>> greek banks reopen after three weeks but still not business as usual. you are watching al jazeera live from doha. also ahead coalition air strikes in afghanistan have left several afghan soldiers dead. we'll be live in kabul. the u.s. defense secretary is in israel to calm fears over the nuclear deal with iran. plus historic new ties for the u.s. and cuba and they reopen after 54 years.

bank information greece have reopened. there are still limits on cash withdrawals, but greeks can take out 420 euros for a week at once. the european central bank increased emergency lending. we are at a bank in athens and sent this report. >> reporter: with banks having opened after more than three weeks of being closed, here crowds have been small lines have so far been short. there is a sense of relief. a population that's glad that the banks are filially reopened, they can go back to their banks they can pay bills from within their banks some people can get atm cards so they can access money in a more easy fashion.

one of the things we have heard is there has been a real sense of concern here in greece the past few weeks that certain people didn't have access to their bank safety deposit boxes. there was a fear that perhaps the content of those safety deposit boxes might be taken or seized. the people wouldn't have access to them again. that's one of the things we have heard from people today. they are going to their banks to check to make sure the contents are still there, are still safe. some people will take the contents back home with them, that's how much distrust there is in greece of the financial institutions. at this hour, a sense of calm, we are not seeing any consternation from people, the cues have been orderly. merkel says repayment times

with change, there will be no cut to the 323 billion euros that greece owes. merkel has rejected a suggestion that greece could take a five year break from the euro, a grexit is no longer on the table. we are getting reports that several soldiers have been killed in coalition air strikes in afghanistan. it happened in the barrack district about 50 kilometers from the capital kabul crossing over to jennifer glass who is joining us to tell us whether there is any more clarity jennifer, at this point on these reports that afghan soldiers have been killed by possibly coalition air strikes. >> reporter: we knew there was an incident. we know soldiers have been killed. seven soldiers were killed and six injured in that incident this morning about 6:00 a.m.

local time. apparently police officials tell us it was u.s. air force helicopters that carried out that attack. obviously mistakenly attacking the afghan army. other officials tell us the number of dead is as high as 11. the number is changing, but no question that it was two afghan army checkpoints that were attacked by u.s. forces. nato spokesman says they are aware and investigating the incident. this is the worst friendly fire incident. there are about 13,000 nato forces here. they are doing counter-terrorism operations. it's a difficult area, a lot of taliban activity there. this is one area where the taliban transit through.

right after that attack, the taliban launched a ground offensive. >> thank you for the time being. germany's vice chancellor is urging iran to improve relations with israel if it wants to strengthen ties in the west. this is the first senior political figure to visit iran since the deal was agreed last week. the u.s. defense secretary is in israel trying to calm fears. he doesn't expect to persuade israel to drop its opposition to the agreement. he's hoping to deepen ties with the state. at least seven people have been killed. more than a hundred others have been injured. fighters opposed to the houthi's

claim they hold the city, but the rebels have been fighting back. fighters have been killed during attacks in neighbor provinces. the battles are intense. these are forces loyal to the president in exile defending his party's former offices in the mountain town. >> reporter: this is yemen's third largest province. with the government claiming they are liberated and the houthis still in control, they are shifting to taking control of the province. fighters on both sides are reported to have been killed. >> translator: we'll sacrifice by our swords, money and what we want to liberated from the oppressors who captured our country. >> reporter: fighters say the coalition has launched three air

strikes. and on the ground they have been able to stop the advance of houthi rebels in two districts. in aiden the fight isn't over for complete control. a health official tells al jazeera hospitals were busy treating the dead and injured. the official blamed the houthis. several government ministers have returned for the first time since being forced to escape. now there is talk of rebuilding the battered pt city. >> translator: we all hope to rebud the city as it represents the resistance. >> reporter: that won't be easy. one government minister says at least 100,000 people in aiden have been displaced since the war began. the libyan air force attacked two ships off benghazi. there is no indepennt

confirmation of the strikes. an air force spokesman says the vessel they sunk was carrying fighters weapons as well as ammunition. some other news from labia, four italian citizens have been kidnapped. they were taken from a cam pound owned by italian oil and gas group. cuba and the united states have restored diplomatic relations. they are reopening embassies in each other's capitals. >> reporter: these fortified walls were built when cuba was a spanish colony. a country that was born feeling under siege. in the 1700s it was from europeans and pirate eye tacks and more recent times from the

united states. she remembers coming with her students to build this bomb shelter, one of hundreds constructed in the last 20 years. >> translator: the same way they bombed iran and iraq, we had to protect ourselves from the united states. >> reporter: that's why the renewal of diplomatic relations is a long-awaited game changer. >> translator: it's a way of bringing us closer. every cuban has a friend or relative living in the united states. so what's happening now makes us feel heavy so we won't have to resort to this again. >> reporter: in historic terms it was only yesterday that the deployment of soviet missiles to

cuba. this was built in the 1960s. this is all that's left of of a lookout post. they would watch night and day in case of an invasion by the united states by see. now see people looking towards the united states, but simply fishing. this week's renewal of diplomatic relations does not erase political differences. but psychologically it's as if a curtain is being lifted. >> translator: we are so close that probably there is no latin american country better prepared to be real brothers. you will see. >> reporter: but for getting 50 years of hostilities is not so easy. especially for people like this 79-year-old president of her neighborhood cdr or committee for the defense of the revolution says she doesn't trust the americans. >> translator: to begin w they

haven't lifted the embargo with cuba or released guantanamo bay. >> reporter: this does not mean that cuba has a friend across the florida straits. but it does mean it no longer has an enemy. felix rodriquez is a former cia officer says immediate changes are unlikely in cuba. >> there are changes that would be better. the reality they are not with this situation. because the president has not pushed any changes to be able to give the cuban people the freedom they deserve. they have one party, they only have a system that doesn't have a separation of power. the legal system is subdued to the government and they do whatever they request from them. so even when you do investment

in cuba, you have no guarantee that you can take it to a court because the court will rule in favor of the government. so it's really a disaster what the president is doing at a time they are in need of revenues, they should be able to push them to give the free election to the cuba people so they can select and speak openly. and those are the things we want to change. before the u.s. embassy in havana was reopened dozens of protesters were arrested in an antigovernment opposition. the group stages weekly protests calling on the cuban government to release political prisoners. hears what's coming up, 70 years after world war ii a japanese company apologizes to

prisoners of war. the still larger than life legend more than 40 years after he d

>> government committees. >> they're spending money, they're not saving it. >> costing millions and getting nothing. >> it's a bogus sham. >> america tonight investigates. money for nothing. >> they've gotten away with it for years. >> top stories on al-jazeera, banks in greece have reopened. greeks can take out 420 euros for a week at once. the european central bank increased its emergency funding to greek lenders last week. at least seven afghan soldiers have been killed after u.s. helicopters carried out air strikes on checkpoints.

six others have been injured. u.s. secretary ashton carter is in rise to calm fears with the nuclear agreements with iran. mit mitsubishi apologized for using u.s. prisoners of war for forced labor. we have more from los angeles. >> translator: an apology seven decades after the fact. >> translator: today we apologize mostly for tragic event in our past. >> reporter: japan's industrial giant mitsubishi used prisoners of war as slave labor during the second world war it became the first country to say it was sorry. one of the last survivors was

there to accept the apology. >> for 70 years since the war ended, the prisoners of war who worked for these japanese companies have asked for something very simple, they asked for an apology. i listened very carefully to mr. kimura's statement of apology. and found him very, very sincere. >> reporter: murphy was captured when japan overran the philippines. he survived the death march and shipped with approximately 12,000 other american p.o.w.s to japan where they were forced to work. this photo shows liberation day for p.o.w.s at the mitsubishi mine. that's murphy on the wall. murphy doesn't like to talk about his treatment.

but 95-year-old former p.o.w. lefter tenny says the treatment was beyond brutal. >> didn't give us a medical care. they would beat you in the coal mine. the civilians would beat you if you didn't work fast enough. if you happen to say i don't want to work too hard, they would turn you over to the guards. the guards would punish you. many cases they killed you. >> the japanese government apologized for mistreatment of p.o.w.s several years ago. of the 900 men who labored and suffered along side murphy, only he and one other remain alive. >> if you sent a message to your buddies, what would you say? >> i hope they rest quietly. it's over. >> wounds of war healed at last. protests have broken out in

nepal over the drafting of a new constitution. people angry because they think the government has used the earthquake earlier this year to shorten the consultation process. it was supposed to be 15 days and it's been reduced to two. the protests for a constitution started in 2006 when the rebel its signed a peace deal ending a ten year civil war. in 2008 nepal's politicians voted to end the monarchy. some say it won't represent the minorities. you saw the protests when they broke out. what happened? >> reporter: well, earlier the former prime minister came over here to the municipality building where there was supposed to be a public consultation. they have been saying they were not allowed to go in. the only people who were allowed

to give consultation were part of the u.m.o., one of the political parties in the government. there was tear gas and blanks fired. some situations have turned violent soon after these people weren't allowed to go in. >> why are people angry? what are their grievances and why do minorities feel like they are not going to be represented? >> well, especially this part of nepal, the southern belt, has felt that the state ignored them. and they hope that the constitution would address their grievances. their main grievance is that they would have much more of a hearing, much more of of a connection with the state and that would have been through federal states and the constitution was going to address federalism. which this one has not. the state has not been

delynnated and even though the draft says that there are going to be eight states, we don't know where it's going to be yet. there have been a case in the supreme court filed and there have been an order by the supreme court to hamilton the process. but the government is pushing this ahead. the other thing about citizenship, a lot of the people in this belt do not have citizenship. and again, there was hope that that would also be addressed. but what the draft has done is made categories of citizenship now people who are the parents already, we have got more than 4 million people. now, if a man mary as foreign woman which happens quite often in this part of nepal then the

woman would be able to get a naturalized citizenship. but the children would all be naturalized and not be able to get positions of power within the state, which is going to create tiers of citizenship. >> thank you very much for that update. for the first time an african leader is being tried for alleged human rapes crimes. he's going on trial later on monday in a court created for the case. we report from the senegalese capital. >> reporter: he has been waiting 25 years for this day. he's about to face the man he believes is responsible for his torture. he's rehearsed the moment time and time again, he knows what he will say and how he will act. one look at the former president

and the memories come flooding back. electric shocks, the choking and all the faces of people he was forced to bury during his confinement. >> translator: he's plunged an entire nation for eight long years into desperation and violent darkness. >> reporter: the commission says 40,000 people were killed and 200,000 tortured when he was in power in the 1980s. most were arabs and political opponents. >> the united states and france supported him even as he turned his country into a police state. many of his most feared torturers got training in the

united states. >> reporter: he fled the country. for 16 years victims of torture tried to bring him to court while he lived in quietly in senegal. his wife never suspected he would face justice. >> translator: we had an agreement, we came here to get protection from the state of senegal. but those who supported us turned against us. we feel betrayed. >> reporter: he's now being charged for crimes against humanity in the african chambers. a court created by the african union and senegal. hundreds of witnesses are expected to testify. an african judged by africans, away from the international criminal courts. at stake is the possibility to set a precedent making universal justice accessible to all on this continent.

>> translator: i think what this trial shows more than anything else it's possible for victims and their supporters with tenacity, with perseverance, with imagination to actually get a dictator to court. >> reporter: the trial will not erase the horrors. but something has changed. and perhaps in the process he may find some peace. fifa's top executives are meeting in switzerland to set a date for the election of a new president. futbol's governing body has been hit by corruption allegations. >> reporter: inside fifa headquarters, they are accustomed to turbulence and instability. this committee meeting is crucial for the damaged organization. it's time for radical change. the fbi's sweep to arrest

officials, 14 overall left futbol's governing body in crisis. international law is dealing with those accused of wide spread corruption. a date to choose a new leader will be chosen at this meeting. seth bladder has been clinging to office. excusing himself from any blame. he was careful to make his june resignation look more like a repositioning avoiding potential humiliation. he's betting himself as the orchestrater of change. >> the problem that we have is not a seth bladder problem. he's a huge part of the problem. but the problem is a culture of corruption within the organization. >> reporter: the new president could be voted in as early as september. the prince of jordan could run

again. fifa's best chance of restoring the confidence may come with a figure-head rather than a futbol man. someone whose reputation is clean. that might require an election rule change. the fallout takes the situation beyond governance. the world cup in ka at a is being challenged. the former vice president already on trial in new york, fifa's reputation could be lower. it's a discredit ted organization that must start looking to its future while haunted by its past. a new exhibition open in hong kong looking at the life of bruce lee. he died 42 years ago. but the actor still has a big

following. >> reporter: his statue is always a big draw. just as his legacy exists. at a fighting gym where his brand of kung-fu is still practiced, pupils emulate his lightning moves. ricky is a master who learned his skill from a master who learned directly from bruce lee. it provides a living link to the fighting style and philosophy. >> how to life and work and how to fates a face a problem. >> reporter: jeff chin has grown up with that philosophy since seeing his first bruce lee movie as a teenager in san francisco.

like many of his generation, he faced discrimination. but lee taught him it was suddenly okay to be chinese-american. >> although that period was short, in 1973, it was like magic. like overnight chinese males became the big man on campus. >> reporter: coming to hong kong for the opening of his exhibition hundreds of exhibits chart the all too brief career of lee. from the autographed martial arts handbook written by an unknown lee in 1963, through his break into the international movies that made him famous ten years later. the exhibition is a testimony to the struggles of being a chinese actor in america. among the exhibits for the tv series, the green hornets, the first starring role, is a charge with a pay scale. he was among the lowest paid in the cast.

fighting on screen, fighting off screen, he continues to inspire in different ways. >> just a reminder, you can always keep up to date with all the news on our website, al jazeera.com. can change lives. >> the science of fighting a wildfire. >> we're going to explore the intersection of hardware and humanity, but we're doing it in a unique way. this is a show about science... >> oh! >> oh my god! >> by scientists. tonight... the digital divide. >> if you had the world's fastest internet, what would you do with it? >> the promise of the digital superhighway. lightning fast hook-ups to the web, but not for most of the u.s. >> the church... most people come here to pray but you come here for what?