Greek crisis: What next?
New bailout package means further austerity measures, despite recent negotiations in which Greeks pleaded for leniency.
After months of negotiations, the Greek government has finally obtained a new rescue package. However, the platform on which the Greek prime minister originally campaigned has been shattered, and while the euro still exists, there is more austerity to come and a growing mountain of debt.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras gave creditors almost everything they asked for, including placing Greece’s assets into a 50bn euro fund.
The Greeks failed to sell their airports, ports and other industries as agreed in the past two bailouts, so the creditors will now handle the process.
And despite saying Greek debt is still unsustainable, the International Monetary Fund is back on board with more loans.
The latest bailout is seen as a major victory for the big players in the euro club, notably Germany. But the meetings were, by all accounts, brutal in their honesty and their demands.
With the exit scenario being seriously considered – the president of the European Commission Donald Tusk is reported to have told German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Tsipras: “Sorry, but there is no way you are leaving this room.”
Tusk’s hard talk avoided a Grexit, however Germany has collected accusations of bullying smaller nations along the way.
But what is next for Greece and its people? What has changed? Is Greece’s debt sustainable? Have future generations been compromised with this new agreement? And how long will it take before the country recovers?
Peter Sanfey, the Deputy Director of Country Strategy and Policy at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, joins the programme, while Andrew Thomas brings the stories of those Greeks who have chosen to leave the country.
Iran: Historic nuclear deal
After years of negotiations, a landmark deal has been signed to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.
The agreement was reached after months of talks between Tehran and the P5 1 nations, the US, Britain, China, France, Russia plus Germany. Under the deal, some economic sanctions will be lifted once Iran abides by commitments to curtail its nuclear activity.
However, it is really Iran’s relationship with the US that formed the backbone of the whole story of mistrust.
For Americans, there is the 1979 hostage drama at the US embassy in Tehran, while for Iranians, a CIA-sponsored coup in 1953 that overthrew a democratically-elected prime minster is still remembered.
Ali Velshi travels to Iran in a special in-depth report and tells us the history of the two nations and how sanctions on Iran changed the game.
Devastating effects of illegal tin mining
Indonesia is the world’s biggest tin exporter. The metal is used to make all sorts of things like mobile phones, laptop computers and tablets. However, for many poverty-stricken miners, the costs are deadly.
Illegal tin mines can be found everywhere on Bangka Island. It is dangerous work, with an average of 70 to 100 miners dying every year.
“Sometimes they are buried for days before we can recover the bodies, sometimes four to five people die in a landslide. If we dig like six or eight metres, then the risk of the sand falling on us is much higher,” Kassim bin Saleh, an illegal miner tells Al Jazeera.
But the job is the best paid on the island, so many miners are willing to take that risk.
From Bangka Island, Stefanie Dekker reports on the devastating effects of illegal mining on the people who work there and on the environment.