♪ all sides in yemen conflict agree to a truce for now but will it hold? ♪ in doha with your world news from al jazeera. also on the program careful optimism after greece submits a new plan to creditors in the last-ditch bid to secure a bailout. burying bodies and stopping the spread and why the battle against ebola is far from over in west africa. and clouds of volcanic ash in

indonesia shuts airports and grounds thousands of passengers. ♪ yemen's government in exile and houthi rebels agreed to a ceasefire until the end of the muslim month of ramadan and the truce was brokered by the u.n. and will allow aid agencies to deliver humanitarian supplies. and we have the report. >> reporter: humanitarian aid trickled into yemen's capitol sanaa and provide desperately needed assistance to hundreds of families forced to leave their homes and temporary ceasefire means aid will reach other areas and most of the road access is under the control of houthi fighters. >> during the humanitarian pause humanitarian agencies and partners aim to reach people in need with essential medicine vaccination, food and water and if they have the adequate access aid agencies plan to stockpile

supplies throughout yemen including supplies for nutritional assist and for children and emergency shelters and water and sanitation and medical supplies which could benefit over 2.3 million people and food for 1.2 million people for one month. >> reporter: it took the u.n. envoy much convincing to reach a brief humanitarian pause in the fighting and statements from both the houthi leadership and yemen's government in exile make it clear that hostilities are far from over. >> translator: i would like to say that this road is the last with the houthis and sanaa forces and 2 1/2 months ago they were offered a six-day truce and nothing opportunity in geneva and here they have one more chance by the u.n. and international community and we all reacted positively to this in order to send humanitarian aid to the people. >> reporter: trips like this with food, fuel and essential supplies can finally make it to

places like aiden and further in land and some by air and small boats has made it through but the bulk of it remains undelivered and despite the lifting of a saudi-led blockade they attempt to have ships but failed because of security. >> one would hope this particular ceasefire lasting maybe a little bit longer if indeed it's honored by all sides. >> reporter: people can only hope all parties not just honor this agreement but find ways to end the conflict al jazeera. former advisor to yemen's foreign ministry and says both sides wants a truce but questions remain about whether it will last. >> this is the second truce they have reached, the u.n. has reached but at the same time some people are skeptical about at last is number one. number two are there other details we don't know about which will settle down some of the fears of both parties, for

instance the houthis are afraid they would be attacked by dash and al-qaeda and at the same time the government and we believe the houthis will take this as a chance to reposition themselves and deploy their forces so let's hope seriously that they did actually work on some of these details and then there are some guarantees at the same time and there are some monitoring as well that people in the humanitarian situation is in dire need for this truce. now as almost 80% of the population needs medical care and they need food and they need water, clean water and et cetera. at the same time the war that has been taking place has taken the lives of many of the people and this war has not made them progress in any way and there is no winner there is no winner and there is no loser so far. >> reporter: well the greek government has submitted a new plan to creditors, the 13-page

document is designed to save the country from financial collapse and european ministers are cautiously optimistic that the plan is a step towards breaking the deadlock and the greek government is promising to raise taxes and clamp down on tax evasion. it will discourage people from retiring early and it's also saying that it will seek higher health contributions from pensioners. greece will sell off its remaining shares in tellcom giant and the ports and offering to cut more than $300 million from its military budget by next year. well, there have been scuffles outside this bank in athens, very familiar scenes there, people once again cheering to try to get their money out, greek parliament is currently being asked to authorize the latest rescue plan proposed by prime minister alexis. and john is in athens and he has got the latest.

>> reporter: the greek side is promising to bring home a much better package all told they say that this will be a three-year financing deal of about 53 billion euros what the international monetary fund believes greece needs and accompanied by an enormous 35 euro package funded by the eu and say they will also bring home a restructuring of the greek debt. if all of that happens of course then all of greece's biggest claims will have been met and think the passage of such a document will be much easier in the greek parliament at that point but whether the greeks will gain all of this still remains to be seen between now and saturday. possibly sunday when the summit is to take place. the package of measures is somewhat painful to the public sector and there has to be adjustments in the spending to pensions and that also includes

raising the retirement age of the public sector employees to match that of private sector employees to 67. that is a question of social justice but nonetheless the public sector is one of those holy cows that governments here have tried to protect from equality with the private sector and it does also involve some pain for the private sector as well because corporate tax would rise from 26-28% and taxes would have to be paid in advance 100% of next year's taxes would be paid now along with this year's taxes and there is pain for everyone however if the additional conditions are met and if there is investment package and rescheduling of debt which makes it sustainable there might be generally much more willingness for that package to be not only accepted by implemented. >> john is there, talks resumed in vienna over iran's nuclear program but negotiators don't think a deal is likely to be reached by self imposed friday

deadline and iran foreign minister zarif just told reporters they are making some progress and our diplomatic editor james base has the latest from vienna. >> reporter: meetings taking place in vienna trying to deal with the final last sticking points which have stopping for now a deal taking place. those meetings took place between the iran foreign minister mohamed zarif and u.s. secretary of state john kerry as well as the echl eu for foreign policy and at the end of that meeting we didn't get a proper readout of what was discussed or what was achieved but we then did see foreign minister zarif come to the balcony of the hotel here and for quite a distance again reporters shouted questions at mr. zarif will we get a deal today and he said he didn't think it was likely and would be here over the weekend and yes he thought that probably was likely so slow progress if

any progress in these talks and this is the day of yet another deadline, the interim deal with iran is supposed to expire so if they can't get a deal it looks likely that is going to be extended again. hezbollah fighters killed and intense battles there over the past 24 hours and medical sources say government air strikes have killed more than 10 civilians and they are trying to cut the last supply line for syrian rebels from the moon region the border with lebanon to the outskirts of the syrian capitol damascus. security representatives from india and pakistan will meet in new deli to discuss how the two countries can combat terrorism, it's a major diplomatic development and follows the first meeting between india and pakistani leaders since talks broke down last year and modi

and zarif met on the sidelines in russia on thursday and modi agreed to go to the regional summit in pakistan next year. three west african nations devastated by ebola pushing for help to recover and guinea and sierra leone sierra leone are attending a meeting to raise millions of dollars but could be over shadowed by a surge of new infections and science editor explains. >> reporter: for the last 18 months ebola has ravaged west africa killing more than 11,000 people. some areas have been declared free of the virus but here in the west of guinea near the border with sierra leone the village is still under quarantine quarantine. >> translator: there is a health control on every road where thermo scanners monitor the people if they suspect a case they are sent to a medical

center. >> reporter: the red cross oversees the burial of victims. deaths are down from the height of the epidemic and there is still a threat of infection from those who have died. >> translator: for the moment we can't determine the exact number of bodies. at the start of the day there were 16 dead to bury and by evening we had more about 27 to bury and we managed to bury 24 of them. >> reporter: this part of guinea has been a hotspot for ebola and with every new case there is a continuing risk the virus could make a come back. and fully resourced before the outbreak ebola devastated health systems in the region health workers were found to be 30 times more likely to catch the virus and more than 500 died leaving hospitals short of qualified and committed staff. earlier this month health workers in liberia protested against the government they say the president promised bonus money for those who agreed to

treat ebola sufferers but this has never been paid. >> translator: she made a promise that we were going to get hazard benefits and risk benefits and that is why we are here. if i will get my risk benefit i'm willing to work the second time. i'm praying that ebola will not come but if ebola comes i'm willing to work. >> reporter: keeping health workers on board is a critical part of efforts to rebuild health systems in the region. many is also needed. guinea liberia and sierra leone have asked donors for just over $2 billion for the job, but pledges remain $700 million short. without that money they fear ebola could return to the region and again become a threat to global health. al jazeera. in central bangladesh more than 20 people died during a stampede at a charity events for the muslim month of ramadan and we have the latest from daca.

>> reporter: the incident took place at 5:00 a.m. local time when wealthy men organized an event around his factory premise and thousands gathered through during the event and when he opened the factory gate people rushed around the factory gate resulting in this tragic stampede and police apprehended or detained at least eight people including the tobacco company owner for not organizing this event propertyily and not notifying authorities and this is common during religious festival in south asia and this is not the first time where people died during such events and unless authority have proper regulation and enforce this we will continue to see this sort of tragedies down the road. still to come on al jazeera the community in conflict we meet the man in south sudan who

switched from the farm to the front line and we will be finding out why the catholic church is losing its influence inside bolivia's jails. ♪

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♪ the top stories on al jazeera, the u.n. has brokered a week long ceasefire in yemen aimed to allowing aid agencies to deliver desperately needed supplies to more than 21 million yemen people. scuffles have broken out for cash outside of banks in greece.

but there is cautious optimism that greece creditors may expect a plan to stop the financial collapse. the president of guinea liberia and sierra leone are seeking more than $3 billion in ebola recovery funds from the u.n. more than 11,000 people died in west africa, new cases have been diagnosed in liberia. now one of president obama's top aids has spoken of the heart break and horror unfolding in south sudan. the world's youngest nation marked four years of independence on thursday and national security advisor susan rice says that massive and widespread violence has returned and human rights abuses are now rampant. and ms. rice says president and former deputy are both to blame for the cycle of violence and she issued a warning saying the u.s. and international community would punish those determined to drive south sudan into an abyss.

a patch work of different tribes and militia have been involved in south sudan's civil war and one is the white army a largely civilian force fighting troops alongside the rebels and catherine met some of them in the rebel held upper nile state and she has this exclusive report. >> reporter: in times of trouble it is young meniscal calls to the front line to help the government since conflict started 1 1/2 years ago and they call themselves the white army. he was injured in may while fighting the fields in the north and says once he gets better he will return. >> translator: i'm not afraid to go back. when children, women and people like me are being pulled how can i be afraid. >> reporter: he told his wife he and many others would not officially join the resistance army. >> translator: what i like

about the white army is that when we are ready we just run to war and we are not like regular soldiers who have to stand in military formation and wait for orders. >> reporter: they are mobilized from different villages by community leaders like this in the village. >> 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 duba turned into war between the two largest tribes and many people will tell you they are fighting whom they claim are killing them and just trying to protect their lives and their property and won't stop until everyone is safe. ♪ the malitia has also been accused of human rights abuses.

rebel commanders here say they are trying to integrate the civilian fighters they call the local defense forces into their army. >> when the incident happened in duba the local people organized themselves to defend themselves and because you never know they may follow people in the villages and come and take people. >> reporter: clear on their mission and say they are fighting their enemy and won't stop until there is a clear winner on the battlefield catherine with al jazeera in rebel held upper nile state. 40,000 u.s. army soldiers set to be made redundant in the next three years and commanders forced to save money but critics warn u.s. security could be weakened from washington d.c. roslyn jordan has more. ♪ the core of the u.s. military is about to shrink in three year's time the number of u.s. army soldiers will drop from

490,000 to 450,000, that is what the pentagon is calling a necessary force reduction. >> these cuts will impact nearly every army installation both in the continental united states and overseas. >> reporter: the cuts come even as top generals are monitoring what they consider the most potent threats to the u.s. >> my assessment today senator is russia presents the greatest threat to national security. >> reporter: during the right of the u.s. led wars in iraq and afghanistan more than 470,000 soldiers were on the payroll and they will save $7 billion with cuts but the annual budget is still sizable at $126 billion. in fact, the u.s. spends more on defense in a year than the next seven largest militarys combined and even though russia and china have more soldiers than the u.s. washington spends about five times as much per service member as they do and means u.s. troops

have better weapons and training. some in congress warn cutting troop levels is dangerous even as the army is threatening deeper cuts in the coming years and says it's not the size of the military but how you use it. >> we ought to have an approach to our security and defense that allows us to have an even smaller army than this and not get into occupational warfare in countries like iraq and afghanistan and if we did that we would be safe with a much smaller army than today. >> reporter: obama administration wants to make better use of defense dollars and betting this is not a security gamble. roslyn jordan al jazeera, washington. volcanic eruption causing air travel and ash closed airports and dozens of flights to be cancelled and one of the worst effected is the island of bali popular with tourists of

course and gerald tan has the latest. >> reporter: after spitting ash for a week the eruption scales up a notch the volcano in east vava gives ash and did debris almost 4 kilometers in the sky and five airports have been shut down including in bali. thousands of travelers and tourists are stranded. >> we have to basically find some way to stay because they cannot tell us if we will be here tonight or fly tomorrow or the next day. >> reporter: it's a major headache for people traveling home to celebrate the eat holiday at the end of the muslim month of ramadan and bali is a holiday hotspot for foreigners particularly australia and in sidney they are in a bind with dozens of flights already cancelled over the past week. >> we are just waiting around to see what is happening and can't speak to anyone because there is no one to talk to. so yeah it's really

disappointing and the big problem for us is we don't have an opportunity to take more holidays. >> reporter: so far there has been no massive eruption and evacuation orders have not been issued but they are keeping a close watch knowing just how unpredictable volcanos can be. gerald tan, al jazeera. thailand is experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades putting the multi-billion rice export industry at risk and government pilots are seeding clouds to try and force moisture out of them and we have more from bangkok. >> reporter: from the air the problem is plain to see, hundreds of square kilometers of agricultural land is drying up across thailand and it has been like this for months and there has been no sign of annual rains but should have arrived by now. fields that should be plenty with rice are practically dry and nationwide the crop is now

being declared a failure and government department of rain making and agricultural aviation 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 due to the weather changing severely part of this is because of el nino. >> reporter: so little rain has fallen since last year that even irrigation canals and dams can't help. villagers are worried about falling water levels. >> translator: around one week this canal will dry out, the rice fields inside there 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 in bangkok have been explaining how serious the drought is becoming and what solutions they have. >> translator: 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. >> reporter: with no rain in sight some have to keep working the land planting next season's crop is vital to their existence. other countries such as taiwan and north and south korea have all been experiencing differing levels of drought and farmers in thailand are anxious that the rains that should be falling now are not predicted to arrive until the beginning of august robin with al jazeera, bangkok. the head of the catholic church asked for forgiveness from the people in the second leg of his latin america tour and pope francis was addressing native communities by the church on what he called the conquest of america and speaking to indigenous groups in santa cruz said poor countries shouldn't be produced for cheap labor for developed countries. prisons in bolivia are over

crowded and under the effective control of inmates. and this is one of the better prisons in the country but still it houses 350 people in a space designed for 150. for many years the catholic church more than the state helped make life more bearable. but this however, is seen by some to no longer be the case. >> translator: the church is no longer bringing the type of activities cultural and even sports that it used to. but only coming on a few occasions to give mass people fill a gap and they especially need that spiritual support. >> reporter: two years ago that need was underlined at the prison. 35 people were killed in riots. the pope will tour the facility a time when his message appears to being heard by fewer

prisoners. and the church has given inmates here an sewing workshop laundry rooms and even better bathroom facilities and inmates seem to feel that spiritual guidance is lacking, a gap that the protestant movement is more than happy to provide. >> translator: they come here three times a week to give service. they have a church that they themselves built and you can see it filled with people frequently. . >> translator: i no longer feel a prisoner even if i'm here. i freed myself of guilt and that was thanks to the holy scriptures. >> reporter: the retreat of the catholic church in the prison is due in part to lack of priests and volunteers. the church has moved in successfully to occupy spaces that traditionally belonged to the catholic church especially in jails in bolivia and inspirational message and the

constant presence in jails have led people and it has been criticized by members of the catholic church themselves. >> translator: we no longer have that impulse we used to get from the communities working at the base and that could give us those moments of reflection coming from a small shanty or the neighborhood block. >> reporter: pope francis' prison visit during his trip is seen by many to signal to the fellow priests like he often says the church must become a poor church at the service of the poor al jazeera, bolivia. now electric plane made a historic flight across the channel from the uk to france and now air bus was trying to be the first battery-powered plane to cross the channel but the aviation giant was put to the post with just hours to go and the first electric channel crossing was actually made by a french pilot in a one-seat plane

on friday and the two teams trying to recreate the flight who was the first person to cross the channel in a plane in his 11 made of wooden fabric and this was made of a full carbon composite. >> south carolina prepares to take down its state flag from the capitol. >> we're going to sit at the negotiating table forever. >> a warning to the world as negotiators push past the deadline to reach a nuclear deal with iran. >> down to the wire, a new greek proposal could end the country's debt crisis, but european