♪ more than 40 people are dead after a taliban attack on a former airforce base in pakistan. ♪ hello this is al jazeera live from doha and i'm adrian and ahead croatia warns it will close all border crossings if the refugee crisis worsens. leaders in burkina faso release the interim president and west african leaders try to resolve the political crisis and japanese soldiers can take part in combat operations overseas for the first time in 70 years. ♪

taliban gunmen stormed a former airforce base near peshawar in northern pakistan and fighters stormed a guard house and a mosque inside the compound. the base hasn't been in operation for years but it is used as a barrix and # 43 people killed including 21 members of security forces and 14 taliban fighters have died and rescue workers have taken at least 20 wounded to hospital and nicole johnston has more outside that base near peshawar. >> reporter: this is the airforce base behind me where the pakistan taliban launched attack against the airforce and it's not operational but it is in the middle of a residential area where there are many offices from the military living and it's a significant attack because not only did the taliban strike at a guard post they were able to get inside this compound

into a mosque and kill people while they were praying. now lately the pakistan taliban has been under a great deal of pressure since it last carried out attack in peshawar that was in december of last year it killed 132 students at an army public school. the u.n. security council expressed grave concern over the continuing standoff of jerusalem's holliest site and compound in pocket pied east jerusalem and thousands of security personnel were deployed to the area ahead of friday prayers. the compound in jerusalem's old city is one of the most contested religious sites in the world and holly to muslims and jews and home to two of the most important sites in islam the mosque and dome of the rock. jews believe this is the site where the final temple is likely to be built when the messiah comes to earth and we go to

jerusalem and stephanie decker is live for us right now, stephanie you are on the air, what is the situation now? >> reporter: sorry about that adrian. the situation now is quiet. you can see people have been streaming out of the old city after place and police have broken it down and it's business as usual and one episode of tension and one man broke through and behind the camera and went to where the people were praying, the men who were under 40 years of age who are restricted from entering the mosque today to do friday prayers and when he arrived they yelled and israeli security forces responded with stun grenades and there was tension and stun grenades being fired and in the back alleys there but at the moment it's normal and there is tension and is a concern certainly from what we have been seeing happening over

the week talking to palestinians and worried about a change in the status quo on the compound and known to jews as temple mound and sacred to both but at the moment the jews can visit but cannot pray and we have seen the jewish new year of groups going in and muslims restricted during that time to go in so this is the fear here. even though the government here has made it clear they have no intention to change the status quo people feel the facts on the ground are changing and why we are seeing the tension and it really is sensitive because we are dealing with an extremely sensitive religious site for both sides, for muslims and jews but friday prayers having to stay to put it in a general perspective have gone largely without incident. >> stephanie live at jerusalem and meanwhile palestinians in the gaza strip holding protests over the situation at the compound in jerusalem, and margo is with us live from gaza, what

is happening there now margo? >> reporter: yes, indeed, thousands are taking to the streets across gaza, this one behind me is just one of seven public demonstrations here to show solidarity for their muslim brothers in east jerusalem. there is much anger here over what is seen as a jewish or an israeli violation of one of the most religious sites of islam. thousands have come out and the islam is friday sermon and actually called for people to remember exactly why the mosque is very important to muslims but more than that there was also a reminder of the political significance of jerusalem which is that it is the dream capitol of the ideal palestinian site but aside from calling people to respond and show their sentiment in anger at the israeli actions last week, there is also

criticism here on what they see as the silence of other arab nations and a lack of appropriate response from the palestinian authority. so very much here still, revolutionary language being used, at the same time a balance because they do not want to provoke people to take matters into their own hands and have caused some sort of military response from israel that might bring another war to this area. >> margo live in gaza. croatia prime minister says that it is only a matter of time before all border traffic will be completely stopped. prime minister stressed that the influx of refugees can't be controlled and that croatia won't carry the burden. the country has become the main alternative route from people going to serbia and a bottleneck for people trying to make it to

austria and lawrence lee is on the croatia-serbia border. >> reporter: from the u.n. human rights refugees convention, how do you think croatia is doing with this? is it coping do you think at the moment or not? >> croatia has been stepping in for fine tuning what it did yesterday initially and trying to move but what is missing here and why i see this chaos over here and the mess around is absence of a coherent european response, you know. and time is running out for europe to come out with a response to deal with this refugee and migrant population. >> winter is on the way. >> winter is on the way but the number of people desperate people on the move is increasing. and we saw what happened at the hungarian border, now we are seeing yesterday what we saw that was created over here. it all leads back to the same

question and demand and ask if europe should step in and come with a coherent approach in terms of how it wants to deal with it and it cannot be left to one country like croatia. >> one country to croatia government threatening to close borders completely and if they can't cope with numbers what are the results of that? >> we have seen that happening in hungary and now the population has moved over here. we hope access to territory is maintained over here but countries will struggle as numbers go up and that is why it's very important that europe steps in with migration and civilian agencies in terms of coming and putting in place helping croatia today where we are seeing this mess. military leaders who seized power in a coup in burkina faso reportedly released the interim president and two other ministers and michelle and the interim prime minister zita who is being held were captured in the take over on wednesday, delegation of leaders from the

block of west african nations echo is due to arrive to discuss the crisis as gerald tan reports. uproar on the streets of ouagadougou and gunfire rang out as they protested against the coup in burkina faso's capitol. >> translator: people started to come out in front of us was a military vehicle that drove directly in the people and started shooting, killing people. >> translator: if we are are here today it's to stand up against the ego interest of the presidential guard which is killing civilians and threatening people. >> reporter: dramatic turn of events after a popular up rising last october ousted the president when he tried to extend his 27 year rule, a transitional government had been preparing for elections next month until the elite presidential guard took over on wednesday. the man in charge now says the vote will take place but at a later time.

>> translator: we have to discuss with concern actors political parties and civil society in order to establish a timetable for presidential and legislative elections. we done intend to extend our power and do not intend to stay and do not intend to do more than what needs to be done unlike what some people think. >> reporter: general was chief of the presidential guard and long time aid of former president and his whereabouts are unknown raising speculation of a political plot. many people are concerned the presidential guard does not want an election to happen. >> ever since country became independent in the 1960s the army has been the main power and so they feel very threatened that real democracy is coming and that is a basic fact and think if they allow good elections to go ahead they will be marginalized and won't play

their central political role that they play in the politics and in the economy. >> reporter: the u.n. has strongly condemned the coup and interim prime minister remains under house arrest, the country's air and land borders are closed. and burkina faso's democratic transition has been thrown into doubt. gerald tan, al jazeera. japan's government is trying to push a controversial set of bills and if approved it will allow japanese soldiers to fight overseas since for the first time since world war ii and triggered heated debate in parliament and also daily protests on the streets, more from rob mcbride in tokyo. >> as this marathon session drags on opposition parties are putting forward a number of no confidence motions in the hope of filibustering and forcing this crucial debate on security bills out of time and for his part he and the ruling coalition

are determined they will be passed by the end of this session and he is now up against the clock. the concern is that if these bills are not passed in this session then they will be hanging over into next week which is a holiday period here in japan. the concern is that the kind of protest we have seen outside the japanese parliament may well be swelled and may become angry especially if protesters feel as though they have a way, a possibility they could talk these bills out of the present session of parliament and they believe this takes japan a very dangerous step back to the kind of militaryism that led it to consequences and he and allies say this merely brings the constitution up to date and no particular when it comes to the control of the self-defense forces and japan can take a more active participation in security operations abroad in peace keeping operations and also

working alongside american allies. still to come here on al jazeera a mecca for tourist dollars as millions of muslims arrive in saudi arabia and we ask whether religious sancitity has been sacrificed. ♪

>> millions at stake. shady investments. limited oversight. >> super pacs are part of the wild wild west of campaign finance. >> could actor daniel craig be the latest super pac scam victim? an ali velshi, on target, special investigation. hello the top stories on al jazeera at least 43 people killed in pakistan after taliban gunmen stormed a former airforce base in the country's north and army says 21 troops among the dead and fighting the taliban at

the compound is now over. croatia is struggling to deal with more than 13,000 refugees who arrived there in the past two days and it has closed all but one of the border crossings but refugees are still crossing over in other areas. two leaders in burkina faso have released the interim president and other ministers and the interim prime minister detained in wednesday's take over remains under house arrest and delegations from the block of west africa nations is due to arrive in burkina faso. seven politicians resigned from the ruling coalition in the democratic republic of congo and they signed a letter urging the president not to cling to power after his term expires next year and harry reports from the capitol. >> reporter: charles resides with the ruling coalition. he is no longer the first vice president of the national

assembly. he is one of seven senior politicians who say they cannot work with joseph kabila and are trying to stop kabila from staying in power when his term ends and say others from kabila in the inner circle plan to join them. >> no doubt the majority there are other people who are feeling like us and we know the best moments they shall come and join us and we will build a big coalition to fight this better which is now coming in congo. >> reporter: on the streets people hope there will be no violence, and presidential election is delayed keeping kabila in power for longer and has not said if president kabila wants to, only the country has no money to hold elections but opposition says kabila is trying to hang on to power and constitution said kabila cannot run for a third term and u.n. urged him to respect that. >> working in the east to bring

peace by neutralizing this and i don't think it is time for i mean to create another policy in the west. >> reporter: supporters of kabila say he is a popular president >> what is happening now, rebuilding here and it's the same in the rest of drc, you know, this country has been destroyed for a long time but now there is a renaissance of drc and rebuilding of drc and for that people love too much kabila. >> reporter: some worry it could take years and people know if that happens the religious peace drc has had more than a decade can end, harry. tie atlanta military government released an out spoken critic from detention, the second time that journalist brook was called in for so called attitude adjustment and

wayne hey reports from bangkok. >> reporter: after a brief stay in military detention this out spoken thai journalist is still speaking his mind. >> i am very cautious and alarmed but at the same time i think we need to inform the world and the public as to what is going on. >> reporter: through his newspaper columns and on social media private brook has condepositioned the army's decision to over throw a democratically elected government last year and the second time he has been taken for so called attitude adjustment and if the criticism continues he could be charged with sedition. >> i think they are aiming at creating a climate of fear where people would just cooperate and exercise self censorship. >> freedom of speech and right to decent have been curtailed since the coup and worse since an army appointed panel voted to reject a draft constitution earlier this month which means the process has to start again.

that prompted allegations the government or national council for peace an order was deliberately trying to delay elections and won't happen now until the middle of 2017 meaning the prime minister retired will be thailand's longest serving leader since the 1970s. >> translator: some people try to distort information by linking the ncpo influence on a draft charter and groundless information and not true. >> reporter: detained academics and politicians some of whom had their passports confiscated and bank accounts frozen and more alarming is the big spike in charges and convictions under tie land's harsh laws and criticizing monarchy. gatherings of five people or more are ban and makes it difficult for red shirt supporters of the previous government to show their

opposition. >> translator: since the coup red shirt supporters showed discipline, all parties need to be careful so they don't run out of patience. >> reporter: the army says it seized power to return happiness to the people, many are wondering when, if ever democracy will be returned. wayne hey, al jazeera, bangkok. indonesia deployed 1600 soldiers to put out fires which have spread thick smoke across north asia with water dropping and caused by the illegal slashing and burning of forest during the dry season and set to clear land for farming and palm oil plantations. those fires cause a thick smog that spread over neighboring countries and florence reports from kuala-lumpur. >> reporter: quality in malaysia and a cloud seeding operation, rain and change in

wind direction helped dispurse some pollutants in the air and improved enough of schools shut in several states have been allowed to reopen and thick cloud of smoke or haze is caused by open burning in indonesia where they used it to clear it for farming or plantation use and it's illegal but enforcement is weak and this is a problem that not only effects indonesia but neighbors and thousands of people complain of respiratory difficulties, visibility reduced to the extent flights are sometimes delayed or cancels and even talks that this week's formula one race could be affected and indonesia had talks with the countries before but yet been able to come up with an effective solution that can tackle this problem which has become something of an annual occurrence but indonesia promised to step up enforcement and it says the police have already detained several executives whose alleged to start some fires and

investigating 100 others. ecuador capitol blanked by smoke as forest fires that startd this the hills around the city are starting to close in and dozens of firefighters are trying to put out the fires before they reach residential areas and the government has asked neighboring countries for help. as david mercer reports from keto. >> reporter: we are on the out skirs of keto, the capitol city of ecuador and if you look around you can see the damage caused by these forest fires going on for a couple of weeks and low brushes absolutely charred and you can still smell the charcoal in the air. and if you look up here to my left you can see a house and see how the fire came right up practically to the doorstep just a couple meters away and, in fact, hundreds of people were evacuated and they are back in their homes now and the fire chief who we spoke to today said the fires largely have been contained and that is thanks to arrival of hundreds of other firefighters in the country. it was this valleys like this

one right behind me the fires often started, the environment minister here says 70% of those were started by people and the interior minister has put out a $50,000 reward leading to arrest of anybody suspected of arson and starting these fires. we are at the end of a very long, hot, dry summer here in ecuador and the winds are picking up in the afternoon creating the sort of conditions that firefighters are afraid could start a fresh blaze. for now things are calm here but people are still on high alert. millions of the world's muslims begun the annual march to mecca in saudi arabia and birth place of mohamed for 1500 years and generates billions in tourism revenues and we report. >> reporter: the markets of islam holy site are busy throughout the year. and during this season they get hectic. there is an endless stream of people converging on mecca.

and he works at this shop. he says business is flourishing. >> translator: normal days we sell what is worth 60-80 and during ramadan it goes up to $1600. >> reporter: all kinds of things are available here and thousands of shops like these are scattered around the city. >> translator: gold here is pure. the gold we have back home is mixed with copper. >> reporter: the biggest religious gathering of muslims also generates a lot of cash. more than 3 million people are expected to perform this year and some suggest that pilgrims will spend $4.5 billion on gifts, transportation, food and housing. now, this annual pilgrimage will provide a great boost to the saudi economy. chamber of commerce said references will expand when the

grand mosque is over by the end of this year and the accident that killed more than 100 people earlier this month could delay the project's completion. and the secretary-general of the chamber insists saudi arabia is not doing it to earn more money. >> we are not looking for the number as significant as the service we are providing to the local market which is the one we are doing and the government will not benefit and we will not be orientated country because we are not a tourist place. we are doing what we call the religious tourism. if you are looking for expansion projects and do a visibility study you will not get benefit and not economical and what we are doing for the services is because we have been honored. >> reporter: there are over 1.5 billion muslims around the world. most of them want to perform

this and means mecca would remain rich and busy. al jazeera, mecca. soviet space artifacts have gone on show in london, the first time many of them have been seen outside russia and honors soviet innovation and the cold war space rivalry between moscow and the west and lee barker reports. >> reporter: reunited with her capsule, the first woman in spa space. it's now a museum piece and when she took off in 1963 this journey could quite easily have been a one-way trip. i asked her if she was ever scared. it was work she tells me. if you were afraid you would never be allowed into space. this capsule is like a close friend only made from space technology. she returned to hero of the soviet union and remains to this

day the only woman to fly a solo mission into space. several years earlier the soviets kicked started this with pioneering first, the first satellite sputnik one and then the first man in space garin and in 1965 they carried out the first space walk together with the first space summersault and many artifacts never left russia and some needed to be declassified before they could travel and the early achievements were seen as a challenge by the u.s. who eventually beat moscow in putting a man on the moon. it may be a legacy of cold war tensions but here in the west these major achieve -- achievements are talking about moon landings and when it comes to space there is one winner soviet union. >> the first probe and venus and the first to land on another

planet and thinking about it those are incredible scientific achievements and just as important as the lu nar landing and it's sexy and the pr and all the other things are just as important scientifically. >> reporter: with the space race long over tensions replaced by cooperation and joint missions. after the u.s. grounded its shuttle fleet in 2011 it now pays russia $63 million per astronaut per trip. this collection charts man's early cosmic achievements from the space craft to the space toilet, meaningful moments in humanity's journey into the unknown, lee barker, al jazeera, at london's science museum. take a look at these pictures if you are interested in space. stunning images of pluto taken by nasa's horizon space craft released and show a sunset view of the dwarf planet and look at

the hazy atmosphere and in july you see icy mountains and planes and snapped from 18,000 kilometers above the surface of pluto new horizons is the first space craft to visit pluto and its collection of moons. >> an about foist on the refugee crisis, croatia closes the borders, threatens to arrest migrants coming in one day after offering safe passage. >> virginia high school students at home, wearing confederate flags promise to go back to school this morning. >> the untelevised