perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america. egypt's gulf neighbors promise billions of dollars to support the egyptian economy at a global summit. ♪ i'm david foster good to have your company. nigeria admits that mercenaries are helping in the fight against boko haram. we are live? the northeast of nigeria. patient zero, scientists trace the deadly ebola virus back to the person it began with. we go to that village. and swedish prosecutors

agree to travel to london to question the wikileaks founder over sexual assault allegations. egypt's gulf neighbors have said they will inject more than $12 billion to support their country's economy. promises which were made among others at the global economic summit. there were heads of state from across the region and global leaders too. president sisi speaking at the event where he unveiled an ambitious economic recovery plan. president al-sisi also underlined what he believed to be egypt's central role in the region. >> translator: egyptian society represents 25% of the middle

east's population. stability in egypt has an important role in the stability across the whole region. we need to make sure that this strength benefits the stability of the nation as well as the entire region. this is the comprehensive development sought by the whole region. development will gain strength in all fields and in all domains in order to chive an balanced development, a fair development and it is all for the sake of building a modern state. a modern state that has not only been gained by the prestige of its ancient civilization no it is a state that looks to the future that goes towards its promising future for its citizens. >> there were words too from u.s. secretary of state, he welcomed economic reforms by the egyptian president and his government but urged that more

should be done. >> a central demand of the revolution of 2011 was a more equal distribution of wealth and that requires an commitment of empowering young people and women also in order to promote a free active and independent civil society. >> bringing in our senior analyst from doha. okay. a slight telling off there from john kerry saying you have got to do more for the young and women, and be more transparent. but all around this was a ringing endorsement -- the very fact that these people were here was an endorsement for what al-sisi is trying to do. >> isn't that incredible? and not even bother to mention that, you know, the general come president had basically run on -- on a platform that's against the very, you know 2011

uprising, slash revolution that kerry talks about. so now we have a president who basically comes after a coup d'etat who is legislating without a legislator and it's incredible the fact that they are putting out egyptian assets and egyptian projects on a discount without going back to the people or to the representatives of the people if you will. so it's a bit tricky but of course john kerry had to put a good positive face on it because the obama administration has apparently decided to turn the page with egypt and support the new regime there. >> thank you very much. we'll leave it there for now. back with more a little bit later on. senior nigerian officer told

al jazeera that mercenary fighters are doing the bulk of the work against boko haram. the government says their role is quote limited to training and logistics. a recent push from a multinational force has weakened the group's presence in northeast nigeria. nick schifrin is our man, we hear this from a non-commissioned officer. get your thoughts on what the more senior authorities are saying about it but also as a correspondent on the ground are you able to see these people and what they are doing? >> reporter: what we have seen is just photos leaking from the last few weeks and even months of these foreign mercenaries i guess we would call them. reports are they are from south africa operating around the largest city in northeast

nigeria where boko haram was created. and that has been the epicenter of some of this activity. and speaking to a senior officer and a senior western official saying that the bulk of the fighting is being done by these mercenaries who come in at night, very heavy weapons, bringing their weapons in from outside of the region and perhaps doing it themselves nigeria recaptured a 40 towns and villages from boko haram just in the last few weeks. the senior government officials, the military says that these people are here but they are only training and it's a more holistic effort that is defeating boko haram, which is not only efforts by neighbors like chad and niger, their militaries are fighting along the border with the knowledge of

nigeria, as well as weapons and more political will in the words of one senior official that has come just a few weeks before the elections. >> i was talking to somebody about an hour ago in our studio who suggested that perhaps one of the reasons nigeria had these mercenaries in the northeast was to prevent those countries like chad and niger, to prevent them from becoming well established inside of nigeria itself. that's a concern they say for nigeria. >> i think officials aren't quite that critical of nigeria. they are very critical of nigeria for many things but the agreement that currently exists are open book. they are very much above table when it comes to nigeria and chad, nigeria and niger. there are centers where nigerian

officials, niger officials, and chad officials are all sitting in the same room actually working on this effort making sure that yes, chadian soldiers will come into nigeria. soldiers from niger will come into nigeria. and nigerian soldiers will cross the border the other way. certainly in the last few months the african union has pushed for this very hard the countries themselves have pushed for this hard western groups are training on the ground these soldiers, so there is a lot of coordination when it comes to that. the other question is is the nighian military fixing the problem that lead to boko haram, a shortage of weapons, and the lowering of morale a lot of people tell me that hasn't necessarily happened yet, and

that's why we are seeing nigeria rely -- or at least use these foreign mercenaries. >> thank you. iraqi forces have made significant claims it is being claimed in the offensive against isil. the army is saying it is confident the victory in the city of tikrit is just a matter of a few days away. they have been advancing on a number of fronts west of the city on wednesday. the coast guard in turkey has fired on a cargo ship carrying more than 300 syrian refugees trying to reach italy. the turkish officials shot at the vessel as it ignored warnings to stop. the 337 refugees who have been detained include 85 children. pakistan fired a missile for

its own drones. they have frequently complained about u.s. drones flying into its air space to target al-qaeda and other armed groups. scientists have managed to trace the ebola epidemic back to a two-year-old boy in guinea. imran khan traveled there and reports on how life in the village has changed as a result of being at the center of the worse-ever ebola outbreak. >> reporter: these people aren't taking any chances. it has been reported that locals ate bats from this tree and contracted ebola virus. beginning what has grown into the worst outbreak of the virus ever recorded. >> translator: the bats brought the ebola in this village according to the white man and the government. we have decided to burn this try so no bat will bring ebola 1234689 >> reporter: the go issued a

press release saying ebola was first detected in bats from this firm, and his family was the first to contract the disease. other members of his family also died. >> translator: when my children started dying and my wife i doubted myself and i thought they were killed by tradition. although later, the white man said it was ebola. i was the first person to lose all of my family. >> reporter: according to the world health organization the ebola virus has killed 10,000 people mostly in west africa. a vaccine is being tested and it's modeled on the ring vaccination approach which was used to eradicate smallpoxes in the 1970s. investigators look at what is called the index case and then find all of those who have come into contact with that person. but there are challenges. both guinea and sierra leone are still records dozens of new

cases every week and the numbers of deaths taking place outside of hospitals remains high. still to come here on al jazeera, aid groups calling for negotiations with isil. so vital supplies can be delivered to millions of suffering children in syria. i'm reporting from a chinese village 19 months after a devastating flash flood here. along with the damage serious doubts remain about the official government story of what happened here. ♪

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♪ hello there, david foster there with you on al jazeera. egypt's gulf neighborings are to inject they say more than $12 billion to support egypt's economy. after years of turmoil, egypt's president is under pressure to turn the economy of his country around. >> translator: the egyptian society is 25% of the population of the middle east. stability in egypt a very important role for the civility of the whole region. >> nigeria's government has admitted that its armies troops are being trained by what it calls quote, foreign contractors. hundreds of mercenaries are believed to be in the country

helping in the fight against boko haram. swedish prosecutors now say they will question the wikileaks founder in london potentially unlocked a five year stalemate. prosecutors previously refused to come to the u.k. where he has taken refuge at the ecuadorian embassy. >> reporter: from his almost three year confinement inside he is said to have welcomed a swedish prosecution request to be able to interview him here. it is alleged that he committed sex crimes including rape in sweden. allegations he has always denied saying the sexual encounters are consensual. >> we see this as a victory for him. we see this as evidence that we

were right all the time that the prosecutor was wrong all the time. and we welcome her initiative. >> reporter: in 2012 he lost a supreme court appeal to prevent his extradition in sweden and seeking ally sum in the the -- ecuadorian embassy. time is now of the essence. the chief prosecutor will now hope to be able to come here to london to the ecuadorian embassy both to be able to interview him and take a swab sample of his dna. if he were to face trial in sweden, he could then be extradited to the united states where an investigation is ongoing into wikileaks 2010 release of hundreds of thousands

of classified and diplomatic files. in britain his embassy confinement has so far cost the british taxpayer tens of millions of dollars. ♪ governments are being urged to negotiate with isil the islamic state of iraq and the levant for getting aid into parts of syria. the children's charity unicef has made the demand as the country's civil war enters its fifth year. it now believes that 14 million children have suffered because of the conflict. bernard smith reports. >> reporter: from the moment they are born most syrians are now reliant on foreign aid. here it means the difference between life and death. but now as isil has emerged to

take command of some areas in syria, security concerns make it difficult to get aid through. >> it's a shrinking humanitarian corridor. it's a common phrase. it's just more difficult to get supplies from here to there. and for sure going deep inside syria, where we were able to get in fairly easily in now that road is treacherous. it's very, very dangerous. >> reporter: but it's a just not fighting that stops the aid, many of the governments and larger charities that supply smaller aid groups will not allow help to be sent to isil-controlled areas. they sphere it will be i have derted to isil fighters. hand in hand is one group who's warehouse in syria hints at the scale of the aid needs of this country. set up at the start of the conflict. the group's founders thought

they would be needed for just four or five months. >> it was just like really basic help. medical aid, they needed bandages. they needed cotton or -- or baby milk sometimes. they could ask for it. just really basic needs. >> reporter: so it's gone from providing cotton and bandages to what? >> into providing complete hospitals now. >> reporter: now hand in hand is preparing for the next ten year. an alarming prospect. this year the u.n. is appealing for $2.9 billion to help 12 million syrians. that's more than half of the population. the deliveries will cross borders here in turkey iraq and jordan into territory that has become some of the most difficult in the world for aid agencies to operate in. last year the u.n. only got half of the money it asked for. donor fatigue is a real concern.

but without those donors and the aid groups they help syria's next generation will have no chance. live to beirut caroline is there. she works for save the children. i know you were in syria in 2007 and i think 2011 when all of this started, did you ever imagine it would still be going on four years later? >> i don't think any of us [ inaudible ] what would happen to syria. i used to visit quite regularly, mostly for tourism. syria was a middle income country, almost 100% of children went to school. most people got enough to eat. and now the country has been completely decimated as your correspondent was saying there. huge number of people live in besieged areas. at least half of the children

are out of school. it's an appalling situation across the country, and i don't think any syrians or anyone who knew syria would have expected this. >> what do you most need for those who are your primary responsibility, the children? >> we need a huge range of things for children. first of all we need politicians to come together. we need the world leaders to come together and do something to find a political solution to end this crisis. because it's going to be very hard to really protect and help children without an end to the crisis. our focus covers children inside syria. we're trying to keep them in school protect their lives, get them medical care and food and also for the millions of refugee children who are living outside of the country. children's lives have been torn

apart, and they need our help with everything. >> every opportunity must be taken, but when people hear that unicef is saying look we have to negotiate with isil to get aid in a lot of people are going to say, you can't be serious. >> well, it's an extremely difficult situation. the issue of aid access is something we have been talking about, save the children in syria for years. there are a huge number of people living in besieged areas. i can't speak to the specifics of the politics of that situation, but we need people that have that power -- the u.n. security council security council passed three -- >> when people are having their heads chopped off, people who

drive ambulances are not coming home how on earth can you say we need have a chat with isil to get aid in? >> that's a question for the people in control to have. but we are operating in syria. and people risk their lives every day to do that. >> how terrifying is it for them? >> i think it's extremely terrifying. i was speaking a staff member recently, and he was talking about the attacks on our schools. we have seen a rising number of attacks on our schools that we support in northern syria. they face a daily struggle and do an amazing job doing that. there are people working inside syria, a all across the country that we forget about. syrians themselves who take massive personal risks every day to get help to people.

and i think that gets loss when we talk about isis or other groups. >> absolutely. thank you for talking to us. charges have been laid against two people linked to the paris attacks of january this year. prosecutors say they have been in contact with the government. the two men have been charged with taking part in a terrorist group with intent to commit crime. oscar pistorius's lawyers have failed to stop an appeal in south africa's supreme court that could see him actually convicted now of murdering his girlfriend. the panel of judges will decide whether the sentence was too

lenient. lenient. iceland has withdrawn itself bid to join the european union. they began membership nerg negotiations in 2010. union leaders and pro-government groups in brazil are about to hold a rally in sao paulo, they say to show support of the country's president. she is dealing with a massive scandal. dozens of political figure and members of the brazilian run state oil company. it's nearly two years now

since flood waters flood through a neirsern chinese village. the government was criticized for being unprepared and hiding the number of people who died. harry fawcett has returned to the village. >> reporter: the river that runs through is a trickle now. but the destruction it left in the summer of 2013 is still visible. we arrived four days after the flash flood to a town full of grief and anger. they were accusing authorities of covering up the true extent of the death toll. another person is trying to talk to us to tell us what he believes really happened here. once again the police are stopping us from talking to him. so we have come back to try to find out what really happened here. the local government said 30 were dead and 28 missing.

and never released another figure. >> translator: for the whole of the town it's a at least 170 or 180 dead. i know because i know this place very well. >> reporter: in 2013 we met this woman who said that officials had reassured people that the water would flow past the town. now she lives in a newly built housing estate down the road in a free apartment. but she hasn't changed her story. >> translator: they didn't expect that the flood would be so big. nobody told us. if they had, the damage wouldn't have been so bad. >> reporter: the nearby village suffered similar damage but no one died here. the difference locals tell us a concerted effort to get people out of danger. first we heard that people believe 200 died in the

disaster not the 88, and secondly they complain of lack of a warning. a community used to dealing with flooding simply didn't know what was heading its way. so was the disaster minimized in order that local officials would escape punishment. not according to the party secretary who insists that they did warn residents. so how many died here? >> translator: i know nothing about this. i'm just in charge of reconstruction. all of this talk about the death toll the injury statistic, report i have no idea. >> reporter: after weeks of rain in the summer of 2013 it was hit with nearly half a meter, half its annual rainfall in less than a day, but for many here this was always a man made disaster. fibls stand accused of doing too little to save lives, and hiding

the number of dead. it now says 134 people were killed after our inquiry. it just never thought to make it public until now. pay a visit if you can to aljazeera.com. hi i'm lisa fletcher, and you're in stream are. . -- in "the stream". libya descends into chaos more than a decade after muammar gaddafi lost power. why it is on the brink of war and what another failed state would mean. filipinos join the fight with americans in world war ii, why the veterans with us are fighting now to make good on a families.