it's the only link between remote villages and the outside world. the swallow has been around for more than fifty years like a local bus it stops a virtually every station passengers clamber the remaining seats people cram into whatever space they can find. nearly two thousand people all together three times the officially permitted capacity for those who weren't able to find a place or who can't afford a ticket there's always the route. travelers have to remain alert a lapse in attention could be fatal. the danger comes not just from above. even at the moderate speed of thirty kilometers an hour a tree branch can cut like a machete. there are one hundred people killed in the afghan capital as

a car bomb detonated in a busy area. hello i'm sam is a than this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up in syria a fragile cease fire in the south of the country as the turkish military offensive continues in the north. one of the world's richest men is reported to have been released from detention in saudi arabia plus. i'm lauren free on the river overall it's a land border between turkey and greece but it's also the new front line in the european union's attempts to keep refugees out. at least ninety five people have been killed more than a hundred and fifty wounded in a blast in the afghan capital. taliban has claimed responsibility for the suicide

bombing using an ambulance near the old into the ministry building glass has more from kabul so jennifer this is a quite a serious security failure what are officials saying about it. official sami are calling this a massacre as you said ninety five people dead at least one hundred fifty eight wounded and concerns of the death toll might continue to increase as a number of those taken to hospitals were sent in very critical condition sami this is the second worst attack here in the afghan capital since a car bomb a truck bomb last may it killed one hundred fifty people but this was truly devastating. another day of carnage on the streets of kabul this time the bomb was in an ambulance the driver pretended to be taking someone to a nearby hospital but instead he detonated his device on a crowded street the taliban said it was targeting policemen having lunch but as so

often happens here afghan civilians going about their daily lives are among the victims including people lined up outside the interior ministry's human resources department. i was in my office we heard the explosion we didn't know what was going on so many people were injured i myself counted at least forty wounded near me everyone was on the ground and i couldn't tell who was dead or who was wounded the street was already heavily guarded with a number of checkpoints protecting government offices embassies a hospital and a school the area is usually bustling with people emerge and the services evacuated offices shops and agencies perceptor blocks can hear the security vehicles going by . taking away the wounded and the dead there have been casualties here this is a very busy part of town in addition to the high peace council the anti-corruption commission is also down there just down the streets at the u.n. mine agency and this is normally a very very busy part of kabul it's the second attack in the capital in

a week taliban fighters battled security forces for more than fifteen hours at the city's intercontinental hotel in a siege that killed twenty five people last saturday security has been stepped up around the city but it wasn't enough. police on the army of afghanistan is a really young it's just seventeen or eighteen years old and they need more training they need more practice they need more experience but the taliban on the other hand they're very devoted to fight this cobbles emergency hospital was flooded with patients it's a scene that's been repeated many times the president says the uptick in attacks is because of increased military pressure on armed groups and political pressure on pakistan that may be the case but it's the people here who continue to suffer the most. the pictures are absolutely harrowing and this is just one in a series of these sorts of attacks lately how is that eroding public confidence in the security forces and government.

and the public is very concerned about their safety we have seen since the attack of last weekend saturday and sunday that fifteen hour siege on the intercontinental hotel that killed twenty five we've seen here in the city security very much tightened with new checkpoints police and military checking cars checking trucks now already security had been pretty tight large trucks can't come into the center of town after a truck bomb that truck bomb last may killed one hundred fifty but this is tack happened on a very busy street on a heavily guarded street the ambulance got through one checkpoint detonated at a second checkpoint there were police everywhere it's a very very fairly heavily fortified area of kabul and certainly the afghan people i think are the afghan government's going to come under even more criticism because the afghan people want them to provide security for them. jennifer glass there from

kabul. cease fire is in effect in syria's besieged area of east in the hall for near damascus the area is the last remaining rebel stronghold there the capital it's been under siege by government forces for almost five years now meanwhile turkey's urging the u.s. to immediately withdraw its troops from northern syria the cities being held by kurdish fighters there the target of a turkish operation are free and forced thousands from their homes this comes as the syrian opposition members announced bellboy called talks that russia is hosting next week on the conflict but they did say they're ling gauge with moscow if it seeks a genuine solution. the u.n. syria and voyage confirms he will be traveling to the talks in salt. stephanie decker has the latest on the cease fire and holds a form on tack in the that border often when things are decided at the negotiating

table thousands of kilometers away it's not exactly what transpires on the ground at the moment that cease fire in eastern is holding this is significant because it is the last rebel stronghold in the vicinity of the capital damascus but what is most concerning is the situation there for the civilians the u.n. estimates around four hundred thousand people are trapped inside the air is used and there is a severe lack of food and medicine and the u.n. also says that the issue of malnutrition is one of the worst in the syrian conflict so yes it is of course a welcome move that there is no violence however aid access into eastern for those people will be key and will be something that then could really change and improve the situation for people on the ground and we know within this conflict aid has always been a very difficult thing to negotiate cross lines all sides need to agree so that will be also one of the huge challenges ahead. more now on those u.n.

back talks in vienna. spoke to the opposition delegation a short time ago and explained their position. this round in v.n. was meant to be a real test for the commitment to the implementation of us are good to go solution two to five for. the details in it unfortunately this test has been. the fate that both the regime and those who are supporting that he deemed to continue surviving now based on that is all of the thought that there could be commitment the citizens could have been made regarding what russia's proposing unfortunately the test was where is this going to go i mean how many times are you guys going to attend talks with the indian name geneva or anywhere else and each and every time there's no outcome absolutely you're right but you have to think of

the person who was trying to obstruct the political process from the very beginning of the g.m. has selected the military solution to be the strategy for just silencing people however the world through a political solution should your own security council resolutions that is somebody who is working against these political terms of their political solutions and finding ways and means to obstruct the yuan from just doing its job it is a challenge not only to the syrian people it is a challenge to the u.n. it's it's going to the council resolutions this is the problem. one of the world's richest men billionaire saudi prince will lead been talaga has been released from detention according to family sources speaking to reuters news agency he's been held in the ritz carlton hotel in riyadh since november along with about two hundred others they were accused of corruption the saudi attorney general says many

have now been released after paying settlements and billions of dollars. reports. just hours before billionaire saudi prince and waleed bin talib was released from the ritz carlton hotel in riyadh he conducted an interview with the reuters news agency from the suite where he'd been confined been tell is one of saudi arabia's most prominent business men and one of the world's richest men but he's been held for more than two months accused of corruption in the interview he described the entire situation as a misunderstanding there no charges ok just some discussions between the government you know i mean but the rest assured that this is. you know protection that we have and we're just in discussion with the government on the various matters and i can't divulge right now because we are going to discuss with them the mark perry and his likeness was just one of the many objects known as the prince gave a tour of where he'd been detained been teller's arrest in the van that was part of

what the government called an anti corruption campaign ordered by crown prince mohammed bin solid money the government says one hundred twenty four billion dollars is expected to be seized for more than two hundred individuals a group that is said to include the owner of the n.b.c. television network as well as several other senior princes observers say the crackdown has allowed in someone to do far more than simply consolidate power i think there are two things here it's about money because the saudi. government is facing financial difficulties because of the collapse of the oil prices over the past few years and mr man is having very ambitious economic plan actually to reform the kingdom so he needs the cash money in order to carry on with this project but this is not the only issue the other issue in my opinion here is that he's trying to create a popular base of support for him because all these people are in fact caught up. in tahrir his farm hold stakes in companies like twitter citi group an apple is

estimated to be worth seventeen. billion dollars his release could potentially reassure investors but analysts believe the timing of his interview with reuters as the world economic forum met in davos was no coincidence having someone like prince to allow for example speak out publicly as he did yesterday shows that you know the saudis are trying to use him as somewhat the poster child of liberalism they're trying to appeal to investors overseas saying we realize that what we did and the way we did it with that courage last year we saw completely undermined business confidence and investor confidence in saudi arabia entire has told reuters he expects to remain in full control of his global investment without being required to give up his assets to the government. which is there still ahead on al-jazeera the internet is you know of information now we have the internet of money. new

money meets old money the world financial elite discuss the future of digital current season including bitcoin. it is a journey that has left tens of thousands of people dead last year many of them africans find out next why so many continue to take the dangerous journey to europe . hello there some of us in the southeastern parts of china there's been a lot of wintery weather recently in fact we've seen a fair amount of snow hey looks fairly pretty i think we've got plenty more snow still to come take a look at the satellite picture we can see this area that had been giving us a few outbreaks of rain and snow recently and the whole system is sinking its way southwards and bringing us more more wintry weather as it does say so quite a daunting of snow there for sunday and look at the temperatures it's bringing with

it shanghai four degrees that maximum drops down to. the three as we head into monday and that system sweeps its way southwards it's also dragging down the temperatures further south to hong kong twelve the maximum that's going to be very cool for us if we had out towards the west across many parts of india and pakistan the weather is dry and fine you can just see a little bit more in the way of just flirting with the southeastern parts of india also affecting us in sri lanka nice showers are likely to continue as we head through sunday the wettest of the weather is likely to be in the eastern parts of sri lanka but a bit more cloud will just be just making its way across the southern tip of india further north lots of snow here actually going to be quite a feature of the weather as we head through the next few days here in doha it's a real change for us on sunday the winds pick up and the temperatures drop away. what makes this moment this era we're living for so unique this is really an attack

on truth itself is a lot of misunderstanding a distortion even of what free speech is supposed to be about the context it's hugely important level right to publish if you have a duty to be offensive or provocative or do you nice people do step in this stage to serious debate. up front at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back time to recap the headlines now at least ninety five people are dead and more than one hundred fifty injured in the blast in the afghan capital kabul taliban fighters claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing using an ambulance

in the old interior ministry building becomes a week after another taliban attack on the cities and the continental hotel the u.n. has announced a special envoy for syria stuff under mr o. word talks on syria's future in sochi next week syrian opposition members say they're boycotting the negotiations on last russia genuinely and gauges with them towards a solution one of the world's richest men barely their saudi prince had really been polished been released from detention been held for two months on corruption charges he was resettled after agreeing a financial settlement. at least fourteen soldiers have been killed in an attack on an army camp in northern mali eighteen others were wounded in the assault by armed men in timbuktu northern mali was controlled by a number of armed groups and to the french led military operation five years ago it struggled to maintain peace had reeses following this for us from the nigerian

capital abuja just behind the attack. well well sami the attack happened not far from timbuktu in a place called sunni where there is an army camp like you said seventeen soldiers have sorry forty eight soldiers a bit killed and seventeen injured in the attack the a million conal confront a large dinner that seventeen attackers were also killed however other sources are saying that only two of the attackers were killed they carted away v cause some arms and ammunitions and burnt those they cannot carry and this is coming at a time when we see an increased number of attacks on us especially military or security forces in mali now the situation i mean where does that leave the security situation and this whole operation that.

well basically sami this is not the first attack this week two days ago there was an explosion that involved a passenger bus that killed at least thirteen people there was also similar attacks on security forces and civilian targets in mali that were carried out but yet to be reported an officially confirmed yet so seven people have died in these attacks that what carried out at least six similar attacks have happened over the last one week or ten days and this is coming at a time when we've seen increased. operations by jihadist movements or groups that are called genius movements in northern mali we've seen this is the reason you alliance between the and what every tune the islamic state al qaeda and other smaller groups that have operated are all known to have operated in northern mali and these attacks have been increasing over the past few days apparently the mali in government or money in government forces i don't seem to be able to control

these attacks and if these trends continue we probably will see mali going into another difficult situation that may require foreign intervention like the ones we seen before about five six years ago in mali when the french led an international coalition to rout the movements of the. and other affiliated groups in northern mali especially in the two but two and the go area all right thanks so much it is very. african union leaders are gathering in ethiopia ahead of a major summit that are set to discuss ways to tackle the flow of refugees and migrants here as part of a series leading up to the a youth summit nicholas harcourt falls from dakar to find out why people are determined to leave. use in the us doesn't want to be here he's tried twice to go to france and stale both times. now he wants to go again he.

he says he deserves a better life. i'm a father my family depend on me i decided to leave senegal because my degrees and diplomas seem useless here. as a child he thought he would play professional football in europe instead he went to university and became an i.t. engineer hoping to find work at home but here in senegal he never found a full time job. my parents sold whatever they want to pay for my education they've never asked me to pay them back but i know i owed them because they have suffered for me and i'm ready to suffer for them and so is preparing to travel again by road and see to the shores of europe. despite joint efforts by police forces and coast guards from both european and african countries the trafficking of migrants and refugees continues. the u.n. estimates the people smuggling trade to be worth more than thirty five billion dollars a year and it's booming. more than three thousand people died last year most of

them were african and. there are no official numbers of migrants have actually made it to europe some have drowned in the mediterranean others have died of thirst hunger in the desert and then there are those who have been taken as slaves. we were sold by senegalese traffickers not arabs our own brothers sold us to the arabs my family had to pay fifteen hundred dollars to free me. this is against his brother a senegalese rapper who made it to france he paid for us to be freed and sends money back to his family in this song he explains why so many want to leave africa he says it's the shame of not being able to support your children your parents is the shame of seeing your loved ones are able to eat the shame of lead unable to provide for their family that pushes them to leave. you with and i feel like

a slave here too and i feel stuck unable to get out of my current situation all i want is to be like my brother to be someone my family can depend on most africans wanting to go to europe legally get their visa application rejected and so yes his family agreed to pay traffickers for his latest trip through for rocco to spain it's a journey worth the risks he says once again he packed his bag ready to go because hawk al-jazeera the car. last year turkish security forces arrested fifty thousand refugees on the land border with northern greece refugees are becoming increasingly desperate turning to smugglers for different routes lawrence lee said this exclusive report is done bull isn't well known as a gathering point for refugees yet there is all the evidence you need that a significant smuggling operation is based here. in the central districts of x. arrive people from all kinds of places like ina fast so eritrea sri lanka

pakistan. nobody wants to tell you much about their plans but they do spend a lot of time on the phones all the refugees are tried the same thing how the deal is done in the nearby coffee houses smugglers charge up to two thousand dollars. and when day turns tonight some of those smugglers will tell you just how big the trade is. we do three trips a week there are others working till there's a trip every day in istanbul there are more than fifty smugglers we take forty fifty sixty people a week it depends on time we took seventy five people in one trip these two who are kurdish and syrian former refugees used to smuggle people across the aegean sea to the greek islands but not anymore this is much better. so we're a lot of course the waves are too big in the sea we have worked there and it's too

dangerous it was difficult at the laundromat is easier. the river border is one hundred fifty kilometers long this vos nothingness might feel safer to the traffic is than the sea but it's still hugely dangerous on the greek side they're a forest of mountains the refugees call the jungle the wild boar and wolves up there being eaten is a genuine concern. the smugglers drive the refugees to tiny depopulated villages where they hide out in abandoned buildings. in this amulets the farmer said the army had captured refugees each of the last two days this man tried it and failed his face hidden as he was still in fear of the smugglers muffy though it's like nothing exists here in total darkness you might be attacked by wild animals in the forest anything you can imagine could happen to you it makes you paranoid we weren't allowed to put any lights on we were following the smuggler we got to the

river and they pushed us into a dinghy. even in daytime the wide river valley is treacherous in the winter water is everywhere and wasn't difficult to find signs of life discarded belongings and supplies at night time navigating a path through all this even before getting to the much wider river would be terrifying we had already seen images from the greek side of those whose attempts to cross across in their lives either from drowning or hypothermia and everywhere we drove up and down the river especially the places where greece feels close enough to touch the turkish security forces were there but virtually nobody else well that hill is greece the turkish military say that last year they caught a full fifty thousand people trying to cross the border in places like this as a thousand people a week and it's exactly the same as what the people traffickers told us given that this looks like one of the most important border crossings for refugees in the

middle east trying to get into the european union and yet because it's so bleak and so remote the same surpassed everybody by. the turkish security forces didn't reply to our requests to film with them but the state agency released these dramatic pictures of the soldiers at work defeating the darkness and capturing the group trying to escape the european union to likes to see this sort of thing it is all true all the new front line in europe's battle against the refugees. and the turkey greece border. now a top aide to a former presidential candidate in egypt has reportedly been stabbed and beaten outside his home near cairo a sham going in there was advising sami a man who was recently arrested in self and accused of incitement against the military after announcing his intent to run as president. getting there was reportedly stabbed by attackers as he was leaving his house causing injuries to his face and legs as concern over the planned return of some of the rangar refugees

from bangladesh to me and my government leaders in their mind now it's that repaired creation centers iraq and state were open and ready to receive some of them as of tuesday but across the border bangladeshi officials say paperwork for the refugees is incomplete it comes as a former u.s. diplomat resigned from an advisory council after a heated exchange with leader aung sang suu kyi bill richardson said he feared the crisis was being whitewashed me and maher accuses him of pursuing his own agenda. thousands of extra police and soldiers have been called in ahead of the honduran president's inauguration the opposition's vying there'll be a mass protest they've called for a general strike says there were irregularities in the vote count after november's presidential election which saw. reelected since then more than thirty five people have been killed in violent protests. thousands of people from albania as

opposition parties are taking part in anti-government protests calling for the resignation of prime minister eddie ram a center left government accusing it of being linked to organized crime opposition parties held protests outside of it in december violent when demonstrators fought with police. now it's been described as a bubble about to burst a way of laundering money and also the future of finance the world economic forum's meeting in switzerland this week the spotlight fell on digital currencies like bitcoin the technology on which they're built jonah has more from davus. there was something different about the davos prominent this year cryptocurrency said arrived they became household names in two thousand and seventeen now believers say the underlying technology block chain is the future but these are the suspects are young before any feeling like point reform and so forth there is fraud there are.

but i don't think that's the majority of it you're going to build a block train across africa exactly what does that actually mean one person who tried to explain it was jamie smith former obama deputy press secretary turned block chain promoter you think about it it's like a train track between you and me the black chain and the rails and then the car and tired of it is the digital tokens i'm attaching any assets or anything i'm sending it to you and i do that on that car and that car is a digital token of the most famous what's. that clears that up. this week it felt like the only buzz in town is donald trump but off the hind ves doors the trump name is barely mentioned because here they are party like it's nine hundred ninety four zero in that stage one nine hundred ninety four the beginning of the internet yes let's go get em in the fervor that's happening in the world today the market today is in this room that they're buzzing that there's a new thing that the internet is of information now we have the internet of money

with the internet of value and we can do the internet of law and the smart contracts we can do artificial intelligence so through this side all internet of value exchange is going to be bigger than the it's block chain enthusiastic tend not to underplay its potential we are creating a new financial infrastructure for the world we're going to see pretty much everything that we do as humans be put on this ledger so that we can prove that we're being trustworthy but there are those willing to sound a note of caution now with becoming the. very speculative so i'm just going to take a step back you can read our point due to a little. block change technologies nine hundred ninety four moment has already seen currencies like bitcoin rise in value by eighteen hundred percent in twelve months the growth potential of block chain is such that around here they call

bitcoin yesterday's news joe how al-jazeera davos. i'm sam is a dad with a look at the headlines here in al-jazeera now at least ninety five people are dead and more than one hundred fifty injured in a blast in the afghan capital taliban fighters have claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing which used an ambulance near the old interior ministry building becomes a week after another taliban attack on the city's intercontinental hotel jennifer glass has more. emergency vehicles there taking off the dead and wounded in this bombing it happened just around the corner at the second checkpoint this is a heavily guarded street the target appears to be the high peace council that's where the gate is that area is also home to the anti corruption agency here as well this is a very very busy part of town normally this road would be jammed with cars in

addition to the government offices down that down that street this is a hospital just behind the camera as well is the governor's office the couple mir's office and these are all businesses. the u.n. is analysis special envoy for syria stuff and of a story will attend talks on syria's future in sochi next week syrian opposition members say they're boycotting the negotiations unless russia genuinely engages with them towards a solution one of the world's richest men billionaire saudi princella will even follow has been released from detention being held for two months on corruption charges and was released after agreeing a financial settlement. at least fourteen soldiers have been killed in an attack on an army camp in northern mali eighteen others were wounded in the assault by armed men into to northern mali was controlled by a number of armed groups and to the french led military operation five years ago the struggle to maintain peace a top aide to

a former presidential candidate in egypt has reportedly been stabbed and beaten outside his home near cairo going in there was advised. was recently arrested and accused of incitement against the military after announcing his intent to run there was reports of the stabbed by attackers as he left his house causing injuries to his face and legs. it's up front now. facing reality growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place a so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter the mean maher government calls you a green girly terrorist hear their story on to al-jazeera at this time. some say the hash tag me to campaign is too white and too privileged so how is a movement to call out sexual assault being received outside of the west and out front special.