throughs of australians are ordered to evacuate their homes as bush fires close in on sydney's suburbs. ♪ ♪ hello, i am jonah hull in doha, the other sto top story os al jazerra. south korea stands accused interfering in the lex of the country's first female president. funding kit off for red dawn. we'll meet the young recruits beginning basic training at afghaafghanistan's first ever ay

training academy. thousands of people have been asked to leave their homes around the australian city of sydney. unpredictable weathers air cross the australian state of new south wales is making conditions even tougher for crews battling dozens of fires. lightning storms have now add today the problems caused by soaring temperatures and strong winds. many local people have made the decision to leave. >> only sensual things, a few clothes, you can't take everything. and a few valuables, photographs and things like that. >> if i seen flames coming up through the bush there, i would be out of here. but we have had a lot of smoky days up here, but i am quite at ease. but, you know, if the wind changes i think i will leave. >> bush fires are creeping ever closer towards australia's commercial capital. a number of them are burning

around sydney as firefighters struggle to bring them under control. joining us now is jonathan, who is at the headquarters for the rural fire service in the blue mountains just west of sydney. jonathan, thanks very much for joining us. things don't seem to be getting very much better. >> reporter: well, it's been a day of high drama and high winds, winds gusting up to 100-kilometers an hour. certainly fanning the flames of the 60 fires which were reported this morning which is now 79. 29 of those are considered to be uncontained. so these winds and high temperatures made things a lot worse during the day. at one point just a couple of hours ago three of those fires were considered to be emergencies. and took -- it took a lot of extra crews are crews to battle them. at this points one of fires which was considered to be an emergency is now been scaled

back and only two of the fires are still considered to be emergencies now. it hasn't been a day to attack these fires with these high winds. it's been more of a day to defends against them. to try to hold the lines. and for the most part, i think fire officials are somewhat happy that the situation hasn't gotten a lot worse. >> jonathan, i imagine in the back of everyone's mindse mindss develops it's been nearly a week since they fires have been burning must be the memory of 2009 of black saturday as it was called as entire fires ripped through victoria skate willing 173 people. how concerned are people now of a pete of tha repeat of that di? >> reporter: well, not just the locals are concerned, but obviously the fire officials are more concerned, this time around i think preparations and more than that early warning was a big priority. on my way up to the mountains today, you could see a steady

stream of cars coming off the mountains the talk radio shows were full of people talking as they drove down of the mountains pair they sessions and pets that they were going way for at least day if not longer to make sure that she weren't going to be caught enough that sort of sweep of flames that hit victoria a few ago and cost so many lives. so people are more concerned. but they are certainly more prepared now than they were back in tw 2009. >> john clan in the blue mountains thanks for joining us. chinese and indian leaders have signed a cooperation pact aimed at easing tension on his their disputed boarder. china less' prime minter welcomed his indian counterpart for a two-day visit to beijing, they 20 what are in 1962 and had a three-week stands off earlier this year. >> premier lee and i have agreed that peace and tranquility on

our borders must remain the foundation for growth in the india-china relationship. even as we move forward, the negotiations toward a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement to the india-china boundary question. this will be our strategy bench mark. >> the greek parliament has vote today suspends state fund for this far right golden dawn party following the prosecution of party leader and five other golden dawn m.p.s for allegedly running a criminal organization, but as john reports, now golden dawn has vowed to fight on. >> reporter: the government lost no time cashing in on the popularity of the resolution. it says, parliament may suspends public funds to go parties if their leaders aura 10th of of their p.m.s are invite today

for organized crime or terrorism. the government piled on 32 riders including a sal the of approval for its closure of public television last june. mistrust of left dawn, leftists socialists behind it all. but there was also criticism that the government didn't seek greater transparency and accountability for how all parties spend their money. >> it's absurd for taxpayers to support the party the justice system says is engaged in criminal acts that's what happening with gold be dane, this prosecution han has been long overdue and tolerate today for years. >> reporter: gold be dawn's leader and another five m.p.s are accused of running a criminal organization that ordered willings and beatings. mostly of migrants over the last two years. the prosecution got underway when a man claiming to be a golden dawn supporter murdered a greek musician last month. the ruling will deprive golden dane of more than half a million

dollars this year. and four times as much next year. it's designed to starve a political force government and opposition see as a threat to democracy. but one of the indicted m.p.s and the party's candidate to be mayor of athens next year predicts it will fail. >> we can keep going because we haven't spent all the money we have received from the state. parties get a lot of money. we were quite shocked when we saw how much is spent on parliamentary parties. a year ago we proked a bill to scrap state financing but we were told that it's unconstitutional. they are doing it now anyway to put a lid on golden dane's activities. >> reporter: golden dawn is trying to turn this ruling against its creators. greek parties are allowed to accept private bow tow nations but the lion less share of their funding comes from state revenues the law allows them to claim just under .14% of the public income. this year that gave them $95 million golden dawn's share is over 2 million the party says

it's far too much. at any point the stayed funding reduced by 80%. a drop in party funding is the last thing the socialists and conservatives in government would want, they owe banks $350 million. and need to preserve their state financing. if gold be dawn's' gambit pays off its punishment could becomes their as well. south korea's spy agency the national intelligence service is being accused of interfering in last year's presidential election. the army's secretive cyber warfare command is also implicated in the scandal both agencies are being accuse of the running an online smear campaign to favor president. harry is in seoul with more on this story. harry, we have been hearing something i believe from one of the losing candidates in last year's election. give us some context. >> reporter: well, that's right. the losing candidate, the main opposition candidate.

has been well tilling sobe wellr about the scandal of the election in december 2012 in which he lost but he's come out with extremely strong comments in the last couple of hours. to give you bait of background first, the opposition claims during that election that he was being salon doored and th slandr was being praised something out of the constitutionally limited activities any litscactivities . but then we saw the set being indict ahead long with the police chief that cleared him. since then there has been an ongoing investigation led my prosecutor subject to all kind of claims of political interferes on both sides, one prosecutor has been dismissed. he says because his supervisor

didn't want him to arrest 3nis agents and then this by giving sucker to the opposition and we have seen this raid on the military cyber command the unit that's supposed to defends against north korean cyber attacks. and so in the light of all of that, he has come out and he's made these comments saying it's an unfore giverrable crime horrifying that the military is involved in any bay given the fact that south korea endured military dictatorship for sometime years saying this is the tipping of the iceberg and calling directly on the president to stop saying that this has nothing to do with her, to come and address it. and for her to resolve this and make sure that the investigation is carried out in a fair and transparent way. >> how damaging is this scandal for the president? >> reporter: the president has always denied having any involvement in any electoral

interference. and it's quite possible that organs of the state have, again, as they have in the past, decided on a potential winner and have decided to do something to support that winner in order to curry favor, certainly allegations of such things in the past that we await the result of this investigation to see if anything like that has happened this time around. although there are allegations of 10s of thousands of tweetedss being sent from these organizes supporting the president and attacking her and the hirscher . president's parks attempt to carry through with her policy pledges, recently the head of the opposition the current head of the opposition in the national assembly took all of his members out. they really were on strike for 45 days. they are only back in very recently because it's the annual audit of government departments the question is whether they

will carry on and do work or walk out again once of awed sit over. the deputy prime minister is saying more than 100 bills in the economics sphere of policy have been delayed as a result of all of this. i think a lot of damage being done is her ability to get things done has been hampered so badly by this fractured political hand escape. >> thanks, harry. still ahead now on al jazerra. we are on the beach in spain, where there is little relaxation for old age pensioners forced to support younger family members. and the u.s. hamburger joint that's serving up more than fast food. on inside story, we bring together unexpected voices closest to the story, invite

hard-hitting debate and desenting views and always explore issues relevant to you. [[voiceover]] every day, events sweep across our country. and with them, a storm of views. how can you fully understand the impact unless you've heard angles you hadn't considered? antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. including yours. >> every morning from 6 to 10am al jazeera america brings you more us and global news than any other american news channel. find out what happened and what to expect. >> start every morning, every day, 6am to 10 eastern with al jazeera america.

you are watching al jazerra. and these are our top stories. stronger winds and higher temperatures are making the job of firefighters in eastern australia even more difficult and dangerous. thousands of homeowners near sydney have been order today leave as dozens of fires threaten. after last year's presidential election south korea's spy agency is being accused of a political smear campaign in favor of the winner. the now president. now egypt's interim president is considering signing in to law a plan that would give police sweeping powers to ban protests and demonstrations. it's the latest move in a crack down on decent. dominick kane reports now from cairo. >> reporter: hundreds of

protesters marched through cairo's city after friday prayers. for them, being able to take to the streets like this is an essential part of their protests. >> we cannot stay silent about what is happening. we will not accept military rule over us again. we need a legitimate government. >> reporter: since the revolution two years ago, protesting has become an almost daily event across egypt. but since the toppling of has knew mubarak, successive governments have set to regulate the daily demonstrations. there has been violence during mean straight frosts. this draft law was first win berg the morsi administration but being pursued by this military-led government. international law experts say countries have to juggle their duty toes protect their citizens alongside the rights of the individual to protest. >> international human rights

law provides freedom of speech and freedom of assembly as basic fundamental human rights, these are fundamental human rights. but international law also requires that states have a duty to protect their citizens. to protect the lives and to property. and so it's those two sets of rights and duties that are being balanced here in any kind of law governing public december are demonstration. >> reporter: members of the anti-alliance say without spontaneous demonstrations, their movement would suffer. the proposed law would give the government a power to change, cancel or post point previous at the times like this one. the protesters would also have to give the police 24 hours, written notice of their plans. that is a step too far for people like him. he helped found a protest group under the old mubarak regime. he says the draft law attacks

basic human rights. >> sits important to have a law that regulates protests but there needs to be a social dialogue about it. you cannot ca cancel the right o protests or prevent protests you were the slogan of fighting terrorism. >> reporter: now many seem to agree with that. the influential pro government movement has indicated its opposition to the protest law. the north party is also campaigning against it. but despite this political consensus against the proposed law, the current cabinet believe that his it is necessary at a time when the security situation is uncertain. dominick kane, al jazerra, cairo. syria's opposition is resisting calls from its international back toers commit to a new round of peace talks. during meetings in london, the syrian national coalition laid out a number of demands, they want met before they agree to

talk part. >> if we say yes to a conference, people will cry out a down fall to the conference. our people have grown weary of false promises and empty words. and what right are you asking us to shoulder they are huge responsibility. saudi arabia's head of intelligence has said his country is undergoing a major shift away from its alliance with the united states. the kingdom is believed to be unhappy over washington's stance on iran and sea syria. from washington now patty has this report. >> reporter: the leaders of the u.s. and saudi arabia have always been extremely friendly. exchanging kisses and extravagant gift but now there are signs the relationship has hit a really rough patch. the saudi intelligence chief told dip plats his country would

shift away from the united states. allegations that secretary of state john kerry seemed to dismiss after meeting the saudi foreign minister. >> now, i saw the comments that were presented today, they were printed from several days ago before this conversation took place. i think people need to touch base and kind of get a sense of from the prince himself who is the foreign minister, exactly how he sees this. >> reporter: saudi officials have made clear for years that they have been unhappy with much of what the obama administration have done calling for the egyptian president to step down, criticizing saudi's help in cracking down on protest nurse bahrain, it's become much more tense lately. saudi's unhappy with overtures toward iran and its refusal to launch strikes in syria. the inaction one official said they wouldn't take a seat on the u.n. security council which seemed to baffle the white

house. >> whether or not saudi aware ara arabiatakes a seat on the sy council is their own decision. >> reporter: still analysting warming the obama administration not to take it lightly. >> it was be a mistake to under estimate this decision of the saudis are not people that take risks easily and do in the make statements that they aren't very concerned about. >> reporter: but there are strong economic ties between the two countries. the u.s. exports $17.9 billion of goods to saudi arabia and the u.s. imports from saudi last year equaled $55.6 billion. much that have from oil. but the u.s. is now the world's largest producer of oil. reducing some of saudi arabia's influence. the oil markets have barely moved on the latest news. and saudi arabia has looked to the your honor for mos u.s. fors military hardware, last week the u.s. agreed to sale $6.8 million of missiles. including bunker bombs to

kingdom. if this is more than talk the order could be canceled. so far washington doesn't seem that worried that that will happen. patty, al jazerra, washington. lawyers for five suspects accused of noting the 9/11 attacks say their rights are being violated. they say their clients aren't allowed to speak openly that their alleged miss stream in guantanmo bay. one of the defendants was reportedly subject today water boarding 183 times. afghanistan's first officer training academy opens on wednesday. it will be used to educate the next generation of leaders of the afghan army. as foreign forces leave the country. jennifer glass is in kabul and filed this report from the academy. >> reporter: these men hope to be the leaders of afghanistan's young army. but for now, they just have to get through training. at this new army officer academy in kabul, the recruits are seen as the future of a sustainable military.

>> to make a strong army that it's clear we need educational institutions like this. which are a basis of building of a country. >> reporter: the afghan army has a high attrition rate, most of the regular soldiers are illiterate and ethnic loyalties sometimes come before national ones. big challenges for any military officer. these future leaders were carefully chosen. 10,000 afghans compete today for 270 slots in this first year at the officer academy. they are about to start a 42-week course if they graduate, they will be afghan officers. instructors say the course will be rigorous intellectually and physically and some men won't make it. the recruits say they are ready. >> we will tighten our belts to serve our country, to accept sacrifice so that we can rescue the children of this country from dark times. >> reporter: the academy is still under construction. sen tuleventual 1350 men and 15n

are expected to graduate every year. with the help of international mentors from five nato nations . >> we intend to be here until 2023 or until the afghan government decides that that is enough. >> reporter: but nato's future here depends on afghanistan's pending security agreement with the united states. that plan will be debated by a national gathering late next month. if it's rejected, this academy and afghanistan security forces could find themselves without international support at the end of 2014. years before plans. jennifer glass, al jazerra, at the afghan army academy kabul. as unemployment sores in spain jobless people are relying on their parents and grandparents, but they are also struggling as the rising cost of living hits pensions too. from the islands of m mallorca, here say report. >> reporter: the autumn years of one's life are for relaxing, at least that's the vision many europeans hold dear and until

recently at least felt was achievable too. but it hasn't quite worked out that way for miguel. the former miner has had a tough life. and now at 77, his pension is supporting him, his daughters, and until he died recently, his son too. >> i help my two daughters and my son when he was alive. he lost his job and didn't have any unemployment benefit for two years, he was supported here at home by his two sisters and myself. also my 23-year-old grandson is unemployed. his other grandparents and i help him. >> reporter: miguel is certainly not alone. in post crisis spain where jobs are often poorly paid, or have been lost altogether, the family members state pension can become a vital lifeline. >> in 2012, 26% of families survived on a state pension. one in four families live thanks to this. compare that to 2006 when it was

14%. >> reporter: spain's older generations may have run out of luck. despite the growing importance of pensions, it's likely tomorrow's elderly will be poorer than today's. the numbers are grim. 18% of spaniards are pensioners and like in most european countries the elderly population is growing, but pensions not keeping pace with inflation. and over the next two decades, pensioners could lose between 20 and 30% of their purchasing power. state pensions haven't been slashed like other benefits, but the spanish government cannot afford the system in its current state. >> current pensioners are privileged compared to future ones, because if society doesn't create jobs, and young people don't work, then income won't be generated for social security.

and what this is lead to go is the increase in private pensio pensions. >> reporter: most spaniards expect the pension age to be put up in the coming year old, so future pensioners may well be older, poorer, and yet still the only source of money for millions of people. al, ma your ca spain. >> many workers across the u.s. are did h demanding an increase. one fast food company is offering a higher wage. >> reporter: chicken, burgers and fries the standard american menu. at detroit's newest fast food place, me cluck me, the fair is fresh, locally sourced and custom made. and the motto here is better food fast. >> it's a great burger. we think the quality of food is excellent here, it's not like

greasy fast food, it's good, quality ingredients i don't mind feed paying five-year-old daughter herring loves it too. we love it. >> reporter: and in in a city whose jobless late ate is 16% in a state where the minimum wage is $740 an hour. the starting here here is $12 an hour. >> they may us quality. our wage of living is higher than most other fast food restaurant and it makes us want to come in and work harder for them. and you know, kind of succeed with them. >> reporter: while service industry workers at weapons i's and mcdonald's are walking off the job to demand better page, me cluck me believes a living wage is sound practice. >> we don't have disgruntled employees, we would like to think that they are happy we like to keep them happy and challenge them. and we they'll pehl if w feel ie we'll get out of it what we are putting in to it. >> reporter: another key part of its business model, building its

ties to the local community. >> i believe this city, is you know, people who are entrepreneurs thinking out of the box, doing things differently and meeting people who live and work here. >> reporter: but me cluck me's management has much wider ambitions. >> the future is world domination. plain and simple. we are giving people an alternative to food that's not good for them. they have heard all the resume, he they have seen all the dietary information. i just really believe that rapid expansion is in the works. give us 50 years and see what happens. >> reporter: maybe giving a city that all the world knows as motown a new nickname, me cluck me town. tom ackerman, al jazerra. >> in ba beijing factories to be shut and drivers ordered off the roads when the chinese capital is cloaked in smog. the emergency measures will start, if there is high pollution for three days

running. but they went wo*efp won't applo neighboring provinces where much of the pollution comes from. it soared to 24 times the world health organization safe level in some areas, remember there is more on our website aljazerra.com. that's aljazerra.com.