Where a woman whose party is less chinafriendly is favored to win. And mounting pressure. Regrettably, siege and frustration as a weapon of war has been routine in syria. Trying the end the suffering of hundreds of thousands trapped in besieged areas. Good evening aim antoniogoodo mora. This is al jazeera Americas International hour. We begin with Security Forces in ouagadougo, holing hostages in the hotel, Security Forces have entered the main loin. According to officials, the attack started firing weapons in the air to drive back crowds. An Al Qaeda Affiliated group has claimed responsibility for the attack. One witness described the ordeal. Translator the guys came and started to shoot and since 7 30 p. M. Nobody has been coming. The army the police or the gendarme have not been coming. Our country is not for jihadists or terrorists. They are wrong. According to a u. S. Defense official, france has requested reconnaissance support in burkina faso. A curfew is imposed until 6 00 p. M. Three hours from now. Well have nor news at the half hour. Venezuela has declared a state of economi economic emerg. Country in shambles, inflation rate over 50 , highest it has ever been. Nicholas maduro, to an opposition assembly, crippling are shortage of basic items like toilet paper. Maduro has called for temporary powers to take over private resources and impose currency controls but the opposition sees it as another attempt to retain power. Virginia lopez reports from caracas. The state of emergency exactly what this means and the reach of what the this state of emergency has is still unclear. President Nicholas Maduro is addressing the country in his yearly state of the union speech, he has reiterated, a state of emergency, catastrophic, drop in oil price but also primary what he calls the Economic Warfare that he claims the private sector and his political opponents have been waging on his government in order to destabilize it. We spoke to economists who say that some of the measures that we could be seeing in the next coming days are a strengthening of price controls, but also, it could be that the government raises the price of petrol, but currently has the cheapest pet role in the world and raisinpet. The fact that the government would go as far as taking a measure like this the if indeed they do just comes to show how deep the crisis is. Joining us from washington to discuss the economic state of emergency in venezuela is eric farnsworth, Vice President of the america society, council of the americas. Eric always good to see you. The venezuelan government had not put out reports of the state of the economy in almost two years, already in a free fall last year and inflation was by far the worst in the worth, oil price he have continued dropping. There is a state of emergency. Absolutely right, the benchmark crude fell below 30 a barrel tantd pric and the cost f Venezuelan Oil is even lower than that. For a country that is almost entirely dependent on the sale of oil, this is an Economic Disaster and only going to get worse. On the other hand is this state of Emergency Declaration also a power play by the maduro government to outflank the newly elected National Assembly that has an opposition majority . I think thats exactly right. It can very well be seen as an excuse for the government to reassert increasing control over not just the economy but over the politics of the country. Remember, before december 6th, government not just controlled the executive branch and the legislative branch and the institutions of government it also croalt controlled the legie branch, th and the government hs been doing everything it can to try to undermine. By declaring an state of emergency on the economic side, no doubt it does face an emergency, for policy decisions the government itself has made this gives the government flexibility perhaps to undermine the powers and prerogatives of the legislature. It could be seen as a power grab, yes. Is there any chance it could help maduros government . Little chance to finish his term . That remains to be seen, for the general venezuelan the man or woman on the street, hasnt changed one way or the other, other than they continue to find it difficult to supply their basic needs, food, consumer products, health care is increasingly unavailable and just trying to get by is really whats facing most citizens. I dont know that this economic state of emergency is going to dramatically impact that to the extent that the economy ticks up, perhaps maduros popularity might increase marginally. People make their decision he based on that. One of the things to limit the assemblys power was to get the Supreme Court which he controls to unseat three opposition lawmakers and that took away the oppositions two third majorities. Earlier day the New York TimesEditorial Board described that as a preposterous attempt to prevent parliament from making the sweeping reforms the country desperately needs. In this context especially since the opposition voted strongly against the government how is this setting . It depends on how the people decide, if this is last straw then perhaps they go at the time streets and say this is enough and we have to make dramatic changes and were going to do what it takes. If they see this that is just another step another in the long line that is not going to dramatically impact them then i think they will stay home so they dont get caught up in any sort of street violence or whatever. The potential for volatility here increases almost by the day and its very, very important to watch how this develops. Do you see International Organization he the oas or the u. N. Intervening . The secretary of the oas has taken a position, i think thats a very good thing. The Member States of the organization of american states have not done a whole lot. They could do more, they could call for the innovation o invoce interamerican charter. They could make individual statements of the United Nations, which venezuela is on the Security Council at this point, could form a Contact Group what have you, there are a lot of things that could be done to try to encourage moderation for government and to try create political space for the opposition government. To this state much has not occurred and to think it would occur in future ask probably unlikely. But is probably unlikely. Buttists difficult to see an end game that doesnt lead to the collapse of the venezuelan economy or violence in the street. Until the United Nations or somebody else tries to intervene to help, that perhaps could be a good thing and perhaps put venezuela on a peaceful path to what is a political and economic crisis. Eric farnsworth, its good to have your perspective, thank you. Thank you very much. Dow jones industrial average lost nearly 400 points and oil closed below 30 a barrel for the first time in 12 years. Al jazeeras john terret reports. Reporter at the New York Stock Exchange a sea of red. Investors are scared the losses will damage the american economy. The selling is universal but today the stocks that had done so well got hit more than the average stock. Reporter the problem is the world has too much oil, theres a glut, while that helps consumers, its devastating to countries trying to produce it. First theres overproduction by saudi arabia, which has opened the spigot, to hobble iran. While the saudi economy can take low prices for a couple of years thats not true of other Oil Producers like nigeria where the economy is being hurt by cheap oil and which wants an emergency session of the cartel opec to try to negotiate a price like. Add to that the downturn in chinas economy and far too Many Companies add risk of going under. It was a Reasonable Risk that money was so easy by Central Banks so so long, companies were able to borrow money that shouldnt have been able to borrow money and now that the economics are changing might not be able to pay that money back. Is there a perfect price point for oil that would keep motorists happy but not risk inflation . When you look at supply and demand, most people think that a price between 50 and 70 per barrel could work for everybody. John terret, al jazeera. Kenyas president today told his countrymen about a heartbreaking loss of faibing troops in somalia. African union Peace Keeping base, in a town of el ade close to the kenyan border. Began the siege with a suicide bombing, al shabaab claims 63 kenyan soldiers died. Kenya has provided a large contingent to the African Force providing security to kenya. Gang rape as well as torture and ethnic repression as part of a crack down on political opponents. The Central African nation is on the brink of civil war. Four military generals appeared in court today and were sentenced to life in prison for their roles in a failed coup last spring. The u. N. Says more than 400 people have been killed in violence since then. The polls are open in taiwan where voters are choosing a president. Coming up why the results could be historic and dash chinas hopes of reunifying with the break away country any time soon. And investigation is launched into a french drug trial that left one man brain dead and three others with potentially permanent brain damage. Voting is now underway on a potentially historic election day in taiwan. Polls have been opened in taipei for a little over two hours, member of the Opposition Democratic Progressive Party which staunchly supports taiwans independence from china. The election in type itaiwan is the subject of in context, adrian brown is in taipei, now that the votes are cast, how confident is tsi of her victory . I think she is pretty confident. Most opinion polls ahead of this election which might be historic, says she has a double digit lead of eric chu, the kmt has been the dominant Political Force since the end ef martial law in 1987. If she wins today, that would be historic because it would be the first time that taiwan has ever had a female head of state. Also she would be the first female president in a chinese speaking society. Now shes an interesting person. Shes 59 years old. She is single. She is a trained economist. She graduated from Cornell University in new york from the London School of economics, she was also a key trade negotiator for taiwans entry to the world trade organization, National Security advisor. Are from paper she ticks all the boxes but from chinas perspective she is the stuff of nightmares because of the dpps proindependence stance. When tsi wei went to cast her ballots, many people casting their ballots are doing it for the first time. This is the parts of age where people dont take democracy for granted. Theyve only been a democracy for 20 years its a poignant scene and deep down a lot of people say if china had its way this election wouldnt be taking place at all. If there is going to be alandslide victory we should get an early indication of that two to three hours after the polls close. In the last election, the turnout was more than 80 , which is auto reminder of just what a lively vibrant democracy this is. And what are people telling you, what do people want to come out of the election . Well, you know, gender and relations with china aside, there are other big issues in this election. Namely, the economy, Economic Growth here at the moment is just 1 , there is a widening wealth gap. Taiwan has a lot of millionaires but there are a lot of People Living below the poverty line. That is an issue that will have to be addressed no matter who wins this election. Also the rest of the world is not buying a lot of what taiwan used to make. Components for computers and mobile phones. The biggest export for taiwan is hong kong and china and those exports have begun to slow because choppys economy is slowing. Theyre going to have to balance the interests of the united states, china as well as those of their home land. It is a very demanding challenging tough dangerous job being president of this country. Adrian brown in taipei, thank you. Richard bush is the director for the center for issue asia policy studies at the Brookings Institution. Do you except tsi to win and will her dpp get a majority in the legislature . Everything i suggest indicates that she will win by a comfortable margin. And it helps her that her opposition is divided among a couple of different candidates. So i think thats pretty clear. The legislature is much harder to call. There are a lot of predictions that the dpp could win an absolute majority. But i am not ready to go that far because were talking about 78 different geographic races and a party list vote as well. So if the dpp doesnt get an absolute majority then they can probably work out a coalition arrangement. With a couple of smaller ideologically compatible parties. The last time the dpp had power the first eight years of this century tensions escalated between taiwan and china. Already china made noises that tsi needs to make her intentions clear. How will china react if she wins . One part of china beijing wasnt something that mr. Chi would win. They didnt understand much about the dpp, that made things much more difficult. This time we know whos going to win the presidency. Moreover, i think china has learned a lot about how to cope with the dpp government. It doesnt need to be the end of the world. And you know, they have a play book now for what to do. Youre absolutely right, that beijing has set down a set of requirements portside to accommodate if stable crossstrait relations are going to continue. It does seem that china has tried to sway the vote a bit especially with the meeting between two president s back in december. Is there anything any doubt though that tsi will try to reach out more to the rest of the world and become less dependent on trade and relations with china . Thats what she would like to do but its easier said than done. The major variable here is the whats going on in the chinese economy. Tsi would like to liberalize trade relations with the rest of the world, including the united states. A potential problem there is that beijing may be in a position to pressure those countries that taiwan seeks out, and urge them not to deal with her. Well given that the u. S. Has been trying to improve relations with china, at the same time, it still has a commitment to help in taiwans defense if it were to be attacked by china. I would imagine that the u. S. Would hope for stability. Are these changes the possible dpp win, the emergence of the third party as a power party, are these not welcome developments in washington . Well, first of all we are realistic. We know that in any democratic system theres going to be a rotation of power. And we have to accommodate to that reality. We have to be willing to try to work with whoever the people select as their leader. And it is our hope that we can work with dr. Tsi and that her government and xi jinpings government will find a way to undertake a process of mutual accommodation. How significant would her election be as the first woman to become a leader of an Ethnic Chinese society . I think its a very important step. This demonstrates once again that the taiwan political system continues to move towards one where leaders are picked on the basis of their talent, not theyre gender, or their ethnic background, and so on. Richard bush of the Brookings Institution a pleasure to have you with us. Thank you. Thank you very much. Coming up Indonesian Police launch raids to track down those responsible for thursdays coordinated attack in jakarta. While a defiant public shows its strength and solidarity following the assault. And stories from inside one of syrias beseendle towns, the haunting scenes that aid workers see as three try the help those attacked. Rchg welcome back to al jazeera america, im antonio mora. Coming up in this half hour of International News turkeys Tourism Industry is reeling in the wake of recent attacks and recent disputes. But first a look at the stories making headlines across the u. S. In our american minute. A federal judge has rejected Boston Marathon bombers tsarnaevs request. Search for survivors continues off the coast of hawaii. Six marines were on board each aircraft at the time. Debris was spotted in the area today but so far there has been in sign of any of the missing service men. Walmart ceo says its reevaluating the number of stores, closures will begin at the end of the month. Now more to our signature story, the ongoing siege in burkina faso. Security forces have launched an effort to recapture the hotel from the gunman. And al qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attack. Yvonnee newyvonne ndege has the. Its not clear at this time how many hostages these terrorists were able to stay. A hotel frequented by westerners, french soldiers often stay there because theres a military base in burkina faso. And obviously its an ongoing situation. We understand and this has been coming to us from various sources on the ground and some within the government that the authorities are planning to storm the hotel, to try and put an end to the siege to try and defuse the situation. Foreign embassies have issued warnings to their citizens in ouagadougo, not to venture outside until this situation is brought under control. Now all of this is very negative for burkina faso. Just some weeks ago it conducted a peaceful election following more than a year of political instabil