now the clock is ticking for south korea. turn off the propaganda broadcasts in the next 15 hours or face war. that's the threat from north korea. point of contention, south korea using these loudspeakers to blare criticism of kim jong-un and his regime over the border. so north korea fired artillery at those speakers on thursday, south korea returned fire and pledged to respond sternly to any further professor negotiation. let's go to cnn's kyung lah near the dmz that separates north korea and south korea. what 's the very latest there, kyung? >> what we can tell you, wolf, is we have seen in the last 24 hours a ramping up of rhetoric from north korea. this is leading to some very big concerns from not just south korea but also the united states of whether or not there were will be some sort of miscalculation in all of this. this is a chess game between the two koreas as well as the united states. they want to hold their positions but not cross the line. a game of chicken, if you will, without going too far, so at this point

north korea threatening war. exchanging fire with south korea. ordering troops to be ready. >>> jeb bush launching attacks against donald trump. >>> president obama laying out his case for the nuclear deal in the op-ed this morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's begin now with the breaking news this morning. g kim jong-un is opening up a war time state after the exchange of fire with south korea over the demilitarized zone. kathy novak has the latest for us. tensions running high here. >> reporter: absolutely, christine. strong rhetoric. the couple try ntry is edging c the brink of war. kim jong-un ordered the army to be ready to launch attacks. this as the united states and south korea is in training missions here. what is happening is this is coming with the combination of the fact that south korea for the first team in more than a decade relaunched the program of psychological warfare. it has been broadcasting messages along the border. on the weekend, pyongyang was threatening to blow up th

south korea says it will respond to any further north korean provocation, north korea says it's the south doing the provoking and denies having launched artillery or rocket fire on thursday afternoon. it does say south korea has to end loudspeaker propaganda on saturday, 5:00 p.m. or there will be military action and the alert levels here remain high. >> via skype is robert kellie professor of political science of the national university in south korea and thank you for being with us. what do you think is going on here, obviously tensions between north and south korea are nothing new and should we be more worried this time around? >> i wouldn't be based on past history, just in the last few years there was a major war crisis in the spring of 2013 and there were two in 2010. there was a lot of saber rattling and angry rhetoric and north korean threats to start war and shell various locations and stuff like that and nothing came of it. it doesn't mean this time is different. we don't know how north korea makes decisions so maybe something changed internally we don't know about but from the

south korea. will hello there, welcome to al jazeera, i'm laura kyle from al jazeera. also on the programme. stepping down - greek prime minister resigns and calls early elections. >> prosecutors in brazil charge a former president and the speaker of the lower house in the largest corruption scandal. and a bitter pill to swallow, the european union says no to hundreds of drugs from india >>> japan is urging north korea to show self restraint after leader kim jong un ordered his border units to be ready for war. according to state media, troops should be prepared to launch surprise operations, coming amid tensions with south korea. seoul fired artillery shells across the border. it said it was responding to rocket and artillery attacks, that is something the north denies. but they are angry over loud speakers on the southern side of the border, playing propaganda messages calling them a provocation, it's given seoul 48 hours to dismantle those speakers. here is how television krt reported the manoe

north korea will wont south korea to end the propaganda forecast. and it has been threatening to strike militarily. south korea said it will do that if it was behind a mining blast. >> there are things that they can talk about, such as restarting family reunions, but without north korea admitting responsibility, it's hard to see how south korea can back down over the broadcast. and south korea will not admit responsibility, saying it's a plot to incriminate north korea. >> as far as the situation at the border itself, what is apping here? >> the deadline -- happening here. >> the deadline passed. it was unclear whether north korea met south korean time. both of the deadlines - there has been no report of any military action on either side. earlier in the day there were reports that the south korean military detected movements of the guns, appearing to target the round speakers. there was a show of force by the jets flying over the territory. now we have talks under way, we are not clear as to when we find out what transpired at the talks. and that t

north and south korea talk in order to ease tensions. live at the border. thousands of antigovernment protesters clash with riot police, leaving some injured. >> we view an online gallery with a difference. hello, macedonian police have allowed thousands to pass through their fence, they spent the night in the border town, ready to board at the crack of down on route to serbia. the small macedonian town saw a number rise trying to cross over into europe. jonah hull has more. >> reporter: 48 hours after macedonia shut its border to refugees the gathering crowd makes a break for it. they didn't come this far to be held back. hundreds do get through sprinting across open fields as armed police units fire percussion grenades. this inthis case directly at a mother and her two children. until thursday this was an open invisible border, towards serbia the eu and germany beyond it. now, refugees have no idea why they've been treated this way. >> i'm not terrorist, this is not terrorists, we are humans, where is humanity, they are families. we don't need carlos, let

asia, you have south korea and taiwan. in south korea, you have to consider what happened between the koreas. the rhetoric continued into early this morning. for south korea, the finance ministry said, without going into details, they will be acting preemptively. i would imagine to support the market. they are monitoring it closely. friday, 900 million u.s. dollars in outflow. the etf in the u.s. got absolutely hammered. biggest one-week outflow. can we get the defense stocks? that is one to watch today because these guys are usually in the backdrop when tensions increase. angie: absolutely. david: overbought, but something to watch. angie: absolutely. geopolitical machinations at work. taiwan, what is happening? there are trying to play defense as well. david: they are taking their cue from chinese regulators and banning shortselling. for borrowed shares if the price is lower than the close. you are still allowed to short sell for hedging purposes, but that is effective today. my pen fell. angie: just losing everything th

south korea ended its loud speaker broadcasts on time. at the same time, north korea ended its war status, south korea is starting to wind down some of the troop deployments. they did carry on the loud speaker broadcasts up until the noon deadline and it will maintain those loud speakers, it won't dismantle them. in the text of the agreement, it does say it will make these broadcasts unless there is a situation. they can restart. as for the talks going forward. both south and north say they want to have talks as soon as possible. also, they say they will work towards getting family reunions up and running again. chances for people to meet who have been separated since the end of the fighting in the korean war. the first they hope to get up and running to coincide with the festivals. south korea is treating this as a vindication, they got the apology they wanted. the text of the agreement talks about north korean regret rather than apology and taking responsibility for that blast. there is an opportunity for more talks going forward. both

reports out of south korea. south korea firing artillery into north korea towards the source of an incoming projectiles near the north korean border. dow futures right now at triple digits as we look at the news with the latest on the story in just a day. breaking this morning after falling to more than six-year lows yesterday we're watching crude oil prices under pressure yet again this morning. heading closer to the $40 a barrel mark. checking in on crude of more than a percent already on the session. in asia, china stocks suffered more losses plunging your than 3%. europe right now midday training showed pressure on stock prices there as well. the ftse off a half a percent. the dax off 1%. in the u.s. stock market futures right now looking at triple digit losses on the dow out of north korea with futures off 130-point. breaking overnight, police in st. louis firing tear gas and arrested nine people as protests turn violent over the shooting of an unarmed black man. we will have the details. donald trump and j

these loud speakers that are on the border that south korea is blasting into north korea, south korea says it is not backing down. this is a very dangerous game of chicken. south korea saying that if north korea does take any sort of action, it will retaliate. >> i see watchtowers for the dmz right behind you there. nearly a million north korean troops with tons of artillery, shells, missiles, rockets just to the north. almost a million south korean troops in south korea, 30,000 american troops right in the middle of all this along the dmz. this is incredibly perilous right now. do you get that flavor where you are? >> reporter: this is just one small snapshot of what is the most fortified border in the entire world. the strongest relic that we have of the cold war. what you see over my right shoulder, there are soldiers inside that watchtower. they're scanning the earth, all the way across this area. this isn't even the dmz. when you step into the dmz, there are soldiers staring at each other from the north and south. that game of chicken, you see it come to life. that is miles acros

the wounding of the south korea soldiers sparked the latest tensions. south korean officials insisted the north korean military planted the land mines, but the north denied any involvement. in retaliation, the south korean military resumed its loud speaker broadcast at the border, denouncing the northern regime for the first time in 11 years. the duocountries exchanged fire across the border on thursday. north korean leader kim jong-un on friday ordered troops along the dmz to go into a semi-war state. the north's military reportedly put up forces along the border. tensions rose and thousands of south korean residents left their home, but they have since been running. the outcome of the talks appears to be beneficial to both sides. south korean president park geun-hye said what's important is to carry forward the agreement. she calls for talks to ease tensions between the two countries and make it a turning point for piece in the korean peninsula. tomoko kamata, nhk world. >> thanks, tomoko, for the update. japan's prime minister has offered his view on

it did not fire, south korea returning fire with 30 rounds. and north korea's 50 of its submarines, that does suggest along with this 48 hour deadline, in easing tensions as they regularly crop up but does suggest a serious situation. it is somewhat different than what happened in the first part of 2015, the kind of rhetoric that was going back and forth was even more heightened. flea talk about nuclear strikes and about the whole nation being put on a war footing which didn't happen at this time. the joint industrial complex just inside north korean territory, that continued on operation pretty much unprecedented. there were various things on the positive side of the ledger, perhaps the most importantly once, these talks went on for hours, the last going on for more than 33 hours. it did suggest that both sides were determined not to engage in any further military conflict. >> harry fawcett, thank you. >>> migrants are proceeding on by foot before jumping on buses or trains. calling a humanitarian disaster, let's take you through main develop

north and south korea agree to step back from conflict. >> i'm felicity bar. and this is al jazeera live from london. all three u.s. markets end with losses over worries about a slump in china >>> a straight journey in europe as thousands of migrants leave macedonia, back work for ghana's doctors, ending a strike over conditions >>> after a marathon session of talks, north and south korea agreed a deal that had pushed them closer to wash. the agreement sees the north expressing regret. seoul will turn off loud speakers blasting propaganda messages over the border. >> reporter: after a session of books lasting 33 hours, ahead of south korea's delegation called a 2am press conference. after a dispute with a land mine blast that maimed two south korean soldiers, and escalated with the restarting of cross-border speakers, and a strike against them, it was, he said, at an end. >> north korea expresses regret over the land mine incident in which two south korean soldiers were injured. south korea in the absence of an abnormal sitiation will stop all loud spearker fo

military in south korea, wolf. because they began to see evidence indeed that the north korean military began a partial mobilization over the last few days. there was intelligence is, satellite imagery indicating several things were happening on the north side of the dmz. that pyongyang was deploying artillery. that's always a concern because that kind of long range artillery can readily hit seoul, south korea. that they were activating their air defense radar which is could, theoretically, if they were working properly in the north, detect incoming aircraft that they were getting ready for scud missile launch possibly and evidence that dozens of north korean warships and submarines had put out to sea. so as the u.s. was watching all of this all weekend, we are now learning the top u.s. military commanders also ordered a review of the u.s. war plan to defend south korea. they took a look at it, made sure everything was in order. it's an indication of how concerning it was over the week end that this was spiraling o

south korea will strongly retaliate if there is additional provocation from north korea and south korea is expecting there will be. north korea is very, very angry that south korea has restarted the campaign of psychological warfare, using the propaganda speakers along the border. north korea, as we know, likes to tightly control the message it gives citizens and with south korea broadcasting its own messages. north korea threatening to blow up the speakers. it's culminated the tensions that seem to be getting worse as the deadline approaches and, of course, as we know, this is happening as the united states and south korea hold joint military exercises, something else that makes them extremely angry. >> thank you so much for that. the u.s., as kathy mentioned is monitoring the conflict between the nations. let's get to barbara starr who has the latest for us in washington. barbara, good morning. >> good morning, michaela. the pentagon is going to continue the exercises with south korea in a number of nations in the region. the exercises designed to send a message north that the u.s. an

of reaction on social media -- lifein south korea in south korea may be normal, but on social media, a lot of interest. south korea's biggest search engine is the high-level meeting. month, two south korean soldiers were maimed by landmines. people talking about this, demanding an apology. one person saying, don't back down until there is an apology. other people commenting on the frustration of dealing with north korea. one person saying, just come back, it will be easier to talk to a wall. another person saying, please finish. these talks have been going on for hours. they started in the afternoon of sunday and have been dragging on for more than 17 hours. rishaad: china's second-biggest -- boosting its asset withdrawal. that could rise to 8 billion by the end of the year. make itinterest rates difficult to find attractive returns at home. the biggest production line in china will be -- will remain shut down until wednesday because of the deadly explosions in tianjin. operations will resume when it can confirm the safety of its employees, facilities, and the surrounding area. the b

that has certainly been sold in this by south korea as an apology, the leader of the talks on the south korean side said it was significant this that apology had been secured. presumably it will be sold what differently in the north. we have had statements from the outward facing state media already, going through the six points in detailed terms and how it talks about this. but certainly it is a very significant agreement after 33 and a half hours of talks, nearly, and with big mobilizations of north korean military and very high level of alert here in the south. this is what kim quon jim the advisor of the president to south korea had to say a while ago. >> translator: the north has expressed its guess in the land mine incident in the south side of the demilitarized zone. the south has agreed to stop any broadcasting, in the absence of any activity on the demilitarized zone. >> harry, the loudspeakers blaring out propaganda and the north really took exception to this. but it was extremely serious. i was reading 50 submarines had been put out to sea. how close did it come to becoming e

we know south korea demanded an apology from north korea. they were able to find this middle ground in this key phrase of expressing regret. it is significant that north korea would express regret. it doesn't apologize over anything. certainly here in south korea, it is being spun by the government as an apology. we heard the key negotiator saying the north has apologized for the injuries for the two south korean soldiers in the land mine attack. for north korea, it used the language and not actually accept responsibility for planting those land mines. it seems that both sides can go back to their respective camps and say they got what they wanted and crucially they have been able to diffuse the tensions we know north korea and south korea and united states were taking seriously. >> kathy novak in seoul, thank you. >>> isis accelerating destruction of priceless antiquities in syria. in the last week, the terrorists razed a temperature the in palmyra. it is a loss to future and heritage learning. and another possible chemical attack in northe

these annual exercises between north and south korea -- or the south korea and u.s. are very important. the fact that the u.s. has suspended them shows how concerned they are. >> jim sciutto, thank you very much. i want to talk about the escalating tensions with cnn's tom foreman who is in our virtual room. tom, i want to start with you. as jim was saying, the u.s. is watching the situation pretty closely.160 miles long and divides the peninsula. seoul is about 80 miles north of it. and there are very strong military forces on both sides. have been for about 60 years now. always ready for a possible invasion from the other side. how big are those forces? they have about 1 million active forces in the north, 600,000 in the south. they've always been ready. this is the area right up here where there's been this shelling across the border. if there is to be more, in all likelihood, the north would target these speakers blasting into the south, in the mountains along the border here. we know there are 11 of these units, and we know there are well within the range of nort

i think criticism from south korea is a little bit more nuanced. president park gun he talking about the way abe had made the statements and saying there were more than a few things regrettable in what he said, but noticing the fact that they held previous prime ministers' apologize, as you said in your introduction, the need for screasouthkorea to have japan ae for its action. >> should we be entirely surprised what he said given his overall policy in japan at least if you talk to his critics he's been accused of being somewhat nationalistic in his approach to japan and the way it's seen in the region. >> i think shinzo abe would own up to being a nationalist at least in his definition of the term. he is very keen to use this anniversary as something of a watershed, a way to say look, we have apologized, in this way, and we will maintain those apologies going forward. but he didn't make his own personal apology. that is one thing which is obviously creating these problems in china and in south korea but what he's keen to say is that future generat

south korea headlines defence ministry said that there was fire with north korea. north korea fired shots towards a loud speaker on the south korean side of the bored ir >>> thailand called on interpol to help it find the main suspect in the bangkok bombing, believed to be a foreigner. 20 people died in an attack on a shrine in the city center. >> in burundi, president's pierre nkurunziza is being sworn in, following a landslide victory marred by violence and an opposition boycott. >> israel's supreme court suspended a detention order. mohammed had not eaten for 65 days and is unconscious. his doctors say he has suffered brain damage. he was protesting his yinment -- imprison. without charge or sentence. >> reporter: this mother opposes the locking up of her son. this man has become the fate of resistance against prolonged captivity. this man has detear writed because he's been on hunger strike. on friday, he lost consciousness and placed on a respirator. >> translation: according to the report, his condition is dangerous now. the report shows brain damage. we hope

the village lies just a few kilometers south of the border, it's the closest area to where south korea says the first projectile was fired. at one point hundreds were told to leave their homes near the border. only here is the advisory still in place. >> the provocation is likely to continue, so we are advising residents to stay in shelters. there are some that went out to carry out their daily business, but we advise them to come back this evening. >> reporter: inside it was mainly the elderly and the young who stayed behind. >> translator: i vo -- have seen many drills and heard explosions, but this time the sound was louder, and there was an announcement asking us to evacuate. compared to the past, i'm more concerned. >> reporter: this is starting to feel like a bit of an uncomfortable habit here. a north korean shell fell right here. they had been firing at propaganda balloons, launched by activists. south korea says if a military strikes follows, it will counterattack strongly. harry fawcett, al jazeera, south korea. >>> thousands of dead fish have washed up on a river bank six ki

so it's much larger than just japan, south korea and china. those three country member of all but they do very large memberships and i think that a lot of it is focused on the experience of nuclear country can tell the countries looking to the nuclear power what to do, how do we do nuclear. how do nuclear safety, how do we do nuclear security and safeguard. not necessarily cooperation among the extent nuclear countries, but also to be blunt, a lot of these i think are kind of talk shop. you come and talk about things but there is no enforcement of it or really have some sort check to make sure to talk about is going to be put in practice. so i think this kind is to the cooperation is good, talking but it is good but what does it mean in the end. so maybe that's where the napci proposal is trying to get at. on the international level, the iaea also does this. the iaea has teamed the operational safety review teams them come in and inspect reactors to look at safety practices, safety culture to make sure it's in line with the iaea fundamentals o

>> as the demonstrations continue, tempers flare, a deal between north and south korea, expected soon. hello david foster, you're watching al jazeera. 7,000 refugees leaving macedonia and continuing their search for a new life in europe. >>> tumbling commodity prices and slow down, drop in chinese stock marks. >> protesters are saying deposit policies are making it impossible for them to grow their crops. >> it's all moving rather rapidly. we've learned in the last 15 minutes or so, massive elongated talks have come up with some kind of a deal between north and south korea. 50 submarines had put to sea, far more than any other time in recent memory and the demonstrations as you saw in our opening pictures in south korea protesting against the north have continued. the north was blamed for injuring two south korean soldiers, the south for its part, turning up propaganda loudspeakers, on the border. harry fawcett is our man joining us live from seoul. it looks like some deal has been struck. >> reporter: it does indeed. we're hearing in just a couple minutes time we're going to hear a p

from the south korean capitol, harry fawcett reports. >> reporter: for 11 days now, south korea has been using giant speaker arrays to send propaganda messages across the border to the north. on thursday seoul said north korea sent in live fire. the south's military fired back with dozens of rounds of artillery around the same time as it received a message from north korea threatening further military action if the speakers weren't taken down been 48 hours. >> translator: our military immediately raised an alert status to the highest level. we're also maintaining our military readiness to respond if there is any further provocation. rrm south korea's president was briefed at a meeting of the national security council. she instructed troops to maintain readiness, and responded sternly to north korean provocation. the late estst -- us ka lags has roots in this moment. two south korean soldiers lost limbs in what seoul said was a north korean attack. south korea has restarting propaganda broadcasts was just phase one of the retaliation. >> translator: the resumption of the broadcasting is a

korea and it's not the first time we saw racheting up of tensions between north and south korea, what is different this time around? >> well, that is i suppose yet to be seen. we have seen these heightened moments facing off between north and south of the years. i suppose this is the most closely resembling what happened in 2013 when there was all sorts of threats going back and forth across the border from north korea about imminent war and some kind of nuclear strike so this perhaps is not that high in terms of rhetoric but we do have an exchange of fire across the de-military zone which is a pretty rare thing and south korea has been warning the north and saying if there is further provocation as they term them here there will be a strong counter attack and it was made in person by the president of south korea as she met her national security advisor and defense minister and senior military commanders at a military command post earlier on friday as she was urging the military to take action first and report it later if there was some kind of provocation from the north. it followed

south korea's president is demanding an apology from north korea for putting land mines in the demilitarized zone for injuring two soldiers. she said without that, she will not remove speakers along the demilitarized zone on the south blasts propaganda to the north. this propaganda, which is called propaganda which is news and pop music is a major insult. these talks are long and difficult. meanwhile, south korea's defense ministry is defect detecting troop movement on the north. they have seen 70% of submarines on the northern side leaving the base. while all of the talks have been about peace, george, certainly we are seeing on the ground indicates preparations for some sort of conflict. >> the talks continue and you say that north korea, according to reporting, is building up its military. i know that area around the demilitarized zone has been evacuated, but for people nearby, is there a concern as the talks continue? >> reporter: that evacuation order has not been lifted. what we are hearing is that people are no longer in the shelters. a lot of this you just get numb to it. the towns a

south korea was blaming north korea for land mine attacks that almost killed two south korean soldiers. north korea is not taking responsibility for that. but south korea starting this program of propaganda. it seems they're going to have to find a way for both sides to be able to save face. the other thing they may be talking about are all of the other issues that have been plaguing the peninsula for years and years. the issues of sanctions and family reunions. the north korean state news agency was referring to south korea respectfully by its real name rather than a puppet state as it usually does. today kcna is back to its usually ways. they say never to be pardoned are the south korean puppet group of traitors busy with igniting a war of aggression while swimming against the unanimous desire of all the come patriots for peace. >> appreciate the up date. thank you. >>> let's bring in gordon chang. i want to start with the four men who are sitting is at this table. is it likely that not just this skirmish but maybe any other larger issue can be solved without a mediator, without a th

south korea is painting it as an apology. the head of national defense, when he was giving the press conference, going through the points that were in that agreement, did refer to it being significant that north korea has apologized. but if you look at the language in the statement itself, it is an expression of regret, essentially, north korea saying it is regretful that two of your soldiers were maimed in this land mine incident, but not necessarily taking responsibility for planting the mines itself that were responsible in south korea and the united nations both blame north korea. they say the evidence is there that north korean soldiers planted the land mines, but the north koreans were able to find some clever language that allows them to defuse the situation while not necessarily taking responsibility or really saying "sorry" for it, rosemary. >> interesting distinction there. and followup talks to help improve ties between the two koreas are apparently planned, but there won't be any summit 2009 the leaders of the two

korea stops broadcasting towards the north. >> reporter: south korea restarted broadcasts of propaganda two weeks ago in response to what happened earlier this month on the southern side of the demilitarized zone. they say northern forces planted land mines that a maimed two of its soldiers. this is the closest civilian area to where south korea says the projectile was fired on thursday. here people are advised to leave their homes. >> translator: north korea's provocation is likely to continue. so we are advising residents to stay in shelters. we will advise them to come back to the shelter this evening. >> reporter: inside it's a mainly the elderly and the young who stayed behind. >> translator: living in this area, i have seen many drills and heard explosions, but this time the sound was louder, and there was an announcement asking us to evacuate. compared to the past, i'm more concerned. >> reporter: seeking shelter is starting to feel like a habit here. a shell fell right here last week. north korea had been firing at propaganda firing at balloons launched by south korean activists

but south korea is not stepping back. it says it will continue these propaganda messages, and it is preparing for the high possibility that north korea will attack the speakers and target them when this deadline approaches tomorrow and here is what south korea has to say. if north korea continues on provoking our military as we have already warned, we'll respond sternly and end the evil provocation of north korea. south korea is in the process of working closely with the united states, and we know that the united states is monitoring the situation closely, pamela. >> thank you so much, kathy. victor, i want to go to you. we heard in kathy's report there that north korea is threatening military action if south korea doesn't shut down the loud speakers by 4:00 a.m. eastern time. do you buy it this time? we have heard threats before from kim jong-un against south korea or do you actually think this time could be real? >> well, i do think the situation is framed right now in such a way that neither side can back down. it's a

we know south and north korea can agree on much. they are still in there talking as we speak, george. >> kathy novak there for us live in seoul, south korea. >>> for more context on these negotiations, we spoke earlier with stephen hagger, he is the director of the korean pacific program at the university of california in san diego and here's what he had to say about the issue. >> the first thing that's got to happen is some accounting for the august 4th mine attack. i don't think we're going to get far unless there can be some agreement on that. now, it may be fuzzy, it may be that the north koreans say we didn't do it and we promise not to do it again if you get my meaning, but something is going to have to happen on that front. now, on the other hand, president park has tried to initiate what she calls a trust polliteke ever since she came into office. she's attempted a variety of initiatives, small level aid things. nothing has come of that. the fact that the talks are entering a second stage means that the agenda is much wider

now to marathon talks north and south korea have reached a deal to end a tense military standoff, south korea turned off the broadcast on the border of the north and came as north korea expressioned regret for a blast that injured two soldiers and we report from seoul. >> reporter: not the most natural looking group totalled but after 43 hours it marked a significant moment one relayed by north korea state t.v. to its people including a rare expression of regret. >> translator: north korea expressed regret over resent land mine incident on the demille tarry demarcation line that wounded troops. >> reporter: wanted apology for what was an attack and if the language fell little short of that seoul is treating the outcome of a vindication of its hard line. >> translator: this agreement is considered the fruit of our government constantly following the principles and strongly dealing with north korea provocation and opening the door of dialog to resolve the issue. >> reporter: south korea's loudspeakers which had been blaring news blast and songs and harmful to the north korea state fell si

south korea fired shells into north korea, a calculated response to a rocket attacks by pyongyang. let's go to harry fawcett, live in south korea's capital seoul. why in the first place did north korea fire the rocket? >> north korea has been verbally attacking south korea for some days now about the use of loud speakers broadcasting anti-north korean rhetoric across the border into north korean territory, threatening that it would carry out a strike against the loud speakers unless they were taken down, now it appears that's what they attempted to do before 4:00p.m.likal time on the korean peninsula, at least in south korea, and south korean military radars detected the strays from the north, pinpointed the source, and then south koreans losing dozens much 155 millimetre shells in response. what has come out in the last out is a further message using the military line on the western side of the border, which according to the south korean military, it gave the south koreans a 48 hour deadline from around about 8 g.m.t. that would expire on saturday at 8 g.m.t. >> for the propaganda

>> south korea on high alert as a deadline issued by the north to dismantle huge loudspeakers nears. from al jazeera's headquarters in doha. also ahead, the u.s. says it's killed i.s.i.l.'s second in command in an air strike in iraq. >>> the u.n. says it's deeply concerned for thousands of refugees stuck along the border with macedonia. >>> and stung beaches, why the island in kenya is struggling to attract tourists. >>> hello, we begin with the latest on the brewing tensions between north and south korea. it looks like there's a last minute attempt to mediate the dispute. now large loudspeakers, ftc blare anticommunist propaganda. harry fawcett is in jimgakkak. harry, cease both sides are looking for a way out of this escalating tension. >> reporter: it does seem that way. within the last hour or so we had a message from the south korean's president's office, announcing these talks for 6:00 p.m. local time. for the ending of the loudspeaker broadcasting would pass at 5:00. an hour after that deadline was expected to take place. the pan munjong group, we have the head of the general

south korea has called on tokyo to confront its past. the horrors explains a lot of the continued political animosity between the two countries. that history can be drawn on to serve present day political differences as well. south korea has relied too much on historical grievance to build. they wanted it to be recognized as the east sea. >> it would strip away the figure leaf from japanese denial. >> reporter: others say the prime minister is refusing to deal with the japanese military's past. >> translator: the core of all this is to discourage japan's passivist contusion. it's a starting point for that is denying the past history of aggression. >> reporter: for south korea it's 70 years of japanese rule. it bears down on international relationships. >>> a group of former separatist fighters will be competing for seats when the country holds elections. they want to be part of the democratic process to help people in the north. >> the symbol has changed. much like the fighters who use it. he was part of the armed group who fought a 30 y

south korea fired back. in that time tensions seemed to ramp down pretty quickly, this time they have been ratcheted up. >>> still ahead on the program, as brazil endures its worst recession in decades, we'll take a look at how businesses are struggling to keep workers in employment. and a traditional way of life under threat, why life could change for farmers in this tropical paradise. but the job is not done here. >> techknow investigates 10 years after katrina. the only way to get better is to challenge yourself, and that's what we're doing at xfinity. we are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. and this includes our commitment to being on time. every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around. >> our american story is written every day. it's not always pretty... but it's real

the top stories, north korea says it ordered its troops to be ready for war with south korea. the south has also put its military on its highest alert level. greece's ruling party has split, 25 members of parliament say they will form their own movement. that comes hours after the prime minister resigned and called for new elections. getting reports that police in macedonia fired tear gas at thousands of refugees trying to cross the border from greece. macedonia declared a state of emergency on its southern and northern borders on thursday. 15 people have been killed in government air raids over eastern syria. medical sources said the planes target would a town in the countryside. it's under isil control and is a regular target. opposition activists say the syrian government is deliberately targeting civilian neighborhoods. two years ago as many as 1500 people died when rockets fill with sarin gas. the government denies being behind the chemical attack and survivors are worried they will never get justice. >> reporter: the dead and the dieing, there was no blood on their bodie

and south korea. these are, of course, an ongoing point of tension. north korea believes those are provocations of war. do you think it was wise to suspend them on thursday and then to resume? >> well, i do, victor. they were only suspended a short time, a few hours. i think it was a prudent measure by the admiral and this is why. when these exercises are held, there is always some sort of reaction and usually provocation by the north. it comes in many forms. it always happens every year. what was interesting this year was it was combined with an attack, a literal artillery attack on the south and i think the general made it prudent we need to suspend this. it's one thing when the military is exercising and another thing when you have potential civilian injuries because of erratic actions by the north and that could have happened very easily. as you know, seoul is a very large city and bumps up against the border and urban sprawl has carried it even closer to the border with the north the last decade

south korea says it will not stop this. south korea says it started this campaign of psychological warfare for the first time in more than ten years in retaliation for a land mine attack that it has blamed on north korea which badly injured two of its soldiers. so it says it's not going to stop and that when this deadline comes tomorrow, when pyongyang says if south korea does not stop the psychological warfare by 5:00 p.m. by saturday, it will launch military action. south korea is expecting north korea to expect those propaganda speakers, carol. >> kathy novak reporting live from the dmz. >>> the missouri man shot and killed by police this week died from a single gunshot in the back. this is according to the st. louis post dispatch. authorities say two officers fired at the man after he pointed a handgun at them. ryan young is in st. louis following the story. good morning, ryan. what do you have for us? >> reporter: good morning, carol. in fact, we wanted to get more information about this case so he found the attorney f

south korea accused the north of planting land mines which injured two south korea border cards. they started broadcasting propaganda across the border on huge loud speakers. the north fired several shells towards the speakers in retaliation. the south fired dozens of a till larry roundroundsback. we are near the border between south and north korea. >> reporter: here we are about five kilometers away from the demilitarized zone. there is an air raid shelter, there is a handful of people, a bit fewer than 20, mainly elderly people and children who are still underground in that shelter. they say there is a level of worry despited they are used to these warnings. they heard the retaifire. south korea says it will respond to any north korea provocation. north korea says it's the south that's doing the provoking. it denies doing any rocket fire. they have to end loud speaker propaganda broadcasts by 5:00 p.m. or there will be military action. >> we have an adjunct professor in seoul. he says north korea's war footing is quite unusual despite years of tit for tat attacks. >> we have h

: north korea expresses regret over a recently event that wounded the south's troops. >> reporter: south korea demanded a clear apology for the attack, and even if the language fell short of that, seoul is it treated the outcome as the result of a hard line. >> translator: this is the result of us dealing with north korea while opening the dialogue. >> reporter: south korea who has been broadcasting material deemed harmful to the north korean tait fell silent, and troops stood down from their quasi state of war. the defense ministry said at least 50 of the north korean submarines appeared to be returning. now attention is switching to the longer-term implications of this deal. it calls for another round of talks as soon as possible. and there's talk of more regularized meetings between north and south korea going forward. the first test of the deal is likely to come next month when it calls for a new round of family reunions, allowing those separated to meet again. the plan is for it to coincide with a harvest holiday at the end of september. >>> police in spain and morocco have arrested

♪ south korea warns the north to stop making provocations as kim jong un puts his troops on a war footing. ♪ i'm in doha and also ahead macedonia police fire tear gas to stop thousands of refugees crossing border from greece. the ruling party splinters in greece following the resignation of prime minister alexis tsipras. >> the terror, the confusion, it was something unbearable. >> reporter: it's two years since chemical attacks in syria killed hundreds, we speak to survivors still waiting for justice. ♪ we start on the korean peninsula where the south korean defense ministry is now urging the north to stop its provocations, tensions increased between north and south between exchange of fire on thursday and both countries say they put their military on high alert and support leader kim jong un had a meeting late on thursday and according to state media there he told the army's front line troops to be fully ready for operations and said to take action first and to report it later and harry faucet reports. >> reporter: south korean president visited a military post on friday with the na

south korea has a conscript army. they need to be brought back up and they need constant practice, hence the drills. >> the timing of this one is important. recently we saw the standoff between north and south korea came pretty close to what people suspect might be a military flare-up. what's going to improve the relations between the two countries? >> the north stop pulling prodding south kree y this is led to a spiral that he had ka rated that there were talks. most recent one was back in the first week of august with the land mine attack. it's good we have talks. looks like north is [indiscernible] progress. north korea is not trust worthy, that's the real problem. >> thank you for that, robert kelley. >> thank you. >> there is a video of floods that killed people. heavy rains caused wide spread damage near the border with china. more than 11,000 people have been affected. tropical storm erika is making its way across the caribbean island of peurto rico. more than 20 others are still missing. erika caused extensive

the village is crowded with visitors from all over south korea. one attraction is trying on a kimono. this cafe serves macha green tea. this year the town received 120,000 visitors, many of them young people. >> it's just like becoming an idol or a japanese girl. i'm having a magical experience. >> reporter: during japan's colonial rule japanese fishermen moved to the town as it has rich fishing grounds. the town was filled with life. after the end of world war ii, all the japanese left the town. over time many buildings aged and the town became deserted. six years ago, the city of pohan started a project to restore the japanese town as a tourist attraction. many structures built by japanese in south korea during colonial rule have been restored. a monument was set up here in honor of a japanese man who helped build roads and other infrastructure. but as you can see, someone has covered it. there was fierce opposition to the project. many people saw the town as a legacy of colonialism. but city officials argued that the restoration project was nee

from south korea, stephen evans reports. reporter: in south korea it looks like a war cabinet. president park with her ministers in uniform of the civil defense force. and in north korea, it looks like a war cabinet. kim jong-un firing of his generals who are arranged around him. north korean state television ramped up the rhetoric. gangsters,rean insane to find provocation against us, fabricated the instance of north korea firing towards the south on the afternoon of august 20. often a: there is ritual of threats and shots being fired by both sides. but this time it is heavy weaponry. each says the other fired first. a landmine explosion two weeks ago triggered the tension. two south korean soldiers were injured. south korea said the north place the mines. far, it is all seen as remote from ordinary people. seoul does not feel like a city about to go to war. it is relaxed. that is because this kind of ritual has happened too often in the past. troops are now on the highest alert. it south koreas does not stop blasting by saturdayt it afternoon he will take more military action

and the south korea index made a small gain, up plus 0.92. nobody is taking for granted that the problems that china's financial markets are facing are over. what is very certain is these uncertain times, investors small and large are wondering what the next few days and weeks will bring forth. on the larger scale, manufacturing and exports are wondering how this rapid fall in the markets are going to impact on their businesses both short term and long term. >> thank you. now, they used to say when america sneezed the rest of the world caught a cold. one country looking nervously, australia. exports to china were worth $64 billion. $32 billion was iron ore and coal. but as china's economy slows down, so does demand for these materials and prices are tumbling. four years ago at the height of australia's mining boom, iron ore peaked at $200 a ton. now it's $52. and the price is coal has halved. >> reporter: until recently australia's economy was known as the wonder down under. that's changed. commodity prices have collapsed hitting australia ha

that south korea is provoking a showdown. nbc's ian williams has our report from seoul, south korea. >> reporter: north korea is threatening war over these loudspeakers. south korea recently started using them again to broadcast propaganda across the dmz, a provocation north korea says. on state television threats of military action unless the speakers are removed. the deadline now just hours away. kim jong-un, the north's unpredictable dictator, today declared what he called a quasi-state of war and ordered his troops to prepare for battle. the demilitarized zone where north and south korea face off is the most fortified place on earth. the south, backed by 28,000 u.s. troops. u.s. forces have been there since the korean war. they take part in frequent military exercises with the south, including one under way now. another provocation, the north says. the loudspeaker dispute triggered an exchange of artillery fire thursday. the two koreas' most serious clash in years. hundreds of border villages were forced to evacuate to un

relatively freely >>> harry fawcett live on south korea's border. >> we'll take a quick break. more ahead when we come back, warming ties between u.k. and iran as both countries due to reopen embassies later today. plus - views art, we visit an online gallery with a difference. >>> hello again, you're watching al jazeera, a reminder of the top stories, hundreds of refugees prepare to board a train taking them from macedonia to serbia. they have seen a rise in a number of people trying to cross the territory on their way to northern europe. in lebanon, dozens have been injured as protesters fought with riot police, the worst unrest in a month of demonstrations, sparked by a waste management crisis. >> top diplomats from north and south korea are talking again as they try to ease cross-border tensions. the two countries have been locked in a war of words since trading artillery fire on thursday. >> about 250 protesters are blocking access to a major port in southern iraq. they have been rallying outside the port since friday, demanding jobs and political reform. the prime ministe

harry fawcett reports. >> reporter: south korea's president visited a military command post on friday, flanked by our national security advisor, defense minister, and senior military commanders. as north and south korea engage in one of their faceoffs. >> translator: the military should be alert for further provocations if the situation occurred i want you to take action first and then report later. >> reporter: it follows a late night meeting in which kim ki-jong ordered front line areas into a quasi war state and commanders to be ready to launch surprise attacks against the south. >> translator: the general staff of the army sent an ulty maim tum to the defense ministry saying the army would launch a strong military action unless south korea stops broadcasting towards the north within 48 hours. >> reporter: these loud speaker arace at the border are the source of the so-called war fair. they started the propaganda nearly three weeks ago in response to what happened earlier this month on the southern side of the demilitarized zone. they say northern force planted land mines that maim