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john psaropoulos reports from greece which is one of the main entry points for the thousands arriving. >> reporter: another group of syrian refugees arrives from the greek islands in the port. among them many young men escaping army service or conscription by the islamic state of iraq and the los levan. mohamed is a 25-year-old economic student. he says his family dislikes syrian president bashar al-assad, but he doesn't want to die fighting him. he wants to finish his studies. >> the situation in syria is very, very bad. because the war is big. and there are many, many groups in syria. >> reporter: and what is happening now on the streets? >> the people killed, the people killed in any any, any, any place in syria. >> reporter: these numbers monitored by the united nations overwhelm not only the greek authorities, they have cut through the treaty which established border controls and they have forced germany to declare it will ignore a rule to return asylum applicant to greece and process syrians directly. 300,000 refugees have crossed in to europe this year. two-thirds of three thro

john psaropoulos has the latest from athens. 'll get back to john in a moment. >>> in south korea today there is a high alert after an exchange of heavy artillery fire on the border with the north. north korean forces fired at a south korean border town. the south responded with dozens of shells. this was the first hostile exchange in five years. to harry fawcett now with more from seoul. >> reporter: this exchange of fire began shortly before 4:00 in the afternoon, south korean time. the south korean defense ministry says the north fired a projaek tile, thought to be a rocket into south korean territory. then there was a second round of firing, this time it is thought to be artillery. and about an hour after that south korea fired dozens of artillery back. north korea says that south korea has to dismantle prop ga da speakers within 48 hours or further reaction will result. the south korean government says that it was really just trying to hide what was going on. they are calling this a provocation. the south korean president wa

john psaropoulos has the report. >>> these afghan children are chaving a little of their childhood restoredo them. the hellenic red cross set up a camp for games. here, too, they have food for 24 hour medical care. much has been taken from them. in years of war, poverty and exile. this person was born in exile. his family feared for their lives. >> translation: we are shi'a. in afghanistan there was some people, like the taliban, they kill the hazari people . that was why we migrated to iran. i'm going to go to a place that accept us, accept us just like a person, like a human. >> reporter: more than 170,000 refugees poured into greece. most fleeing war, all looking for a better life in europe. this facility was an improvement on the tent city. that sprung up in athens largest urban park. local residents feared a threat to public health and safety. 500 afghans in camp were gone. initially to the municipal facility, but out of greece and northward into the balkans. the facility attempts to strike a balance between the free for all that existed and the policy of detention centres built by the

john psaropoulos is monitoring the situation in athens, and joins us live.expect this to go through easily? it feels like we have been here before. >> reporter: it does. the big upheaval that you saw behind me in july, that was a framework agreement, now you have the first implementation law within that frame agreement, and that is beginning to tighten the screws on government spending and the payouts particularly in the pension and the health sectors. so -- so the debate is going to be, i think, as acrimonious as it was on july 15th, when this loan was approved in principal as the only way to keep giese been the euro zone, and particular akco moanny is being caused by the fact that greece is agreeing to a 67 retirement age for everyone, private and public sector, beginning seven years from now. it is insisting on further spending cuts in pharmaceuticals, as well as other areas in the public sector, so not surprisingly behind me night will be civil servants and people that come under the civil servant federal union, lauren. the government has been very keen

john psaropoulos has more. >> reporter: approximately two dozen members of parliament have broken awayrom the prime minister's line and have said they are going to form a separate far-left-wing group. they have said this is going to be called the consolidated anti-austerity front, or the united anti-austerity front, and this is a play on words because it is an exco of the communist resistance during world war ii, which after the war, fought a civil war against national forces and that was what caused the national freedom front. there is no coincidence here, the far left wants the name of its new party to sound like the continuation of the communist fighting formations of old. it wants to suggest to voters that they are the true leftists, the true inherit fors of the world war ii communist generation, and they will carry the torch forward against austerity in the upcoming election. >>> israel's army says it has killed four members of the armed group islamic jihad in an air strike in syria. syrian state tv said a car was targeted, but said five civilians were killed. it was the second st

john psaropoulos has the latest. >> reporter: the government is very keen to point out the positive pointscular law. it comes under a third bailout loan which is going to allow the greek government to pay roughly $22 billion less to creditors between now and 2018. and this is the first implementation law that comes under that more favorable loan agreement. the government is also pointing out that this bailout loan comes with a 35 billion euro development package funded by the european commission, but it is being forced to accept that it has gone back on a preelection promise to accept more austerity measures. for example, one of the more painful aspects will be the fact that this law being voted on tonight on thursday night, is making it much more -- is making it much more difficult for greek taxpayers to get away with not paying their tax, whether they are doing so as a result of not wanting to pay it, or as a result of not being able to pay it. so this law is giving the general secretary for public revenue, much bigger teeth with which to take people's property or money in their bank acc

john psaropoulos has more from athens. >> reporter: it takes the greek prime minister less than a minute to walk to the president's office to resign. this move has been considered for week. just as the first of the bailout dollars arrived, the man responsible for negotiating the deal told the greek people that their vote was once again needed. >> the people's mandate exhausted its limit. you with your vote should represent the country. with resolve and courage, that difficult negotiations require. >> reporter: whilst he came to power opposing strict austerity conditions, he has now adapted them. a u-turn too far from many in the ruling syriza power. he's the victim of a rebellion, over a tough message worth more than $15 billion in three years. further painful cuts scp far-reaching pension reforms, angered many in his party, effective ly robbing him of his parliamentary majority. the rebels announced they'll split and form a new anti-bailout movement. >> we had to rely on the votes of the opposition to get the bailout deal through. it cannot go on like that forever, and he needs to seek

john psaropoulos reports >>> these afghan children are having a little of their childhood restored to them. the hellenic red cross set up a camp for games. here, too, they have food for 24 hour medical care. much has been taken from them. this person was born in exile. his family feared for their lives. >> in afghanistan, there was some people. that was migrated to iran. i'm going to go to a place that accept us, accept us just like a person, like a human. >> reporter: more than 170,000 refugees pored into greece. all looking for a better life in europe. this facility was an improvement on the tent city. local residents feared a threat to public health and safety. 500 afghans in camp were gone. initially to the municipal facility, out of grease and north wood. the facility attempts to strike a balance between the free for all, built by the previous conservative government. >> reporter: under that policy, undocumented migrants were detained until agreeing to be deported. >> in march, the left wing government shutdown the camp from athens, and released its inmates. the closure was contr

john psaropoulos reports from athens. >> reporter: the notion of a sec election in a year appeals totsipras's supporters. most greeks, however, want more stability. >> translator: it's a bad idea. we're voting every six months. that suggests something deeply wrong with the political system, and it's specially effects 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 stand. >> 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 antiques dealer has felt the brunt of the recession. he used to count the rich afamous among his clients. he has now given up his business and locked his valuables in cellars. >> translator: tsipras is trying to escape. they promised much and delivered nothing. did they bring one euro of the embezzled millions back? they said they would abolish the property tax and tear up the

more from john psaropoulos in athens. >> reporter: it takes the greek prime minister less than a minutewalk to the president's office to resign, but this move has been carefully considered for weeks. just as the first of greece's bailout dollars arrived, the man responsible for negotiating the deal told the greek people that their vote was once again needed. >> translator: the people's mandate has, saused its limit, and now the sovereign people should take the vote. you should decide if we represented the country with the resolve and courage which the difficult negotiation required. >> reporter: whilst he came to power, he has now accepted the conditions, a you turn too far for many in the ruling party stable. he is now the victim of a rebellion in his own party over the tough new measures worth more than $15 billion over three years. further pain full cuts, and far-reaching reforms angered many in his party. the rebels have announced that they will now formally split and form a new anti-bailout movement. >> we have to rely on the votes of the opposition to get this bailout deal through

ach -- after his party first came to power let's take you straight away to athens and speak to john psaropoulos is not entirely unexpected, this decision, but why now exactly? >> reporter: what we're hearing from lawmakers is that the government simply couldn't proceed with the implementation of the third bailout loan it negotiated last month. it's original plan was to form a summer session of parliament to get through august bypassing further immeantation laws. but apparently there weren't enough syriza loyal mp's, not the one third that has now decided to go in the direction of the far left and oppose any government on austerity, but the two-thirds who were supposed to be loyal, even they didn't agree, therefore the government was left with no option but to renew its mandate with the greek people. there are positive arguments in favor of doing this as well. the prime minister numbers are still high. the full effects of the bailout haven't been fully felt by voters, so the argument seems to have gained currency, that now is the time to renew the mandate, go forward with the unified syriza, and

. >>> john psaropoulos our man live in athens for us. john this is fascinating isn't it? the greek vote for him because he is the right man to lead them, or because he said austerity is dead. we will not put up with it in this country? because if that is the case, and he had lead them in to a situation that austerity is absolutely vital, is he the man to still lead them. >> reporter: you have put your finger on it. you lied to the greek people, you told them that you could deliver an austerity-free loan and you can't. what you have delivered is a worse deal than the which we could have gotten in january. that's what the opposition today. in this latest announcement this evening from the prime minister, you have an inkling of his pitch to the greek people over the next month's election campaign. he said that we did not get the deal that we hoped for with our creditors. we did make significant concessions, he said, but we got the best deal possible. and what -- and here is the crucial bit. we are obliged to observe it. we have now signed up it to, but we will at the same ti

john psaropoulos, al jazerra, athens. >>> the death toll from the refugees crisis continues to rise.ying refugees have sunk off the coast of libya. that's according to libya's red crescent which says seven bodies have washed up east of the capital tripoli. it's not clear how many people were aboard but the coast guard has started a rescue operation. >>> the 12-year-old palestinian boy who was pinned down against his broken arm by an israeli soldier on friday has spoken out about the incident. video of the soldier scuffling with women and children in the occupied west bank went viral after it was posted on line. the soldiers were reacting to stones that had been thrown at troops. mohamed's arm was in a cast when the soldier was filmed pinning him down as he tried arrest him. >> translator: i was watching when the youth threw stones at the army. and when the soldiers ban to shout a ran way. there were three soldiers. one caught my cousin, and another caught me. and i tried to runaway. but he caught me and threw me to the ground and started hitting my face with stones. and beat on my br

john psaropoulos, al jazerra, athens. >>> the around 4,000 people arrived on saturday alone.e from there is kirk day the emergency response team leader in greece for the international rescue committee. thank for being with us on the program. 4,000 people arriving in one day. is that the most so far? >> it is. yes. i think that number is significant because 2/3 of all arrivals to greece come here. the most of the summer the total number of arrivals for greece was 1,000. we have reached four times that many on less boss. >> what happened to them when they arrive? where do they go, who looks after them? >> ideally when they arrive on the north of the island they are supposed to catch a bus and ride the bus to the south, present themselves to the port police where they register the first time. then they wait in a camp. if they are syrians they wait in one camp and they can wait up to two or three days until their names are read. and then in theory they are supposed to be able to about buy a ferry ticket and leave the island. to be honest right now, we are facing a perfect storm.

we can go live now to our correspondent in athens, john psaropoul psaropoulos, and john what more donow about this date. they have quite specific, september the 20th. >> reporter: well, we know that a very brood meeting has been happening under the prime minister in the past few hours precisely with the point of deciding what the date of the elections will be, and we are hearing from people inside the party that he has been pressed by many members of parliament of his party, to hold them sooner rather than later, in other words in september. the government's most recent plan had been to try to form a summer session of loyal mp's who would pass more implementation bills that stem from the country's latest austerity loan which was agreed with creditors on the 13th of july. but what we're hearing from party members is that there weren't any mp's who were willing to go into such summer sessions, because they felt they would be passing austerity standards under the radar so to speak. therefore the prime minister has been pressed in to coming forward to resign sooner, and announce election