♪ kurdish fighters continue to make gains in northern syria as they advance closer to i.s.i.l.'s stronghold of raqqa. you are watching al jazeera and i'm laura kyle and also ahead the death toll in pakistan continues to rise at least 400 people have now died in southern providence providence. more controversy over the u.s. confederate flag with growing cause for removal in public

places. ♪ and a swift u-turn by apple over music royalty payments. ♪ kurdish fighters in syria made more advances against the islamic state and levante and protection units or ypg have driven out fighters from the base of the stronghold of raqqa city and backed by u.s. air strikes and the base is important because it links them to ohiother i.s.i.l. bases and they secured the town about 50 kilometers north of raqqa causing i.s.i.l. to completely withdraw and we reports. >> reporter: this kurdish fighter says they discovered a tunnel used by islamic state of iraq and levante on

syrian/turkish border and not clear if they were used to smuggling people or materials and they go by ypg have made gains on the border and took over this border post and now the fighting is over hundreds returned and they opened the border to the surrounding areas and despite pushing back i.s.i.l. there are concerns over their advances. syria's main opposition group and fighters accused the kurds of abusing and driving out tribesmen and says it made a factfinding mission with activists and rights groups to assess the situation but they were blocked from entering. >> translator: we were asked to communicate with the ypg forces but they refused to allow members of the factfinding community to enter claiming they have a political position to ypg

and the committee is biased. ypg fighters denied discrimination and abuse and checkpoints on the border are for security. >> translator: we share administration of the town with all as this country is for all, ypg is for arabs before it's for the kurds. >> ypg alarming turkey and accused of ethnic cleansing inside syria and turkish government considers the establishment of this on the border a red line. >> if they make major gains in raqqa you will find others investing resources and president erdiwan is saying look they are helping the kurds at the expense of the arabs in syria, this has become a major security concern inside turkey. >> reporter: kurdish fighters advanced to the outskirts of aleppo province and backed by u.s. air strikes they have taken

raqqa under i.s.i.l. control and consolidating gains in idlib province and this is where i.s.i.l. used to carry out public executions there are concerns about ethnic biases and go back home hoping the worst is over. al jazeera. united nations investigators accused both sides of syrian conflict of targeting civilians and say the government dropped barrel bombs on aleppo nearly every day this year and rebel groups seized cities depriving people of food and medicine and commission of inquiry said they had five lists of suspected war criminals. the u.s. air strike in iraq killed a man linked to 2012 attack on the compound in benghazi in libya. and ali was an i.s.i.l. fighter and he says he was killed in a strike on mosul in iraq last

week. u.s. ambassador to libya and three other americans were killed in that 2012 attack. lebanon's interior minister promised a transparent investigation into the abuse of inmates at the country's main jail. the video emerged showing prison guards beating detainees facing terrorism-related charges and we have more. >> reporter: these men were shown in a video from lebanon's prison and they were filmed being beaten kicked and hit with plastic rods. the minister of interior has paid them a visit and promised to prosecute the perpetrators. >> translator: the results of the investigation and rulings on them will be made public and nothing will be kept secret. regarding what was said about the sectarian issue, three muslims and three christians have been arrested for questioning. >> reporter: the case has brought to the forefront the issues of torture, abuse and

miss treatment of inmates held on terrorism-related charges. families of the prisoners and supporters of the movement accuse the military courts of delaying the trials of their sons because of sectarian reasons and someone of dire sequences of the delayed trials are not expedited. >> translator: there are some who have interesting exploding the country but we as the association of muslims call us seek to end the issue of inmates very quickly, that is what the minister of justice has promised us. >> reporter: the u.n. and rights groups in lebanon say torture. take you now to berlin a press conference given by the journalist ahmed mansour and his lawyer lawyer. >> so each journalist view has acted adopting my case as his own. we are all working for the freedom for supression and i was

confident from that very moment i was innocent and i was set up in a fabricated baseless groundless case. for the record the exception in a statement released by him last october stated that we have 180 cases against myself, against ahmed mansour. this was what was stated by the egyptian attorney general. he stated that they will

continue to hunt me down until i'm arrested and brought back into egypt. you can imagine an entire state with its full-fledged authorities are hunting down one single journalist simply for having the voice of dictatorship in egypt. simply vow inging and endeavoring like yourselves to disclose the truth. i extend all thanks and appreciation to all journalists and free men worldwide especially all the german

journalists who have been supporting me across the media outlets of germany. i openly state to the whole world we are all here journalists at one front. we are sitting here in the same hole where the dictator of egypt abdel-fattah el-sissi has held a press conference with the german chancellor merkel a few days ago. we are here at the same hole where the dictator of egypt stood up. it is a clear message from free

germany to the whole world that it is a free country, honoring and nurturing the freedom of suppression. it sees me a journalist who has been sought after and requested by the abdel-fattah el-sissi, the dick -- dictator of egypt and me addressing the journalists and the whole world from the same chamber as sisi addressed the journalists a few days ago. once again i thank all free men worldwide who is been supporting me. i thank all the german

politicians who have backed me and embraced my case. and he spoke to me the moment i was arrested at the airport and the leader of the green party others from the ruling party, the socialists and also others from the democratic christian party who have been backing me throughout from the moment i was arrested and have been supporting my case.

and particularly i extend all thanks and appreciation to the german attorney general. who refused to succumb to all political and diplomatic pressures as has been benefit from the statement released yesterday and i also thank all the honest and honorable judges german judges who and the german judiciary is honest transparent and flawless and before you i

vow and promise before you and before all free, honest journalists to continue to maintain holding stead fast to the ethics of free journalism and to continue to shoulder my responsibility towards you and towards my viewers. and to continue to honor and cherish the code of ethics of al jazeera so that al jazeera will remain and under privileges will remain the voice of the voiceless and the voice of the under privileged people worldwide. now, i hand over the podium to

the moderator of the conference whom i extend special thanks and gratitude and it was an honor for me to meet him. >> reporter: that was ahmed mansour speaking the arabic journalist and trying to get on a flight we egypt who said he tortured a lawyer in the square back in 2011 and he denies those charges and germany released ahmed mansour after holding him two days citing political and diplomatic concerns. euro zone deal could be reached in days and discussing a

proposal proposal. athens had to repay the international monetary fund $1.8 billion by the end of the month or default on debt and includes increasing taxes on wealthy and spending lesson pensions and john has the latest from athens. >> reporter: if greece ends up accepting the proposals as they now stand they will have to extract another $3 billion from an already heavily taxed economy this year and rough live $5.5 billion next year, that is over and above budget predictions because rather than growing as predicted this year the economy is again shrinking to the tune of half to three quarters appointed gdp and means that tax revenues are smaller than they would have been because economic turn over is smaller than it would have been and has difficulties for the government because they were elected in january promising no more

austerity measures but presented with increased taxation and increased pension contributions and possibly more spending cuts which we will have to see along the way should they become necessary. this means that cesar will end up coming back to athens with a difficult plan, one it may not be able to sell to all party members particularly the hard left which has drawn a red line and said we will not vote for anything that involves more tax extraction or more austerity and may mean that cesar has to go to opposition the conservatives and the socialists who were in power up until january in order to get this plan passed but if that happens, if cesar is split in the middle in parliament can it remain in power and can they remain in the prime minister seat and it is a very politically intense time once the negotiation is over in brussels because there will another battle in greece in order to get measures past. foreign minister calling

arrest of the country's spy chief an outrage and he is accused of engaging in reprisal killings after rwanda 1994 genocide and expected in court in london on thursday. the heat wave in pakistan claimed more than 400 victims and most of the casualties have been in the southern port city of karachi where temperatures reached 45 degrees celsius and swamped with people with heat stroke and dehydration and power outages left many without air conditioning and running water. conversetroversy about the confederate flag following a shooting and dyllan roof was seen with a flag and is seen as a sign of slavery and want it removed from the state capitol and we report from charleston.

>> it's time to move the flag from the capitol grounds. [applause] surrounded by a by partisan group of state and federal officials south carolina governor niki haley joined the course of calls to move the confederate flag. >> for good or bad if it's on the state house grounds or a music the flag will always be part of the soil of south carolina but this is a moment in which we can say that flag while an integral part of our past does not represent the future of our great state. >> reporter: the governor's comments came hours after a religious and political leaders in charleston called for action. >> the time has come to remove the symbol of hate and the vision from our state capitol. the time has come for the general assembly to do what it ought to have done a long time ago. >> reporter: south carolina's use of the confederate flag became an issue once again after

pictures emerged showing accused church gunman dylann roof waving and posing with banners and on sunday they gathered at the capitol in columbia to call for it to be taken down and spray painted black lives matter on a confederate monument in charleston and joseph riley led a march to columbia calling for the flag to be removed from the top of the capitol dome and a compromise from the dome to the current location at a nearby monument for soldiers and requires two thirds majority from the assembly to make changes and political leaders say there are a growing number of lawmakers in favor of removing the flag but some political leaders say that is only the start and there is more work to be done. >> it will not solve the racial divide in south carolina.

we need a positive discourse on the problems that continue to plague our state. >> reporter: del walters al jazeera, south carolina. the world's biggest retailer walmart is taking the flag from the shops and website and retail giant says it does not want its products to offense anyone and will remove confederate flags sold by third parties on its website. mexican police have discovered the bodies of ten people buried in several graves in a resort city of alcopolco and has drug violence and killed 100,000 people since 2007. the serbian government has shock at hungry proposal to build a 175 kilometer fence on border to

stop the flow of migrants and it's one of many countries effected by the refugee crisis and spoke to people in the border town before they tried to cross into hungry. >> reporter: been on the road for weeks across several countries and dehydrated and hungry and an afraid of arrest and police violence. >> so we are in an organization and provide medical. >> reporter: the charity msf visits twice a week at the far end of the camp the medic finds a woman who suffered a miscarriage and many left family be home in war zones prefer not to be identified. where do you guys all come from? >> afghanistan. everyone from afghanistan? >> afghanistan, all of us these guys from taliban province. >> everywhere we go problem. >> reporter: police were asking for money? >> yes, they ask about money.

>> reporter: the police beat you up? >> strongly beat. my whole body i feel pain. >> reporter: where are you going? >> i'm going to austria. >> i go to belgium. >> reporter: belgium. >> london. >> reporter: seldom stay more than a night or two in these little encampments in the long grass here and desperate people and courageous people resting their legs and bones before continuing a long long journey leaving far behind them countries like afghanistan and syria and yemen and iraq and not far ahead of them now along a well-worn path the hungry border and the european union. so the people are often in quite bad shape when they reach this point in their journey, are they? >> yes of course they have been coming here like really exhausting and really tired and like they really need help and

medical care. >> reporter: and he is a prosecutor who fled afghanistan with his wife and two children and she needs medical attention, the children ask for sweets and chocolate. what do you tell them about the future? what do you tell them about the life that they can expect in europe? >> i would like to have a good future because if you leave the country for them because they should get an education. >> reporter: another frequent visitor here is a hungry priest his van filled with donations of bread, water and basics like socks and shoes. >> i've seen many thousands of people here but this is just a fraction of the people crossing the border and many of them are not coming right here which is going directly because they have their ways and have the smuggler, you know system working. >> reporter: within hours most will have left on the road to

what they hope is a better life the only certainty is that many more will follow. al jazeera, serbia. japan's prime minister has been heckled at a memorial marking okinawa and told go home to mark the 70 00 anniversary and protests about a new u.s. air base in the bay. south korea has apologized for failing to do enough to stop the spread of middle east respiratory syndrome. half of 175 mers cases in south korea have been traced to the samsung medical center in seoul. >> translator: our samsung medical center was unable to stop the mers infection and it spread and caused too much concern to the public. i bow my head in apology. >> reporter: at least 18 people have died of cholera in south

sudan and confirmed 171 cases of the outbreak which began in crowded u.n. bases in the capitol duba and spread to other parts of the city. cholera out break last year killed nearly 170 people. and herbal medicine is so popular in ghanna that the world health organization believes 70% of people use it before going to see a professional doctor and said the industry needs better regulation and we report. >> reporter: she started learning about the power of herbs from her grandfather when she was a child. now she is in her 90s and she is passing the knowledge on to her own draughters, together they run one of the few herbal farms in the country. they try to preserve and protect herbs with healing properties that are dying out. >> we know what we are doing and we try helping people and we are doing well. people like to come to us

instead of hospital and they don't like to go to see a doctor doctor. >> reporter: the government is trying to work with traditional healers. many doctors recognize that they contribute to a healthcare system that is under pressure. but they say regulation is a problem problem. >> so people just get up, go into there and start curing people and the thing that the drugs that they use is something that i have concern with. >> reporter: herbal medicine has grown into an industry and consumers bombarded with advertisements and no science to backup the claims. you can find all kinds of herbal products along the roadside and processed and packaged it's supposed to be registered and

approved but that is not the case. the government is warning people of the dangers of unregulated herbal medicine and advises people to look for registerled healers like this one. some patients have few options especially when medical services are too far away and too costly. she is calling on the government to do more to integrate the different kinds of healthcare. al jazeera. now tech giant apple has reversed its policy on music royalty payments and comes after multi award winning singer taylor swift wrote a block slamming the company and we explain why. ♪ pop music mega star taylor swift took a bite out of apple for the plan to pay artists nothing for the first three months of apple's streaming service and swift said she would not allow apple to play her new up coming

album on the service explaining in a blog post says this is not about me it's about the new artist or band who just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. three months is a long time to go unpaid. >> her letter was saying wait a minute. there is something here that is not good for artists and i object. >> reporter: one of those artists is patrick mcrath trying to scrape by the artistic hub of brooklyn new york where emerging artists try to break into the big time. ♪ he describes himself as a needle in a hipster hay stack. >> i don't think people really see the big picture like some of your favorite bands for instance and if they need to make money they will continue to do that. >> reporter: swift's outcry got a swift response sensing a public relations disaster apple music capitulated announcing it

would pay artists after all during that three-month introductory period and other streaming or subscription services like spotify and pandora they royalties but the amounts are very small, a few fractions of a cent per listen. industry analysts say most artists know they will not get rich from their music. >> for anybody who is not at that stratosphere taylor swift level it's what they do as artists and what do they do to make money and how do they get paid and i think realistically many artists realize the record industry has been really pumped by digital technology. >> reporter: dickel technology has given artists an unprecedented avenue to reach a worldwide audience but they see

that art as mere contents and pay artists as little as they can get away with how that will effect music going forward remains a work in progress. rob reynolds al jazeera, los angeles. much more to be found on our website, there it is al jazeera.com. >> retiring the confederate flag in the south. politicians unite across party lines for taking the flag down. >> down to the wire for a debt deal with increase, holding off default with growing optimism a deal can be reached. >> hawaii