a construction boom is on in macedonia. but is it building what macedonia needs?> when spain's late dictator died almost 40 years ago, the country made a dramatic switch to democracy. most spaniards quickly banished any memory of the dictatorship years. amnesty was rented to his henchmen to make the transition to democracy as peaceful as possible. to this day, no spanish court has dealt with the crimes from the franco regime. many of those who carried out orders of torture and murder under the spanish dictator are still friedman today. the victims never got justice. that could change soon with help from overseas. argentinian lawyers want to take the cases to court. >> the demonstrators gather every thursday evening at the square demanding justice. many here were victims of torture and repression under the regime of dictator francisco franco. her torturers were never punished for their crimes. the 1977 amnesty law means they cannot be prosecuted in spain. >> i want spain to finally come to terms with this -- it's past and address the crimes committed under franco.

still ahead macedonia's opposition cries foul after a snap election. and... >> we are in columbia. farmers are gearing up for a new strike that promises to bring the country to a halt once again. . >> hello again. you're with al jazeera. >> a court in egypt sentenced 683 people to death in a mass trial. including the leader of the muslim brotherhood. the same court reversed 492 death sentences out of 529 it passed in march, with most of them sentenced to life in prison instead. south sudan government is expected to resume peace talks with rebels. they are due to be held in the capital of neighbouring ethiopia. negotiations failed to advance since the psych of a -- signing of a ceasefire in january that never took hold. >>> u.s. president barack obama is meeting president aquino in the philippines. they finalised a defense deal allowing a larger u.s. military presence. barack obama made comments on placing sanctions against russia over ukraine. >> we are going to be moving forward with an expanded list of individuals and companies that will be affected by sanctions. they remain targ

. >> the citizens of macedonia are cheated and there is no basis for an electoral process. >> refuses to accept election results. >>> fast becoming an essential travel requirement for the wealthy in pakistan. we'll tell you about the latest bulletproof cars. >>> and in barcelona, fighting back against fans in spain. >> the syrian president bashar al-assad has officially said that he will run for re-election on june 3rd. he's expected to secure a third term in august despite a civil war stemming from protests against his rule. some western and arab governments have condemned the election and the pair parity of democracy. >>> many declared war on gunmen linked to al-qaeda. some syrian who is fled the isil controlled area. >> this is their home away from home. they call it the rekka house. some 25 people of the same name now live under one roof in a turkish-border city. they are not related to each other. what brought them together, the fear o. scared to show her identity when talking about her city's new rulers. >> very bad. rekka, i now feel that it is outside of the. >> it has been ac

leading opposition party in macedonia says it will not accept results of this weekend's election andtill being counted but conservative party is claiming a double victory in parliamentary and presidential elections and john reports. >> reporter: there was a celebrity mood at the election headquarters. his party, the right wing party was elected to a third, four-year term and his choice of president ushered in for a second term as well. but the social democrat opposition says this result was too good to be believed. >> translator: the citizens of macedonia are cheated and there are no conditions for basic electoral process which was conducted in an uncivilized manner and at the same time the constitutional right of the citizen was usurped. the social democratic union of macedonia has the biggest opposition party and asked for the creation of a government of technocrats. >> reporter: the social democrats are asking for an interim government of te, this hnocrats to over see the elections and means that the social democrats will likely refuse to take seats in the new parliament and does

. >> two major electioning are taking place in macedonia. the prime minister is likely to secure a third term the current president is expected to stay in office. opposition leaders called the prime minister an authoritarian ruler. under him the country's economy has improved. macedonia is one of the poorest countries with a 28% unemployment rate. >> in somalia, an orphanage opened in the capital, notable because rebels recut children for col -- recruit children for combat. many years of war left children addicted to drugs. there still is a bright future for kids. . >> reporter: among them are future leaders, doctors and experts. because they received help, i am sure they'll give help to others. >> the center houses more than 200 kids. >>> 9:00 pm is the al jazeera original series called "borderland", following a small group of migrants fleeing america by train, including a mother and her 9-year-old daughter. here is a preview of tonight's episode. >> it's dawn. our six will join 500 migrants boarding the death train. the statistics surround

we have serbia, kosovo, and macedonia. those are not members of nato even though they are in europe. all those entities have problems with nato or unresolved risk that unresolved disputes with each other. achieving stability is a huge challenge for nato. this is not just about dealing with russia. to brusselshis trip john kerry made an unscheduled flyby stop in israel. the u.s. secretary of state met prime minister benjamin -- who heldo help talks with palestinian negotiators. and possible key to breaking the logjam in the stall peace. arrested in washington in 1980 five and condemned to life imprisonment for spying on the u.s. and israel. officials have not confirmed those reports. peopleyon now where six have been killed and three almost simultaneous desk in the three almost simultaneous blasts in nairobi. kenya now where six people have been killed in lee almost three simultaneous blasts. so far no one has claimed the attacks. >> the aftermath of deadly sayosions, eyewitnesses they saw two explosive devices being thrown

. >> that was life in macedonia. >> yeah. >> but for a lot of people now, it is an affectation. >> thet meals is when people are sort of following a culinary trend. they'll say there's an edible. but it tastes like -- but it's edible and it will go on the fish no matter what. >> two pike head walking. beautiful. >> oh, now -- >> ah. okay. >> you just pick off every little bit. but i think even at its most ludicrous manifestation, surely it is a positive thing that people are actually starting to look around and see, where it grows -- >> it still is good. people are being connected to the place they're in. what's edible and what's not. what is there to eat. here we go. jackpot. this is a mustard. this is a beach mustard. in three weeks, this is gone. new things come up. >> it's sour dough bread. it's a cow's milk butter that has not been churned all the way. it's called virgin butter. >> oh, god. >> this is amazing, huh? >> butter like this where you can pretty much taste what the cow ate. anyone who's milked a cow, this is a flavor of childhood. there aren't a lot of people left where

. >>> former yewing sloef republic of masa dopia will -- macedonia will hold presidential elections. and other news from london. >>> yes, the incumbent party the macedonian internal unity party is tipped to win the polls. after eight years in power opponents say it's corrupt and lacks vision. we have this report. >> reporter: this town marches to the beat of the ruling party. they turned its back on the liberal democrats after they shut down ageing factories. >> they embraced the party of the incumbent president. >> a lot of people were left without a job. >> he is among supporters. this is an out of work english teacher and noticed that the party faithful get jobs, many at free trade jones hike this one -- trade firms like this one. touting this prosperity, large-scale construction of museums and government buildings is under way in the capital. their budget is shrouded in mystery. >> reporter: not everywhere is happy with the model. unemployment is at 28% income at a third of the average of the money september from overseas is a fifth of the economy. this man headed the privatisati

. >> in macedonia, lucky to fall short of an outright majority after winning its fourth straight election. but almost all of the votes now counted after the weekend poll, party looks to have secured 61 seats in the 123-member parliament. the center left opposition refuses to credit recognize that result. rntion scotland would be a more constructive member of the european johnny than united kingdom. to join the eu should it split from the u.k. steering a referendum in september. >> europe and scotland, very few want to abolish it. the differences in westminster, lots and lots of people see abolition of europe, a viability option. in scotland we want to do things positively, making things better for working people across scotland. >>> are cervantes who worked during the late 16th and early 17th century, the writer of don quixxote, now almost 400 years later spanish historians want to find his bones to honor him. >> it is a convent church. a few people were buried here, it's a limited area. the first phase will be carried out by a can an expert to locate the burial place. >> cervantes moved

. >> macedonia is voting for a president. the two contenders are the current president and a map from the center left. neither is expected to win 50% of the total electorate, so the vote is likely to go to a run off. >> christians around the world have been marking palm sunday, remembering the day the bible says jesus rode into jerusalem, and palm branches from laid in front of him. >> the pope celebrate palm sunday maths, and the leader of the church gave a whom illy. he asked worshippers to look into their own hearts to see how they are living their lives. >> in spain, the catholic church is accused of turning its back on its history. the church was once a mosque, but the church wants ownership of the site. >> on the banks of the river, one of the greatest movingses built overlooks the city. a reminder of the time when it was the center of the area. inside is almost like stepping back into that time. when it fell, defeated by christian forces, so did the influence as a grand center of civilisation. over time the mosque beca

he's just arrived in macedonia, alabama. what are you seeing there, chad? away from mississippi, wolf, and into alabama, i believe the energy of this system has shifted to the east, but some good news. this is maximum heating. we're 5:00 here central time. this is the hottest part of the day, and it never really warmed up. not like yesterday, so, therefore, we may be seeing a slight decrease in the potential for these storms. i just don't see them all going as super cells right now. they are bunching together. and think about this, if you have one bowl of food and you have one dog, if you let that dog eat all that food, he's going to be a big dog. if you have the same bowl but six dogs, they share the same food, you have six little dogs, not one big one. so if you have to share the food, share the moisture, the storms don't get as big. that's what we're hoping for tonight, these line up, clump together, and don't become the super cells we had yesterday. >> we'll find out, chad, stand by. i want to go to athens, alabama, right now where residents took a seri

-- the current and former foreign ministers of albania, bulgaria, the czech republic, lithuania, macedonia, montenegro, poland, romania -- all places that i've spent a lot of time -- i'm delighted you're here. and to the defense ministers from estonia, georgia, czech republic and montenegro as well, and to the many ambassadors and our close friends, i want to -- i want to tell you what an honor it is to be before you. and also, steve hadley and brent scowcroft and secretary albright, it's an honor to be able to speak before you as well, and to nato's future leaders, who we're relying on a great deal. we're here today -- we're here today to celebrate the fruits of two actually very audacious and consequential notions -- maybe two of the most consequential and audacious notions of the last hundred years -- the idea that after centuries of conflict, culminating in two world wars, europe could reinvent itself in a single community defined by peace, anchored in political and economic integration, collective self-defense, and a free flow of commerce and people, and no less important, the idea th

and it intensifies the closer this gets to russia so you know i imagine if nato decided to let in macedonia. the russians would would object but not very strongly if they decided to try and get georgian you see a different stance it's not really containment i mean there's no sense russia is going to expand its territory as a general rule further by seeking to you know and next neighboring territories or takeover of neighboring governments the way we fear during the cold war i think it's more cernan that if russia sees a security vacuum if nato seems to be indifferent to these countries fate then western influence in these regions will sharply decline these governments my as for example armenia they have to throw their towel in with with moscow just for their own security and economic reasons and there's also concern about misunderstanding you know we don't want the russians or the chinese or others to think that they can just go and start using military force to seize terror the two territories because at some point we're going you could get a western reaction and we saw that in korea we ga