. left the coast of libya in 12 separate both on sunday. as the italian coast guard attempted to board the knowledge group with kalashnikovs threatened. has seen an unprecedented number of migrants attempt to make the journey to europe on rickety boats during the difficult winter season. 5,000 have been rescued since the start of the year, hundreds more have lost their lives trying. italian authorities threaten that more than 170,000 were are ready to migrate. with this new wave of violence in libya there are fears that

even more people will attempt to escape and that fighters will attempt to reach italy disgieged as migrants. claudio la vanga, al jazeera rome. three counts of murder have been brought against craig hicks. also indicted on a firearms charge. students shot and killed a week ago over what reportedly began as a dispute over parking. the nigerian group boko haram has issued more threats for niger and chad. one in cameroon six central african heads of state have met for security talks on boko haram. they're hoping to devise better strategies to fight the armed group.

suspected al shabaab group has according to local reports soldiers carried out revenge attacks on civilians in nearby villages. guinea sierra leone and liberia say they have set a 60 day target to reduce new cases of ebola to zero. that's after the new case rose for second week running. the rise in guinea has been particularly sharp. 65 new cases were reported there, double the number confirmed the week before. in sierra leone 76 cases were confirmed. but it's a different picture in liberia, more from dominic kane. >> this is the william v.s.

tubman high school in liberia's capital. many health precautions have been put in place but some students remain wary. >> translator: it is not realistic. many students know the difference because. >> reporter: the number of new ebola infections in liberia has slowed markedly. just last week president barack obama told a u.s. audience he believed the fight against ebola had moved into a different phase. >> we're hire to mark a transition into this disease. not to declare it ended but to mark a transition. thanks to the thousands of troops that deployed to west africa ebola treatment units have been built over 1500

workers have been trained. >> the number of cases have have risen for the second week running. in guinea the number of cases grew from 39 to 65. sierra leone had 75 new cases. health officials say many people are still not taking their proper precautions. >> unsafe burials are one of a number of practices that are probably still driving the problem. that is probably the most difficult one to address without a doubt. >> reporter: the west africa ebola outbreak has now killed more than 9,000 people and infected nearly 23,000. and while things have improved in some places, the outbreak is far from over. dominic kane, al jazeera. >> a peace process to end a

three decades long conflict in senegal has stalled. the government and rebels in the south are accusing each other of planting land mines now estimated to cover a thousand kilometers of land. neither is willing to remove them. >> reporter: too afraid to extent onto his own land. charles was farming these fields when he stepped on a land mine and lost his leg. ten years after it happened he is still in shock. >> translator: i feel inferior and less of a man. i can't support my family. i'm useless to others and we're hungry. >> ndeke no longer attends these fields. they are a result of a 30 year conflict from the senegalese military and rebels. no one admits to using mines so

nobody knows where they were. hasn't cap international was working to clear them, but since the peace talks stalled they have lost their funding and no one is clearing the mines anymore. >> stop funding mining, the de-mining can't take place if there's no peace deal. >> almost a thousand people mostly farmers have either died or been injured because of these mines. >> the fighting between the rebels and the military may have stopped but this means nothing to us. there is no way of peace until we can safely access and work on our lands. >> the senegalese government says a thousand square kilometers of the region is mined, much of it is agricultural land. people here grow vegetables, peanuts and rice. it is a precious fertile land in a country that has so little of it and struggles to feed its own people. last year president announced

plans to grow enough rice to end imports by 2017. >> the south senegal region around the river is crucial for us. to meet our goal to be self-sufficient in rice because we have the potential for doubling production. >> reporter: that's given people like ndeke hope. he is seeing rice paddies ready to be sown. train carrying crude oil derailed. images from social media showed the aftermath of the train going off the tracks in fayette county. nearby house caught fire. still to come here on the newshour we'll have all the sport. russell westbrook is the main man in the all-star game. robin will have the detail for

us in just a few minutes. >> protestors are gathering... >> there's an air of tension right now... >> the crowd chanting for democracy...

>> this is another significant development... >> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live... >> hello again the amil tiger and the far eastern leopard are among the most endangered. a new national park has been created to help protect them. nick clark reports now from vladivostok. >> it's early mortgage in the oak and pine forests in the farees of russia. the temperatures are freezing, minus 13 degrees celsius.

you wouldn't think cold like this could sustain tigers but it does. >> all these tracks are wild boorsboars rooting for food, oily nuts they can live on all winter. >> in an effort to protect the tiger the pine is protected too a ripple effect. the siberian tigers have drastically increased from near extinction numbers to nearly 500 today. over the years he has assisted in the confiscation of over 50 tiger pelts. >> here one man was responsible for eight tiger skins. this one was a cub clubbed to death, just terrible.

>> reporter: it's been a big rob for police and it's not just tiger skins. these are the paws of bears killed in russian forests all headed to markets in southeast asia particularly china. then in another part of the province there's the far eastern leopard hunted to near extinction the world's rarest pig cat. there are now just 50 in the wild and that is an improvement. the park has been designated for them. the land of the leopard. they share their range with about ten amal tigers, every reported dead has to be investigated. investigating the remains of an an adult leopard. caused by a tiger. >> of course it is a problem because the leopard is a rare animal but you can't influence wild nature.

>> still the park is a beacon of hope within the clear view of vladivostok. what's extraordinary to think is what they're actually looking at is the habitat of two of the rarest predators in the world pretty much on their doorstep. you might wonder if the animals look back the other way. nick clark, al al jazeera vladivostok, russia. >> magnificent beast the cat i mean not nick clark. robin on sport. >> hello everybody latest from the cricket ball court. new seeldnew zealand in action. two wickets and two balls to have the scottish opponent reeling on 12 for four. scotland's middle ot had recovered somewhat, 89 for four

that's after 24 overs. distressed cyclist lance armstrong has lost a lawsuit against a promotions company and has been order he to pay $10 million in damages. armstrong was paid $7.5 million in bonuses from sca promotions, armstrong was convicted of doping and had to relinquish those medals. >> lance armstrong's reputation is such a low. what's significant now is what's going to happen with the finances. what kind of money he's going to need to pay back over the next few months and years, how much that total will be, where it will all end up for lance armstrong. because this is significant. $10 million from sca promotions and we constantly heard of lance armstrong going on the attack,

effectively bullying some would say companies that he was up against financially. that's what he managed to do initially a decade ago with sca promotions, managed to win a legal case against them. but what was subsequently shown was that had he lied in court under oath. he said when being asked about drug use in his tour de france victories seven of them between 1999 and 2005, i raced the bike straight up fair and square. well that was of course shown to be untrue. he's been given a lifetime ban of course by the united states antidoping agency and that's what enabled sca promotions to move in and claim their money back. ominously for lance armstrong they say that's not the end of it. they'll try the get more money back from him others too he's defending him against the federal government in a ford lawsuit this could cause him up to $100 million. still so much turbulence against

lance armstrong and now it's financially. >> rallied from a goal down against league one side preston. quarter final draw has been made aston villa,ing in the last eight in the competition for the first time since 19 1976. the stand outfixture of course united up against arsenal. fiji's hope in competing rugby's sevens. won the u.s. event in las vegas won 55-19. world series the top four of the 15 coronations at the end of may will qualify for olympics. fiji are now third in the standings. the ski jumping world record has been broken for a second day in the row. after peter pregates became the

first person to jump 250 meters, set the ball evenly further. this jump of 251.5 meters stunned this home crowd incredibly wasn't enough for him to win the event. a poor second jump he finished second behind severand frunt. it is difficult to determine how far 250 meters is in terms of distance. it is the equivalent to of jumping the length of two and a half football pitches or imagine flying over two 787 dreamliners and landing on the other side. or 23 london buses end to end. for those who live in london,

are hard to imagine that, you never get that many buses on a london street at any given time. lebron james has moved behind michael jordan on all time most points. 263rd career point just 17 behind kobe bryant on that list. james effort went unrewarded. 163 to 158 win. >> you never want to take no especially an allstate game to get a chance to show your talents. i'm blessed to play a game i love and definitely happy we not to win. >> you play in the garden against these fans, to go and represent my team and represent this league at the highest level, it means everything. >> the sporting stars filled the seats at madison square garden

for that game among them boxing champion floyd playweather, agreed to a $50 million fight with manny pac pac pac pacquiao. >> that's sport. >> as kristin saloomey reports success comes at a price. >> on a busy day almost half a million people pass through times square. >> oh it's iconic. i love it here. i want to make everyone jealous back home. >> want to experience what america is all about. what better place than the city

that never sleeps. >> all this foot traffic is great for retailers who pay top dollar to have billboards in the area but not so much for people who live and work here. a survey said one in four were unsatisfied with the situation and the costume characters. >> people don't know how to walk and a lot of people don't realize that walking is a mode of transportation for us here. i find myself walking in the street whenever possible. >> the move for pedestrians even attract more of them. >> definitely, every since they finished construction, and made it more pedestrian friendly, more crowded and more costume characters. >> the city wants to regulate the number of people who pose as

costume characters. even so. times square is more friendly, than in the 1970s and '80s. then it was made up of porn, prostitution and drug dealers. the challenge for local landlords now is to keep them. con--e that's moving out. >> like any popular tourist destination we got to make sure we stay fresh and we keep taking care of the customer. >> it looks like the tourists are here to stay and as long as they don't block the sidewalks it's hoped the businesses will stay too. kristin saloomey, al jazeera new york. >> i'll see you again thanks for watching, bye for now.

now.

this is al jazeera america, live from new york city. i'm tony harris. egypt entering the fight against isil launching air strikes against the group in libya, cairo says it's in retaliation for the beheading of egyptian christians. and isil may turn its sights on europe next. ♪ we