that [ inaudible ] from the government, to each citizen. it's unacceptable really. in the europe of consolidarity and respect to have these images of shame. to close the banks because the government decided to give way to the people, and to lead to trouble so many people which the government is part of this strangulation ensured through the payment of the pensions straight away to their accounts. we owe an explanation to these people to protect your own intentions would give this fight for so many months to protect your right to have a dig -- dignified pension and not just an allowance. they want us to sign this proposal. you have been watching live

coverage of greek prime minister alexis tsipras speaking in athens. a major step in restoring relations between the u.s. and cuba today. the president is set to announce embassies will reopen in both countries. and is greece getting closer to a deal with its creditors? the prime minister's new offer one day after the nation defaulted on a loan payment. ♪ this is al jazeera america live from new york city i'm stephanie sy. it's a moment more than 50 years in the making the president will announce the united states and cuba are formally restoring diplomatic relations. and though former foes are set to reopen their embassies in

havana and washington. michael shure is live in washington outside of the cuban interest section, which is slated to of course become the new cuban embassy. michael good morning, an important letter arrived in cuba this morning. >> reporter: good morning, stephanie. yes, today delivered by the senior u.s. diplomat. handed a letter written by president obama to raul castro. he handed that letter to the chief foreign minister there. they shook hands in front of the cuban and the american flags, and that letter will then be given to castro thus begins the 15-day process, and that process is what congress has to deal with now. they have 15 days to approve the opening of this embassy, and that's the waiting period then you'll see flags fly behind me and presumably the u.s. flag in havana. >> what are the next steps that we should expect? >> reporter: yeah, you know,

stephanie what happens now is that congress does -- as i mention take this and that's where it can get a little bit sticky for the administration, because there are some in congress who are not crazy about this idea then that ambassador gets confirmed. who that is is unclear now. the foreign minister is widely rumored to be the next ambassador. though some people have said that former senator chris dodd is in line for that job as well. it will be a contentious hearing because some in congress want to make their voices heard on this issue. >> okay. michael thank you. let's go to mike viqueira live at the white house. mike this is really the culmination of negotiations that have been going on for sometime remind us how we got to this point. >> reporter: it has been a long time coming. castro taking over havana ousting the dictator in 1961 when things went south with the

united states breaking off relations. fast forward to december 17th. rapidly unfolding represents. talks brokers by pope francis in secret, then president obama december 17th announcing that he was going to go towards full normalization. this concur rent with the release of an american hostage who has been held for quite sometime, the united states in return releasing the remaining members of the so-called cuban five that were held in the united states. since then there have been negotiations going on behind the scenes, in front of the cameras, four rounds trying to iron out the nuts and bolts, finally cuba taken off that list of state sponsors of terrorism. and that all brings us to this day. this was a moment 56 years in the making. the april handshake between barack obama and his cuban counterpart. a gesture of hope to end the

acrimony that spanned 11 american presidencies. but the castros weren't always the enemy. in 1959 just three months after completing his revolutionary march from the mountains to the seat of power, fidel castro came to washington hoping for a fresh start and economic help. but president eisenhower snubbed him, going on a golfing holiday, instead of sitting down with castro. things went downhill from there. castro soon took over u.s.-owned properties in cuba and raised taxes on american goods. the u.s. we retall lated, slashing trade with cuba. and amid cold war tensions in fear of communism bordering on hysteria castro strengthened ties with the soviet union. in 1961, the u.s. severed

diplomatic relations, but in 1960 president eisenhower asked the cia to plant overt operations to overthrow fidel castro. a debacle was soon to follow. the bay of pigs invasion launched by president kennedy in 1961, and lead by cuban exiles. it's failure boosted castro's standing at home and abroad. >> they basically said thank you, you have transformed us into an equal in the eyes of the world. >> reporter: havana and moscow grew closer hatching a plan to build a soviet missile base on the island. >> this government has maintained the closer surveillance of a military buildup on the island of cuba. >> reporter: it ended with a

deal the missile sites would be dismantled if the united states pledged not to invade cuba. cuban exiles poured into south florida. they hated castro. their political power in the u.s. meant no american president dared cross the hard line they crew on cuba policy. until now. in secret talks brokered by pope francis, president obama secured the lease of american alan gross imprisoned in cuba for five years. >> welcome home alan. [ applause ] >> reporter: in exchange mr. obama agreed to return the remaining members of the cuban five. suddenly after 56 years the time was right for change. >> now we have arrived at the moment that will be barack obama's legacy. there is still a long road

towards normal overall relations, but we have arrived at a milestone today. >> mike five decades of contentious history, and then within months we arrive at this point. >> reporter: yeah. >> a handful of republicans have expressed concern over these renewed relations. why is that? >> reporter: this one of those tipping point issues where the dam suddenly bursts. even cuban americans who have had such powerful in the political powerful state of florida as we all know even they by a slim majority are backing now what the president is doing according to several polls, and yet still we have many including cuban american presidential candidate, ted cruz marco rubio, the former governor of florida, jeb bush making statements if not outright opposing sort of hedging and playing homage to

the group that still opposes this organization. there are still things that the congress can do, but the president is going to open that embassy and the cubans are going to reciprocate, probably later this month. stephanie? >> mike viqueira at the white house. and let's go to melissa chan in miami. many cuban ex-pats live in that city, how are they reacting to this news. >> reporter: well, you can imagine there are a lot of people that are unhappy, and for decades they have argued that the status quo the u.s. has taken has been effective. you remember this big media brouhaha, this cuban child had come to florida with his mother.

his mother drowned in that trip. and there were protests and the cuban american community came out. that community today is diminished, if that had happened back in the 1990s, for example, behind me you would have seen protesters and cuban flags and people really up in arms, and you are not seeing that today, a part of the reason is the younger generation of cuban americans, really for lack of a better word they are just kind of over it. they have listened to their parents talk about this and now with the obama administration taking these changes, i think there are a small but growing minority of people who are saying, i think we can accept this. >> of course they didn't go through the troubles of their parents generation living under castro. melissa chan reporting live for us. we'll check back in with you in a little while thank you. the head of iran's nuclear

department will head to the talks. they have given themselves until next week to work out a deal over iran's nuclear program. an interim freeze will remain in effect in the meantime. let's take a look at some of the sticking points that remain. a key issue is how much access international inspectors will have. the u.s. and its partners say there will be total access the iranians are against that. iran insists that all sanctions must be lifted at the beginning of the deal. iran is also against a ten-year freeze on its nuclear research. >> reporter: the mood here turning from disappointment that a deal wasn't arrived at into some hopefulness, now that we are hearing that the head of the

international atomic nuclear agency will be coming to tehran. the countries negotiating with iran have insitsed that in order to determine whether iran really is just enriching uranium for civilian purposes, it needs to be able to inspect the facilities including the underground facility. iran has said that is a non-start, and it also has said that foreigners will not be able to interview its nuclear scientists. that would be the iaea who would review these scientists to determine whether iran has now or has in the past pursued nuclear armaments. clearly there is some flexibility, otherwise the chief would not be heading to tehran.

we do not know whether the president of iran has agreed to negotiate on this point, but we do know he apparently has agreed to take the meeting, and if there's a break through on that front, it will mean a leap forward on these negotiations which are scheduled to end on july 7th. that's important, because president obama has to submit to the congress congress has 30 days to review it and give it an up or down vote. it's not a given that congress will approve this deal but there isn't a deal to approve just yet, and this may we're getting closer to one. greece has made a fresh offer to its creditors this morning, just one day after missing a crucial debt payment. the prime minister says he will accept an offer from the european commission as long as greece gets some wiggle room with pension and labor spending. the focus now turns to a

referendum on sunday when voters will get a say over proposed austerity measures. tsipras spoke just a few minutes ago. >> translator: greek government remains at the negotiation table, and will remain until monday straight after the referendum. on better terms for the greek side. because always the people's verdict is a much stronger from the will of government. >> also some banks opened their doors in greece this morning, but only for retirees who don't have bank cards. prodemocracy ceremonies disrupt disrupted demonstrations today in hong kong. the demonstration was expected to attract smaller crowds but thousands showed up today, many with yellow umbrellas. a predominantly black church

in south carolina burns down overnight, and it's history has some wondering whether this was an accident. and new laws take effect across the country today, why some residents in oregon counted down the minutes until they were given a new right. ♪

♪ investigators in south carolina are working today to determine what caused a fire at an african american church last night. it comes amid a string of fires of african american congregations across the south. steph, the investigation is still going on but the naacp is urging congregations to take precautions. this church burned down tuesday night leaving only the brick walls standing. >> the community is seeking answers. i ask you that you please bear

with us as we work hard to identify what the cautionation may be. >> reporter: the same church was burned down by the ku klux klan 20 years ago. this is the seventh black church to go up in flames since the shooting in charleston two weeks ago. the fbi is now investigating church fires across five southern states, including this one charred last week in north carolina. >> just seeing the flames had me terrified. whoever has done this we forgive you, and hopefully there's an opportunity for us to even meet. >> reporter: a string of fires are leaving black churches across the region on high alert. the latest fire occurred during a rain storm and police are not ruling out the possibility of lightning as the cause, steph. >> thank you. genetically engineered crops

can be grown on the island of maui. the judge set a ordinance banning the cultivation was invalid. the "washington post" has started encrypting parts of its website, making it more difficult for government agencies and hackers to monitor which stories you are reading. the changes are now in effect on the home page the national security page and the tech blog. the newspaper says the encryption is designed to protect the privacy of its readers. recreational marijuana is now legal in oregon. but police are not happy about the change. how the new law will drastically change the way they work. [ cheers and applause ] team usa headed to the finals of the women's world cup. the surprising win over the number 1 team in the world. ♪

it is july 1st, and that means a number of new state laws take effect today. indiana is getting a much talked

about religious freedom law. supporters say the new law balances the rights of everyone. california and massachusetts require some businesses to pay for sick time. millions of workers are covered. minnesota is launching a medical marijuana program, and it is now legal to possess small amounts of pot in oregon but that has an unintended consequence for pot-sniffs police dogs. >> reporter: as of july 1st in the state of oregon it will be much more legal to smoke, possess, and own marijuana. that is causing a lot of challenges and changes in law enforcement. and here is one of them what happens to a pot-sniffing dog when pot smoking is now legal. this is nico he is trained to hit on four different types of drugs, including marijuana.

this is lola and she is a three-odor drug not trained to hit on marijuana. certain amounts of which are completely legal right now. so four odor, versus three order dog. why the difference? and why is it important in this new environment? >> until the courts give us some direction about four-odor dogs after july a three-order dog will provide us with probable cause to search the car. a four-odor dog may also provide probable cause, but we don't know yet. >> reporter: and in jurisdictions saying we done want the complications, we'll get rid of the four-odor dog. >> right. >> reporter: so do they retire the four-odor dogs ship them out of state, find ways to use them? all of that is happening and those decisions and challenges being met in law enforcement

agencies all over the state of oregon. we'll tell you more about where those dogs are going, and how the handlers are dealing with this as well. in minnesota some day medical marijuana will help the people who need it most. it is now available at handful of dispensing centers across the state. i spoke with robert of the marijuana access agency. >> with eight locations spread out across the state of minnesota, unfortunately there's necessarily going to be some people who don't live close to those locations. you know they will probably have to be sited in the major population areas in the state, meaning those out of the region may have to drive hours to get the marijuana their doctor has prescribed.

the list is quite restrictive, and the law fails to include chronic and intrackable pain which is a problem. i'm confident that the department of health will come to the state in january and recommend that chronic and intrackable pain be added to the list of conditions. >> also those dispenszaries will only offer pills and oils. it is now okay for the public to take pictures inside of the white house. first lady michelle obama talked about it in this video on instagram. the selfie sticks video cameras, and professional cameras, remain out of commission. blocked shot!

shoots scores! usa! >> reporter: perfect penalty kick from carly lloyd, minutes later, lloyd beat kelly o'hara for the clincher. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: a stunning 2-0 victory for team usa, ousting germany in the semifinals of the women's world cup in montreal. >> we're extremely happy with the way we played. we never stopped believing in our game plan and ourselves, and germany is a phenomenal team and it feels good to get a win over such a team. >> germany was shut out by hope solo. and onedy fining moment in the game was more of blunder by the germans. missing very wide left in the 59th minute. >> translator: there were opportunities, but we didn't

follow through. we could have scored goals that would have come on top of it all. we felt we were playing down the field well but when it came to the field of goal we weren't so efficient. >> reporter: the americans won the tournament back in 1991 and again in 1999. now after losing to japan in the 2011 finals, team usa is back with a shot at the title. >> we are not finished we have one more game. but we still have a job to do. >> reporter: that game will be on sunday in vancouver. team usa will faceoff between japan or england depending on who wins today. stay with us we'll be back in two minutes as we wait for president obama to make an announcement from the white house that the u.s. and cuba are restoring diplomatic relations. ♪

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>> this is another significant development... >> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live... this is al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy in new york city. we are just moments away from an announcement from president obama on restoring diplomatic ties with cuba. embassies are set to open in washington and havana a first since they were closed in 1961. we begin our coverage with michael shure, he is outside the cuban intersection in d.c. which will be home to the new cuban embassy. michael i understand you have been talking to