Chapter in u. S. History, South Carolina lowers the confederate flag. [ cheers and applause ] theres cautious opt schism that greeces creditors may accept a plan which could pull it back from the financial brink. E. U. Members are meeting to discuss proposals that greece put forward. The greek government is promising to raise taxes and clamp down on tax evasion, discourage people from retiring early, and greece will sell off its remaining shares in ote and privatize two ports. It is also offering to cut more than 300 million from its military budget by next year. Lets go to John Psaropoulos live for us in athens. All right. John lots of reforms there. Definitely signalling more austerity in the country, among them privatizing two ports. How will this affect the workers there . Reporter well the port shouldnt affect the workers. The port privatizations, in fact we have been told by people involved in the process is well underway. It has not stopped under syriza contrary to for example, the power corporation, and the regional airport, all of that is frozen. The ports are going ahead because the stage of advancement was great. And what were expecting to see is not layoffs, rather a very large inrecessment package. When the conservatives fell from power, they were negotiating a package which would have involved they hoped, half a billion dollars worth of investment in the port alone, a smaller some in the other port. What we expect therefore, is whoever comes in to manage these ports is going to pour money into them because both of them come with Container Terminals. Thats where the real money is. Not the passenger ports, those are loss or breakeven businesseses at best but the Container Terminals have the most potential. The one that has been taken over already, has expanded 14 fold in the past few years. Now my colleague, hoda was there recently and filed this report about how people who are not in the public but the private sector, which has suffered most of the layoffs have tried to take care of themselves create business for themselves and become their own employers. Reporter its a model of self organization. A factory that was doomed if not for the engine newty of its workers. So it went from from producing building materials, to making environmental friendly soaps and cleaning products. Translator we were working with a lot of chemicals before so we decided to change. We wanted to produce Something Different that is cheap and affordable for the families and people. Reporter the products are now sold in several European Countries with a label proudly stating made by workings who refused to fall into unemployment and depression because back in august 2011 they had effectively lost their jobs even though never officially fired. What happened here is very telling about how things went wrong in greece where theres often a fine line between personal interest and business. The owner was the mother of the owner of [ inaudible ] and things werent doing very well there, so money from here were injected there and then within weeks from each other they both shut down. It was a shock for this man. He came to work only to find the doors locked and management gone. Translator of course it was a surprise. We were still working and the boss took what she owed us and left. Reporter decisions are now made collectively. This man doesnt want to be asked about management anymore. Translator cut this word out of your question. [ laughter ] translator its a business and we have to learn, but no one makes a decision alone. We dont have bosses. We are all equals. Reporter many factories have shut down in greece since the crisis began. This is the only one still functioning in this area. The rest is more or less an industrial wasteland. The workers first learned to make soap on the internet. A fresh start that saved their factory from becoming part of the many ruins of modern greece. Hoda abdel hamid, al jazeera. As we just saw there, john greeks to be entrepreneur skills, particularly during tough times. Will there be more entrepreneurial skills now Going Forward . Is there much support for these reforms promising even more austerity . Reporter well, it depends on who you ask. The private sector believes in reform a great deal because they know better than anyone how difficult it is to do business in greece. Even to get simple bits of paper that license you to start up a new business or export anything. Things which ought to be hastened and accelerated now, that the government wants people to start businesses and hire people, but they havent managed it really as much as they should have. The private sector i think will welcome the pension reforms, because they basically equalize Public Sector with private Sector Workers who have to retire at 67. Early retirement is only for the 600,000 public employs. I think they will also welcome the investment package, and i think they will welcome the return to normalcy because even if everything goes off without a hitch, and we have a deal on saturday afternoon or sunday this country will take months to return to normalcy some say years, because confidence in the bank system has been stricken, and the banks are expected to go on under a regime of capital controls, that will take a lot of stimulus and the greek government to get normalcy to return. A tough long road ahead for the greeks. John thank you for that. Irans foreign minister says some progress has been made with western powers over its nuclear program. Negotiations are edging forward in vienna. And mohammed says talks are expected to continue through the weekend. Reporter fresh meetings have been taking place here in vienna trying to deal with the final last sticking points which are stopping for now a deal taking place. Those meetings took place between the Iranian Foreign minister, and the u. S. Secretary of state as well as the e. U. s high representative for foreign policy. Now at the end of that meeting, we didnt get a proper readout of what was discussed or achieved but we did then see foreign minister zarif come on the his balcony and from quite a distance, kwen again reportered shouted questions at limb. Will we get a deal today . No he didnt think that was likely. Will we get in a deal in the end . This yes, he thought that was likely. So slow progress. And the interim deal with iran is supposed to expire so if they cant get a deal it looks likely that is going to be extended again. The United States has asked the u. N. Security council to identify those responsible for chemical weapons attacks in syria. Its part of a plan to bring the perpetrators before an international court. Syria denies using them. A ceasefire is due to start at midnight in yemen after Government Troops and houthi groups agreed to a truce. The agreement is the latest attempt to tackle the crisis which began last september when Houthi Rebels ceased control of sanaa, forcing the president out of the capitol. Civilians trapped in yemen are having to survive saudilead air strikes and the cross fire. This manlies in sanaa and describes what it is like living in a war zone. Translator every day we are living in fear and terror. Once we hear the sounds of bullets and shells we rush to side in the room. My daughter is frightened. Were all frightened and we cannot leave this house. We live in a very traditional house, which means that we can hear the shelling and it makes everything shake. Were really scared. Me and my family just dont want to live here any longer. This window smashed because of shelling. We have been living in constant terror every time we hear the shelling. The girls are just too young, they are also sick. My family lives in homs and they asked me to join them there. We are all living in total horror, all we are concerned about is the fear and terror that were living in on a daily basis. A stampede at a holy month of Ramadan Charity event in bangladesh has killed at least 22 people. A crowd outside of a local businessmans factory, rushed to collect ramadan handouts. Another 30 are being treated in hospital snfrmths security representatives from india and pakistan will meet to discuss how the two countries can combat terrorism. Its a major Diplomatic Development and follows the first meeting between indian and pakistani leaders since talks broke down last year. They met on the sidelines of a summit in russia on thursday. Modi has agreed to attend a regional summit next year. Lets look at the issues that are actually involved in this talk. The Nuclear Armed rivals have fought three wars since independence, two of them over kashmir. Kashmir has been a flash point for more than 60 years despite a ceasefire in place since 2003. At the heart of the kashmir contract is water insecurity of two countries. India and pakistan have built dams on rivers which originate in kashmir, and relations grew worse following the 2008 attacks. Faiz jamil has more now from new delhi. Reporter the announcement of talks between india and Pakistans NationalSecurity Advisors is being seen as an important step forward in relations between the two countries, but there have been many forward and backward steps between the two in recent years. One of the first important step forwards when modi invited sharif to india for his inauguration inauguration. But then pakistani officials allegedly met with socalled kashmiri separatists. They accuse each other of regularly firing at the border posts. Analysts say fridays meeting is an important step in relations, its far too soon to call this a break through. Still to come thailands rice crop is facing ruin after the worst drought in decades. Also a community in conflict we meet the men in south sudan who switched from the farm to the front line. And easy does it tennis world number 1 cruises into the wimbleton final. Details a little later with robin. The confederate battle flag has been removed from the South CarolinaState Capitol grounds. The rebel flag was raised more than 50 years ago at the height of the u. S. Civil rights movement. The controversy grew over the use of the flag after nine flag church goers were shot in june. Lets go live to columbia. Al jazeera americas Diane Eastabrook is there for us. Diane you witnessed the flag coming down very significant day, not just for the people of South Carolina, but for the rest of america as well. Reporter oh absolutely. This was one of those moments in history. There were about 7,000 people here about an hour ago when the flag was lowered from the state house grounds, and when it happened, just a huge huge cheer erupted from the crowd. People were hugging each other, taking pictures with their camera phones. This has been an issue that has been very divisive here in South Carolina, because the Civil War History plays a big role in the culture here. But it has become a distraction in recent years and week so everybody feels that bringing this flag down was a healing moment for South Carolina and really something for the history books. Diane im curious what has been the reaction from those you know, who may not suppose the racist element that has been tagged to this particular flag but say the flag is a reflection of their heritage and culture and means bringing it down means that bit of them is lost. Yeah, its interesting, but there are two schools of thought. There are people who still have a lot of reverence for the flag but there are other people who have brought the point that yes, it is part of their history, but they can revere monuments. This flag has become a symbol for many people of slavery and repression and they want to bring it down. A lot of these people who have been in favor of the flag have great grandparents who fought in the civil war, and even though say its time to bring the flag down. Diane thank you so much. Now a volcanic eruption in indonesia has caused chaos. Gerald tan reports. Reporter have spitting ash for a week the eruption skills up a notch. The volcano belches out ash and debris almost 4 kilometers into the sky. Five airports have now been shut down including the one in bali. Thousands of travelers and tourists are stranded. We have to find somewhere to stay, because they cant tell us if well be here tonight or fly tomorrow or the next day. Reporter for many indonesians traveling om to celebrate the eid holiday at the end of ramadan. Bali is also a hot spot for foreigners particularly australians. In sydney many are in a bind with dozens of flights already canceled. Were waiting around to see what is happening. We cant speak to anyone either because theres no one at the counter. Yeah, its really disappointing. And the big problem for us is that we dont have the opportunity to take more holiday holidays. Reporter so far there has been no eruption from a nearby volcano. But they are keeping a close watch. Chinas stock markets are rising strongly for a second day. They are being [ inaudible ] by a barrage of Government Support measures. Interest rates have been cut and brokers have been told to buy stocks backed by cash from the central bank. Reporter after a second day of big gains in the main chinese stock markets, a bit of optimism here on beijings financial streets. Some have told us that even though they lost money, they are not going to sell their stocks for now. Translator i think the market will bounce back. Ill decide later if i want to stay in the stock market or pull out. I dont think it will stay like this forever. I still have hope. Translator most of the individual investors lost money. Its better to leave investing to professionals. Chinese people like gambling. Theres not enough Investment Education in china. This is a good lesson for them. Reporter but its a far from over. This is the building where they make the policies that govern the stock markets here in china. Its still left to be determined. Obviously what they have done has stopped the massive selloff in the markets here. Is it a band aid or a longterm fix . That clear picture isnt going to come to view until all of the stocks are brought back into the stock market. Because right now nearly half of the stocks trading before this crisis have halted. Rain is desperately needed by farmers in thailand one of the worst droughts in decades is engagering the million billion dollars rice export industry. So now clouds are being seeded by government pilots to try to make it rain. Reporter from the air the problem is plane to see, hundreds of kilometers of Agricultural Land is drying up across thailand. There has been no signs of annual rains that should have arrived. Fields are practically dry, and nationwide the rice crop is being declared a failure. The Governments Department are trying to make it rain by using chemicals sprayed from the sky. Translator not only the Central Region but every province throughout the country is facing a drought. Part of this is because of el nino. Reporter so little rain has fallen since last year that even irrigation canals and dams cant help. They are worried about Falling Water levels. Translator in around one week this canal will dry out. The rice fields are almost ready to harvest. There will be a lot of damage. Some of the farmers have already invested a lot of money in them. Reporter government officials have been explaining how serious the drought is becoming and what solutions they have. Another measure is we have asked other government bodies. Army and local administration to help people. This is to make sure everyone has water for daily usage equally. With no rain in site some have to keep working the land. Planting next seasons com is vital to their existence. Other countries such as taiwan and north and south korea have all been experiencing differing levels of drought. Farmers here are anxious that the rains that should be falling now are not predicted to arrive until august. One of president obamas top aids has spoken about the horror unfolding in south sudan. U. S. National security advisor susan rice says that massive and widespread violence has returned and human rights abuses are not rampant. Rice says the president and his former deputy are both to blame. And she issued aern waing saying the u. S. And International Community would punish those determined to drive south sudan into the abyss. Several different tribes and militia are involved in south sudans civil war. One is the white army. Its largely civilian force that has been fighting Government Troops alongside the rebels. Catherine soi met some of them in upper nile state. Reporter in times of trouble, its young men who are called to the front line to help fight tribes and the government since conflict started 1. 5 years ago. They call themselves the white army. This man was injured in may while fighting near the oil fields in the north. He says once gets better hell return. Translator im not afraid to go back when children women, and people like me are being killed, how can i be afraid. Reporter he told his wife and many others will not officially join the resistance army. Translator what i like about the white army is when we are ready we just run to war. We are not like the regular soldiers who have to stand in military formations and wait for orders. Reporter they are mobilized by Community Leaders like these elders. Translator when we are going to war no one helps us. We go with one gun. When we kill the enemy, we take their gun, and we go on taking their guns until we defeat them or they defeat us. Reporter what started out as a political quarrel in the capitol, turned into a war, mainly between the two largest tribes. Many people you talk to here will tell you that they are fighting those whom they claim are killing one tribe, they say just trying to protect their lives, their property and they wont stop until everyone is safe. The militia has also been accused of human