>> this is "bbc newsnight." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, shell, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in. working to nurture new ventures

and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energy. that is why we are supplying cleaner-burning natural gas to generate electricity, and it is also why with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol, a biofuel made from renewable sugar cane. let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. >> after the shooting in south africa -- they mourn their dead. how far have they moved on from their past.

this week, we hear how south africa responded to the death of more than 40 people. clashes between mineworkers and police. >> it is shocking. we are all ashamed. askseece's prime minister for more time to get its economy in order. >> nice to meet you. >> and a futuristic glove that can translate sign language and why some in the deaf community are worried. >> will this technology improve access to deaf people? i don't think so. the reason being sign language is much more than just hand movements. >> hello. south africa has been mourning

the dead miners, victims of a crackdown by security forces after industrial action, and president jacob zuma has set up terms for the judicial inquiry. the dispute claimed the lives of more than 20, but it has become something of a turf war, symptomatic of a country still deeply ill at ease with itself and its quest for work of freedom 18 years after the end of apartheid. >> after the killings and the bitter recriminations, time to remember the dead. in an enormous marquee set alongside worker shacks, all sides came together at last. mindy lost her husband more than a week ago. he was among the 24 striking miners killed by police.

>> the minister of police and the outspoken bishop, who have been trying to broker an end to the strike in a volatile situation in which police and minors accused each other of violence . two days earlier, two policemen were among the others killed -- during a feud between rival mining unions. >> originally, there were to be two rival memorial services. one official event and a second service organized by the striking miners themselves. the two sides have been brought together after last-minute negotiations, a rare and welcome sign of unity in a community bitterly divided since the killings here last week. this is where the 34 miners were killed, close to where the memorial service is being held. they came charging down from the rocky outcrop towards the police line. what happened next was the most bloody security operation since

the days of apartheid. >> it is clear from the pictures that police opened fire with assault rifles at close range. but it is hard to tell whether the miners had guns as well as so-called traditional weapons like machetes. >> where in the west of the scene people confronting the police. there is nothing traditional about this. what was the problem? >> these are killings that have shocked south africa. >> the shootings last week were the most bloody security operation since the days of apartheid. >> what does it mean for south africa?

>> it is shocking and disgraceful. we are all ashamed. >> miners in south africa's no. was province from all over the country and beyond simply because there is work here. there are complaints about conditions and, of course, wages. rock drillers earned 400 pounds a week and are on strike because they want that tripled. she came here to follow her husband, a rock driller who was shot dead by police last week. she lives in one room with a young son and a two-week old baby. >> my husband was there and wanted a living wage. they were underpaid. they are working difficult conditions. >> what is he going to do now?

>> living here with my husband. now i do not know how i will cope without my husband. the only person that was linked to me was my husband. >> the men who run the mines say 4000 people live in a hostile, converted to single-family units. thousands of others live in these informal settlements and are paid a housing allowance. the conditions here are basic, putting it mildly. families here have just one room. >> we could hear, hear. everything is here. sometimes, the water is rough coming out. very difficult. sometimes they have two or three

children. >> the conditions of miners have not changed much. in fact, there is evidence that the living allowances are not sufficient and that the workers are living in appalling conditions. it is no different than the hostile -- hostel. >> should the amc the blame for the housing conditions? ministers suggest the nine companies should do more. >> we would like any employee, for that matter, that they can provide for activities for their workers. >> can you put pressure on companies? >> you cannot force anyone to

do anything. >> the killings insured that this would become far more than just a dispute about mine wages. the amc have been in power for 18 years and are increasingly tense -- criticized for not delivering on jobs or public services. the leaders are often seen as elite and remove from ordinary people. >> how big a crisis is this? >> reputation has surely been damaged by the strike and not just because of the killings. the strike has been led by the breakaway union, which has accused the establishment of being too close to the minors. >> at the moment, people are saying that are very close. do you think all of this is

making people less keen? >> yes. >> another problem they face is that of a dilemma. once leader of the youth league, they are not expelled from the party. >> when we met him, he was at the local police station with striking mineworkers, laying charges against the police over the killings. >> the argument is that those people had weapons, and therefore, they were dangerous. it is not true. you must go and look at mr. zuma 's pictures. he carries the same weapon these workers carry. there is nothing dangerous about those weapons. >> but police also say the workers were charging out from

using guns and machetes. >> no, there is an argument that it was a worker who was the first issue. let's say for argument's sake there was such a worker. highly trained police should have the capacity to identify that worker, isolate him, and take him on. >> the potential damage caused by the strike and killings appear the president who faces reelection as party leader at the end of the year will be looking at the role of rival unions and the police. i'm still confident they have not lost backing because of this? >> i don't think so. you can only judge that by the elections themselves. >> but the bishop is not so confident. he argues the strike and killings are symptomatic of a dangerously divided south

africa. >> we have a serious problem of greed. there is corruption. >> agreed from the management? greed from home? >> management. they want to make more money. our petitions are not doing as much as they promised to. teh poor -- the poor must be looked after. what must be shared. but that is not happening. >> how big a problem could this become? >> it could lead to a conflict. it could lead to the poor rising up against the ridge. >> it has been an extraordinary and frightening week. it started with the killings in this rocky outcrop and ended with soul-searching over problems that will affect the entire country. >> this week, global investors

have been watching the latest trauma in athens as the prime minister makes his -- begs his european colleagues for more time to deal with problems. since july, stock markets have risen on the expectation that in the end, the european central bank would intervene to address the crisis, but with investors still waiting for news that the ecb is stepping in, we have reports on another long, hot summer. >> continental europe has been suffering under dangerously high temperatures for the past few weeks, and the eurozone crisis, which is now over 1000 days old, is heating up again, and greece is back in a frying pan. it was a two-year extension on its latest 130 billion euro bailout loan from the so-called troika, which only agreed last

month. this week, the new greek prime minister hosted jean-claude juncker, who along with the rest of the troika has twice failed grease out. the official line was we have a clear process in place, which is code for no changes to the deal torturously agreed six months ago. body language experts have been employed to see if there was any change to the mood music. >> you have to discuss the other dimensions of the problem when we are taking on the findings of the troika. >> and economy in prolonged recession with soaring unemployment, particularly among young people, cannot stand on its own feet. >> after words, mr. samaras

invited mr. juncker for further talks in his car. also jetted off to berlin for talks with angela merkel, who he hopes is upbeat after her holiday. but creditor nations in the north are a lot cooler on the idea. the german mp from angela merkel's gdu hinted that germany was throwing good money after bad by lending money to greece. what is the point of german taxpayers getting if you's if the desert cannot or will not pay? so why give greece more time when it has barely started to make the structural changes it agreed to? >> the economy is still in a tailspin. there is a recognition that there is a need to provide additional relief for a couple of years so that the new government can meet its fiscal target, and that, of course,

creates additional financing, which is a difficult competition amongst creditor countries. >> meanwhile, something big is in the offing in frankfurt. home to the european central bank. it looks like a final use the biggest arsenal in its arsenal for a program of unemployment -- unlimited bond buying here that means the ecb will effectively go to war with the markets and buy up government bonds of weaker countries in the hope of ending the volatility, which has dogged the zone for almost three years. >> expect to hear the words conditionality and convertibility. conditionality is the strings or conditions attached by the ecb on spain if it is to buy its bonds on an open-ended basis. spanish and italians may have to bear their pride and formally apply for a bailout from the esm and esfs.

if the very future of the currency is called into doubt, then the germans may allow the ecb to do whatever, and we mean whatever, is necessary to save the single currency. >> the talk of major intervention has already stopped the slide in the euro against most major currencies and dramatically lowered italian and spanish borrowing costs, down 11% and 17% respectively over the past month. if markets, taxpayers, politicians, and the weather were to line up correctly, could we ever arrive at utopia? >> we could see them buy enough time to slowly and incrementally and very deliberately move towards a fiscal and banking and political union, but unless we eventually get to either debt mutual is asian or debt modernization or both, i do not think we will see an equilibrium in the common currency area.

>> for now, the eurozone remains a top issue, but as citizens did however nobly toward a union which you would have forecast in the eurozone. >> a virtual reality star glove that can turn sunlight into speech. sounds like a technological breakthrough, something you might expect would be welcome, but not by everyone. the attention has turned a spotlight on society's attitude toward the deaf people it sets out to help. the details of the project and the question it raises for us all. >> it is a much quieter world

for some 70 million people across the globe. but this team from the ukraine says it has come up with a technical solution. like the best of intentions, it sounds simple -- virtual reality-style gloves that can turn sign language into speech. we spoke to to the view of the team's from a radio studio in kiev and ask them to give us a demo. >> nice to meet you. >> how does it actually work? >> here are the gloves, and they are fitted with sensors on the fingers. also, there is a micro controller that has other sensors inside it. the micro controller gathers all the data from all of the sensors. as the user moves his hand. but not in case your dropping off, the unit on the back of the hand includes a compass, and accelerometers, and a gyroscope.

together, these track the hand as it makes shape. software on the laptop compares the destination with sons already stored in its memory. it finds a match, it produces the relevant sounds. >> the system really works. >> well, yes, but it has shortcomings. it accepts only a dozen hand movements which are not sign language, and it cannot translate spontaneously. but then, this is only a prototype. all inventions have to start somewhere. much like this, the computer that has proved such a hit. we passed one of the men behind it when he made of the ukrainian gloves -- we asked one of the men. >> i think it is an amazing piece of technology. i love it when technology helps people engage with the world. i am surprised at the number of people is to possibly engage with pierre the fact that it works as a mobile phone is great. i think any use of technology like this makes the world a

better place. >> ukrainian team told us they had been motivated by the wish to help fellow deaf students to communicate more effectively. so do all deaf people welcome their well-meaning a tent? >> will this technology improved access to deaf people? i don't think so. the reason being sign language is much more than just hand movements. there are a lot of linguistics involved. gloves cannot solve that. second, why is it important for deaf people on their own to change and match the community? deaf people want access, and that is my main concern. >> his point is that a technical fix will not solve the more entrenched problem. access for deaf people to essential services and employment remains poor.

>> the competition is sponsored by various companies, and the team has won $25,000 by getting through to the final and winning that. could that money have been better spent, do you think? >> well, we already have things such as skype. we have something called yuvo. the problem with these services is we need more money to interpret for deaf people. >> critics also view the glove

as impractical, too clunky for a factory worker or bus driver. >> you basically promised that we will produce a working solution. i know many people are counting on us, and every day, we receive e mails with people asking us to test our prototype. we are sorry. it is not ready yet, but we are really working on it. >> the team says it will spend its money improving the system, and innovators might argue it is hard to condemn it too soon. >> with all these technologies, i would hope it would get better with time. this is a fantastic first step, and as it improves, as more people use it, i can only see it becoming better. >> perhaps the question is which of these approaches communicates the most and for whom? >> how many people can understand me?

>> to discuss why this invention has proved so controversial, my colleague spoke to someone on the panel which awarded the prize to the ukrainian team, and a percussionist you might have seen playing at the olympic opening ceremony. >> what do you think could be the importance of this. obviously, it is being developed, but how good could this be? >> it is a step on the road. you have got a bunch of motivated engineers. if they can get the people who would use the device more directly involved with it, then it is a very good step. as the last gentleman said, it is a very nice development because it provides the security which you can build on and you can play with and throw at people and see what they like. >> what are you worried about? >> i am still unsure how it can

help deaf people. sign language is really about body language. there are so many layers and expression to this. it involves the whole body. when you are hearing impaired, you very much rely on something that is visual, and i think this device may in fact be an important step for people who cannot use the voice, but who can actually hear. it could be for people who still have the mobility of hands and who could learn the basics of sign language. any individual web by something is preventing them from being able to speak. likewise, it could help very elderly people whereby the idea of lipreading and sign language is just too great a hurdle at such a late stage.

again, if very basic sign language is employed, they can in fact communicate with their families and friends. >> what do thing could happen? you said it was just that, to perhaps remove some of the skepticism, answer the question, and then move it on, so it works in a way that would be really useful to deaf people. >> the great thing about getting these kinds of dialogue going, we get publicity for this technology, which then brings in people like yourself. >> you could throw in your lot because the computer program does not you -- do what the user wanted. that happens. it is not a big surprise when that takes place. this is not quite a case in point, but you bring in the users. sometimes you have to have a vehicle for discussion. you cannot just say let's see what we can do to make life better. that is much easier to say we have this thing, we can track your hand, said it to the computer, said it to the back in for processing, bring it back

and do something with it. now how could you use that to improve your lot? then we start it a rating, and we add behavior's. i've gesture and official recognition is important, okay, we can put that tech in. we now have recognition money in terrorism and said phones. there are new sensors coming along. it kind of drives this and gets these wheels turning. >> we will leave it there. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> that is all for this week. from all of us here, goodbye. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, union bank, and

shell. >> at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energy. that is why we are supplying cleaner-burning natural gas to generate electricity. it is also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol, a biofuel made from renewable sugar cane. let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. let's go. >>