>> thousands of refugees caught between croatia and it's neighbors. hello and welcome to al jazeera live from our headquarters in doha. also ahead, greeks head to the polls as the country's general election gets under way. a cool has been waged in burkina faso after the military coup. and pope francis calls on the u.s. and cuba to continue their reconciliation as he touched down in havana for a

historic visit. >> european leaders have so far failed to agree on an unified policy to deal with a refugee crisis. thousands have arrived by train and by bus. many are now head to go austria from hungary and slovenia, many by foot. the slovenian prime minister has criticized croatia's decision to send refugees to its border. they visited a refugee camp with croatia. thousands are hoping to enter slovenia and travel on to austria and germany and they accuse croatia of not doing enough to control the situation.

>> we know we're confronted by a large wave of refugees coming from croatia. unfortunately, croatia has not fulfilled its responsibility. they have not been behaving appropriately as they send refugees towards slovenia. >> laurence lee has been speaking with refugees we have this report. >> since hungary closed it's border and put a razor wire up, croatia has had no choice but to try to disperse them in different directions. some are forced into hungary. they have been moving them towards the border with austria by the thousands. past that, the croatiaens are

starting to move thousands towards slovenia as well. a couple thousand more here today. so the effects of this, particularly the hungarians closing it's borders has create a big wave of 25,000 refugees to be separated into parcels of a few thousand dotted around of a variety border crossings. what does it mean on the immediate situation here? well, it's not very organized, frankly. the only good thing you can say that this happened today in the presence of all these volunteers and members of the public who have come in large numbers offering food, water and clothing and a wash for the refugees. but night is falling now. the weather is going to break here tonight. it will be very heavy rain is forecast. they will not get shelter to these people. it has proven too difficult for the slovenian and croatian government to hand out tents. some 3,000 refugees are stuck at

the board on the south on the border of serbia. they're now on the way up here as well, and past that the croatian president is saying that another wave of 40,000 are on the way through macedonia and serbia. the crisis is beginning to get worse rather than better. >> turkey's prime minister has squad refugees at the border of greece to end the sit-in. thousands have been gathering at an ought door sports arena as they were stopped from continuing on from greece. many prefer to take the journey by foot rather than the dangerous trip by boat. the secretary of state is asking for renewed earths to resolve the conflicts in syria. he said that it shoul bashar

al-assad's depasture should be discussed. >> a crackling radio transmission in russian intercepted by syrian rebels in homs. rebels say that the voice belongs to the pilot of a cargo plane. the voice asks for permission to begin decressing amount attitude and to land. >> it's destination, in latakia. where they have sent weapons and support staff to help bashar al-assad in the fight against isil. but the u.s. secretary of state john kerry said that there are

air-to-air weapons at the airport which have little use against isil or rebels. >> clearly the presence of aircraft with air-to-air combat capacity as well as air to surface--surface to air missiles raise serious questions. that is precisely why we're engaged in further conversation about answering those questions, and about deconfrictioning the russiadeconflicting. >> it's the only ally in the center of the arab world. if russia were to fall. they would would not have a po port. >> looking at what steps russia's military will take next. al jazeera.

>> saudi-led coalition airstrikes are targeting ministries cold by houthi rebels. they follow a rebel attack in southwestern city. they were also heavy airstrikes in the area. 37 rebel fighters reportedly killed and dozens wounded. airstrikes have reportedly killed a family of ten. witnesses say eight children are among the dead. the bombing hit the city, a yo unesco world heritage site. vote something under way in the greece election. they're hoping that voters will give tsipras another chance to lead the country. he won january's poll on anti-austerity ticket but had to accept economic reforms in exchange for a bail out from creditors. barnaby phillips has more now from athens.

>> alexis tsipras. >> does he still have magic? he's still young, still charismatic. but it has been a bruising year. defeated by creditors, humiliated in berlin. he said don't let the old parties back in, the old regime that created the debt crisis in the first place. he may have lost to europe saying his supporters, but he went down fighting. >> ' licks citizen tsipras came to power promising to end austerity in greece and the eurozone. well, he failed to end austeri austerity. so this election is all about whether greeks are prepared to give him a second chance. >> people are feeling disappointment. >> i met people who supported

the left wing syriza when they voted in january. this man said he'll vote for him again. >> i think they're corrupt. syriza, i have some hopes. >> but antonias said that he'll vote for another party. >> the corruption will be the same. and i don't believe that the choices are many. >> disappointment, disillusionment. words that, um, is up the national mood, according to this analyst. >> the spark of hope existed in the last election, eight months back. this is gone now because the spark was part of tsipras's image. this is gone. it is a totally negative vote. when you have this type of negativity, it is very difficult to predict the result. >> this man is poised to take advantage if syriza is not the

largest party. leader of the center right new democracy. some warm to his down-to-earth style, but his party is part of the discredited political establishment. many greeks want to get away from politics. at an athens cycling festival they're enjoying the last warm evening of what could be a long hard winter. some how a new government will have to revive that spark of hope. barnaby phillips, athens. >> a deal has been waged in burkin burkina faso following a military coup. the president will be reinstated. the announcement follows a meeting between regional leaders and coup leaders. earlier this week soldiers from the presidential guard stormed the cabinet meeting and arrested the interim president and prime minister. we have this report.

>> we're just hundreds of meters away from the presidential palace. that's where presidential and the prime minister are being held. he was shown to the press today. there is no sign of him. you can look at the streets right now. the curfew is in full swing. we've seen presidential guards patrolling the streets. they said they would shoot in order to disperse any crowd or protest that would happen here. meanwhile, in this hotel gener general, the person responsible for the coup and his men as well as the african union leaders, diplomats from the united states and other nations are trying to come to an agreement. they're trying to get to an agreement in spirit. those are the exact words used. but for those who have been under this curfew over the last few days and suffered 25 years under this same leader, they

feel their opportunity to express themselves at the ballot box has been robbed. they're determined more than ever to get their voices heard. >> well, coming up on this bulletin, how sierra leone is using music and dance to prevent the spread of ebola. and a controversial union, how politics are getting in the way in myanmar.

>> as the global refugee crisis intensifies... >> they have travelled for weeks, sometimes months. >> and the e.u. struggles to cope... >> we don't know, they stop us here. >> what's being done while lives hang in the balance? >> we need help now. >> good to have you with us. these are the top stories on al jazeera. hungary and slovenia have criticized croatia for

redirecting refugees to their countries. european leaders have failed to agree on an unified policy to deal with the refugee crisis. polls for the greek electi elections. former prime minister alexis tsipras hopes that th greeks will give him another chance to lead the country. in burkina faso, there have been talks between the ente military coup and the interim president.

>> pope francis has arrived in havana. >> i call on political figures to continue along this path and develop all its potential as part of the role they're supposed to play in peace, well-being of their people, in all of the america's as an example of reconciliation for the rest the world. >> pope francis will be meeting president raul castro and fidel castro. in just a few hours. lucia newman has more from havana. >> they say once a believer always a believer. pope francis shocked many when he visited th raul castro, and he said he's considering going

back to praying. raul and fidel castro were brought up by jesuit clothes, the same as pope francis. but then they declared religion the opiate of the people proclaiming the cuban state and themselves atheist. a devout catholic remembers how 40 years ago she was afraid to baptize her daughter. >> my husband could have lost his job, but a lot has changed since then. >> surrounded by soviet-style housing complex, one of three new churches authorized by the government since the 1959 revolution will be built next to this half finished parish house one of several gestures to the vatican. >> i think cuba wants to be seen as part of the world and in the

world the catholic church has an influence. >> the pope for his part will want to reap the benefits of having helped in the process of normalizing u.s.-cuban ties. that means extracting concessions from cuba's leaders to allow the catholic church to have greater influence and play a bigger role in cuban society. for example, something as simple as regular access to the state-controlled mass media. >> if we only had a few hours a week that would be wonderful. >> the catholic church is still clearly on a short leash. but whether out of faith or enlightened self interest the communist president is eagle for embrace this latin american pope, who like himself condemns the isil of modern capitalism. lucia newman, al jazeera, hava havana. >> to venezuela, thousands marched across the country to

protest against the opposition leader lopez who was sentenced to 14 years. protesters said that the sentence was politically motivated. >> chanting freedom, thousands of venezuelans gathered to protest the decision to send one of the government's oppositions to jail. he was sentenced to almost 14 years convicted for inciting violence in last year's street rallies. few in the crowd seemed surprised at the judge's decision. >> surprise me? no because with this regime anything it possible. the truth is this trial has been very unfair. >> lopez, a former major of a well-to-do municipality who

never head his presidential aspirations, claimed that brass president madurreaction to rallies left 43 dead. >> we're going to underscore our commitment to human rights. >> there is very little resemblance to saturday's mall rally. >> today we take to the streets again. we can only hope that more venezuelans become aware that we need to be in the streets to fight for our rights. >> lopez represents the most radical faction within a divided opposition. now his freedom could depend on them rallying behind his cause. his sentence comes less than three months ahead of a decisive vote that early polls say that

opposition could win. if the opposition wins the election, however, many say that they're not acting freely. >> egyptian president el-sisi has formed a new government. half the cabinet has been replaced by new members. >> well, the egyptian army is flooding tunnels that connect the sinai peninsula with gaza. >> egyptian military says that he is building fish farms in an expanding buffer zones along the

borders. it is hoped that it will put an end to underground network to cross-border tunnels. they began flooding the tunnels late friday. it was the last thing that they need. she's already lost two homes in gaza's long history of conflict. with her husband and daughter now ill, she said she just can't lose another one. >> i'm very much scared. i already listen to shooting day and night. now i live in fear of flooding. it could happen any time. that's why i'm tense and squared. we can't sleep like other people. >> the tunnels were used over the last eight years to smuggle goods and people into a blockaded gaza. the hamas government made millions in taxes from these operations. hamas is believed to have allowed fighters and weapons to pass through here, a trade its neighbors wants stopped.

>> this is saltwater that was pumped into one of the smuggling tunnels from the egyptian side. there are 1200 such tunnels in this area. and this is just one of them behind me. now the people who live in rafa fear that the flooding could destabilize the grounds and cause landslides, they also fear that it will contaminate the water source. there is very little drinking water as it is, they struggle to get food, petrol and live with daily power black outside. now they live with the irrigation of their cbs, too. >> we hope that the city of rafa could reflect our brotherhood with egyptian through commerce and delegation, but instead we were surprised that they're pumping water along the borders which makes the existing siege even more difficult. >> people in this border town say that they long for the day when there won't be a need for underground lifelines, but many

have lost hope that it would happen in their lifetime. now this woman sits outside of her house for hours and late into the night on alert so her family won't be swept away with her eyes on egypt they said that she feels helpless and more alone. al jazeera, gaza. >> tthe united arab emirates has declared three days of national morning. to sierra leone, the country recent ligand a 42-day countdown to being ebola free, but two deaths have brought the succeed back and brought renewed emphasis on increasing awareness of the virus within the community. we have these reports.

[ music ] >> with the beat of the drum these local performers are here to entertain. but they loss come with a strong message. if you are sick or know someone who is, call for help. it can stop the spread of ebola. when this man realized how bad things were, he wanted to put his come di his comedy skills to good use. >> if people in this country, i'm a comedian. i'm trying to teach my people. >> other messages such as avoiding body contact are part of the act. the virus is spread through bodily fluids of an infected person. >> people have been trained to perform, and it seems to be making an impact. >> this northern district was a hot spot for ebola with 1500

cases to date, that's one of the highest number of cases in the country. but there has not been one in over a month. unicefishated the worms which helped to produce stress for local communities who witnessed so much death. >> bringing these people together. seeing the message from the performance, i mean, they laugh. you know, that's part of trauma healing. >> healing that is helping people who live here. this woman lost 18 members of her family members to the virus. >> i believe the message is getting through to people. i really hope it will continue. >> especially as more cases are likely to surface because of the recent death last weekend. >> you have to be creative of keeping their minds on ebola, to let them understand that we still have ebola and it still poses a high risk. >> it's clear the country may still have a long way to go

before ebola is eliminated, but at least there is a creative way to keep the messages coming loud and clear. al jazeera, sierra leone. >> hundreds of people have marched through the capital of kathmandu to protest against the country's new constitution. the student had been approved by the--the document had been approved by the government last week. myanmar's president has signed a law requiring buddhist women to seek permission before marrying outside of their faith. they passed the bill in july despite criticism that it is discriminates and continues anti-muslim sentiment. >> they live across the border

in thailand. he's muslim and she converted from buddhism. nine years ago they matter and moved to the thai border town where they face less discrimination as a mix-faith couple. now with a new law in myanmar which regulates buddhist women and other me religious, myanmar has become increasingly less tolerant. >> this is the family's business. why should we ask permission from the government. if in the future we have problems in our family do we report every conflict to them? >> under the law interfaith couples have to notify the local government and post a public announcement of their intention to marry. they will be allowed to wed if there are no objections. the law is one of four put forth by high line groups. critics fear the new law will be used to discriminate against

minorities here. the law is not discriminatory, he says. >> the other three religious, christianity, hindu have laws to protect their women. >> inter religious riots shook myanmar three years ago. 140,000 people mostly muslim are still displaced. a monk and former political prisoner. he leads a movement that works towards better thais between muslims and butteddists buddhist. >> whether the government thinks it did the right or wrong thing, it just wants to maintain its power to control the country. that's why they created this problem an they want to continue to use their power. >> that 03 means that interfaith couples will find it more

difficult to be together. al jazeera. >> and this reminder now that you can keep up-to-date with all the news for our website. which is currently leading with the general election in greece. that he is and the rest of the day's news at www.aljazeera.com. >> this week on talk to al jazeera - the once high powered capitalist in russia turned human rights activist - bill browder. >> i had more than $1 billion, which was a huge amount of money-- in any circumstance, but certainly back then, and in russia. >> the financier had a spectacular rise with his investments quadrupling - but then browder began calling attention to corruption and crossed the wrong people. >> i was locked up overnight. and then i was deported the next day and declared a threat to national security, never to be allowed back into russia again.