and what's happening i'm happy that justice has been served and that the criminal case was dropped i hope the investigation will continue and i hope no one will find himself in the same situation as well his release is significant because it chose to many here in russia that we can actually influence government decisions for a long time to has been this feeling of apathy how this will play out we'll still have to see but for now it's unprecedented because also some high ranking police officers will possibly be removed from their positions and journalists and others have said they won't rest until those who frame. will be brought to justice critics of thailand's military and monarchies say they fear for their lies after the murder and disappearance of several dissidents in neighboring countries hundreds of people left china and after a military coup in 2014 and many others are in hiding they include a music group as wayne here reports south from bangkok. fearing for their lives hasn't stopped these band mates singing this song of

protest the group called 5 year in left thailand for neighboring laos after the military coup in 2014 they write songs critical of the military and monarchy in question the palaces role in thai society things that can result in a long jail sentence in thailand speaking to al-jazeera from laos one of the band members says they believe they are being hunted me up they are people who are working undercover to get us there are many signs some are true and some are fake i receive warning almost every day and i am start to lose my mind. in december the mutilated bodies of 2 critics of the monarchy who'd also been living in laos were found in the mekong river and last month family and friends of 3 other dissidents held a small protest outside the vietnam embassy in bangkok concern for their safety the 3 men moved from laos to vietnam where it's believed they were arrested and handed

over to thai security forces. if. anyone would. spot. the thai government says it doesn't know anything about the cases or why the band is concerned for its safety the killings and disappearances come at a time of transition for thailand the new king kong was crowned last month following the death of his father king on a do new day who reigned for 70 years and a new government has been formed following the general election in march the 1st since the coup. there are many critics in the military and the living outside but among the most wanted in neighboring countries it's believed the 5 members are the last on the list the wrist of either being killed or disappeared. a saved by an

online campaign has been launched to raise awareness of the case and rights work is a lot being foreign governments to help the band leave laos. i hope that my application for refugee status will be quickly approved because it's becoming more dangerous every day here the sooner the better. for now all they can do is wait in hiding and continue to sing their songs of defiance wayne hay al jazeera bangkok. u.s. president donald trump says he thinks something positive will happen with north korea after receiving what he called a beautiful letter from kim jong il and washington song so theone have sold over its nuclear program but trump says a country has tremendous potential no nuclear testing no major missile testing nothing like when i 1st got here what i 1st got here it was a mess we have a very good relationship together now i could get from it because of the letter i got yesterday. i think you know i think that something will happen that's going to

be very positive but in the meantime we have our hot is back the remains keep coming back we we have a relation what is going to trump has also been speaking about venezuela he says he's looking into the possibility of granting asylum to those flames that is all turmoil in the country house correspondent kimberly hockett has more. u.s. president donald trump on wednesday indicating that he may consider offering temporary protected status or even asylum to those in venice will of wishing to flee political persecution this suggestion has a lot to do with editorials that ran in newspapers here in the united states in the last week or so essentially calling the president i have a crib for talking tough on venezuela criticizing the leader in venezuela nicolas maduro of calling him a brutal dictator but then doing nothing to support the people in terms of offering

them the opportunity to leave the troubled nation so as a result it may be that donald trump is responding to those allegations of hypocrisy we know already that $3400000.00 beddes whalen's have left but they've been absorbed mostly by countries with far lesser means than the united states colombia peru ecuador chill a argentina we do know earlier this month they're rather earlier this year in the house of representatives democrats put forward a bill to try and offer some sort of asylum to 72000 venezuelans a similar measure introduced in the senate but getting very lukewarm support from republicans so it appears that now the president may have a couple of things on his mind not only those editorials that maybe sort of pushing the president to soften his immigration stance but also the fact that many venezuelans that do flee do live in the u.s. state of florida one that will be very pivotal for the president in the 2020

presidential election and it may be another reason knowing he will need those votes that the president is now reconsidering his tough immigration stance mexico will send thousands of troops to his southern border with somalia on wednesday his front of a deal struck with donald trump to curb the flow of central american seeking asylum in the u.s. the u.s. government says the number of people caught crossing the southern border will likely reach a 1000000 this year castro has more from el paso in texas. 60000 children are among the migrants who crossed into the u.s. in the last 40 days some came alone others with families fleeing violent homes in central america to walk thousands of kilometers north to now test whether the united states will receive them this is a place where you. historically. if you're feeling violence and persecution you come in you will get some kind of protection i mean people is coming with that

mentality would that be from entirely they're going to come in they're going to brace claudia some more left what amala with her 11 year old son 18 days ago. there was so much violence where we lived many games it became too dangerous but the u.s. government says this cannot continue president trump has pressed mexico to deploy troops to stop central americans from advancing toward the u.s. they're moving right now 6000 soldiers to their southern border whatever it is that you think we had that the weeks ago still weeks ago tell you what we had we had nothing but as migrants seek more remote routes to evade capture the danger increases here at the rio grande river that marks the boundary between the united states and mexico 5 bodies were recovered in 3 days those migrants who make it across the waters alive are then arrested and detained in squalid and overcrowded

conditions 6 migrant children have died in u.s. custody as well as the children are the ones who suffer the most we can take it but they suffer more the trumpet ministration says children are being used to gain entry into the u.s. and that human smuggling here has grown to a $3000000000.00 business but these families say if it weren't for their children they would never have wrist coming castro al-jazeera el paso texas. government does. releasing dozens of political prisoners under a controversial amnesty law as an attempt to free those detained for their old protests and to ease the country's but it's all stand off his man with the details . of the anti-government protesters and he can i well were reunited with their families on tuesday many of these former political prisoners had been jailed for months the government agreed to the demands of opposition leaders to release

political prisoners by june 18th. the news director for an independent media outlet critical of nicaraguan president daniel ortega was just released after 6 months in prison his news channel was shut down but i was and i don't mean is a reason they shut down my channel the wealth of the news source is its credibility it's being close to the people and telling the truth that's what how t.v. channel has and if they steal our infrastructure then we will simply start again from the bottom but of course we will continue we will continue to inform the people. the freeing of political prisoners was announced as part of a controversial new law which grants amnesty to anyone who participated in last year's unrest the amnesty law has been criticised by dozens of human rights groups who say it makes it difficult to hold pro-government paramilitary groups and security forces accountable for the deaths of more than $300.00 people since the start of the country's political crisis more than one year ago no i really doubt

they cannot be amnesty for crimes against humanity these are crimes that remain and no law signed by the government to protect those who perpetrated these crimes there was many former political prisoners expressed relief for having been freed but said they would continue to demonstrate against the government and demand justice for the killings of hundreds of peaceful protesters was look we will continue to fight we are united as political prisoners this government wants to divide and conquer but we are united for a free and a good act you are. negotiations between the government and opposition groups continue to barely drag on since the political unrest began some 800 people have been thrown in prison well thousands of others have fled the country it remains a criminal offense to hold a public protest against the nicaraguan government when lit up a little later. and don't forget there's much more news on our websites at al-jazeera dot com the very latest on all our top stories including the pro-democracy protests in hong kong al-jazeera dot com.

hello again i'm fully back with the headlines on al-jazeera the start of a debate over a proposed extradition bail in hong kong has been delayed after protesters blocked politicians from entering the government headquarters demonstrate is a worry that could change pave the way for 4 suspects in serious crimes to be sent to mainland china to stand trial. as it has from hong kong. but also now coming out from the legislative council another official announcement and that is they have asked the protesters to move for where they are surrounding the legislative council building that's the group the black building over my shoulder they're asking the protesters to move so they can carry on with business obviously there hasn't been really any kind of response yet from the protesters well i guess there has been they're not moving after more than a week of violence there appears to be

a breakthrough in the crisis in sudan ethiopian media to say the military and opposition groups have agreed to resume talks on the formation of a council to oversee the transition to a civilian rule the opposition is suspending its civil disobedience campaign and general strike. yemen's who's the media say the rebels have attacked the airports in saudi arabia with a who's myside the saudis have not confirmed the attack the world fold the world food program is warning of a catastrophe in northwest syria following weeks of a government offensive the u.n. agency says it's been unable to reach at least 7000 people in the area. where there's been intense fighting dozens of people of mostly children have been killed in an attack on the village of mopti in the multi central region of mali houses of doggone hunters were burnt down and their animals killed during sunday's violence the u.s. is reportedly pushing sarge arabia to complete its investigation into the killing

of saudi journalists before the 1st anniversary of his murder a trumpet ministration official told reuters news agency is edging the saudis to show tangible progress towards holding those responsible to account all charges against russian journalists even go knob have been dropped after a campaign of circuit boards investigative journalists had been accused of drug dealing and mexico will send thousands of national guard troops to its southern border with laksamana on wednesday it's part of a deal struck with donald trump trump to curb the flow of central american seeking asylum in the u.s. those are the headlines the listening posts is next on al-jazeera sirius. in 2008 raggy traveled across the united states discovering what it was like to be both a patriotic american and a devout muslim can you be muslim and american you have to be american 1st i really didn't have much appreciation for why it would be a big deal that

a muslim deal look to the united states congress. rewind islam in america on al-jazeera. as you know the current day that they all cranked out here a whole lot of office of the public one of the state. but that. larry claims to the main square in the. paddock and action was decided it's time. alone richard burton you're at the listening post here are some of the stories we're covering this week political unrest in sudan the story enters a new phase a crackdown on demonstrators a clampdown on media coverage australian police raid 2 news outlets putting media they're on high alert what is the attraction the draws british audiences to the genre of television programming bay call poverty porn and is it a parody or a genuine tribute to donald trump. the israeli video that leaves viewers confused.

nearly 2 months after a mass at a government demonstrations led to the overthrow of sudan's longtime president omar al bashir a mostly peaceful political transition has turned violent this past monday soldiers taking orders from the military regime that now rules sudan opened fire on protesters killing more than 100 people the exact body count remains on known and that is by design the who imposed a communications blackout blocking access to social media disrupting phone traffic severely restricting the news and information flow over the past few weeks many foreign journalists including those from al-jazeera have had their licenses revoked their offices raided meaning that stories of alleged mass murder and rape at the hands of the security services do not make it beyond sudan's borders when the generals took power they promised new media freedoms space for independent

reporting however their tolerance for those telling the stories of this revolution has run out and they're using tactics straight out of omar al bashir as playbook our starting point this week is cartoon. it's about control the message the playbook is a playbook that many have these before and it's essentially how do we lock down how do we strike fear in the hearts of people culminates with the shut down and social media. the clinton years that this is very important that they call the picture would be extremely extremely harmful to the regime. much of what we know is from civilian journalist and cell phone videos and word of mouth that journalists have not had the access that the need to. know the people

dying in the hundreds missing and injured but they still show music on t.v. . business as usual and this is exactly what used to happen during this year. sudanese activists hoped all of that was behind them almost 3 decades of home are al bashir as president finally came to an end in mid april with his overthrow arrest and imprison a temporary military government in place calling itself transitional saying it was committed to handing over power to the people but like algeria to the northwest where unrest brought down another longtime leader toppling a president has proven easier than negotiating with men in uniforms. following the setting down of. april and then the transitionary military council sort of saying we're going to negotiate we're going to have this sort of transition period there was hope. i think

a lot of people around the world are looking at sudan as an example of ok maybe we've learned from the arab spring maybe this won't be egypt or libya or syria maybe this will be a little bit different it became clear 2 or 3 weeks ago that the transitional military council was not negotiating in good faith tensions began to rise the 2 month old city and had become the symbol of resistance and the uprising and it became very clear last week that the military council was not going to permit the semi longer. basically what happened is that they attacked protesters they started shooting anybody that puts up a phone trying to film and so a lot of people are were shut down because their phones were stolen and after that of course the slowing down of the internet and most of the networks and so that and eventually shutting it down. bar jamming internet networks the military government

choked information flows inside the country and to the outside world sudanese relied. our messaging services like whatsapp and social media platforms like facebook and youtube to organize politically and to get images and information out the clampdown created a vacuum missing people could not be found and no one knew just how many people had been killed by the r.s.s. the paramilitary rapid support force all of this took place under a transitional military council that when it took power less than 2 months ago made all the right noises and. the appointment of general abdel fattah han as the head of the t.m.c. was initially well received. and had previously met with protesters and appeared to be open to their view of. the military council released hundreds of political prisoners ended the curfew in khartoum and said it would work with the opposition alliance for change and freedom the t.m.c.

also made the kind of promises on media freedom that make headlines the military council sent a message to newspaper editors basically lifting censorship which after 3 decades was impressive to see the type of headlines in the type of coverage some outlets were not as quick to jump on that actually done t.v. . but some of the outlets like 24 and had to move very interesting coverage she saw opposition leaders on t.v. think that was a fresh to see that type of press freedom. being allowed in the country but once the transitional military council decided i believe that they were going to crush the uprising. that led to an increase ratcheting up pressure on journalists expulsion of journalists and restrictions of all sorts as a transitional military council closer to the crackdown they moved closer and

closer to tire shop. both international and domestic news coverage. the coverage of the story in the international media has been restricted foreign reporters who would only recently been allowed back into the country after being banned in the dying days of the al bashir regime had their movements curtailed by the new military authorities one of the most influential foreign news networks al-jazeera is currently banned from reporting from sudan its offices were raided and it had its license to broadcast revoked on may 30th the timing of the ban on al-jazeera raised eyebrows it happened just after t.m.c. leaders met with the rulers of saudi arabia the u.a.e. and egypt the saudi owned by be 0 which competes against the qatari owned al-jazeera across the arabic speaking world has been far less critical of the t.m.c. over the stalled transition process and continues to report from khartoum and saudi

arabia and the u.a.e. as support for the sudanese who is not limited to the airwaves 10 days after al bashir was deposed the saudi and amorality governments sent sudan $3000000000.00 worth of aid including half a 1000000000 in cash reserves which the reuters news agency described as throwing a lifeline to the country's new military leaders that decision to shut down. license was not too surprising after the 2 top heads of the military council and committee paid a visit to saudi arabia. egypt that's when license was withdrawn and there's widespread believe and so that these governments are interfering to prevent the establishment of a full democracy in the country what's important to remember about so that is its political importance but also previously didn't quite pick sides. and so

on on side as well as the saudis by supporting this saudi interest in yemen but the transition of that area council didn't quite feel the same way and so by actively going to saudi arabia and the emirates and saying you know what we're on your side here effectively. it then became. a porn in that in that day between. the sudan story of 2009 team has unfortunate echoes of 2011 and the arab spring the sense of optimism and the prospects of a political transformation that proved fleeting the ensuing clampdown that has been brutal the alliance for freedom and change that has so far failed to live up to its name and the space that seemed to be opening up for the news media gone before they knew it before they really had a chance to use. it was always

a dark spot for media we never had independent media for the last 30 years and even before that i think you know the military council is basically a more powerful extension of the old regime a biased extension of the old they need to clamp down on news because they only want their version of the news and so what you've got at the moment is a country a city that has been divided up that is unable to communicate to each other let alone to people outside a diaspora that is desperate to know what's going on in the country on the ground and in international media that isn't quite sure what's going on and so it essentially that they can kind of do what they want. and that's tough. looking at other media stories that are on our radar with one of our producers i mean actually ravi there are many countries where police routinely raid news

organizations but a stray is not one of them and there have been 2 such raids over this past week why that's exactly what many australian journalists are wondering why the 1st raid was at the home of an eco terrorist she is the political editor of the sunday telegraph now back in 2018 she published a story about a top secret proposal to expand surveillance of australian citizens. then came another bigger lead this one at the offices of the australian broadcasting corporation b.b.c. police were there for 9 hours and the executive editor of a.b.c. news was life tweeting it throughout material was seized relating to a 2017 investigation by a.b.c. into the killing of unarmed civilians in afghanistan by australian special forces who are stationed there now apart from these 2 raids there was a call from the home affairs ministry to the radio reporter ben forde him he was asked where he got the information or how he got the information about the turning away of 6 boatloads of asylum seekers by a stray and authorities at sea so in all 3 of these cases you have reporting based

on classified government documents and this appears to be the government trying to flush out the source doesn't not exactly and if you think about why all of this is happening now for example that a.b.c. report went out 2 years ago it goes back to politics and last month's elections now there's a new majority conservative government in power and they have extensive national security laws at their disposal to clamp down on these troublesome leaks of classified information now across australia media houses union's watchdogs they've all sounded the alarm and they are pressing the government for answers but make no mistake what happened last week has put them on notice ok turning to pakistan where the army has described a recent report by the b.b.c. as a pack of lies what did that story focus on this report by the b.b.c. was about the pakistani army is activities in one of the most sensitive regions of pakistan it's the mountainous. in the northwest now this area has been under the

pakistani army is control since 2002 when pakistan joined the american led war on terror now according to the b.b.c.'s investigations tens of thousands of people mostly civilians have been tortured and killed by the army soon after the report was published the pakistani army spokesperson posted this pack of lies. tweet but it was followed up by a statement from the army in which it said that the b.b.c. sent a judgment to a questionnaire via e-mail to get their comments and then ignored the army's offer to get a full rundown of their side of the story now the b.b.c. has said that it is confident about its reporting and that it would like to interview the pakistani army on the range of subjects thanks peter. on to a story about a unique vision of media now born and produced in the u.k. take what the british call a benefit scroungers someone who is allegedly milking the state's welfare system for all it's worth throwing a dash of social stereotyping

a little demonize ation at an element of reality t.v. celebrity culture and presto you have a television show some might find that to be an odd formula but british newspapers tabloids for the most part have long been hooked on stories about people claiming money from the state among the problems associated with poverty porn it might entertain viewers and readers but it does not inform them and caricaturing welfare recipients for the benefit of mass audiences has potential implications for the welfare system and the people who actually depend on the listening post flow phillips now on the british media's obsession with benefits the myths and the money making industry it has created. i think it's. the single mom with lots of kids that are house children 4 to find us. the alcoholic drinking away his dome and.

the immigrant sponging off the state. to cheat just when. you break your salary for the channel 4 was benefits street channel 5 benefits. headlines in the sun on the daily express when it comes to stories about welfare recipients the british media rely on the cost of cliché character they recycled over and over those narratives in this kind of images and staying divisions between. nations between kind of work. between welfare dependence and hard working families the whole set top of. programs is around there being like of them and us all telling everybody in this studio and you're telling everybody who's watching right now that we're mugs that we're idiots and we're falls for going out to work because why don't we all just give up work in the benefits may present the idea of a benefits kocher and

a benefits lifestyle as if people on benefits are choosing to be there and that language that they rocketry langridge feeds into casual content for the poor of course kelly's going to be comfortable in the benefits system chris called his money coming in what we say is programs like make a margaret we all pay your benefits which creates intentionally and very clearly a division between the idea of tax payers and benefit recipient as enemies. britons have been fed stories about the flaws in their social benefits system for years the tabloids were the 1st to discover the audiences for such stories and by 2013 t.v. producers were tapping into that same market the b.b.c.'s we all pay your benefits came 1st similar offerings followed on other channels along with millions of viewers the programmes attracted plenty of criticism for the exploitation of people's hardship what has come to be known as poverty pool the term poverty is

a pretty accurate reflection on this idea of. what's important people for entertainment and reading about poor people in newspapers where it's for entertainment as opposed to an actual insight into these people's lives i'll be quite offended if people thought that benefits britain was policy toward because benefits britain told the stories of people who live their lives with limited resources. there's no reason why you shouldn't tell that story you're putting programs out about people whose lives and on benefits and who live in poverty and those programs right. well then program makers just continue to make those programs. and that's exactly it these programs rate well but do they actually pro-trade reality take the benefits cheat trade in the 201516 tax year

fraudulent benefits claims cost the british state $1900000000.00 pounds the cost of tax evasion that year 5200000000 pounds add into the mix tax avoidance at $1700000000.00 and you are 2 almost 4 times the cost to benefit from and that doesn't begin to include wealthy britons hiding their assets off shore or tax loss to the shadow economy but the media especially the tabloid press disproportionately choose to direct our attention and outrage to the form leaving high income fraudsters who are less telegenic and harder to find in the shadows i would love to see you know the flip side of the television show about. tax avoiders that people are over this in the 1st. tax and so forth the hypocrisy surrounded what they choose to put on t.v. screens it will always target the most vulnerable as a programme maker you always choose the best stories the characters who will make

the best television a monk case we filmed with some remaining in rome is going to come to the u.k. to try and benefit of the unfortunately then took british benefits back to mania and built themselves a home i'm going to take benefit for being good. in a large issue and quickly with much money we shouldn't shy away from stories that are true stories just because they are sensational or the contributors are outrageous in some way thank you so much so long as the context is there should be fine the really key areas of misrepresentation are around the day to day life of people in the state about what benefits and how. that's kind of cart tries by maybe i don't listen in october take kind of active choosing to be on benefits the poll getting me are really trying very hard to get into paid work when and where that's like a realistic option. the british welfare state the provision of education childcare

health and homes came about after the 2nd world war designed to ensure a good standard of living from the cradle to the grave while popular at the outset by the late 1970 s. much of the rhetoric from politicians and the press and. social security was depicted as a burden on the state not a citizens right the explosion of reality t.v. programmes about benefits has only made this image worse. some benefits claimants have been transformed by these programs into celebrities media stars and the many industry has since grown around them take baritones a p.r. agent who saw an opportunity in the new genre and took it he has a book of clients who are on benefits and he says when journalists and t.v. producers need help with some kind of benefit story they call him his clients can

be offered anywhere between 150 pounds 225000 pounds for a story and barry takes a cut he also told us that misrepresentation is a big part of the game any story that looks like a benefit recipient spending big money that's the key just one of our clients marie is a good example we rebuilt a number in the press for a wall.