♪ european ministers have held emergency talks as they have border controls to stem the tide. ♪ hello, you are watching al jazeera live from doha and also ahead. >> i will be a candidate and i expect to win. >> tony abbot facing a leadership challenge from one of his senior ministers. the afghan taliban frees more than 400 inmates after storming a prison in gazne province.

>> on the great wall of china and telling you why 30% of the historic monument has gone missing and further still i'll be telling you where it has gone. ♪ it's a crisis that europe and the world can no longer ignore, european ministers are due to meet in brussels for an emergency meeting on how to deal with the biggest refugee crisis since the second world war, everyday thousands of refugees are arriving on european shores and moving north of the eu for a safe facing and facing hungry and have plans to make them take in more refugees and germany which opened its doors wide appears now to be closing them and reintroduced border controls and suspended train services to and from austria saying it's struggling to cope and says

refugees cannot choose where they want asylum as viewed by many in germany. >> translator: we have taken the most refugees in europe, sure if we have space we should take in more and you distribute them fairly in eu and not all should come to germany. >> translator: we need to change the causes of origin for a life worth living and germany can take in more refugees because we have capacity. >> translator: we have problems with migrants and cannot cope because of different cultures and sooner or later there will be a clash of cultures. >> reporter: rob reynolds is outside a train station in germany and a dramatic u-turn from germany and tell us about the scene at the train station where you are and what is happening right in with this decision? >> well, today, unlike previous days there are very few refugees

here, just a bare trickle of refugees coming in on trains through other parts of europe and we spoke a short while ago to the coordinator of refugee efforts, people who have been helping out and he said that as far as he could see the situation had been proceeding smoothly and saw no reason why the german government took a drastic u-turn as you described it and began checking passports as the border. now, it is allowed under the shangin agreement which normally dictate that no passport control is established on internal borders between the eu states but in this case the german government said it was a matter of security and a temporary measure and does call into question the whole idea of open borders within europe if the

ministers in brussels meeting today can't decide on a way forward and if one country after another begins acting on its own to strengthen borders or take its own policy towards refugees it really kind of calls into question one of the procedurest achievements of the european union thus far which is that everyone can move freely within the borders of the 28 countries. >> it's going to be a very tense and interesting meeting in brussels. rob, tell us about those refugees who are now in unick and what is going to happen to the people who are already there? >> well, the system has been up until now and they are taken to various centers to be temporarily hosed and there is a school that is not far from here where people have been sleeping, there is also a very large convention center, trade fair sort of building a modern

building which has been housing thousands of refugees and those refugees are then moved on to other parts of the country that can take them in or they are moving on on their own accord to other places. the refugees by and large want to go to spots in europe where they have family or friends or some sort of commutety and we spoke to people earlier who said that they wanted to go to paris for example or off to spain, to frankfurt, to esin and other parts of germany so the idea expressed by the german interior minister that people cannot simply pick and choose refugees, that it cannot pick and choose which country they will go to is likely to meet with a certain amount of resistance from the refugees. most of them want to stay in germany or in the more wealthy countries of western and central

europe and very few would want to go to slavockia or lithuania and that is a problem even if the eu decides on quotas and all the nations agree to take in some of these refugees, the refugees might have other ideas. >> thank you very much, rob, that is rob rent reynolds live for us and come from war-torn syria and stephanie decker has the latest from the syrian/turkey border. >> reporter: what people are telling us here is a very different story we are hearing from the refugees trying to get to the european union. we are at the border crossing just a few kilometers away from syria and the people have been in turkey and some tell us a year, two years and want to go back to syria and this is a processing point at the border and want to go today and what they are saying here is that life is incredibly difficult and they cannot get work permits and

cannot work illegally and complain of the treatment and turkey is hosting almost two million sierran refugees and most of the people do not live in camps, they are on their own and need to find their own way in cities and towns and no assistance and cannot work legally so the message is we would rather die in syria than go to the european union. other world news prime minister tony abbot called a ballot for liberal lead zip and he resigned from cabinet on monday and asked abbot to step aside and says he is losing confidence of the prime minister's vote in the economy and a vote will take place in a few hours time and andrew has been following developments from sidney and tell us what tony abbot's response been to this leadership challenge. >> reporter: well, the prime minister of australia faced the media 45 minutes ago and really

had two options, he could resign there and realizing he didn't have the parliamentary support to carry on or he can announce he was going to fight off his challenge in a party ballot and he chose the latter option and going to fight on and spent three hours between malcolm going on television declaring he was challenging tony abbot for leadership of the party and his own press conference and spent that time phoning around his mps and obviously feels he has reasonable support throughout there but will it be enough to see off his challenger, a man who did lead the party before tony abbot over threw him when the party was in opposition and tony abbot cause always been a strong leader, whether or not too strong in people's eyes is another matter but he is not a man to bake -- back away from 2 fight and this is what he had to say. >> reporter: the prime ministership of this country is

not a prize or a play thing to be demanded. it should be something which is earned by a vote of the australian people. there will be a party room ballot for both the leadership and deputy leadership positions in light of this evening. i will be a candidate and i expect to win. >> so abbot fighting on then andrew if there is a change in a few hours in leadership, when we know the outcome, if there is a change what sort of policy changes do you think we can expect? >> well, both these men tony abbot and malcolm but tony abbot is on the right of the party animal come is on the left. tony abbot prioritized national security just about over everything else and threat to

i.s.i.s. is clear and present danger and says that is his absolute priority and malcolm think it's over skeptical and talks about climate change and hates wind and when he led the party before he was over thrown by tony abbot he wanted to introduce a carbon trading scheme, one the labor government then did introduce and tony abbot said he would abolish once he has become piem minister and he has and would malcolm bring that back in and he has more on side of the climate change, the people who think things need to be done with climate change than tony abbot and you may say a little bit more and left of the right side of the party do you see what i mean on that score and gay marriage very controversial in australia and

malcolm thinks there should be gay marriage allowed like in ireland in a referendum, tony abbot is determined that will not happen. you will see a slight softening of the right wing party if malcolm becomes leader in time. >> thank you so much andrew thomas live for us there in sidney. the afghan taliban says it freed more than 430 prisoners and says it used gunman and bombers to storm the prison in eastern gazni providence and four officers killed and several others wounded and jennifer glasse sent this update from kabul. >> reporter: a coordinated taliban attack on that prison the outskirts and started at 2:00 in the morning when they detonated a car bomb and ten attackers assaulted the prison freeing hundreds of prisoners and among them suicide bombers and other taliban fighters and security was bad here before this incident, those freed

dallas pan, dozens of them will not improve the situation at all and highlights how fragile security is across afghanistan that the taliban can carry out a coordinated attack on a prison and fighting in the south in helman province that continued in the north and in the east. it has been a very brutal year for afghan security forces and puts the afghan police dead and wounded at 15,000 so far this year, that is an average of 22 afghan soldiers being killed a day across afghanistan and numbers that analysts say are unsustainable and one of the big challenges for the new president ghani with the first year in power it knows that security is key for afghanistan if it wants to move forward and get any stability here. still ahead debate on assisted dying how ill do you have to be to earn the right to die and too close to call and prime minister and rival neck

and neck in the snap elections. ♪ have nots" to a world of "haves" and "super-haves". >> can you afford to live forever? >> what's wrong if rich people got to live longer than poor people? >> that it's no fair. >> "faultlines". >> what do we want? >> al jazeera america's hard-hitting... >> today the will be arrested. >> ground-breaking... >> they're firing canisters of gas at us. >> emmy award-winning, investigative series. >> we have to get out of here. this is a great place to work. not because they have yoga meetings and a juice bar. because they're getting comcast business internet. comcast business offers convenient installation appointments that work around your schedule. and it takes- done. - about an hour. get reliable internet that's up to five times faster than dsl from the phone company. call 800-501-6000 to switch today.

perks are nice. but the best thing you can give your business is comcast business. comcast business. built for business.

>> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target ♪ welcome back, you are watching al jazeera and eu insteryour ministers discussing how to deal with record number of refugees arriving and germany imposed control with austria after temporarily suspending trains in the countries and says they cannot choose the way they want asylum and tony abbot called for

a vote on the liberal party leadership and communication for malcolm resigned from the cabinet on monday and asked abbot to step aside. and the afghan taliban stays it freed more than 430 prisoners and used gunmen and bombers to storm the prison in eastern province and four police officers were killed and several others were wounded. egyptian security forces say they accidentally shot at a convow of tourist killing 12 people in an air strike. the mexican foreign ministry says two of the victims were mexicans and the shooting happened during a security operation in the area of the western desert. egypt says security forces firing from a helicopter gun ship mistook it as terrorist elements and those that were injured in the attack are being treated in hospital. the mexican president pinetta condemned attack on twitter account describing it as a

tragic incident and john holdman has this reaction from mexico. >> reporter: it's like sunday here so there have been no government officials actually coming up, but there have been statements and twitter and mexican president said he was demanding a investigation over what happened here and also said that he has been adding to the diplomatic and personality to attend to the people who have been injured in this and of course he has to come out and says these two things and the reality is there is not much of a diplomatic relationship between egypt and mexico because it's a cultural thing and repercussions of this and what seems to be a tragic sort of accident more than anything i don't at this stage appear to be something that is going to magnify in the coming weeks. tensions are still high around the compound after israeli forces stormed the site

for the third time in 24 hours, on sunday morning they threw grenades in east jerusalem to arrest people throwing stones and fireworks and condemned it as an attack on worshippers. opposition forces in syria stepped up campaign to take control of the city of aleppo and troops loyal to assad are there and face constant shelling and we report. >> reporter: this part of aleppo has been under rebel control for four years but it is far from safe. government troops shell the area constantly, barrel bombs have destroyed entire neighborhoods. life on the ground is tough. she lost her house during an air strike. she now lives in a community

building. each day she walks four miles to a charity that delivers food, aid and water to the needy. there are shortages everywhere but a school principal and music tutor wants his students not to lose hope. here he is making sure the school girls are ready for the end of the year party. >> translator: many people have left because of civilians and barrel bombs destroy everything and target residential areas on purpose. i was in a building that collapsed after it was hit by a missile but i'm lucky i'm still alive. >> reporter: this was a neighborhood bustling with activity and many have left, some crossed to turkey, others went to remote villages and there are also those who were forced to leave when i.s.i.l. captured some rebel-held areas.

>> translator: i.s.i.s. and assad are the same thing, they destroyed the country and atrocities committed by i.s.i.l. forced people to go but i'm staying, there is no way i'm leaving, i was born here. >> reporter: aleppo remains divided and the government has mass troops in districts it controls and the rebels have made a few gains but each time i.s.i.l. steps in to take in more territory, for those that remain this is a conflict without end. an ongoing cycle of death and destruction, al jazeera. a week before greece's general election and form minister is neck and neck with conservative rival according to the latest polls, the outcome could depend on undecided voters and a televised debate and john repor reports. >> reporter: looking sadder and

wiser, he is still presenting to the ones he defeated once before. >> translator: we will not a low the old which people threw out in january and on september 20 we will do away with it once and for all. >> reporter: this was jan's promise to end austerity, restructure debt and spend millions on the poor and it did not pass but there is a package costing 2% of economy a year, the maniac shun against the conservatives now is it will do a better job of i'm ming it. many greek voters are humbled, exhausted and deeply disappointed. >> translator: there was never an alternative, the europe of solidarity and partnership doesn't really want solidarity. >> translator: there was an alternative to austerity but they didn't negotiate right, nobody did, there is still an

alternative. >> popular unity broke away from cities last month and says greece's real option is to default and command a debt write-off and it will restart the economy, all this would force greece to leave the euro zone and economist says that is what he should have done and was naive. >> it was impossible to persuade the majority and the leadership by the error of their approach. cities that went there, they tried, it came up against the reality of the union and european union and came up against a big wall and in the end they were subjected to blackmail because that is part of the union and subjected to blackmail and severed completely. >> reporter: many greeks agree but only a trickle of supporters

on the doorstep and many still sympathize with the man about feelings about achievements are as mixed as theirs. appears to be full of contradictions and hails the bailout to keep greece in the euro zone and promises to impleme implement austerity for a deal against odds and others feel he is incompetent and he may imagine to eek out a victory and save his legacy but no one is yet sure who or what will save greece. john with al jazeera, athens. the issue of assisted dying has been making headlines across the world and mp rejected legislation for right to die for patients in england and whales and california have a bill to appeal to end their lives and

it's now waiting on the final sign off from the state's government and fans past legislation allowing doctors to place terminally ill patients in a deep sleep until they die. after defeat of the uk assisted dying bill on friday supporters look to the netherlands where the practice has been legal for years and we report from amsterdam. >> the debate is no longer about if assisted dying should be allowed, it's about if more people should be able to end their lives this way. and it has been legal since 2002 and counts for 1-25 deaths and the numbers are growing. the doctor has helped dozens of people end their lives and can be requested on the health service but for many it's a daunting task. >> what do you say to them and i mean this for me it has been a preference to know you. i find you a very courageous man

and i'm glad i can do this for you. >> reporter: it was only allowed under certain condition, if a person is suffering unbearable pain, the illness is incurrable and make the decision to die in full consciousness. every year in the neither lands the boundaries widen further and what was a means for helping people who were terminally ill now extents to other people also suffering from unbearable pain, people suffering from mental illness like depression and dementia opening up a completely new debate. she lost her husband two months ago. and he was one of holland's best loved poet and suffered severe depression and the first high-profile dutch person with a mental illness allowed

euthanazia. >> and he was full of love and didn't have any fear any more. >> reporter: since it was legalized 40,000 dutch people have been granted euthanasia and the churches have long been opposed to it and say it exposes vulnerable people to abuse and objections to those who helped shape the law such as the dutch. >> the law was designed to be and for extreme emergencies. what we see now after 10-15 years experience in the netherlands is that it's an option for dying. >> reporter: most dutch people see it as a fundamental right, giving dignity to the dying but after opening the doors to it the country is testing the boundaries and definition of unbearable suffering and when it's right to end it, lee barker, al jazeera, amsterdam.

swiss and u.s. prosecutors expected to hold a press conference in zurich later about fifa corruption investigation and in may they were arrested as part of u.s. investigation and included the vice president jeffrey web and 14 defendants charged with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering. now one of the manmade wanders of the world is slowly disintegrated and 30% of the great wall of china no longer exists because of exposure to the elements or people chipping away a souvenir and we went to china to see what is being done to save the wall. >> a vegetable garden that has been in her family for december i'ds and crops protected by the stone available in this part of northern china but not all stone comes from the query and some came from the great wall of china and ancestor's took the

cut stone to build their homes. in some cases more than 100 years ago. >> translator: we are happy to give back any part of the wall if asked. you have to remember we were so poor back then, modern cheap bricks were not available like they are now. >> reporter: she is like hundreds in the area whose homes are made from the old and the new, ancient china sits comfortably along its modern descendent and the wall is 2300 and runs over 21,000 kilometers and nature has eroded it and also visitors and they say protecting the wall is important. >> translator: the great wall isn't just china, it belongs to the whole human race and has to be protected. >> translator: it's a symbol of china and we have to look after

it. >> reporter: so the tourist visiting today have a photo tune for the local chinese. but deterioration of the wall and in part its disappearance is worrying those fighting to protect it. >> translator: it's closely connected with the origin of our culture and this wall is in line with lack of respect with protecting our tradition and culture. >> reporter: the authorities have not been ignoring the situation of the wall. the government's restoration and prote protection plan began in 57 and continues to this day and it's not just the wall and man but elements are doing their damage as well because part of the wall is made in stone and make in brick and wood and prone to general wear and tear and the weather. while it's understandable why villages from ways community would have used the wall as a source of free, cheap, building

material the wall's largest battle is being fought every day, not against man but a fight for survival against the elements. robin with al jazeera. and a reminder you can keep up to date with all the news on our website al jazeera.com. the nuclear agreement that iran signed with the united states and five other world powers is a big complicated deal that's taken years to arrive at and some people as i'm sure you've gleaned really hate it. the bottom line is if government of iran has agreed to slow down its nuclear program dramatically in exchange for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions. i spent two weeks in iran as the details of this deal were being ironed out.