the egyptian president's plan to save his country's economy with billions of dollars from its gulf allies. >> translator: stability in egypt is a very important role for the civility of the whole region. ♪ hello there, i'm felicity bar. coming up the fight against boko haram, confirmation that mercenaries are helping nigerian

forces. scientists trace the deadly ebola virus back to the person who was first infected. and swedish prosecutors finally agree to travel to london to question the wikileaks founder, julian assange about sexual assault allegations. ♪ hello. after four years of political turmoil an ambitious economic recover plan has been unveiled for egypt. at a global summit. egypt's gulf neighbors pledge more than $4 billion to support the country's economy. its president says he hopes economic growth will reach 6% over the next five years and unemployment will be cut by 10%. >> 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 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 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. the u.s. secretary of state john kerry is among world politicians taking part in the summit. he welcomed reforms but pushed for more progress.

>> a central demand of the revolution of 2011 was a more equal distribution of wealth and that requires a commitment to empowering young people to fulfill their dreams to meet their aspirations and women also in order to promote a free and active and independent civil society. let's cross now to doha and joining us from there is a professor in middle east contemporary history in qatar university. thank for being with us on the program. the fact that you have all of these countries pledging economic support is a huge boost to president al-sisi but does this mean that people actually endorse what he is doing in the country, do you think? >> at the end of the day this is a conference -- these are the statements directed not only to al-sisi, directed to egyptian people to the region to

different players. i'm not sure that, you know all of those speeches can solve the problems of egypt. i'm not sure that sisi himself will be happy with john kerry's speech. there are at least 40,000 egyptians now, at least 95% of those are young people. so there is a lot of question mark about the credibility of the speech and how much actually those speech can help egyptian people and empowering the young egyptians, which nearly as al-sisi mentioned in his speech that there is 30 million egyptians already need jobs. >> of course not all of those at this conference are politicians, some are simply businessmen interested in making an investment, it's not about politics for them. it's about investing and making money from egypt.

>> of course. let's remember that sisi himself mentioned that his government last few months they have serious reform on a lot of [ inaudible ] and laws related to their investments, and he himself approved all of this just 24 hours before the conference. but the question that is remaining is how much those can help investors, keeping in mind two factors, one the security in the country, second the way how the egyptian government is being goved now. the this -- the country now is a one-man show. sisi is the president. there is no parliament. no one is held accountable for what is happening in egypt. so investors will ask what is going to happen if the security isn't where it should be? the second factor is how is the message delivered to the companies.

it was delivered in the context this is a country 25% of the middle east are egyptians. if you are secure egypt, you are securing the region. he is linking egypt to the terror, and i think this is a way of pressuring the countries, rather than just asking for help and i'm not sure those governments -- all of those investors will be ready to do so. in the situation there are more than country also required these kinds of investments, and the investors also will ask this question, do i need to be involved in such situation or go to the place where at least more security available, and more arrangements offered to me to have my money in same place. and this is the whole message now from egypt. and without these issues being highlighted or solved i'm not sure this conference will help the egyptian people in particular to be able to move on

from where they are now. >> all right. thanks for your time. ♪ now a senior nigerian non-commissioned officer has told al jazeera that foreign mercenaries are doing the bulk of the fighting in towns recaptured from boko haram. hundreds of fighters from south africa and former soviet countries are reportedly fighting alongside government troops. the government says their role is limited to training and logistics. al jazeera's nick schifrin is in the region and sent this update. >> reporter: according to senior western official who works here as well as a senior non-commissioned officer inside the nigerian military who was actually injured by boko haram, both of them say that the 40 or so villages that military or nigeria i should probably say,

has recaptured from boko haram was done in part or at least because of the help of foreign mercenaries. we have phone issing many senior military officials as well today and over the last few weeks as we traveled out there this region and they insist that the tide is turning against boko haram. not because of the mercenaries but because of a combination of new arms more political will as well as that help of the neighbors countries. oscar pistorius's lawyers have failed to stop an appeal that could see him convicted of murdering his girlfriend. panel of judges will decide whether the initial sentence given to the olympic athlete was too lenient. prosecutors want last year's conviction of culpable homicide reviewed because they claim the judge misinterpreted the law.

scientists have recently discovered where the ebola epidemic started. imran khan reports now on how life in the west african village has changed after being at the center of the worst ebola outbreak on record. >> reporter: these people aren't taking any chances. it's been reported that locals ate bats from this tree and contracted ebola virus. beginning what has grown into the worst outbreak of the virus every recorded. >> translator: the bats brought the escape punishment in this village according to the white man and the government as the head of the young people in this village we have decided to burn this tree. >> reporter: the government issued a press release saying that ebola was first detected in bats from this tree and his son was the first person to contract the disease and die. other members of his family also died. >> translator: when my children started dying and my wife i doubted myself and thought they were killed by tradition,

although later a white man state's ebola, and i was the first person to lose all of my familiar mri. which son died my daughter and wife too. >> reporter: according to the world health organization the ebola virus has killed 10,000 people mostly in west africa with guinea sierra leone, and liberia being the worst hit. a vaccine is being tested. 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 reporting dozens of new cases every week and the number of ebola deaths taking place outside of hospitals, remains high. and that suggests that people vary of seeking help or are hiding patients. imran khan al jazeera. swedish prosecutors have offered to question julian assange in london potentially

breaking a stalemate in the long-running allegations of sexual assault against him. prosecutors had previously refused to travel to london where he took asylum at the ecuadorian embassy. >> reporter: from his almost three-year confinement inside, julian assange 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 involving two women in sweden in 2010 allegations he haulz denied saying the sexual encounters were consensual. >> we see this as a victory for assange. we see this as evidence we were right all the time that the prosecutor was wrong all the time, and we welcome her initiative. >> reporter: in 2012 assange

lost an supreme court appeal to prevent extradition to sweden. swedish prosecutors want to come thereon done now because some of the crimes he is alleged to have committed will reach their statute of limitation in august. time is now of the essence. it isn't clear when this meeting may take place. but the chief prosecutor will now hope to be able to come here both to be able to interview julian assange, and to be able to take a swab sample of his dna. if we were to face trial in sweden, he could then be extradited to the united states where an investigation is ongoing into the 2010 release of hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic files. no charges have yet been filed in sweden while in britain his embassy confinement under constant police watch has so far

cost the british taxpayer tens of millions of dollars. still to come on the program, support for brazil's president in the face of a scandal over one of latin america's biggest countries. plus. . .. >> i'm in the florida keys where a series of brutal attacks on brown pelicans has conservationists worried. ♪

>> weeknights on al jazeera america. >> join me as we bring you an in-depth look at the most important issues of the day. breaking it down. getting you the facts. it's the only place you'll find... the inside story. >> ray suarez hosts "inside story". weeknights, 11:30 eastern. on al jazeera america. ♪ hello again. a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. the egyptian president has received a vital boost to his

ambitious economic recovery plan. gulf nations pledged more than $12 billion in aid during a conference. foreign

>> he said it was criminal behavior by individuals in the company. that might be splitting hairs for some people. what he's trying tropical storm is that there wasn't a culture of corruption. this is something that the prosecutor leading this investigation just doesn't buy. they're calling this the biggest corruption scandal in brazil's history and that's saying a lot in a country that has a big history of corruption. you also have a faltering economy. brazil's currency is at it's lowest point in 12 years. prices are going up, inflation 7.5% behavioral and everything seems more expensive to people living here who owe quite a lot of them a lot to this party the workers party some 30 million brazilians estimated to have come out of poverty under her and her predecessor president

desilva. you have building anxiety fear happening at the same time that this corruption scandal is swirling around the political leaders, as well. >> briefly tell us about this protest today. >> there were thousands of protestors in several cities cruise brazil but each protest was from what we can tell quite small. we were about a half kilometer from where i am now. we saw half a -- people and military police. the numbers were small than what they were hoping to get out on the streets. >> adam in sue haul low, thank you. >> the country began membership

negotiations in 2010 seek to go move closer to the e.u. after a catastrophic banking collapse sent the economy into free-fall. >> the european union urged greece to speed up work on its economic reform plan so it can access it atall rescue funds. the e.u. president said he was not satisfied with greece's progress during talks with the country's prime minister, alexis tsipras. >> a series of attacks on pelicans in florida has conservationists deeply concerned. the federally protected birds are having their pouches slashed, leading to a painful death. we report now from the florida keys. >> oh, my poor baby, my little

baby. >> maya trained as a nurse in her native croatia. these days, she is putting those skills to good use. a makeshift refuge center in big meincke has become a vital lifeline for the area's unique wildlife. >> it's 24 hours a day, seven days a week. i don't like to go out, i don't like to go here, i am happy with my animals, i am happy here. they need me, you know. >> still alive. >> in the last few months, her refuge has pelicans with deliberate and malicious injuries. >> they don't want the birds to die, they want them to die a

slow miserable death. it's torture and murder. >> fisherman probably worried about pelicans stealing their catch may be responsible. despite a growing concern no one has been caught or charged. >> i would like them to turn themselves in. if anything, we're out there looking for you. >> for the most part, pelicans in the keys are deeply respected. sometimes frowned upon dependency may be getting them in trouble. >> what makes these beautiful birds vulnerable is their relationship with people. they got a free meal and they show absolutely no fear. that also makes them an easy target. >> for pelicans found and treated, there is a good chance of survival once sheer released. as long as maya lives here, the pelicans have a protector who it seems will never give up hope. >> i live you babies.

go to fish! >> al jazeera big pine key florida. >> there is plenty more over on our website. use the address to click on aljazeera.com for all your news and sport. [ ♪ music ♪ ] this week on "talk to al jazeera." author, globe trotter and commentator on race and culture, taiye selasi. >> there is a sense that certain people have to explain their presence. to say that racism is not that race isn't felt. >> the london born, twin daughter of african parents raises the question where are