dd portion coke, the leaders of germany and france are heading to --. ukraine and western allies accuse the kremlin of supporting a separatist rebellion. fighting has flared with civilians caught in the middle.

the german chancellor spoke before she heads to moscow. what did we hear from the chancellor? >> talks are meant to focus on the situation in iraq. angela merkel gave a brief response in which she reiterated the aims of the talks were to end the bloodshed in the region. they were hoping to reach a peace plan that would include a cease-fire brought into action. hopefully without the need for a military solution. she was careful not to get anyone's hopes up.

further discussions would perhaps be needed in the future. she reassured the press she and francois hollande were not leaving these talks. >> trying to not raise hopes over these talks. they have the difficult task of getting vladimir putin on board. >> absolutely. they will be meeting in moscow to hopefully get him to agree to a piece lamb. here in germany they are saying it is important that some progress is made, that if the leaders in france and germany

come home empty-handed, it would be a bad. angela merkel well aware that the u.s. is to send weapons to ukraine. they feel it could exacerbate the crisis. they hope to reach a diplomatic solution today. it is a sign she understands the seriousness of the situation and that there is a need for a diplomatic solution to be reached sooner rather than later. hopefully we will see process on a peace plan today. >> thank you. over 5000 people have died in

the ukrainian conflict. civilians are caught in the middle. ukrainian forces have agreed to allow residents to evacuate. >> the offer was made to cease fighting as of 9:00 a.m. the ukrainian side agreed so the process of evacuation of civilians through humanitarian corridor doors will not be -- corridor doors -- corridors will not be interrupted. buses will be parked with signs. residents can decide which direction they want to go. >> the eastern town is a key railway hub.

to an ongoing story at of jordan. demonstrations being held for a murder pilot. he was burned alive by islamic state militants. his death has sparked grief and anger. ladainian warplanes hit dozens of targets on thursday. i am joined by gail. tell us about the rally today. >> they gathered outside in downtown. they're holding up flags and banners. they are chanting that he will be avenged. this it demonstrations one among the many expressions that have been taking place here in jordan.

-- visited the women's weight. she called him a hero and highlighted the pilot's mother. for the past week, and today jordan has been showing a unified --, not only to the family, but to the king. >> we have seen the highly's death has strengthen the resolve. we have seen retaliation with airstrikes being carried out in syria. >> yesterday, at the funeral the king told the father of the pilot he was determined to continue striking the islamic state organizations, but also to find who is responsible for his son's death. people had called for vengeance

and for the organization to be destroyed. many are saying they are determined to join the army themselves. since yesterday, jordan has not -- it's strikes. >> thank you for that update. pleading for her husband's reliefs -- release. she is collecting a petition to push for his release from his cairo cell. he was jailed over 400 days ago. one colleague was released on sunday and is home. "france 24" met as they pushed

for his freedom. >> every day, she watches images of her husband with her children. it has been more than 400 days since he was imprisoned. >> three journalists were convicted. why is it possible to free two of them and not the third? >> the three journalists were arrested in 2013 on charges of colluding with muslim brotherhood.

the men were convicted of seven and 10 years in prison. prosecuted -- his family is still waiting for justice. >> there were errors in the trial. >> last sunday, an egyptian canadian gave up his passport and his extradition to canada is eminent. the fate of -- is less certain. his family continues to fight for him to be released. >> a vote to send groups to nigeria. reports of clashes with the extremists along the nigerian

border. it is the second neighboring country town that has been invaded in the past days. nigeria's presidential elections will go ahead as planned. millions of nigerians are without their voter id cards. opposition parties called for a delay, but the council of state said there was no reason to put the vote off. a call for a spy to come out of the shadows. the death of a prosecutor has been helping with an investigation into a possible government cover-up. kate moody has the story.

>> the service was dissolved this week but it is becoming the center of the scandal that has gripped the country. >> we are going to -- from when he started working there in 1972. >> his whereabouts are unknown but he was a feared figure where his career spanned four decades. >> he used to have an excellent relationship with the government. >> he had been working on a report that accused the president of shielding a group of iranian's.

in a bid to win business and contracts with tehran, he was found with a bullet in his head a day before he was to testify before lawmakers. the president suggested he had taken his own life, but more recently she suggested he was killed by members of the intelligence service. authorities claimed this document did not exist. later, admitted it had been found in his apartment. pressure and scandal continue to mount against the government. >> an update on the plane crash in taiwan. both trans asia engines shut down.

58 people plummeted into a river. 15 people survived, which happened after takeoff. eight people remain missing. will tony abbott stay on as prime minister? he has seen his popularity slide as criticism against policy changes mount. a simple majority would he needed to oust the leader. he has promised to fight the move. >> we will stand together in urging me party -- in urging the party to defeat this motion. to vote in favor of the stability and the -- that the

people voted for it the election. we have a strong plan. >> that was tony abbott speaking. let's get a check of your headlines. angela merkel and francois hollande are to meet with latin america the -- to meet with vladimir putin. solidarity rallies in jordan's capital. warplanes strike dozens of targets in retaliation for the killing of a pilot. argentina's scandal over the death of a prosecutor takes another twist. they call i spy trees -- they call on a spy chief to testify, but his whereabouts are unknown. we are going to start with

greece's charm offensive that took place. things have come up empty. >> no agreement insight. the meeting with the finance minister was never going to be easy but the two men could not agree to disagree. >> it was always going to be a hard sale. at the end of a week long criss cross, he had little to bring back to greece at the end. they found very little support. the closest they got was on monday when the finance minister

offered supports to greece. the country is still dedicated to economic reform, it just needs the school space. with the ecb refusing to take greek bonds for collateral, the bills will mount and they will become more expensive. they are pinning their hopes on a detailed basel to be submitted to creditors by the end of the month. >> the finance minister is returning to athens. it is sending shares lower. stocks are down over 1% this hour.

the dax is lower. a company confirms reports it will ask over 7000 jobs. they are keeping their eye out for a jobs report that is due out friday. let's look at other stories making headlines. the two sides are close to finalizing a deal. they have not been able to find a foreign buyer, despite the second negotiation with india for three years. radioshack has filed for bankruptcy following a levinsohn is -- has filed for bankruptcy.

according to news reports tweets will up -- will appear in google searches. revenues came in at $479 million. it -- the u.s. will restore relations with cuba. americans can travel to cuba but tourism is not a reason. >> with the colorful streets cuba has been a dream holiday destination. travel is still banned for the average american. since january 15, 12 categories

are included. hannah runs one company organizing people to people scores. >> we can have a direction between american and cuban. >> 100,000 americans have come this way. that figure could double. senators present a bill requesting a listing of the entire travel ban. in his good news for americans. joe will be able to enjoy all that cuba has to offer. >> a place that has changed and a lot of recent years, it will change more.

>> he is not alone. a survey found that over 55% of respondents would like to go. >> with that it is a wrap of the business update. >> thank you. it is time for a look at what is making headlines. we are to start with concerns in france, the greek debt crisis. what are we seeing? >> magazines here look at articles around the world and if you look at the picture on the front page, you can see angela merkel in battle dress and the headline -- the end of german europe. she said the whole greek crisis

one of the pieces is saying her austerity led the policy approach to the euro. one of the others is pointing to an unintended consequence, david cameron could benefit. the greek leader, if he says i want to renegotiate, david cameron is trying to renegotiate. that could be good news for him. >> we are seeing greece's new prime minister. >> this is a main magazine in germany. the new greek prime minister looks very down. they call him the angry greek

and says he is a nightmare for the european union, a ghost driver. think of the image of a bus or a train without a driver. the attitude has been described as unusually harsh because he is centerleft. the feeling is maybe they should not be so harsh on him. another common is that merkel must compromise. if athens and berlin cannot talk, what do you have? europe will not follow germany at this point. >> let's look at another french magazine, it features france's economy minister. >> you can see people within the ruling socialist party, at 38, he can hardly be considered a lefty in the traditional sense

of what lefty would mean. it is saying, when he says things like people must dream of becoming billionaires, that is the kind of quote from him that shocks people on the left. even on the right, here in france. an interesting point. if we look at how they perform we will have a gauge of what is going on in france. we look at the front cover, what do you think of this young man? he is 34. he is an advisor to francois

hollande on foreign trade issues. he is jazzing it up and you can see how young he looks. the new look. >> we will see if the new age brings energy. let's stay here. we are seeing magazines focus on last year's paris attacks. >> you can see the concern about the nature of france's secular tradition after the charlie hebdo attacks. it is saying that there has to be a debate about how to anchor french muslims into french

society and there needs to be a move away from the position because the secular position as strong. the quote that smell for me is french secularism is being used in a more unjust way than other freight -- than other faiths being practiced. let's go to something lighter. a funky front page. stephanie of monaco turned 50 this week. she was the wild child, a model mom. one of the quotes from her is from when she was 26. the prospects of getting wrinkles does not bother me. those are about how i love my

life. >> thank you for walking us through that.