welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: the financial bailout programme for greece ends, after more than eight years. separated by war. north korea plays host to dozens of elderly south koreans, as they reunite with family members they haven't seen for decades. a small break in the weather allows rescuers more access to those affected by kerala's worst flooding for 100 years. translation: i thought i was going to die. even the boat i was rescued in almost capsized, my sister and i fell out of it, but somehow they were able to hold onto us. the indonesian island of lombok is hit by another series of earthquakes. welcome to the programme.

for the first time in eight years, greece is free to borrow money on the financial markets. the country's now emerged from its bailout programme, and the government says it can now stand on its own two feet, after three financial rescue packages totalling over $300 billion. but painful austerity measures are still in place and the recession has had a crippling effect. our correspondent mark lowen was based in greece during the financial crisis and he's been back to assess the impact. modern greece has ruins of its own. shuttered factories are temples to the worst financial crisis in living memory. this once famous tile producer was an iconic bankruptcy as greece crashed. but from an economic wasteland, the country is slowly building itself backup. greece is beginning to hum again. after the factory closed,

the workers took over part of it. now producing greener products. soap and cleaning liquid. starting again from the bottom up — a metaphor for greece's recovery. translation: when bankruptcy hit we contemplated suicide a lot. when you reach the edge of a cliff you eitherfall off or grip and hold on. so we said no. we struggled, not just for ourselves but to see this new model copied in otherfactories. this saved both our minds and our lives. from 2010, greece was gripped by unrest. revealing its skyhigh deficit led to three bailouts totalling over 300 billion euros. the price was austerity, with daily protests after pensions and salaries were slashed. despair turned to rage. running battles consumed

central athens. greece was collapsing and risked taking the eurozone with it. a huge burst of teargas has just come to this place where i am broadcasting from. i covered the story continuously as the athens correspondent. now, eight years on, as greece finishes its bailout, i have come back. in today's calm and tourist—filled syntagma square, the endless days i spent here amongst the chaos of the protest seem almost like a distant memory. greece is clearly rebuilding but the problems are still here. unemployment is at 20%, down from a high of 28%. austerity has pushed one in five below the poverty line. the economy has shrunk by one quarter. greece may be coming

off life—support but it is still far from real recovery. the government says it was forced to accept austerity, or banks would have sunk and greece would have left the euro. now it senses optimism despite the pain of many here. we fully understand what they have and you would over the last eight years of recession, but we strongly believe that these first elements and indications of improvement in the greek economy will be of a reflected in the real economy and in the daily life of ordinary people in the months to come. that sounds hollow to those still suffering. the once comfortable depend on food handouts after losing jobs and homes. livelihoods suddenly destroyed in 21st century europe. this 54—year—old woman was laid off three years ago. a proud nation has struggled with losing its dignity. translation: i don't see the crisis coming to an end. we are stressed and angry

because we do not have jobs. i am embarrassed that i cannot buy presents for my grandchildren. who want to live comfortably in our own home so we can look at children in the eyes. it is the young falling fuelling a sense of recovery. this one, an online resources so on. they are drawing immigrants home, like alexia and tassos, who left greece. in the middle of the crisis you could see in the faces of people that they were sad and angry, but now i think it is getting better and people are seeing, they are picking up the pieces and starting to rebuild their life. the fact that we don't have any more particular issues of, ok, i will be in the eurozone and i will have heroes tomorrow, it is a good indication. and least we feel there is some kind of stability. this country has overcome so much

adversity in its long history. the greek spirit is rising again, helped by record tourist numbers. beneath the idyllic scenes lie wounds that will take long to heal. but a ray of hope is beginning to flicker here. dozens of south koreans have arrived in north korea to be reunited with family members they've not seen for more than 60 years. the 89 south koreans, many of whom are now elderly and frail, were separated from their relatives by the korean war. the brief reunions are the first for three years, reflecting a thaw in diplomatic tensions between the governments of the two koreas, as laura bicker reports from seoul. kim hyun—sook remembers the moment she saw her daughter for the first time in over 60 years.

but the reunion was brief and bittersweet. all too soon, they were torn apart. translation: when time was up, i let go of my daughter's hand and got onto the bus. the moment i sat down, i could not speak. not a single word came out of my mouth. i felt like cutting off my own flesh. anyone who has given birth knows what it feels like to leave their children behind. mrs kim knows she was lucky to have at least this one chance. it is unlikely to come again. yoon heung—gyu is one of 88 who were chosen this time around. he got a call to say he will meet his younger sister. he hasn't seen her for nearly 70 years.

translation: after hearing the news, i was so shocked that i drank and couldn't sleep at all that night. he fled north korea in the middle of the night, leaving his family behind after growing concerned about the spread of communism. he fought the north during the korean war, and is unhappy with the current division. translation: i want to tell the world that we should allow separated families to meet whenever they want, instead of how it is now, with few people meeting rarely. hwang rae—ha can only glance across the border to his former home in the north. he has never been selected for the state—run reunions. his family came south during the war, but his mother returned north to prepare for peace.

she didn't return. translation: when can we meet our loved ones? after all of us are dead? 100 people per event isjust meaningless. there are 50,000 people waiting all over the country. as well as bringing joy, this week's reunions will remind koreans on both sides that the pain of separation has not and may never leave this peninsula. more bodies have been recovered in the indian state of kerala, after devastating floods that have killed at least 350 people since the end of may. many died in landslides, which have swept away entire villages. the flooding is the worst for a century, and it's left 300,000 people homeless. 0ur correspondent yogita limaye sent this from kerala. the help they were waiting for has finally arrived. this baby was rescued from the southern district of alappuzha. the boy's mother had been airlifted just before him.

they are among hundreds of thousands who have had to leave their homes, finding shelter at schools turned into relief centres. there are nearly 4000 people here. aid is being sent by the government, but they are receiving supplies from people who wanting to help. instead of running the school he normally heads, fatherjoe is now managing this centre. it is more than our imagination, they are coming from all over. they had no time even to respond. they have no place to go anywhere. they leave everything and they came. and suddenly we open camps right now. saralamma was visiting her sister when the flooding started. she was rescued by locals in a small fishing boat. translation: i thought i was going to die. even the boat i was rescued in almost capsized. my sister and i fell out of it,

but somehow they were able to hold on to us. not everyone was able to escape. heavy rainfall caused a mudslide which destroyed this house. nine people died here. among them were abdul azeez‘s wife and brother. he works in dubai and came here a day after the tragedy. translation: my wife was my partner of 30 years. and now she has left me. my brother has gone and his children too. ijust can't bear it. neighbours and relatives gathered together, offering prayers for the dead. outside, the rain has stopped for the first time since the eighth of august. this road was flooded earlier but, because it hasn't rained in the past 12 hours or so, the water levels have receded a bit and cars can pass through it again. and it has made the work of people like those who are in these lorries behind me, indian navy

personnel and rescuers, it has made their life easier. uprooted trees and rocks had also blocked roads. troops have been clearing them. bridges that were broken are being repaired so that relief material can get to even the most remote areas of the state. no rains are expected for the next few days. but even now large parts of kerala are underwater. it will be a while before people get to go home. the indonesian island of lombok has been hit by another series of earthquakes, including three within forty minutes. there are reports that one person died on sunday, and a number of fires broke out after the most powerful of the tremors, which struck in the middle of the night. more 400 people have been killed in three weeks of earthquakes on the island. richard galpin reports. once again, people in lombok run

for their lives as another series of powerful earthquakes hit the island. the fear palpable. one of the tremors measuring 6.9, the same as the quake which killed more than 400 people here earlier this month. for those living near the hills, another danger — landslides triggered by the earthquakes sweeping down towards them. aid workers are doing what they can to help. we are lucky, they have water and food they can distribute, we are also distributing tarpaulin, but more aid is needed, and for example this latest earthquake triggered a major landslide, and so we cannot reach all the areas we would like to at the moment. already traumatised by the other

earthquakes of the past few weeks, many people in east lombok are taking no chances, spending the night out on the streets. they are ensuring they are far enough away from any buildings to be safe if there are more tremors. this man described how he and everyone else had run out of a hotel, but he said it had been orderly, not chaotic. 0n the neighbouring island of bali, this couple were showing a camera crew how earthquakes had damaged their home. when they felt the ground shaking once again. these scenes of people fleeing their homes here in bali, and much more so in lombok, have been going on for almost three weeks now, and no—one knows when the tremors will stop. richard galpin, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news.

the search operation for those missing after a motorway bridge collapsed in genoa, in northwest italy, has ended. the official number of people killed is 43. a 200—metre section of the morandi bridge gave way in busy traffic on tuesday, plunging vehicles and chunks of concrete to the ground 45 metres below. an egyptian man accused of hijacking a plane, has been deported by cypriot authorities after a two—year extradition battle. seif al—din mostafa was flown back to cairo amid tight security. he's alleged to have used a fake suicide belt to hijack an egyptair plane flying from alexandria to cairo in march 2016. the united states says it's ready to support direct peace talks between the afghan government and the taliban. it comes after the afghan president, ashraf ghani, announced an unconditional ceasefire at a ceremony in kabul to mark afghan independence day. so far the taliban has not responded. the proposed ceasefire follows days

of intense fighting in the city of ghazni and comes ahead of the muslim festival of eid—ul—adha. translation: in order for our countrymen to spend the date of eid—ul—adha in a peaceful manner, once again we announce a ceasefire that will start tomorrow, monday, until the anniversary of prophet muhammad's birth, provided that the taliban preserves and respects it and announces it for any period they agree upon. we call on the leadership of the taliban to welcome the wishes of afghans for a long lasting and real peace. and we urge them to get ready for peace talks based on islamic values and principles. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a close shave in blackpool — at the british beard growing championships. washington, the world's most political city, is today assessing the political health of the world's most powerful man.

indeed, i did have a relationship with miss lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong. in south africa, 97 people have been killed today, in one of the worst days of violence between rival black groups. over the last ten days, 500 have died. chanting: czechoslovakia must be free! russia is observing a national day of mourning for the 118 submariners who died on board the kursk. we're all with them now, within our hearts. the pope has celebrated mass before a congregation of more than 2.5 million people, in his hometown of krakow. "stay with us, stay with us," chanted this ocean of humanity. "well, well," joked the pope, "so you want me to desert rome?" this is bbc world news, the latest headlines.

the long bailout of greece by the eurozone countries has ended bringing to an end eight years of support for its debt crisis. elderly south koreans are travelling to north korea for three days of family reunions with relatives they haven't seen since the two countries split. new venezuelan banknotes are to be issued later as the government of president nicolas maduro tries to tackle an economic crisis that's crippling the country. thousands of venezuelans have been trying to flee the turmoil, prompting other nations to impose strict controls. brazil has sent troops to its border with venezuela, after local people attacked camps housing venezuelan migrants. 0ur south america correspondent katy watson has been following the story. venezuela's neighbours have long said the migration crisis is getting out of hand. this weekend it reached

breaking point. angry about the stabbing of a local resident, these people took revenge on the venezualans they held responsible. amid chants of, "go back to venezuela," hundreds of migrants did just that. forced to return to the place they'd escaped from. in april, i visited the same camp. these young families had fled venezuela. yet with no money, they had little option but to sleep here, just metres away from the border. many told me about the tensions in town between locals and venezualans. "the situation in venuzuela is critical," said nicole, "every month food prices go up." she came to brazilfor a better future for her daughter. but she worried that with more and more venezualans coming, things were going to get worse. president nicolas maduro is doing this to stop his country's economic freefall.

last week, he announced plans to devalue the country's currency — an attempt to rein in inflation that the international monetary fund said could hit one million percent by the end of the year. but venezualans are worried this latest announcement will just make the crisis worse. this weekend, ecuador said its borders would be shut to venezualans without a passport. peru announced similar measures. for those trying to get out, it is a worrying development. translation: we really want to contribute, we have to work, because of our kids. if we don't, our kids will die. our kids will literally starve to death. this is one of worst mass migration crises in the history of latin america and one that is expected to worse as venezuela's economy continues to decline. katie watson, bbc news, in brazil. the trump administration is about to hear from american businesses about whether the third

proposed round of tariffs on china are a good idea. it's a reminder that while trade tensions are rising everywhere, the person who has triggered the trade war is the man in the white house. as paul blake reports, many us companies are now scared of what their president has started. it's going to be only america first. america first. the history of the great trade war of 2018 can be traced back to the campaign trail, with donald trump running on one of the most protectionist platforms in decades. hillary clinton unleashed a trade war against the american worker when she supported one terrible deal after another. but, as commander—in—chief, trump declared his own trade war with a flick of his presidential pen five months ago, raising steep tariffs on steel and aluminium from all countries, saying imports were a national security threat. a strong steel and aluminium industry are vital to our national security, absolutely vital. steel is steel — you don't have steel, you don't have a country. as those tariffs came

into effect in earlyjune, they were met with strong rebukes from america's closest allies. but trump soldiered on, expanding the pacific front of this global trade war with new tariffs on china. i assume it's been announced by now, but we're putting tariffs on $50 billion worth of technology and other things. now, to many, trade wars can sound like a lot of hot air. but forjohn hoge, a boatbuilder in portjefferson, long island, the new tariffs on china could sink some of his business. we dodged the first bullet, we got grazed by the second one, and we got broadsided from the third list of tariffs. almost everything we sell was affected on the third list. that third list could take effect as early as september. well, it is products like this boat that embody global supply chains — designed here in the us, made in china, and sold here in the us, and now potentially subject to donald trump's tariffs. a tariff is a tax, quite simply,

and it's a tax not on the chinese, but on americans who trade with china. and any business that faces an extra expense has no choice but to pass that on to our customers. after months of anxiously watching this trade war escalate, john hoge and many other business owners are hoping that donald trump can dial back the rhetoric and ease some of the pressure. more than 200 competitors from around the world have been taking part in the fourth british beard and moustache championships in the northern english town of blackpool. the charity event is open to all ages, all nationalities — and all genders. andrew plant reports. they are calling it a hairy extravaganza. all shapes and sizes of facial haircompeting in 21 different categories. best beard, best moustache, full beard freestyle, even finest fake beard too. a lot of guys really do love it.

they are attached to it. they love it. a lot of guys like to show off, you get quite a lot of extravagant people here and it is somewhere they can come and feel comfortable amongst their peers. all manner of facial hair is here. from the distinctly european, to the respectable english gentleman, sporting some of the world's most celebrated sideburns. i am the reigning world and british natural sideburns champion. it takes a lot of looking after. the conditions today are not perfect for the beards, the wind and the humidity is having an effect, but it is the same for everybody. a lot of people from germany and europe. scottish, new zealand. no one takes it terribly seriously, as long as you get beaten by a better beard that is ok.

first of all, i couldn't be bothered shaving. but then it becomes an identity and once you have grown it for so long, it want to get rid of it because itjust takes so long to grow. the british beard and moustache championships takes place every two years and are getting more popular each time. more and more people take part to compete for the acclaim and adulation of world's most winning whiskers. andrew plant, bbc news. ifi if i start growing my beard now, i might make it in time for the next competition. you can reach me on twitter — i'm at nkem ifejika. hello there.

all this week our weather will be coming in from the atlantic, so once again it will be rather changeable. sunday did see some welcome sunshine eventually, across a good part of the midlands towards the south—east of england, and, in the warm and muggy air, it soon felt pretty warm out there as well. the main rain—bearing clouds, that's remaining for the time being, towards the north and north—west of the uk. but south of that it is going to be difficult to gauge how much sunshine there will be today, because the air is moistening up, there's more low cloud coming in, a lot of dry weather around stil, a lot of dry weather around still, and there may be some sunshine at times. you can see the extent of the cloud. the best of the breaks probably across more central and eastern parts of england. a bit of drizzle around some of these western hills and coasts. more substantial breaks though across central and northern parts of scotland, where the air is a little bit cooler and fresher. still a decent day here and, even with the cloud further south, after a warm night, it is going to be a warm day again, temperatures maybe up to 25 degrees. a little bit of sunshine to end the day here and there and any breaks of cloud tending to fill in more, i think, as the night goes on again,

except across northern most parts of scotland, where those temperatures perhap 9 or 10 degrees, but otherwise maybe 17 is a minimum temperature across southern parts of england, again. moving into tuesday, things start to change a little. in the north—west, you can see clearly here, we have some rain coming in. that cloud that we saw earlier on, now beginning to advance into scotland and northern ireland. but away from here, more in the way of sunshine perhaps, and probably higher temperatures across englan and wales, even across south—east scotland as well. this weather front though is gonig to be a bit of a nuisance around the middle part of the week. it is moving its way southwards but rather slowly, rather erratically because the progress is being delayed by a little wave on that front. so it stalls things a bit. could get a bit of rain for while still, across northern ireland on wednesday, northern england perhaps into wales. we should see more sunshine coming in to scotland and northern ireland — cooler, fresher air here. towards southern parts of england and wales, midlands, south—east in particular, where we get some sunshine, it will feel very warm. that is the last of the humid air,

mind you, because that weather front is going to push its way down towards the south—east. the other one following in the north is more of an intensification of the showers. not much rain on the first one, actually, but it is the boundary between the humid air that is getting pushed into the near continent, and cooler and fresh air that's coming down from the north—west. sunshine around on thursday. a few showers, mainly for scotland, but temperatures across the board will be a little bit lower. we'll keep that north—westerly airflow for friday as well, but we start to see some rain coming down into more northern parts of the uk. always going to be drier across southern areas of the uk, but by the end of the week it is not going to be as warm. this is bbc news. the headlines: the eurozone group of countries says greece is now free to borrow money on the financial markets following the successful completion of its third financial bailout programme. athens has been given loans worth over 300 billion us dollars over the past three years. elderly south koreans have travelled to north korea for three days

of family reunions with relatives from whom they were separated when the two countries split. rescue teams continue to step up their efforts to try and reach thousands of stranded families in flood—hit indian province of kerala. almost 200 people have died in the last 10 days and thousands have been left homeless. now on bbc news — kofi annan, the first black african to become un