>> chaos at the border, thousands of refugees are pushed back as they try to cross from greece to macedonia. ♪ >> i'm lauren taylor this is al jazeera live from london. two years on from the chemical attacks that shocked the world will justice ever come for the people of guta. alexis tsipras faces a deepening in his party. and the north korean leader orders his military to a state of war readiness as tensions

with south korea escalate. ♪ hello. there have been scenes of chaos on the border between greece and macedonia, as thousands of refugees try to make their way across europe some of them making shorter journeys by sea to avoid european borders. other countries have also moved to harden their frontiers. in macedonia a state of emergency is now in force, and thousands of refugees spent last night in noman's land. around a quarter of a million of refugees are known to have crossed the mediterranean successfully this year, and if more have died in the attempt. some then continue their journey deeper who europe. this is a scene at calais in northern france where around 3,000 people have been camping

trying to cross into the u.k. emma hayward has more on the situation in macedonia. >> reporter: they spent a cold night in noman's land, indicate -- waiting to cross the border. but their passage was blocked by riot police. rocks were thrown, then this. [ gunfire ] [ screaming ] >> reporter: smoke filling the air with police using stun grenades to try to keep people out. in the ensuring chaos, there was panic. most refugees here have escaped conflict, and few would have expected this. >> they took us today -- i cannot tell you. >> reporter: later there was more frustration as riot police tried to maintain their line, as hundreds of people were pressed into a small space.

some were eventually allowed through, others had to be helped by medics. tens of thousands of people have crossed through macedonia's borders heading north during the last month. too many, say the authorities, who have declared a state of emergency in two border regions. the local train station is a transit point for many. most want to try to reach serbia, hungary, then other partsover europe. while the border is still being so closely guarded, many will have to stay and wait wherever they can on the greek side. >> there are hundreds of vulnerable persons, children, babies, other persons with extreme vulnerabilities, including medical needs. most of them, if not all of them, stay rough in the open air. we do appeal to the greek authorities to take all necessary measures to address the humanitarian needs of the

persons gathered on the borderline. >> reporter: macedonia says it will allow people to enter in numbers it can cope and care for. but it may create a lack bog of desperate men, women, and children unsure where they can go next, knowing they can't go home. many of those trying to get into macedonia are from syria and iraq, and hundreds more are arriving in greece prepared to make a similar journey. this are pictures from a greek island where 200 mostly syrians arrived on friday. syria's conflict is still no closer to resolution, and the international community is being accused of not doing enough to bring it to an end. zana hoda has the story, and a warning viewers may find some of the images up setting.

>> reporter: the dead and the dying. there was no blood on their bodies, no visible injuries. the attack was different than what syrians had seen before. rockets landed in the suburb on the morning of august 21, 2013. >> it took like seconds before i lost my ability to breathe. i wasn't able to breathe or even to scream to alert my friends, so i had to like bang my chest really hard just to try to take a single breath. i felt like somebody was tearing up my chest with a knife. >> reporter: the 29 year old survived, hundreds of others didn't. two years later he has a new life in the united states, but remembers the day clearly. it was a scene from judgment day. dozens of people, men, women, children running and falling on the ground suffocating, the

terror, the confusion, it was something unbearable. i just didn't know what to do. >> reporter: this man did. at the time he was a photographer working in syria. he wanted to document the evidence of a crime he believed the world should see. >> and i asked the doctor about what i need to know. so he showed me -- he show me the dark. the dark blue of the color that had been changed. the eyes and the thing that are coming out from their mouth. >> reporter: but he says he can't forget what he saw that day. >> i'm a war photographer for me to see a dead body with the blood, it's normal. when you see them, at first you think they are sleeping, then you realize after like one or two seconds, your reality becomes facing what is really going on. >> reporter: reality faced him years before. he was an activist where he used

to film the suffering of people who continued to live under siege. since the attack he has tried to raise awareness. even at the u.n. and u.s. congress. >> honestly i feel like i did nothing. i feel like after all of this talking, all of the people that i met, not just me, like thousands of syrians here, we feel like there is no hope. >> reporter: the u.n. did conclude that sarin gas was used, but said it didn't have the mandate to blame anyone. there is now a new resolution to investigation chemical attacks in syria. but attacks before 2014 won't be included, yet again denying justice to the people of the attack. 15 people have been killed in syrian government air raids over eastern aleppo. the planes targeted a town located on the countryside currently under isil control and is regular target for government

forces. but opposition activists say the syrian government is deliberately attacking civilian neighborhoods. ♪ greece's main opposition party is trying to form a new government following the resignation of the prime minister on thursday after he called for new elections. more than 20 members from greece's ruling party have also announced they are forming a new party. john psaropoulos reports. >> reporter: the notion of a second election in a year appeals to supporters of prime minister tsipras. >> translator: maybe tsipras will be able to do it alone and do better. he tried very hard. >> reporter: most greeks, however, want more stability. >> translator: it's a bad idea. we are voting every six months. that suggests something deeply wrong with the political system and especially affects those of

us who are unemployed. we believed in tsipras. he did not stick to his promises, and if a politician can't do that, it's better if he doesn't standing. >> reporter: seven months of negotiations resulted in a third bailout loan accompanied by strict austerity measures. the long period of uncertainty allowed the economy to slide back into recession, despite an outlook for growth this year. this antique's dealer has felt the brunt of the eight-year recession. he used to count the rich and famous among his clients. he has now given up his business and locked his valuables in cellars. >> translator: tsipras is trying to escape. his party now sees the difficulties before it. they promised much and delivered nothing. did they bring one euro of the embezzled millions back in they said they would abolish the trot tax and tear up the austerity

deal. they did none of it. it was all grand standing and then they did as they were told. >> reporter: the resignation has sparked an open season on syriza party. 25 have broken away and formed a new party. the conservatives now want to break off those who lie nearer to the political center. proausterity parties only control 106 seats, far short of the 151 they need to govern. the conservatives plan to invite moderates syriza mp's to join them in a coalition, which would possibly include a prime minister other than mr. tsipras. but the venture seems ambitious. syriza rose from single digits to rule greece in just a few years, those who want it to return to its leftest roots, and those who lost voters to it, both want it to unravel even father. but greek politics are

personality oriented, while the appeal of tsipras lasts they are unlikely to succeed. >> let's get more from john live for us from athens. how likely is it that they will be able to form a new coalition? >> reporter: well, the conservatives are taking this order from the president very seriously indeed. they think it is incoupleant -- incumbent on them to save the deal. here a very difficult constitutional question has now arisen, because the leader of popular unity, the far-left faction of syriza has now broken away, another 24 mp's from the party, those 25 form the third-largest force in parliament, and he insists after new democracy fails to form a

government, he should be the next party leader to receive the order under the constitution from the president to try to do so. but there are differing opinions about this. he is the third largest party. but he wasn't elected to that power. that power was formed after the last election, and really if you go back to the january election this year, it is the far right golden dawn who should be receiving the next order to form a government. now it doesn't really, necessarily matter how unlikely each one of these people is to form a government. they are all unlikely to form a government. what matters here is the appearance of constitutionality and legality. so on monday i think politicians and lawyers will have a difficult conundrum to solve. >> if they don't, and they have another election, how much effect is this uncertainty going to have on the country's economy

and the existing bailout plans that are in place? >> reporter: well, the way it is looks now, i mean this year is already a loss to the greek economy, and industry leaders, and chambers of commerce have been saying so. the way it is looking now, you are going to have probably syriza come out as the first party, again, after an election. you are going to have more forces on the left of syriza, probably, because you have got a powerful anti-austerity voice in this new party, popular unity, and to the left of them you are the communists. to the right you'll have a diminished -- possibly diminished new democracy, possibly diminished socialist party, those who have upheld the politics of responsibility, as they have called them, and to the far right, the anti-austerity golden dawn, so

what you'll have after an autumn election is an equally difficult parliament from which a government might be formed. i don't want to go so far as to venture there will be another election after it, but let's just say the forces of austerity and the forces against austerity are going to probably come a little bit closer to the middle, and it will be a very, very difficult contest to call, which of the two will be able to form a government. >> okay. john psaropoulos, thank you very much indeed. still to come on al jazeera, why the u.n. is being forced to cut life-saving health programs for people in iraq. and this property is sealed. find out why buying the $4 million home of leon trotsky will come with a few surprises. ♪ >> in danger of running dry.

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this is america tonight. hello, again, a rem remic -- reminder of the top stories. 15 people have been killed in syrian government air raids over eastern aleppo, the planes targeted a town located on the countryside. and the left-wing syriza party of the greek prime minister has split a day after he announced snap general elections. tensions are close to boiling point between north and south korea. north korea's leader kim ki-jong has ordered his front line

troops to be on a war footing as the south refused to stop propaganda broadcasts. harry fawcett reports. >> reporter: south korea's president visited a military command post on friday, flanked by our national security advisor, defense minister, and senior military commanders. as north and south korea engage in one of their faceoffs. >> translator: the military should be alert for further provocations if the situation occurred i want you to take action first and then report later. >> reporter: it follows a late night meeting in which kim ki-jong ordered front line areas into a quasi war state and commanders to be ready to launch surprise attacks against the south. >> translator: the general staff of the army sent an ulty maim tum to the defense ministry saying the army would launch a

strong military action unless south korea stops broadcasting towards the north within 48 hours. >> reporter: these loud speaker arace at the border are the source of the so-called war fair. they started the propaganda nearly three weeks ago in response to what happened earlier this month on the southern side of the demilitarized zone. they say northern force planted land mines that maimed two of the south's soldiers. this is the closest civilian area to which north korea fired. >> translator: north korea's provocation is likely to continue. so we are advising residents to stay in sherlts. there are some who went out mostly to carry out their daily business, but weed a will advise them to come back this evening.

>> reporter: inside it's mainly early thissedly and the young who stayed behind. >> translator: living in this area i have seen many drills and heard explosions, but this time the sound was louder, and there was an announcement asking us toe evacuate, compared to the past, i'm more concerned. >> reporter: seeking refuge here is starting to feel like a bit of an uncomfortable habit here. last year a shell fell right here. north korea has been firing at propaganda balloons launched by activists. there time they have the added pressure of a deadline counting down. returning to our top story now, the situation on the border between macedonia and greece. our correspondent is live for us on the greek side. he joins us now. tell us what is going on there

now. >> reporter: well, nothing much since 3:00 pm this afternoon, when the -- the border was reopened only a couple of hundred refugees managed to cross the border with macedonia and to enter to -- to their country, and just after that, shortly, police closed it again, and they are letting come through the border only a -- every two hours the refugees are allowed to cross the boarer, but mostly women and children, because here at the border, mostly from 3,000 people, they are mostly women and children, and they have got the priority, and police announced that they are going to open the border next time at 5:00 am tomorrow morning, and every two hours they are going to allow for small groups to cross the border with macedonia. at this moment, here at the

border is more than 3,000 people, but some estimations says that the number is much bigger because a lot of them do not stay here for whole time, they rented apartments, rooms in the closest city to this border. we have to remember that this morning big incident happened here when a group of thousand refugees wanted to force entry into macedonia, macedonia police helped by macedonia army, stopped them by using so-called shock bombs. they are bombs used usually to prevent violence in football stadiums all over europe. couple of explosions were heard, and ten people were injured and four or them were hospitalized. >> and it looks pretty crowded still, as you were saying some people have been coming and going to get there, but what kind of conditions are those people in? is there any kind of sanitation

or set up for them there at the boarder? >> yeah, the situation here is very, very bad, and very serious. 3,000 people don't have practically anything. they don't have water. they don't have any food to eat, they don't have any sanitation to use, they are sleeping outside in the open. they don't have any tents. we only saw a couple of people putting some tents, but they managed to get it by themselves. greece authorities do not help in any kind of way to he refugees. we saw a lot of volunteers here, especially the -- we saw the medical centers here and doctors of the world, trying to help those people, but they are very, very busy, because this place is definitely overcrowded, and the situation is very, very serious, and people keep on coming. especially for tomorrow it is announced that the ferry boat come from the island to athens

and with more than 2,500 people. so they are going to come to athens tomorrow and will eventually be here, so the estimation are that the situation will not be getting better so soon. >> okay. live on the border there between greece and macedonia. thank you very much indeed. doctors without borders is reporting that at least 65 people, including 17 from the same family have been killed in the yemeni city of ta'izz. the strikes hit civilian areas of the city, and survivors are said to be searching through the rebel for their relatives. this footage is from shelling on thursday. pro-government forces backed by the saudi-lead coalition are fushing -- pushing houthis from the region. iraq's top shia cleric is calling for reform by the government. it is believed he has played

major role in the recent anti-corruption drive by the prime minister. the shut down of life-saving medical services is happening in ira iraq. the reason they shut down, i wasn't able to raise the half a million needed to provide the services. the speakers of brazil's congress has been charged for taking a $5 million bribe. he is the first sitting politician to be charged over the scandal at brazil's state oil company petrobras. last month he deflected from the president's coalition to seek her impeachment. on thursday some 73,000 people across brazil demonstrated their support for the president, but on sunday, significantly larger numbers of

anti-government protesters were calling rousseff's impeachment and resignation. the turnout numbers have been seen as a barometer for the president's popularity. in thailand a multi-faithed prayer service has been held at the shrine that was attacked on monday. 22 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a bomb expleaeded at the shrine. a new man has been sworn in for a record fourth term in sri lanka. he has agreed to form a coalition with the freedom party. the pair say they will push ahead with reforms. thousands of dead fish with washes up in china, a week after a chemical explosion.

officials deny the fish died as a result of the explosion, and say a seasonal low oxygen level is to blame. police in denmark have released surveillance video to try to kick start a global hunt for two art thieves. two men are suspected of stealing the art in brood daylight a week after an earlier visit to disable the alarm. the bust is worth an estimated $300,000. the manhunt has gone word wide. the former home of leon trotsky has gone on sale for $4.4 million. the catch is it can only be turned into a public cultural

facility. bernard smith has been to the site. >> reporter: surrounded by the mansions of capitalism's millionaires is the crumbling home of one of the great revolutionaries. >> reporter: leon trot ski arrived here in 1929. now his former refuge on an island near us tam bull is up for sale for $4.4 million. but in a twist that might make an old communist smile, whoever buys this prime real estate won't be able to use it as a private home. >> translator: the owners wanted to restore the house as a private resident, but four years ago it was designated a public cultural facility. it's a very difficult restoration for whoever takes it on. >> reporter: it is estimated a restoration would cost around a million dollars. trotsky chose this place because

it give him scenes of security. he spent four years in turkey, before traveling further through europe and on in to mexico. it was there trotsky was murdered with an ice pick on stalin's orders. this man is a historian, trotsky expert, and follower. >> translator: trotsky wasn't the kind of person to get sad. we, however, should be upset at the state of this beautiful mansion. trotsky did consider coming back. ? a letter to turkish authorities he quits, upon my return. i'm sure if he did come back and saw it in this state, he would be saddened. >> reporter: but the area has changed little since trotsky was here. cars are banned, but elsewhere in the world, life has moved on. like the political philosophy he championed, trotsky's house could soon just disappear. bernard smith, al jazeera,

istanbul. and just a quick reminder you can always catch up with all of the stories we're covering by checking out our website, aljazeera.com. more details there of the situation on the greece macedonia border and plenty more. aljazeera.com. ♪ wall street in the middle of another big selloff as global markets tumble. new evacuations in the northwest as fires spread faster than crews can contain them. now international help is on its way. and a state of emergency in macedonia, as a migrant and refugee crisis pushing the tiny nation to the brink. ♪