heard. just now raping and. killing children in front of their family raped in front of parents deuced was horrible the main thing is that they cannot return until. routine state is saved and they have security going or for. that cannot happen as long as the perpetrators of the. of this genocide are still three and so the first thing that has to happen is that those perpetrators have to be held accountable and there has to be investigation i.c.t. needs to be involved. and the people of myanmar must call for these perpetrators to be held accountable. still ahead on the first commercial flight from ethiopia to eritrea and twenty years seals there are also.

thailand's rescued young footballers relive the moment they were found dead inside a flooded cave. welcome back we'll look at weather conditions across asia this time and look at the satellite imagery it generally looks fine across much of this region and certainly for japan the heat wave is really taking hold we've had a lot of fatalities as a result not just a very high daytime temperatures but high nighttime temperatures and very high humidity levels so that's expected to continue as we head on through into the weekend not a great deal of change but i see some rain pushing up into parts of the south later on weather front is pushing towards beijing so fine for much of the day showers

expected later on across more southern areas well this is what's left of in this tropical storm which is given fast amounts rains huge rainfall totals being reported in vinh for instance and this system is likely just to meander around northern parts of vietnam and through into laos and miramar over the next forty eight to seventy two hours so really very wet weather is likely how think flooding is a real risk all the way from northern vietnam across lives in particular and towards me amar so as they move across into southeastern parts of asia we've got heavy rain affecting northern parts of the philippines but as we come southwards weather conditions looking cheering up too bad across much of borneo is looking fine across bali java too with highs of thirty three in jakarta. a bit of a strange day to start these interviews we just heard today to city of aleppo has fallen. or should we say liberated.

one or four astonishing stories tode and their own why it's how did you know who to trust and not to trust. a stranger came to town witness on al-jazeera. good to have you with us on al jazeera these are our top stories israel has passed a controversial law that for the first time declares the country to be the nation state of the jewish people and the legislation also makes hebrew the only official language downgraded the status of arabic and in colleges the building of jewish

communities. are reported to have identified russian suspects who poisoned a former double agent and. the press association says police have security camera video of nerve agents being planted the kremlin denies involvement in attacking six and. four months ago. and two towns and serious problems have been evacuated after a deal struck between opposition fighters and pro-government forces regime forces have their families. and cafe in the north west the shia towns have been under siege by sunni rebels for more than four years. now a court ruling in lebanon on homosexuality is being hailed as a victory for being gay bisexual and transgender people were gay sex is considered a criminal offense under a lebanese law prohibiting sexual acts considered to be against nature convictions carry a twelve month prison sentence the appeals court has acquitted nine people prosecuted

for being gay judges ruled that the law should not apply to homosexuality the appeals court as the second highest and mebane and its ruling could influence others in the lower courts well let's get more on this now we're joined by george executive director of the arab foundation for freedoms. and equality and he's joining us live via skype from a very very good to have you with us on al-jazeera so we have seen lower courts ruling this way over the past few years but what do you hope will be the impact of this forwarding by the appeals court given the the mall authority that it does carry. me i think it's important to understand for us to change the law we have to receive the word literally was the parliament or through court but the recent years our point of has the completely dysfunctional change of those are practically impossible and most of the grounds and those of human rights

have been through courts i think and thirty four which condemns natural intercourse has been used against their duty to community the article is very. it's going to provision is actually a very complicated so having this kind of cruelty appeared saying that this i think is cannot be used to get to community that is a huge step towards changing the meaning of this though it is illegal to them and do you hope that it will be done on a parliamentary level especially given that during the last elections we did have a number of parliamentarians saying that they support you know repealing the code that criminalizes hundred sexuality. really had some promises. to be of that they would keep the promises i'm not sure that we would see in the coming. the coming years that is a possibility but seeing how things are more will drink faster i think that our hope is more and it's just good services to know more than the parliament and why

do you think we are seeing this trend in the judicial system not to decriminalize the sexuality enough to something that does continue. for as for pay or what make lebanon the first arab country to decriminalize homosexuality. it would be the first country to officially say that they were not committed as it was actually. many other countries don't have specific laws against homosexuality but they do. because. this is the case of egypt and jordan for example but i think they've been saying appreciate that we were not. there to make them different to the first culture and we're hoping that this will start. as well mr as it's great to get your thoughts on this that's george as a joining us live from beirut thank you. now there are growing calls globally from the crowd was president daniel ortega to stand down after months of

deadly unrest many analysts say or think it is on the same path as the dictator of a thirty nine years ago but those loyal to him maintained his government is the best ever marianna sanchez reports from the capital managua. thirty nine years ago the impasse stored at best known as common then fought side by side with the big and other revolutionaries who toppled dictator anastasio so most. leaders of the sandinista revolution they dreamed of a country free and democratic is the mahdi he's now eighty two years old but in past two days a staunch supporter of president. has governed that i was for eleven consecutive years in three presidential terms but in the period before there are social projects food bonuses hospitals free health care that's the social economic and political transformation i fought for and that's what daniel was doing. inspired by

ideals of social and economic justice by you was a young urban guerrilla fighter but now he says the sun the nice does have taken away his greatest love and his eighteen year old daughter he says. she was a rest. i'm frustrated because as young people we are dreamers idealists we dream that our country will be a paradise. but these families here are waiting for their children to be freed from. human rights organizations say hundreds of people have been detained in the past three months of protest some of them are here at the prison and they could be charged to twenty years in prison under the new anti-terrorism law. but biggest government says it is fighting terrorist groups that want to overthrow the democratically elected government. but rights defender says

he's desperate. now that the july nineteenth celebration of debris evolution and so on i think he wants to show that he holds all the power with even one celebrating him but he's desperate you know he's got everything against. the revolutionary. and his government have been exemplary. i thought i was going to die in peace watching this triumphant revolution and thinking that if we were on the same path for ten more years would have immigrants coming here to work would be the envy of the region. ones are in the deepest social and political crisis since the revolution uncertain of what will come. you know. journalists in eritrea so troops are withdrawing from the border with ethiopia the gesture of reconciliation coincides with the expected arrival of

ethiopia's ambassador to eritrea for the first time in decades the apartment of that one hussein follows the reopening of the ever tray an embassy and a few days ago relations are being the story but after the leaders of both countries agreed to a pasting following a twenty border dispute and the resumption of commercial flights between ethiopia and eritrea has led to emotional reunions hundreds of people boarded the first flight between the two nations and twenty muhammad reports from addison. dignitaries journalists and businessmen board what if you open airlines calls it's butt of peace it's the first flight from a to sublet to their tran couple tell us mother this century this name is how. we are on anything as this. and the fact that. this shows. that and that is that.

the airline operated two flights within fifteen minutes of each other because of overwhelming demand the majority on board are people separated from their funds by the board which began in one thousand nine hundred eighty. we caught up with artist alan hard go a journalist with the state media as he packed his bags he was separated from his a chair wife and two daughters seventeen years ago she was forced to flee if the being sacked from her government job in ethiopia because of honest knowledge that he just got a good look at us and i will believe this is not a dream when i land in asmara i had never imagined the possibility of peace between ethiopia and eritrea during my lifetime the weight and lack of communication with my family was painful i felt like i had an incurable disease us model becomes the one hundred fifteen for this notion for if you are felons which are also announced

because of quiet twenty percent of the little known as a friend allies the role of linking the two countries as a full funding of waited before vehicles allowed to fly again. at a train has agreed to grant access to its ports a boon for ethiopia which lost its main group to the sea with the outbreak of the wall twenty years ago if we started connecting our populations we have big market. by some token a chance with the push and soon fifty source of hope that the opening of the port and the launching to penalized was not a good for the strings in the twenty first deals a bit of trip. to new ties with its much larger neighbor with a population of more than one hundred million people also raises the prospect of revival for a trail ailing economy many are now hoping the tricky exit. in the disputed border . quickly and smoothly as the process to normalize relations.

the leaders of egypt and saddam will meet later on thursday to discuss ongoing tensions over disputed border regions and threats toward security for both countries water supply will be affected by the five billion dollars. renaissance is completed. said on continues to demand united nations mediation over the disputed oil and mineral rich rich region of the triangle. nigerian police say eight suspected vocal had all members have confessed to being involved in the abduction of the chibok school girls the men are among twenty two members of the arrested over the last two weeks across northeastern and borno states the abduction of the two hundred and seventy girls from their school caused global outrage and twenty fourteen police say those arrested also admitted to organizing more than fifty suicide bombings.

including. a gun or. did not use of nigeria. persons former foreign secretary has accused the prime minister of planning what he called a phony. johnson quote tories of capitan protest over her breakfast strategy last week but during his resignation address in parliament on wednesday he said the government's plan will leave russian in a permanent miserable state of limbo but he failed to outline how he would achieve a better departure from the european union. it is not too late to save bricks. we have time in these negotiations we have changed tack once and we can change again the problem is not that we failed to make the case for

free trade agreements of the kind spelled out like as the house we haven't even tried. we was trying our because we will not get another chance to get it right. china's premier legal china has ordered officials to speed up efforts to cut the prices of cancer drugs there's been intense debates across the country after a film about smuggling cheaper medication from india became a box office hit adrian brown explains from beijing well this is a film that really struck a chord here in china and this is one of the many cinemas in beijing that is now showing dying to survive some of us say that it's destined to become china's movie of the year it is based on the real life story of a chinese shopkeeper who imports drugs from india to sell at a profit to leukemia patients here in china who can't afford to buy those drugs in

china at first he's in it for the money the gradually compassion creeps in as he realizes all the lives that could be saved so what impact has this film had on people who've seen it. i cried many times the field is very a list it is shows many problems about the medical care system in china. many ordinary people cannot afford expensive medicine i can feel their desperation this is a sensitive subject because cancer it's estimated claims the lives of some four million people a year in china it is the country's biggest killer and some medical experts attribute some of those cancers to the sort of pollution we have in beijing today pollution but also afflicts other towns and cities across china dying to survive has now caught the attention of china's premier league who was said more has to be done to improve treatment for cancer patients in china it is an acknowledgment that

inequality exists in china's health care system the issue has now started a big debate online but for now the census appear to be holding off. now members of the thai football team trapped in a cave for more than two weeks have attended above the ceremony to rid themselves of misfortune. in the. ceremonies believed to extend life and ward off danger the boys in their college from released from hospital on wednesday a week after their dramatic rescue. and again imo there's a problem and half of the headlines on al-jazeera israel has passed a controversial nor that for the first time declares the country to be the nation state of the jewish people the legislation also makes hebrew the only official language downgrading the status of arabic and it encourages the building of jewish

only communities. this is a bill from a government that is an enemy to palestinians it's the most dangerous measure it's a law from a racist government against palestinian rights and it creates an apartheid regime it turns israel into a fascist state. detectives are reported to have identified russian suspects who pours in the form of double agent and his daughter in march the press association says police have security camera video of nerve agent being planted the crime then denies involvement in attacking surrogates and. two towns in syria's the province have been evacuated after a deal was struck between opposition fighters and pro-government forces forces and their families were bussed out of food and cafe in the northwest the shia towns have been under siege by sunni rebels for more than four years. real mass army has been accused of committing crimes that constitute genocide against the hinge

a community a new report is calling on the international criminal court to arrest twenty two officials of myanmar for making extensive and systematic preparations ahead of the military crackdown on the last year. journalist in eritrea said troops are withdrawing from the border with ethiopia the gesture of reconciliation coincides with the expected arrival of ethiopia's ambassador to eritrea for the first time in decades the apartment of the dead one hussain follows the reopening of the ever trade embassy and added a few days ago relations are being restored after the leaders of both countries agreed to a peace deal following a twenty five year border dispute. now the families of the victims of the ferry disaster in south korea are to get two hundred million dollars in compensation three hundred four people mostly schoolchildren were killed when the sea wall capsized four years ago after months of mourning grief turned to anger when investigators found the ship was structurally unsound and over loaded but those are

the headlines on al-jazeera do stay with us inside story is coming up next thank you very much for watching. the united arab emirates accuse of helping to bring islamophobia in person and media watchdog says he and more aussies mobilize opinion in the highest echelons of the forces government against the muslim brotherhood but all the limits of political lobbying in the u.k. this is inside story.

there are welcome to the program on laura kyle the united arab emirates is being accused of helping promote islamophobia in the u.k. the british media watchdog spin watch says the u.s. spent millions of dollars to influence political decision making on the watchdog says pressured journalists and think tanks all aimed at influence in the bush government against the muslim brotherhood has been watch says it had leaked emails showing how they were involved in what's described as a contest on lobbying tactics in both person and the u.s. and it highlights the campaign against castle in the twenty twenty two world cup he along with saudi arabia bahrain and egypt cut diplomatic ties with cattle thirteen months ago and imposed an economic blockade or guitar gas shortly but first here's more from paul brennan in london. two thousand and eleven arab spring saw a wave of democratic grassroots protests which topple longtime leaders and the hope

of a new vision for the middle east the response by some of the kingdoms and emirates of the region was just is dramatic. a report by the spin watch group says that in the u.k. the united arab emirates mobilised a narrative against the muslim brotherhood in britain in the highest echelons of government it says the abu dhabi crown prince and the then prime minister david cameron had several undeclared meetings and it says through a combination of persuasion and threats the u.a.e. campaign produced results one threat which is made by the uni to david cameron was if you don't institute an inquiry into the muslim brotherhood we will cancel the typhoon fighter jet deal from bush's place i will stop british petroleum getting an oil concession in the law that was successful in extraordinary effort by the each actually could jaw and bully the british government into pursuing its foreign policy the success or failure of the other u.a.e.

lobbying is less clear spin watch says that the u.a.e. put pressure on the b.b.c. of its coverage of the arab spring but the b.b.c. in a statement is flatly denied that it caved in to any political pressure it's been watch also quotes a source suggesting that iraqi donations to the think tank chatham house may have affected that institute research but chatham house is vigorously denied that it could be affected in that way but the u.a.e. foreign minister is known to have had close contacts with selected u.k. journalists meetings which led the u.a.e. piaf quilla to claim that views changed and the report highlights the ways the two thousand and seventeen blockade against cats are sore the intensification of the u.s. p.r. campaign including bitter criticism of catalyst twenty twenty two world cup the lobbying rules woefully inadequate it seems to me and explain what the greater safeguards to prevent the sort of influence which seems to have been exerted only on the risk of what's in the way which is has been and of course you know some of

the only time the consequences have been the growth of islamophobia in this country and we're seeing the expression of that on the streets of britain the report notes that now theresa may. a is u.k. prime minister abu dhabi's clout has diminished significantly but there seems little to prevent a possible slide backwards the central issue in all of this is one of transparency when does the jetsam at lobbying become undue influence and to quote the report itself promising billions in return for influence infiltrating the british media buying politicians loyalty donating to think tanks and trying to influence media coverage some would see as a step too far paul brennan al-jazeera central london. let's bring in our panel and joining us from london. university from brazil david miller founder of spin watch and also from london kevin craig c.e.o.

of p. l. and r. that's political lobbying and media relations by war welcome to all of you david if i just start with you talk us through for you what were the key findings of your report. well the key thing about this report which are many reports in the past on elite groups encouraging islamophobia but the key thing about this report was we did would be able to get leaked to us the internal. e-mails between quiller and some of the you the handlers and that was really quite dramatic because i like to see not just a specific question of transparency a lot of transparency or specific area of activity but i like to see the overall strategy which they were adopting and that struck she was really quite wide ranging as you heard in the report there yes they were trying to influence think times by funding them and trying to manage she was employed there yes they were trying to influence the b.b.c. by trying to mine and she was reporting from b.b.c. out of it yes they were trying to influence journalists by briefing them secretly

and then giving them information about opposition groups and about qatar but they were also engaging directly with westminster in whitehall with secretly with the prime minister with tory m.p.'s with the foreign affairs committee people with the zero party policy group splashing money on trips to five star hotels and to to the gulf so we were able to see a really wide ranging lobbying campaign. even talk about the particular things which they might be cut out to write in that company ok so these emails just to be clear here are new to you because some of looked at this report and said there's nothing new in it that it's just a rehash of an old report back in two thousand and fifteen well if they've looked at the report concluded that they haven't read the report program because i mean we have got. in the report is not rehashed it's new ok and kevin what do you make of the reports what was your conclusion that you've drawn from that. well just for the record because it's been so far moving i haven't been able

to read every single page and wouldn't claim to but i have read the summaries and i do actually think that dave's organization play of valuable role in discussions around lobbying and transparency in britain and beyond but i am as the founder and chief executive of one of the u.k.'s leading lobbying firms i'm surprised by a lot of the content of it it is not shocking to me that gulf states seek to maximize their relationships with foreign governments i am very skeptical of the suggestion that the b.b.c. who we deal with who is up there in terms of top two media as al-jazeera but you can influence the b.b.c. they're taking phone calls from people of all opinions the left right and center all the time so i'm very skeptical about the impact whatever the consultants claimed and i would say that i think there is scrutiny is a very important thing but in the u.k.

since two thousand and fourteen we've had a law being registered we were the first to sign it which means you have to declare every meeting that happens with ministers where i think there is an interesting area of debate which has been watch of uncovered here is that some of these meetings haven't been declared and perhaps people weren't aware of how many times the prime minister of the day was meeting with a particular government but none of that shocks me because in global diplomacy people want to push their own agenda all the time ok there's a couple of points i certainly want to pick up on there as the discuss and unfolds just first as you want to pick up on that point that you make have been about the means about media the b.b.c. and chatham house i do think it's important to say that even again today members of chatham house strenuously denied to our team that there had been any influence by the usa within their think tank. so do you think perhaps david that the reporters rather overplayed that aspect of the story no and i mean this is this is

interesting isn't it i mean the the idea that the b.b.c. is invulnerable to pressure is manifestly ridiculous the b.b.c. has been volatile to pressure from powerful institutions organizations from the very beginning their particular claims that we make in the report were very queer very careful not to overemphasize the queen's that make us the case in the b.b.c. but also with with us it was we know that that. produced briefings to target particular officials and chatham house we know that was an attempt to influence the kind of people who were there we don't see that those attempts were successful but we do note that to the people who were targeted no longer have positions they were not making any claim that was a causal relationship between the two those that so we're being very clear what it is that we were suggesting that we have evidence that these people were targeted we do have evidence that they were causally that that was related to them no longer having positions on the question of transparency yes i think it's correct to say

that there are meetings which are not disclosed in the clear and that that should be looked at in terms of loving legislation but the problem is far wider than that as our lobbyist friend knows then the lobby legislation that we have is pathetic it requires lobbying and i will. wait on this minister he will be looking very deeply at that as a key part of this discussion before we do i just want to pick up on one point that you made that that's a sense the usa was perhaps unsuccessful in lobbying or trying to lobby the b.b.c. and chatham house and there was no evidence that they had after what's the us aim here and where was it successful well i think theories am it is no different from the of any other country and this is one point i think this report perhaps hasn't made as well as it could have done and that is that the behavior of the u.a.e. is in line with the behavior. of every country including the u.k.

influence is at the heart of politics what we are seeing here is the u.a.e. acting in its own interest its interest in this particular instance was presumably that the muslim brotherhood represented a threat to security and stability in the region and particularly to them and that was the agenda that they were pushing whether we agree with our agenda or not is irrelevant the fact is that that is what they believed and they were using all the leavers of influence they have in a way that is no different from the way that the u.k. the usa and other countries. deploy it i think the question here is when does that influence become malign when is it. in conflict with the interests of. a country such as the u.k. in this instance. and i think that is where we should concentrate and that is where

we should. exploit the report it's positive aspects in generating the debate but i think the implication there that and i don't want to be seen to be defending hury i don't agree with some of its foreign policy or tall but in this instance i think it would be wrong to suggest that the u.a.e. he was acting in any way that is different from other countries absolutely and if the usa had come on the show we did ask the mayor they did not want to appear they would say exactly that but everyone that set gathered at what point let's talk about this at what point does lobbying become unacceptable. i think it becomes an acceptable when it verges into corruption and by the way one a mistake by the usa not to take up the opportunity to take part and to debate today's discussion that's a real silly thing but it becomes maligned when it veers into corruption and i

think you know one of the other good david i think said the legislation in this country is pathetic baxley i think it's remark.