Because Strong Financial partnerships should last for years to come. M uft we build relationships that build the world. And now, bbc world news america. Katty reporting from london, im katty kay. Raising the flag on a new day of relations in the u. S. And cuba, after 50 years the two countries take historic steps. An explosion in turkey kills dozens of young activists working to rebuild part of syria. Authorities say Islamic State was probably to blame. And move over, nashville, we are going to nairobi for some Country Music and an artist known simply as sir elvis. Welcome to our viewers on Public Television in america and around the globe. A new beginning thats how the u. S. Secretary of state has described reestablishing thought diplomatic relations with cuba. Cuba is flag was hosted was wasted at the countrys embassy in washington, a site that hasnt been seen in more than half a century. Then secretary kerry will travel to havana for a similar event. But not everyone is pleased about the move. Reporter cuban ceremonials laying out in the heart of washington. In an event unimaginable until recently cubas flag was raised outside and embassy established for the first time in more than 54 years. Singing along to the National Anthem in havana, it is clear what these children thought of the scenes they watched on tv. We have waited so many years for this moment and that is why im so moved. It is really very emotional. Im speechless because it is something we didnt expect. Reporter but is the celebration premature . The u. S. Trade embargo that has such an impact on life year has not been lifted. Among those celebrating in washington were many pulling for that to happen. Some say cuba has to embrace democracy first, but not the white house. There will be some who try to keep it going. These are the same people who say just a few more years. For 50 years. Theyve been saying that. It is a failed policy. Get rid of it. Reporter but there are many cubanamericans who are furious at the softening stance the u. S. Is taking toward a government that still controls society as tightly and oppresses dissidents the way it does. There are political opponents of barack obama who say they will tear down that flag at the earliest opportunity but all the signs are the American Public and cuban public want their two countries to become closer. In that regard, a huge step forward was taken today. Katty i spoke earlier with the deputy from the latin american center. What has changed . Now there are embassies, what does it mean in practice . Guest it means a lot in practice. This is a historic day for both washington and havana. Since 1977, the u. S. Has had intersection in havana, but that has been very limited. Now diplomats can travel freely throughout cuba. They can notify cuban authorities they are traveling but they do not have two ask permission. The cubans Gimpel Buckley security quarter around the embassy and they will no longer be taking the names of every single cuban that enters in the building in havana. The embassy there can begin to host missions, trade missions and whatnot. Cuban diplomats and diplomats from washington will be able to sit among their peers. No longer will the Scarlet Letter be there. Katty what the cubans would really like is for the trade embargo to be lifted. With republicans in Congress Still opposing the easing of relations, that is unlikely to happen. Guest it is unlikely the embargo will be lifted tomorrow but we have seen the we have seen momentum beginning to chip away at the embargo. There is a bipartisan bill that has up to 45 cosponsors to end the travel ban. There are bills to allow telecommunications, agriculture opening. Theres a host of Different Things that are part of the full and embargo. We are beginning to see the momentum for change on capitol hill. Katty one of the things that is most surprising is if someone said a year ago we would see the cuban flag above the embassy in washington, i would say you would be dreaming. But almost without a murmur from the public opinion. It was your work at the atlantic town so the gave the first indication that this could happen. Guest thank you for that. Our study last year at the Atlantic Council we had the First National paulette show the majority of americans republicans, democrats and independents support in normalization of relations with cuba. 450 some odd years, our cuba policy has been dictated i south florida, miami specifically. The american people, when they realize with the state of relations are, there will be people who think this is a policy that has failed over the last five decades. Even in miami, the younger cubanamerican population sees that the embargo simply has not worked to bring about a change in government and the younger population sees overtures toward cuba as being an opportunity to affect changes that will better the lives of cuban people. Katty thank you very much for joining me. For the first time in over three weeks, the people of greece are able to go to the bank and pay their bills. They were closed to stop a run on accounts amid uncertainty over whether greece would stay in the eurozone. But things are not back to normal yet. Reporter greece must banking limbo has lasted too long and today, they queued early and desperate for it to end. The shutters may have come up but capital controls remain withdrawal limits, a ban on new accounts and cashing checks. The frustration of those waiting is still there. I want to tell the Prime Minister in his prime and his predecessors to drown themselves for the nightmare they are creating. I o rent. The Prime Minister can pay it for me. This is all the money we can take out and we are hungry for reporter they changed the rate today from 13 to 23 percent as restaurants, transport and other goods were hit by a hike in sales tax. It is very serious for the rest of us. It is something that for the last two years we tried to fight. Reporter some restaurant say they will cover the tax rise worried if not, their customers will be cut. It comes at high tourist season, not the best timing for a country trying to reassure holidaymakers. Tourism is the most important sector of the economy. Its already in affected by the banking crisis. Now the fear is with the price rise in hotels and restaurants a could hit this vital lifeline even harder. And there are more to come as the islands will be next to feel the pinch. Restaurants are a little more expensive. Reporter will that affect your stay here . On not going out as often as i probably would. We have been enjoying holiday. Reporter this picturesque country craves stability. The recent chaos may have reached a trust that they face a daunting road ahead. Katty turkish Officials SayIslamic State militants are probably to blame for an explosion the border city of suruc. The explosion tore through a Cultural Center around mid day. A group of young turks and kurds were discussing the reconstruction. For more on the attack, i spoke with the former American Ambassador to turkey currently at the Washington Institute for near east policy. Do you think this was Islamic State . Does it seem to you most likely . Guest i dont have any doubt, the turks dont have any doubt this is an offensive by isis against not only turkish kurds who are supporting their brother and fighting isis in syria, but it is an assault on the turkish state to won the state to not take a more active role against isis, which is what we want turkey to do. Katty what does it say about security on the border . Guest the border has always been like swiss cheese, because of smuggling because of various political groups back and forth, and the support for the rebellion against the assad regime in damascus. Some of the problems are coming back home to roost with turkey, with this isis attack, percy turkey is going to take a tougher position. Katty this is the first attack on turkish soil of this kind. What is going to be the reaction from the turkish government . We heard the turkish government condemning it and the president condemning it. What are they actually going to do about it . Guest turkey has been under a lot of pressure to put more priority on the fight against isis and if not, less against the fight against assad regime to not make that the only priority. I think the turks will realize that they have to destroy isis or it will start destroying them in the whole region they are living in and thats not a good lesson for anyone. Katty your former employers in the state Department White house behind you, they have been wanting the turks to do more than just stop the flow of money and oil across the border. Is this the kind of incident that would prompt the turkish government to start doing so . Guest this will certainly help, but turkey has its own demands of the united states. One is to take a tougher position on assad regime which has killed a lot more innocent civilians than isis and the turks have a point. We need to do more against assad. All of these forces are threats to the entire fabric of the middle east and it is coming apart. Katty do you hear anything from your former colleagues that that is likely to happen . Theres not much indication from the white house they are interested in dealing with assad right now. Guest that is true, but having signed the iran deal neck gives the administration more flexibility and freedom to take a tougher position against irans ally if the white house wants to do so. They just lost one of their excuses not to ask and they are to act, and they are under pressure to start getting serious about assad. Katty thank you for joining me. Speaking of the enron deal, the United NationsSecurity Council has unanimously endorsed the Nuclear Deal Reached in vienna. It calls for full implementation of the deal which imposes limits on Irans Nuclear activity in return for the lifting of crippling sanctions. In afghanistan, a u. S. Airstrike killed almost a dozen Afghan Soldiers in an area south of kabul, where the taliban are active. It is one of the deadliest episodes of what is known as remley fire in recent years. More than six months after vision after british troops left afghanistan, local troops are still struggling to respond to these threats. Reporter this 13yearold can strip down a kalashnikov in seconds, reassemble it and shoot. He and his brother, who is 14, are on the front line defending a police post that is often under taliban attack. He says there is no school, even if he had time for it. They were recruited by their grandmother, and Unlikely Police chief in a culture where women rarely work outside the home. Just one of my grandsons is worth 20 tell a band. Reporter she has lost more than 20 of her own adult Police Officers protecting this zone, a place familiar to british soldiers during nine years of hard fighting. Parts of the former british base have been turned into a Treatment Center for drug at x perhaps a fitting use. One significant failure of the british intervention is that helmand grows more opium poppies now than when the troops arrived. Much of the world market comes from here. Much of the base has been strip out. It was a long, bloody campaign and too often during it at the heart of the camp, there was a memorial event marking those who died. 453 british troops did not survive afghanistan. Many others came home with lifechanging injuries. Victory still remains uncertain. It was not all in vain. The main towns are secure with poppy growing pushed out to the badlands outside the zone where most people live. Roads are far better in their schools and the next where there were none before, but the taliban have taken a lot of ground. There were a few jobs and a booming nonpoppy economy turned out to be a wartime double. Construction workers were laid off when opportunities tried up. But i spent millions of dollars on equipment that has been standing idle and i can only sell it for scrap. Reporter while out in the countryside, there are child soldiers fighting in afghanistans neverending war. Katty children policing some of the worst its of afghanistan. You are watching open bbc world news america. The outgoing fifa president announces new ways to tackle corruption. U. S. President ial hopeful donald trump has been rocking the boat since he entered the race. His latest comments about a politician not even in the running are causing acer. Causing a stir. Understated is a word that has never been attached to donald trump. Nor is the word underfunded, now that he is having a tilt in the republican nomination. If would imagine his comments would be this out broken. In his sights, former republican candidate for the president john mccain. Mr. Trump he was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who were not captured. Reporter mccain spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in vietnam and was tortured while he was there. These comments have wrought forth commendation condemnation. He should apologize to senator mccain and all the others. Reporter at his typically flamboyant lunch, he was even more offensive about mexicans. Esther trump they are bringing crime and they are rapists. Some come i assume are good people. Reporter a celebrity hispanic was due to open a major restaurant in the trump hotel but once nothing more to do with the project. Other bigger contracts have been lost as well, but among republican voters, Donald Trumps poll numbers have gone up and up. The Republican Leadership might have hoped he would earn bright but quickly turn out. That has not happened. And the man who is not laying by any of the normal rules of engagement is for the moment leading the republican field. Who said this race would be dull . Katty fifa president sepp blatter said his predecessor will be elected in january. His announcement follows the arrest of several senior officials for corruption. But the new conference has some unexpected drama. A british comedian showed up to shower him with fake dollar bills. We have this report now from zurich. Reporter the last time sepp blatter spoke publicly here, he astounded the world of football announcing he was stepping down. Today was no less matter. No less dramatic. British comedian lee nelson managed to infiltrate the press conference and showering the fifa is with dollar notes. Once the prankster was escorted out, a visibly shaken sepp blatter took a few minutes to compose himself before determining his reign would finally and. I will not be a candidate for the election in 2016. There will be new elections for a new president. Not only for president i cannot be the new president because i am an old president. Reporter the shock arrest of senior football officials almost two months ago lunched fifa into crisis. A midamerican ends with investigations into systematic corruption, sepp blatter resigned just four days after being reelected, but clung to power in a bid to oversee fifas recovery. He wants to bring in central integrity checks, term limits for officials, including president , and disclosure of salaries for fifa members. We are indeed on the right track. Reporter but that has not satisfied those who want a body from out side to lead reforms. We shouldnt be surprised. They will be playing in filling around at the fringes, not bringing about the reform we need. We need to employ some sort of independent person that will be answerable to them or the confederation. Reporter the race to become the next president will now begin in earnest. Replacing sepp blatter is one thing, restoring fifas battered credibility could prove another thing for the could prove another thing. Katty if you had to name the home of Country Music, nashville may come to mind that i bet most of you will not think of nairobi. Thats about to change. Later this week, president obama will travel to kenya and in advance of our pop up team is there covering story ideas you sent to us. That led us to sir elvis the nigerian whose parent named him after the king of rock n roll and his sound is all country. When they walk into my show, they had been believing when they heard the sound that probably is a white guy from the west doing country. Thank you very much. Reporter we we are in nairobi in kenya and this is where we had our sunday evening concerts. I was born the year Elvis Presley died. When my mom gave birth to a baby boy, she wanted the baby boy to be named elvis. I am a Country Music artist. Country music has been here since the 60s. Sometimes it is a pleasant surprise to many people when they walk in and realize im an african doing this. I listened to a lot of Country Music because my parents loved to listen to country. We had country records all over the place. The guys went to the u. S. For education and when they came back home with country songs that was way back then. This is a pretty good guitar. It is an acoustic yamaha. That is one of the aspects about Country Music that speaks to us we are farmers and we estimate i moved to norway and 1986 and stayed in norway from 1986 until 2002. I wanted to come back home. People in kenya love Country Music. It would be ideal if we did Country Music from nairobi. Katty sir elvis there. If you are in nairobi, go and check them out. Thank you for sending us that story idea. We are very glad we found them. That brings the program to a close. You can find more of todays news on our website. You can find me on twitter. From all of us here in london, thank you for watching and do tune in again tomorrow. Make sense of International News at bbc. Com International