living in hope, the iraqi family hoping for a new life despite croatia's clamp down on refugees. ♪ i'm lauren taylor this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up. saying yes to its soldiers fighting oversees an historic and controversial vote in japan. the u.s. says it has discussed its shared interest with russia in defleeting the islamic state of iraq and the levant. and the neo-nazis demanding

that refugees leave greece as the country prepares for another election. ♪ hello. hungary's foreign minister has accused croatia of encouraging ref refugees to cross borders illegally. croatia has announced that it will not allow refugees to proceed to slovenia and has closed seven of eight road crossings. more than 14,000 have entered croatia in the past 24 hours with tensions high and many exhausted. the prime minister said the refugees flooding in would be moved on, and that his country has reached its limit. lawrence lee reports. >> reporter: it's all relative and no doubt this miserable line of people waiting for someone to take them further looks absolutely desperate. but it's certainly better than

being tear gassed by the hungarians and as the day wore on the buses came regularly, shipping them north towards the capitol. so the untrained eye the idea of this three year old thinking this could be anything but a nightmare seems impossible, but her iraqi family have told her it's a great big game even though the game has lasted for weeks and seems to have no end. these european countries that say they don't want you, what do you say to them? >> i don't want them also. >> reporter: which country do you want? >> i don't care. i just told you i want to be -- peace place. i hope to find this place. >> reporter: croatia had said the borders mights close yet from first light they continued in from serbia, but must one road border remained open a pointless exercise because no

refugees were there anyway. they were all here sheltering from 40 degree heat. >> the boat was sinking two times before. and the third time i reached safety -- >> reporter: as he was talking everybody got up and ran to the railway line. a train was coming. could this be salvation? no, it wasn't. and they went back deflated. and then an indication of just how vulnerable they are to exploitation. a man suddenly lying on the ground in pain surrounded by riot police. what has happened here the man who was crying on the ground turned out to have been taking money from some of the refugees and promising them that they could go to hungary, one of them apparently just looked on his phone and realized they were in croatia and somebody punched him in the face. the croatian government says it can't put up with much more, but will allow people through who don't want to stay here.

and that is basically everybody. the problem is the other countries won't allow that. welcome to europe, now go away. lawrence lee, al jazeera, southern croatia. >> as lawrence lee mentioned those refugees have been taken to the croatian capitol. mohammed jamjoom is there waiting for them ahead of the next stage of their journey. >> we are free now. >> reporter: in croatia the taxis were waiting. but obstacles still remained. for the refugees taken here by train, confusion was only compounded. >> translator: every question has a thousand different answers. there is no clarity on what we're supposed to do. >> reporter: on an extremely hot day optimism was apparent, but the waiting still seemed endless. trb i'm sure there will be a solution, but we don't want it to take too long. there are a lot of people who don't have water or food or

water. a lot of babies. >> reporter: even after they boarded buses they weren't sure where they were headed. >> translator: we got word they opened the border. >> reporter: most of the refugees tell me they are expecting to be taken now to slovenia. they say they have gotten no information that the border to slovenia has been closed. this man from aleppo tells me no matter the roadblocks he won't stop trying to reach his mother in germany. >> translator: we're going to be patient until we get to where we need to be. after all of the distance we have traveled, we can't go back. >> reporter: on the border with slovenia where another makeshift camp has sprouted volunteers hand out food and clothes are donated. kindness helps to temper desperation, but still the journey is nowhere near over. the refugees with reason walking

distance to another country, but they have been stopped in their tracks once more. mohammed jamjoom, al jazeera, on croatia's border are slovenia. ♪ japan has passed con tro sler shall new security bills into law. means japanese troops could out in fight abroad for the first time in 70 years despite fierce criticism that it will reshape the passivist nation. tensions are running high after scuffled broke out in parliament. rob mcbride has more from tokyo. >> reporter: at the end of this marathon session through the japanese parliament, finally the vote was taken and carried in favor of these controversial security bills, but not before a fine am round of impassioned speeches where the leaders of the opposition parties apologizing for not having the

strength to hold up this legislation. they had been trying for the past couple of days various filibuster tactics, but no to no avail. this will be seen as a personal triumph for the prime minister. he has always made it his intention to bring up to date the rules by which the japanese defense forces should be deployed. he wants to see them take a far more assertive role, working alongside for example their american allies in various operations overseas. the fear for the opposition party and also for the thousands of protesters who have nightly been outside of the parliament is that this is a betrayalal of japan's passist constitution, and that japanese troops may now be caught up in conflict not of their own making, working alongside their allies in different parts of the world. the sub text of this is the fear

here in japan that japan should take more responsibility for its own defense, given the draw down of american forces, that japan should be more assertive when it comes to deploying its own forces especially given the build ip up of the military now in china. the united states says the defense secretary has spoken to his russian counterpart over the situation in syria. john kerry says talks with russia are a positive first step. >> the president believes that mill to mill conversation is an important next step and i think hopefully will take place very shortly, and it will help to define some of the different options that are available to us as we consider next steps in

syria. >> rosiland jordan joins me now live from washington, d.c. how significant is this military to military conversation? >> reporter: lauren it is quite significant, because there has .been any formal military to military contacts between the u.s. and russia since march 2014, that's about 18 months, and that's because the u.s. was very displeased with russia's on going incursion inside of ukraine. there is some concern here in washington that re-britishing some military to military contact could be sending a message to moscow that ukraine does not matter. the obama administration is saying that is not the case, but what we have to do is take a look at the situation in syria which is deteriorating by the day, and it makes sense according to obama administration officials to try to find a way to deal not just with the ongoing civil war, but also with the ongoing fight against isil.

>> and in the meantime is there any diplomatic progress to end the civil war? >> well, certainly in light of what has been happening with the refugee crisis, with so many tens of thousands of people heading towards europe, trying to get away from the fighting in syria and in other places, we should note, the russians and -- are trying to offer up some idea, perhaps of how to end the civil war. we are told from our diplomatic editor, james bayes in new york that vladimir putin, the russian president might be willing to outline some sort of plan or vision when he addresses the u.n. general assembly a week from monday. also during that same week, the special envoy for syria, excuse me, and the secretary general are going to meet with foreign ministers of the p5 at the security council to talk about syria. so it does appear that there is

a little bit of movement, but where it is going, lauren, is really anyone's guess. >> thank you very much indeed. inside syria there's no let up in the fighting as we heard. the syrian observatory for human rights says air strikes have targeted the city of palmyra controlled by fighters from the islamic state of iraq and the levant. the london based monitoring group says government fighter jets carried out 25 air strikes on the city. palmyra contains ancient roman ruins and was captured by isil in may. and this video is said to show the aftermath of another government air attack. the city is an isil strong hold. 30 people were reportedly killed in the strikes, including women and children. still to come on al jazeera, dozens killed after a taliban attack on a military base in pakistan. and tourism under threat. how recent unrest have stopped people from coming to niger. ♪

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♪ reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. refugees using croatia as a gateway to western europe will be redirected after the prime minister said the country had already reached its limit. japan has passed controversial security bills that means its soldiers will fight overseas for the first time since world war ii. and russian and american defense chiefs have spoken for the first time in more than a year, discussing their mutual interest in defeats islamic

state of iraq and the levant in syria. a attack in pakistan has left 43 people dead. nicole johnston has the latest from the air base. >> reporter: it's the type of attack the pakistani taliban is known for, but it hasn't carried one like this all year. early in the morning, fighters attacked a guard post outside of an air force base on the out skirts of town. some of them wore suicide vests. they forced their way in, entered the mosque and started shooting. many people were killed. most of them from the air force who lived inside the base. >> we are getting the [ inaudible ] so they were trying to attack the children, attack the mosque. >> reporter: the fighting between the military and the pakistani taliban continued all day. it was the first major assault since they got a rapid response force designed to respond to

attacks like this. >> the good news is that they are engaged and they have been killed. the moment they tried to enter into the area, security forces were very much alert they engaged them, and did not allow them to move from their location. >> reporter: this is a significant attack on the military. the fact that the pakistani taliban was able to get inside the base behind aaron alexis -- and into a mosque at the time it is under pressure, shows it still has force. the military has launched a wide scale operation against the group. since then people here have enjoyed a long period of calm, but the fighting isn't far away. the city is surrounded by pakistan's tribal belt. the army has been battling

fighters in other areas. the military says it has broken the back of the taliban, but this attack suggests the armed group is still a serious threat. nicole johnston, al jazeera. saudi-lead coalition air strikes have targeted a yemeni army base in sana'a. the building was reportedly being used by houthi rebels to store weapons. thousands of israeli security forces have again been deployed to the al aqsa mosque in jerusalem. scott heidler reports. >> reporter: at the end of a tense week, mohammed arrived early at the gate to attend friday prayers at the al aqsa mosque. but he is pushed back, like many times before when there's

increased tension, israeli security forces restrick restricken -- restrict entry. this time men under 40 are not allowed in. this 24 year old was born and raised nearby. >> translator: every friday i come here. they prevent me from entering. every friday. this is the system of the occupation to only prevent muslims from praying. if they are jewish they will enter with no problem. >> reporter: so dozens started their prayers on the street on card board boxes facing israeli security forces. only minutes into the prayers shouting, and then a scuffle. israeli security forces chasing a young man who broke through one of the barricades. this sparked reaction from those praying. the security forces pushed them

back some through water bottle. some of those who's prayers were disrupted by that clash by those concussion l bombs came back in smaller groups to continue with their prayers. there were several of them, there was a bigger one initially, but now we still see some struggling back. over in the gaza strip tens of thousands of palestinians protested against the israeli raid on al aqsa mosque earlier in the week. >> translator: the massive crowds have come to say are our blood we will redeem you al aqsa. everywhere we'll give up everything for al aqsa. >> reporter: in the occupied west bank hundreds came out after friday prayers to protest against the raids. so for the hundreds of men who were not allowed into the mosque. they say if this continues they

might be forced to hold next week's friday prayers on the streets of a bus stop. military leaders who seized power in a coup in burkina faso have reopened the country's borders, and reportedly released the interim president and two others captured on wednesday. but the interim prime minister is still being held. >> reporter: uproar on the streets. gunfire rang out as people protested against the coup in burkina faso's capitol. >> translator: people started to come out in front of us, we saw a military vehicle that drove directly into the people and they started shooting, killing people. >> translator: if we're here today it's to stand up against the egotistical interests of the presidential guard which is killing civilians and threatening people. >> reporter: it's a dramatic turn of events after an uprising ousted the president, blaise

compaore when we tried to extend his 27-year rule. 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: i think we have to discuss it with the concerned actors, political parties and civil society in order to establish a timetable that allows quick presidential and legislative election. we don't intend to extend our power. we don't intend to stay. we don't intend to do more than what needs to be done unlike what some people think. >> reporter: he was chief of the presidential guard and long time aid of the former president. blaise compaore's whereabouts are unknown. many are concerned the presidential guard does not want an election to happen. >> probably the person who was likely to win is one of the

former aids -- one of the former ally of the former president and there -- there's a lot of resentment against him, because he didn't support him while the -- you know, the popular uprising was taking place. >> reporter: the united nations has strongly condemned the coup, and with the interim prime minister still under house arrest, burkina faso's democratic transition has been thrown into doubt. gerard tan, al jazeera. after months of economic instability, greeks are heading back to the polls on sunday for a third time this year. the exprime minister is hoping the election will give him a new moon date to return to office, but he is facing a new crisis after trying to cope with a huge influx of refugees, that could affect how people vote. barnaby phillips reports. >> reporter: they watch bemused as desperate people arrive every day in their city.

elderly greeks outnumbered by hundreds of afghans. most of the afghans plan to move on. but a few will stay in greece, and build new lives here, like this man who came 14 years ago. he says greeks are generous, but he worries that political and economic instability will change that. >> we are afraid because of this election, and also because of this crisis, maybe this climate will be changed, maybe some extremist parties extremist groups will use this condition on benefit of themselves for the votes, that's why we are afraid. >> reporter: this is what he fears. the neo-nazi golden dawn who have gathered just a few blocks away. foreigners out of greece they chant. golden dawn have no chance of winning this election, but according to opinion polls they are now the third most popular party in greece.

for them the refugee crisis is an opportunity. he says it is a disgrace. thousands cross the sea into greece whilst all our politicians can do is dream about who leads the country. >> you cannot stop them. >> reporter: this doctor is temporarily the minister of refugees until greece gets a new government. he says nobody should use the refugee crisis to get more votes. >> translator: it could be used in this political battle but that would be a mistake, because it's a refugee crisis and not an immigration crisis. it's above party politics. greece's obligations are clearly defined by international law. we have to accept these refugees. >> reporter: the harsh truth is that greeks have plenty of things to worry about apart from the refugee crisis, unemployment, rising taxes, falling living standards.

they don't have great expectations of these elections, but they desperately hope for a government that will somehow address their country's economic problems. volunteers sort through donated clothes for refugees and poor greeks alike. most greeks feel sympathy for all of the december destitute people in their midst they know economic hardship and refugees will be a challenge for this country for years to come. indonesia has deployed an extra 1600 soerlsd to put out fires which have spread thick smoke across southeast asia. the fires are caused by the illegal slashing and burning of indonesian forrests during the crises. the bad air quality has lead to an increase in respiratory

diseases. most of the people suffering have been children and the elderly. fires cause a thick smog that has spread over neighboring countries. singapore is worried about the air quality for the up coming grand prix. florence lou which has more. >> reporter: there has been a slight improvement in air quality, a cloud seeding operation, rain, and change in wind direction have helped sdis% some of the pollutants in the air. schools shut in several states earlier this week have been allowed to reopen. the smog or haze is caused by open burning in indonesia where fire is used to clear land for farming or plantation use. it's illegal, but enforcement is week. this is a problem that not only effects indonesia but also its neighbors where thousands of people complain of respiratory difficulties, flights are

sometimes delayed or canceled because of the poor visibility. indonesia has held talks with the countries before but have yet been able to come up with an effective solution to tackle this problem. but indonesia has promised to step up enforcement. it says its police have detained several executives who's companies are alleged to have started some of the fires. it was once a thrivering hub for tourists. it used to attract people from around the world with his ancient architecture. but as hashem ahelbarra reports, disputes are keeping people away. >> reporter: they call it the jewel of the sahara. it was a cross roads for desert travelers. this is what remains of those

days. the historic red hughed adobe mineral and red palaces. a local band performances its dance. in normal times the city would be bustling with tourists. but now it faces tough times. local artifacts such as leather work and jewelry are sold worldwide. but amid growing violence, kidnappings, the tourists have left and business is bad. >> translator: we used to sell items for a thousand dollars. now we can't even sell them for a hundred dollars. we need to find clients who can buy our goods. >> reporter: this man was forced out of school when he was six years old. his father wanted him to work in

the tourist industry. he became the family breadwinner, >> translator: i haven't met a single tourest in the last six years. my dream is to see it back to the days when it was packed with foreigners. >> reporter: this hotel used to be fully booked for most of the year. now it's owner faces bankruptcy, and the only guests are his relatives. the local tourism authority says there is a plan to get the tourists back. >> translator: there was a decline in tourism activity, but the government is doing its best to bring tourists back. our priority is to improve security in the northern part of the country so there's peace. >> reporter: but peace may be illusive in this area. it has been marred by violence and instability, and more recently a transit point for thousands of refugees making their way through the desert, heading for europe. hashem ahelbarra, al jazeera.

a quick reminder you can always catch up with all of the stories we're reporting on which checking out our website. you can also watch us by clicking on the watch-live icon. the address again, aljazeera.com. ♪ >> welcome to 101 east, i'm steve chao. after giving birth in china, many new mothers and their babies spend weeks behind closed doors in an age old tradition known as confinement. strict rules govern this sensitive time.