♪ alexis says he needs a new mandate from the greek people resigning and calling for fresh elections. ♪ good to have your company, i'm david foster and you are watching live from london and coming up, syrians are on mainland greece and thoughts of a new life are closer and thousands more remain in limbo. north and south korea exchange fire after a dispute over loudspeaker broadcasts, plus. i'm charlie at the festival where a circus exploded at a new

genra this year and this is not the circus as you know it. ♪ seven months after sweeping into power and antiausterity platform the prime minister has quit. in a television address he said he had represented the country with courage goos against creditors but the mandate to leave had expired and effectively lost the parliamentary majority and hard liners in the series of parting and they had opposed a bailout agreement struck with international lenders and athens received the first 13 billion euros from the bailout on thursday, package in total $86 billion. what happens next? his resignation paves the way for early general elections and some reports suggest september the 20th, the date for that and he has already confirmed that he

will run. until then a caretaker government will be installed. >> translator: i decided to go to the president and submit the resignation of the government, the people's mandate has exhausted its limit. now you with your vote will decide how we represent the country with resolve with the difficult negotiations required. you with your vote will decide if if the agreement we reached with creditors has the elements to recover and finally get rid of these bailouts. >> reporter: john, when the elections were held we talked a great deal and cannot imagine you thought you would be talking to me about fresh ones within the year so why does he say his mandate has run out? >> well, this really is not such a completely outlandish scenario, the possibility of a second election has been discussed since about march when

cesar were still in the thousands of the first attempt and very confrontational euro group meetings if you remember between he and counterparts to completely over throw the austerity logic that accompanies the bailout loans to greece and at that point i think a lot of people if they achieve even a part of its very, very difficult self imposed agenda then it can have a repeat election in the autumn in which it might achieve a rather spectacular increase in popular standing and possibly manage to have a loan without a coalition partner and this has been in the air since then. the fact is that cesar failed disasterly in attempts to have a an austerity arrangement with creditors and even crossed the deadline of june the 30th at which point the country was no longer within any kind of

facilitation loan arrangement. it was simply a country in default. and it did default against the international monetary fund. so then of course it did seem particularly difficult for cesar to achieve an increase in its popular standing but here we are now as you say discussing the fact and despite the failures people seem to appreciate the fact that he tried and may sound counter intuitive but rather than flocking back to conservatives who had the economy more or less under control by the end of last year, they were predicting a 3% increase in the size of the economy this year for the first time after six years of recession, despite that people have, in fact, stayed loyal to cesar saying they need to have another chance because they were treated so very badly by their creditors across the european continent. >> john is this simply what opinion polls are showing or is this something more substantial that says the country that

promised to deliver greece from austerity is actually imposed austerity upon it and said it wouldn't take the conditions of the bailout, the bailout conditions some say are even worse. what is it that makes he and others think that the greek people still believe in them? >> very good question and yes it's the opinion polls in short at least what we have seen until now and as the election campaign gets underway a new democracy gets its criticism in and as do other opposition parties we shall see how well those numbers will stand up. it is a gamble for cesar without a doubt. i asked one veteran leftist what he thought the position of the greek people would be if an election is now declared and he gave me the following excellent answer, he said the greek people are deeply disappointed, exhausted and very disillusioned

with what happened in greece and in europe. they are not going to be giving him so much renewed mandate to go out and fight but rather a vote of tolerance. the greek people he said want breathing space, they want a period of peace. they have turned around on their creditors and made a very brave stand by voting cesar into power in january, attempting to overturn austerity and they have lost that fight spectacularly and they now simply want a truce. i think that answer, by that age leftist reads the greek psyche very well. i thisty -- think the period we are in now is where the greeks don't want the battle to get worse for them, therefore i think they say electing incumbent of the path of least resistance and has continuity at this point because we now have a new deal with creditors rather than going back to a conservative administration

which will again try and overturn the terms of this agreement perhaps. >> point well made there, thank you. john in athens, thank you. ♪ a ferry carrying more than 2000 syrian refugees is now at the greek port and close to the capitol athens and the vessel leaving cause on wednesday and stopped at a number of greek islands on the way picking up more refugees there and it was touted to ease the pressure on the eastern islands which are a first destination for small boats coming from turkey. jenna is there where tourists and refugees are coexisting uneasily side by side. >> reporter: the sea front at the height of the holiday season has become a refugee camp. tourists might once have lingered here for the view, they

don't any more. outside the police station frustration rises by the day. those with more obvious claims to asylum like fleeing civ war are given priority and processed fairly quickly and others fend for themselves. >> thank you, thank you. >> reporter: international agencies are trying to help speed up a process that is grindingly slow but they say they are getting little help from the local authorities. >> we have offered to the municipal our support and we can provide tents, we can provide services but. >> how quickly? >> we can provide it very quickly but we need them to provide us a site where we can put the tents. >> and so the greeks are dragging their feet? >> let's say we haven't received a positive reply yet. >> this is what passes for formal accommodation and abandon

hotel with meager facilities. >> contagious and infectious diseases and facing diseases coming from their country with malaria cases and some typhoid and some tb. >> could the authorities being do more do you think? >> they could help a little bit more, a little bit more. >> how long have you been here? >> 20 days and 5 days and 15 days or 20 days. >> in that time have you had any help, any support? >> no. everything is very bare here now. >> where do you want to go? >> want to go to germany. >> germany? >> yes. >> germany. >> germany. >> reporter: there was a day when multiple nationalitys gathered around this pool, the germans, dutch and perhaps british holiday makers and these days they come from nigeria and mali, pakistan, afghanistan and the hotel captain offers

holidays from hell. on the strip the restaurant complains the refugees have driven business away. in the mayor's office there seems to be reluctance to offer assistance and tourists meanwhile walk on in search of a place to eat with a better view. al jazeera, cause. now many of those refugees who arrived in greece travel north to macedonia and the government declared there a state of emergency and called out the army to try to control this influx and left around 1,000 people stranded in no man's land between the macedonia and greek borders, between 1500-2000 people a day have been crossing into southern macedonia where there is a direct rail link to serbia. british police are to be deploys to the french port cali to help strengthen security there. part of an agreement between the two countries thousands of people living in makeshift camps in cali the closest point of

mainland europe and says many of those there are economic migrants who want to enter the country illegally. britain's foreign secretary will formally open the uk embassy in iran capitol on sunday nearly four years after it was shut down and london will be reopened at the same time. the agreement over iran's nuclear program made in july seen a rapid warming of relations with western countries and his trip from the british secretary in nearly 12 years and follows visits by other european diplomates. tensions appear to be rising on the korean peninsula after the south fired artillery shells into the border of north korea in response to a rocket attack by ping-yang and relations have been historically struck and added to the strain.

>> reporter: for 11 days now south korea using giant speaker arrays to send propaganda messages across the border with the north and north korea escalated the response of propaganda of its own to live fire, twice shooting into south korea territory and military fired back with dozens of rounds with artillery around the same time they threatened further military action if the speakers were not taken down within 48 hours. >> translator: military immediately raised alert stat us to the highest level and it's closely monitoring movements of north korea and maintaining the military readiness to respond if there is any further provocation. >> reporter: south korea's president was briefed at a meeting of the national security council and instructed troops to maintain readiness and respond sternly to north korea provocation and the latest escalation and hostilities is on august the 4th, a blast in the

de-military zone and lost limbs in what seoul said a week later was an attack. they said started propaganda broadcast was phase one and drawing this response. >> translator: the resumption of the broadcasting is a direct auction of declaring war against the dprk. >> reporter: there had been some hope this year both countries on the 70th anniversary at the end of japanese colonial rule could have a warning of relations instead hostilities heated and lost 46 in a war ship that went down with a torpedo attack and later in the year they killed four on an artillery attack on an island and the government vows to be more robust in retaliating to such events. exchange of fire in the de-military zone is not unprecedented and last october they attempted to shoot down propaganda balloons launched by south korea activists and south korea returned fire into north

korea territory the difference is that time tensions seem to ramp down quickly afterwards, this time with the 48 hour deadline being imposed they have been ratcheted up. harry faucet, al jazeera, seoul. brazil enduring the worst recession in decades and struggling to keep workers in their jobs and fighting cancer, former u.s. president jimmy carter opens up about his health. ♪

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top stories on al jazeera, the greek prime minister has resigned and called a general election as soon as possible and says his mandate to lead has expired with new polls and macedonia declared a state of emergency and called out the army to try to control the influx of refugees and migrants and left people stranded in no man's land between the southern countries bordering with greece. tensions rising in the korea peninsula after the south fired artillery shells across the border into north korea in response to a rocket attack from the north. and thai police have now cleared two men suspected initially of having helped the monday's bomb attack in bangkok after one was identified as a tour guide and the other a chinese tourist. authorities have now asked interpoll to help hunt down the main suspect filmed leaving a

sack at the scene minutes before the explosion which killed at least 20 people. they believe he is a foreign national and more than ten people may have been involved in planning the attack. four body guards killed in a grenade attack in the southern yemen city aiden and the first since they reclaimed the city from houthi fighters last month and we report. >> reporter: this is the governor of aiden has survived an assassination attempt. and he was a commander of the forces that pushed the houthis out of the sea port city of aiden. a member of the sunni party and he runs a divided city. the successionist want aiden to become the capitol of a break away southern republic. forces loyal to president hadi want the sea port city to become the financial capitol of all

federal yemen. islam reform one of yemen's most organized political parties says yemen should remain united. but the failed assassination attempt is a further sign of the deteriorating security situation across the country. >> it sets a tone for security in aiden. everybody is scrambling to cleanup their act in the city and establish a police force. but they have not been successful so far. >> reporter: aiden was retaken from the shia houthis and troops loyal to deposed president saleh. this followed months of air strikes by a saudi-led coalition, these thanks provided by the united arab emirates for soldiers loyal to exiled president hadi played a crucial role in pushing houthi forces from the south. and this is where fighting is taking place. anti-houthi fighters are on the

offensive in the central city of thai. they are led by this man, a tribal leader from the islam party. his fighters have recently captured many areas and security buildings in thai. the city of thai is a vital supply route for anti-houthi fighters in their push to recapture the capitol sanaa. and to achieve that goal coalition war planes continue pounding houthi positions in and around the capitol. they have also struck rebels' positions in cities like hodada and aid agencies say the ongoing fighting in yemen has claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians. >> translator: we were inside the building when we heard the sound of an explosion. there is no military base here. no army post. 18 people were killed in the air strikes. >> reporter: the houthis and their allies remain defiant and

they say despite losing territory they still have more weapons and fighters to repel any push to retake the capitol. al jazeera. the former u.s. president jimmy carter is to receive radiation treatment for brain cancer. the 90-year-old had a cancer section of his liver removed earlier this month and mr. carter is the 39th u.s. president and awarded the nobel peace prize in 2002 and in washington d.c. our white house correspondent patty and this is delivering bad news but you never would have known it, would you? >> it was so remarkable, david, to give you a sense, after he got done speaking for more than a half an hour he got off stage and he received a standing ovation. they told him the cancer spread to his brain and assumed he had a matter of weeks left and he was surprisingly at ease with that and he said i had a good

life and have thousands of friends and went on to say his biggest accomplishment, the best thing he did with his life was to marry his wife rose lynn and been together 69 years and they met the day she was born and were next door neighbors and when it comes to radiation and cow mow -- chemotherapy he is looking for a new adventure if you can believe it. >> right now i think the prospects are very dismal and any time i remember in the last 50 years. the whole practice is endollment. the government of israel has no desire for a two-state solution which is policy of all the other nations in the world and the united states has practically no influence compared to past years in either of israel or palestine. >> reporter: and that commitment to something that has

been working for as it appears at the moment in vain for years and years and years, encapsulates his work ethic doesn't it because there is not a single ex president of the united states i can think of who has done so much in so many places since leaving office. >> that kind of set the standard for how an ex president should behave and that is what you see bill clinton trying to do with his clinton foundation and basically started the carter center and says it has $600 million down and believes it will continue and hoping to still attend meetings and what they are committed to is peace, democracy, human rights and there was a talk about israel and palestine but he said that he hopes the last guinea worm dies before he does and that is a parasite they tackled to get rid of and when they started there were more than three million cases worldwide and are

down to 11 and went to name the countries where they are at and really he has been controversial at times and met with fidel castro and met with hamas and angered his government on several occasions speaking out about israel and said he needed to do what he thought was right. another thing he has done is a huge advocate and thought he would go to nepal and build homes for people and won't be able to make it but that is amazing. >> going on a big adventure and we shall follow it with interest and patty in washington. supporters of brazil's president are expected to hold rallies across the country in the next few hours, and the approval ratings are at historic low with corruption scandals training a government and economy in recession and we went to a factory in south palo where

production has fallen dramatically. it's a family business that manufactures electric switches, plugs and products sold mainly in brazil and around the region and it grew over the years as the economy flourished and feeling the pinch as they are facing the worst recession in decades and he was forced to reduction production by 15% in top jobs. >> translator: we made adjustments, we changed things as much as we could to save jobs and it's really hard when you fire someone who has been working with you everyday, and you know their family, where they live. here in brazil we have close relationships. the factory is here, a city that had studily attracted factories since the 1960s and the whole city grew around the automobile industry which is one of the worst hit by this crisis. it has a ripple effect putting the unemployment rate here at nearly double the national

average. thousands of people have lost their jobs over the past few months. 2800 in july alone. he worked as a welder since he was 15 at one of the biggest car plants in the city. now he is 29 years old and jobless. >> translator: the cause of government policies and the workers are paying the price and some companies make spare parts have closed and if things keep on going their way we will become like detroit. >> hoping to recover his job through an agreement between his union and the company. but next month he will lose all benefits so in the meantime he is studying to become a teacher. but many here say the real problem is elsewhere. >> translator: brazil needs to be more transparent and show the rules of the game to investors otherwise no one will come here. there is need for political stability, the government needs to act quickly especially because some sectors are

sufficient foring suffering more than others. >> reporter: paralyzed by a political crisis that reduced confidence and with a scandal of epic proportions still unfolding and credit ratings dwindling confidence is more ilusive than ever. to the annual arts festival there, big nest the world is in full swing and the weather is not that bad in scotland's capitol city and it is famous i suppose for comedy but one has invested almost one million dollars in two circus big tops and as charlie angelo reports this is not circus as we know it. ♪ roll up, roll up to the big top tens where you find a circus revolution in full swing. gone are the lions and the accident-prone clowns replaced

by thrilling stunts and theatrics to make the audience think. borders and crossings is heavy with narrative, the palestinian troup b orders expose the concept of freedom mixing arbitrary security checks with acrobatics. with no tradition of circus in the palestinian territories the two have devised their own style. >> it's my role in society to spread awareness, to raise a question to the people not only to entertain the people, part of my job but also through entertainment we could also go out of questions and the question on our daily life and question ourselves. >> reporter: belgin troup put the plight of the refugee on stage depicting a harrowing crossing of the mediterranean

see and it's dark and designed to prick the conscious of the viewer. >> i like the direction the circus is taking and the reason i got into it because it was a fresh, new art form to find ways to talk about hard topics. >> reporter: it's a gamble staging the shows but promoters believe it should be a showcase for circus in the same way it is for comedy, theatre and dance. >> this is the festival where you should push the boundaries. it's a festival where stuff does evolve, new things come along so it's the right home to try something like this and so far the audiences have been incredibly receptive. >> with these shows circus is being reinvented but still danger and, in fact, there have been two accidents this year cancelling shows but there are stories being told and issues being explored. with no rules performers can jump from politics to pole vaulting and no words makes this

fresh new art form appeal to a wide ranging audience leaving them all wanting more, charlie from al jazeera. all the information you could ever want is at al jazeera.com. ♪ ♪ >> i'm russel russell in the pacific northwest. >> it's exactly the habitat that has been missing for 100 years and that tde