s needed for the reef to survive. plenty more stories for you any time on our website. the address is aljazeera.com, and of course details of the attacks in egypt and all of the breaking news, aljazeera.com. a new era for relations between the united states and cuba. president obama makes an historic announce about reopening embassies. plus a new offer from greece as it tries to hammer out a deal to repay its debt. what the greek government is proposing. and the puerto rico government manages to keep the power on but the moves may not be enough to overcome their financial crisis. ♪

today i can announce that the united states has agreed to formally reestablish diplomatic relations with the republic of cuba, and reopium bahsies in our respective countries. >> history 54 years in the making. this this is al jazeera live there new york city. i'm randall pinkston. president obama announced a short time ago that the two governments are beginning a new chapter. that sets the stage for embassies to reopen in washington and havana doors which were shut more than 50 years ago. mike viqueira is live for us at the white house. this is the culmination of negotiations that have been going on for a long time. >> you are absolutely right. at least until december 17th of

last year when president obama made that surprise announcement. president obama today culminating that process that began in december rounds of negotiations, working out the nuts and bolts, cuba removed from the list of state sponsorers of terror that was a huge step. today the president appearing in the rose garden vice president biden by his side to bring an end to the situation. the president in his comments dismissed opponents of what he was doing as isolationists who were behind the times. he said the policy simply has not worked. >> this is not merely symbolic. with this change we will be able to substantially increase our contacts with the cuban

people. we'll have more personnel at our embassy, and our diplomats will have the ability to engage more broadly across the island. that will include ordinary cubans reaching for a better life. >> reporter: and today the senior u.s. diplomat in cuba he is not an ambassador but the senior diplomat there now met with the cuban foreign minister official handed over a letter from president obama we expect july 20th to be the date when embassies reopen after 54 years. >> we know the u.s. has a major facility with american personnel there since the '70s although with no formal diplomatic relations. >> right. >> give us the details on reopening the embassies.

>> reporter: well there's some opposition in congress. but basically the president started a 15-day clock. this is written into the law, there has to be a 15-day notice to congress. there's nothing that congress can really do about it. for the cuban side they can move forward any time they would like. evidently there has been a mutual agreement to have july 20th be the date for normalization. first and foremost still left on the stable the embargo on cuba. most of the conventional thinking in washington has it that that won't be lifted by congress. it would require an act of congress. the republican leadership has largely dismissed it out of hand, so nobody very optimistic on that point. meanwhile the administration says they are bring up issues with the cubans property that

was confiscated. also fugitives from american justice. hijackers, murders who have taken refuge in cuba and property rights. those are items still on the table. but today an historic day after 54 years relations officially will be normalized. embassies opened later this month. >> the president announcing that secretary of state john kerry will go to havana for the official flag raising sometime next month, i believe. >> july 20th is the date. exactly. thank you, randall. >> thank you. mike viqueira at the white house. while the u.s. and cuba are a step closer to restoring relations, it does not end the embargo son cuba. only congress can do that. and some lawmakers say not going

to happen. house speaker john boehner put out a statement: on the other side of the aisle, robert men -- menendez always had a scathing response: nowhere is the impact felt more than in florida. some 900,000 cuban americans live there. melissa chan went to the little havana neighborhood in miami. >> reporter: this is the hub of conservative cuban american culture, and no surprise here that a lot of people are uncomfortable, very unhappy, rather, with this decision. but the miami that you are

seeing today is different than the miami even ten or 15 years ago. i talked about that case from 15 years ago when the child had come from cuba to the united states with his mother and his mother had drawned in the process, and there was a big custody battle at the time between the father back in cuba and the relatives here in miami. he had the cuban american community here up in arms really. in that monolithic community has changed. you wouldn't get that here today. in fact i would say if the embassy -- or the u.s. government had made that embassy announcement back in the 1990s, you would be seeing a lot more people behind me. this morning we have only had two protesters. it really speaks to the fact that the younger generation of cuban americans have changed their opinions. in some ways they are just over it. they have listened to their parents, and the fact the obama

administration is now normalizing relations, and i think a lot of people are thinking change is good. in cuba they took note of the president's announcement in a very unusual move. cuban state television broadcast president obama's remarks today live with spanish translation. we'll have more throughout the day right here on al jazeera america. greece has made a fresh offer to its creditors just one day after missing a crucial debt payment. you are looking live at the greek parliament building in athens. the prime minister says he accept an offer from the european commission as long as greece gets some wiggle room with pension and labor spending. greece has always asked for a bailout extension and a new round of rescue loans. barnaby phillips has more from athens. >> reporter: this man has a difficult job, telling pensioners they have to wait. they are allowed into the bank

one by one to collect some money. they have been here for hours. all of this is not helpful for the greek government in the days before the referendum. >> we are trying to remedy the situation. we are trying to cheap the channels of communication open because we want an agreement, because we think that an agreement is good for both sides, whereas the opposite, the lack of agreement, is going to be devastating, we think, both for the euro zone and for our country. >> reporter: the greek prime minister has offered new concessions, accepting most of the creditor's conditions. but the germans say there is nothing to talk about until after the greek referendum. >> translator: now we're waiting for the referendum talks on an aid program can't take place before the referendum and it isn't possible anyway bald bald -- because it would require the approval of the

[ inaudible ]. >> reporter: what do tourists think? we found them some oblivious to the financial crisis some taking it in their stride. >> i heard that the bank might have been closed so i just brought some cash from home basically. >> i know there's problems over here, but no just carry on as normal as far as we're concerned. >> for the greeks themselves the situation is much more worrying. they can't escape their country's financial crisis and yet for all of the tensions and disagreements in this country, the vast majority of greeks have dealt with the situation with great calm and patience. leila gives legal advice to bankrupt greeks. 120,000 have declared bankruptcy in the past five years, but what can she possibly tell them now? >> even as lawyers, we are afraid about what will happen next. there is a lot of insecurity and uncertainty at the moment so we

just say, wait and see, we have the referendum at the end of the week. maybe some things will happen. maybe not. we'll -- we'll see. >> reporter: somehow amidst all of this greeks have to make a momentous decision in the coming days about their country's future. well leave it to the internet to try to solve the greek crisis a crowd funding effort has raised nearly a million euros, a little over a million dollars. the 29 year old who started the fund says he promises the money will go to the greek people and promises everyone will get their money back if the goal of 1.6 billion euros is not met. at the last minute puerto rico's state-owned power company today avoided default. the agency made a $400 million payment to its creditors, but that's just a fraction of what

it owes in total. 18 years since hong kong was returned to chinese rule and today the calls for democracy are louder than ever. plus, yet another african american church burns in the south, the investigation into a string of suspicious fires in the wake of the charleston church shooting.

more than a dozen people are feared dead in southwest china after torrential rains. thousands have been evacuated. people were pulled from the rubble last night have a landslide buried several homes. hong kong is marking 18 years singles the switch from brash to chinese rule. thousands of people took to the streets for the annual rally. it is the first major protest since lawmakers voted against

electoral reforms. rob mcbride reports. >> reporter: they came with their slogans and banners and the accumulated anger of a year of political fighting. angry shouting matches between the demonstrators and much smaller groups of pro-beijing protesters, they accuse the democracy campaign of squandering the chance of political development by blocking reforms in the way hong kong selects its leader. those pushing for full democracy can claim this as something of a victory parade they did reject the reforms being put forward by beijing. still it is tempered by the knowledge that 18 years after this city passed from british colonial rule the people here are still as far away from running their own affairs. it has lead to a small minority calling for independence. the hong kong authorities, the

only flags that mattered were being raised at a morning ceremony marking the hand overback to mainland china. all talk of political reform are now put on hold with the government making the economy and people's livelihoods the priority. for the protesters the marching goes on as does the faith that one day they will prevail. >> even though it was turned down, but we still have to fight. >> translator: many hong kong people are against being taken over by the chinese communist system. >> reporter: along the route a heavy police presence made sure there would be no repeat of the protests that happened last year. all sided s seemed to accept the impasse. the head of the united

nations nuclear watchdog agency will go to tehran tomorrow. news of the trip comes as diplomats continue negotiations. they have given themselves until next week to work out a deal over iran's nuclear program. let's take a look at some sticking points. 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. another issue, sanctions, iran insists they all must be lifted at the beginning of the deal. world powers favor easing the sanctions. israel has temporarily shut down a shared border crossing with egypt after a series of attacks on military check points and police stations in this north sinai. 50 people were killed. a group linked to isil says it

was responsible. our correspondent has more from jerusalem. >> reporter: israel has closed its two main border crossings with egypt. the israeli military is closely monitoring the situation in sinai after this deadly attack. we also understand that the israeli military is also monitoring the border area that gaza shares with egypt as well. all of this just really underscores the concern that israel has about the violence in egypt. the two countries have had what has been described as a cold peace since 1979, but the relationship between egypt and israel was thoroughly tested in 2012, during israel's campaign in the gaza strip which resulted in the deaths of a number of civilians. the then egyptian president, mohammed morsi pulled its envoy

from israel but in the last few weeks, the current president, sisi has sent a new ambassador back to israel so it would appear for now that this cooperation between israel and egypt is certainly much better than it was a few years ago, and it also really just underscores what we have been saying that israel does have concerns about the situation in the sinai, an area in which they are built a huge fence which stretches for over 200 kilometers standings at around 5 meters high and is covered in razor wire. also in jerusalem today israeli soldiers sealed off the home of a palestinian man behind one of the bloodiest attacks in the holy city in hears. the family was forced out of the home as it was fitted with bars. last year he stormed the sen going to killing more rabbis and

a police officer before being shot dead. investigators in south carolina are trying to determine what caused a devastating fire at an african american church. as our correspondent reports, the naacp is alerting black churches to take necessary precautions. >> reporter: federal officials say they don't suspect arson at this historically black church. it burned down tuesday night leaving only the brick walls standing. >> there is still a lot of questions to be answered. i know the community is seeking those answers. i ask that you please bear with us as we try to resolve and identification what the causation factor may be. >> reporter: some 50 firefighters worked for hours to put out the fire. this is the seventh black church to go up in flames since the deadly shooting in charleston two weeks ago.

>> the baptist church on briar creek road is on fire. >> reporter: the fbi is investigating church fires across five southern states including this one in south carolina. >> just seeing the flames in the air had me terrified. >> reporter: police say that fire was arson. >> whoever has done this we forgive you, and hopefully there's an opportunity for us to even meet. >> reporter: the string of fires are leaving black churches across the region on high alert. team usa beats germany to advance to the women's world cup finals. plus a ballerina makes history. missy copeland breaks the color barrier at the american ballet theater.

shoots scores! usa! >> a stunning end last night to the women's world cup semifinals. team usa, ousted germany, 2-0. the first goal coming on a penal kick. >> it feels good right now. but we're not finished.

we have one more game. we still have a job to do. >> team usa will faceoff against either japan or england, depending on who wins today. it's july 1st and that means a number of new state laws take effect today. indiana is getting a much-talked about religious freedom law. an earlier version sparked worries that it would discriminate against gays. california and massachusetts now require some businesses to pay for sick time. minnesota is launching a medical marijuana program, and it is now legal to possess small amounts of pot in oregon but approving the use there has an unintended consequence for pot-sniffing police dogs. alan shofter will explains. >> reporter: as of july 1st in the state of oregon it will be much more legal to possess,

smoke, and even grow marijuana. that is causing a lot of challenges and changes in law enforcement. and here is one you might not have thought of before what happens to a pot-sniffing dog, when pot smoking is suddenly legal. this is a -- four odor dog, and this is a three odor dog specifically not trained to hit on marijuana. this is officer alex of portland pd, why the difference? >> until the courts give us some direction about four-odor dogs and the new environment after july a three-odor dog will provide us with probable cause to search a car.

a four-odor dog may also provide that. >> reporter: and many jurisdictions simply saying we dwoont the complications. >> right this is an interim step. >> reporter: so exactly how thigh handle the dogs do they retire them? ship them out of state? find ways to use them? all of that is happening, those decisions and challenges being met all over the state of oregon. we'll tell you more tonight. ballerina misty copeland is the first african american woman to be named principal dancer at the american ballet theater. her promotion comes a week after her debut. >> misty take a bow. [ cheers and applause ] >> misty copeland is used to applause, but this moment

captured on instagram account on tuesday is historic. she had just learned she had been promoted to the highest rank of the american ballet theater, becoming the first african american female principal dancer in the company's 75-year history. >> i'm just so honored, so extremely honored to be a principal dancer to be an african american and to be in this position. >> reporter: copeland's promotion comes days after debuting as the lead in swan lake. that marked an historic achievement to her repertoire. >> it has been a long journey, but it's just the beginning. >> reporter: that beginning coming at the age of 13. a late start she was told. in that struggle documented in this commercial for under armor, that racked up more than 8 million views on youtube. >> dear candidate, thank you for

your application to our ballet academy, unfortunately, you have not been accepted. >> reporter: since that time copeland has soared while silencing her critics. she joined at 17 went on to become a soloist, and has leaped beyond the stage into other venues that have easily made her the most famous ballerina in the u.s. ♪ >> reporter: copeland has been the subject of a documentary, the author of a best-selling memoir, and appeared on the cover of time magazine as one of the most influential figures of 2015. those achievements shadowed by moments of doubt about a young black girl competing as a ballerina in a world dominated by white dancers. >> did you ever envision this is what your life could be? >> no.

no. it's still hard to accept that it is a reality. again, i'm just so like humbled and grateful for the background that i have and the situations i have been through, and just still be standing. >> reporter: people who attended the debut say the crowd that night was much more diversion than usual. you can see richelle carey's entire interview on "talk to al jazeera" at 6:30 pm eastern time. thanks for joining us. in two minutes live from our news room in london, the latest on the oh reopening of the embassy in cuba. plus the latest on the greek debt crisis. have a great day.

>> egypt says it's in a state of war after 30 soldiers are killed in northern sinai. i'm lauren taylor. this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up. the prime minister rejects the international bail out deal. >> we don't have to be imprisoned by the past. >> the damage they can do, and i've seen it