in moscow. the united nations human rights council is say investigate what it calls a staggering number of matters in the philippines government's war on drugs and accuses president we're prego tatay of inciting violence against drug dealers as well as intimidating judges and degrading women i mean island again reports from manila. it's scenes like these that have prompted international action more than 6000 people killed in the 3 years since president rodrigo the terror to launched his so-called war on drugs those are the government's own figures the dead all suspected drug dealers it says but rights groups say the actual number could be 5 times that figure now the united nations has taken what many see as a critical 1st step towards accountability and comes after years of documentation and campaigning by both local and international rights groups the un's human rights

council has ordered a report in the philippines it will address serious violations allegedly committed by the government jurong detectives crackdown users campaign against drugs because drug users and will be a source of course of the day i mean you know. be committed now we're not quibble about how many of those crimes are committed by drug users but the justification being it's not it's just not true that we are overwhelmed by the drug problem wired such. a measure that they're killing the murder out of the people the philippine government rejects the un vote calling it a travesty and saying it cannot accept a politically partisan and one sided resolution it's already said it won't cooperate with any investigation critics have described it did. it is anti drugs

campaign as a war against the poor with the majority of those killed coming from impoverished communities and they're included in the government's watch lists of drug users and peddlers but the rights groups say these lists are reliable and police have not explained how they are drawn up or verified but the terror terror remains committed to his war and drugs despite widespread criticism the united nations human rights council is not the only international body now prepared to investigate. the international criminal court is carrying out its own inquiry into whether his drugs were policies that started when he was mayor of devil city in the southern philippines before becoming president constitute crimes against humanity in duggan al jazeera. plenty more ahead on this al-jazeera news hour including one

year since rebel surrender to syrian government backed forces in iraq how have conditions changed china's outrage after $22.00 countries condemn it over what it calls its education program for muslims and in sports with peta how england stunned australia and the cricket world cups and i guess. the u.s. president donald trump says his not backing down on efforts to determine the citizenship status of the american population but he has abandoned plans to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census and said he will issue an executive order to pursue other ways to get the data given elizondo reports from washington. the debate over the so-called citizenship question in america appears to be over president donald trump announcing late thursday he would drop his bid to get the

question are you a u.s. citizen put on the 2020 census trump instead said he would sign an executive order demanding all government agencies compile a list of non-citizens living in the u.s. into a central database arguing the citizenship information was vital to public policy we will utilize these vast federal databases to gain a full complete and accurate count of the non-citizen population including databases maintained by the department of homeland security and the social security administration we have great knowledge in many of our agencies we will leave no stone unturned last month the supreme court heard the citizenship question on the grounds the government's justification for wanting to add it to the census was insufficient. the census is taken every 10 years and the data that derives from it

is critical in determining billions in federal funding as well as congressional representation critics said forcing people to answer if they are a citizen was not necessary and would mean undocumented immigrants would likely not participate in the census leading to an undercount in democratic leaning parts of the country let's call this for what it is this citizenship question has nothing to do with the legitimate needs of the census it is designed to intimidate families trumps america 1st policy has been a cornerstone of his presidency since the very 1st day he took office and a big reason why he was elected was his promise to crack down on illegal immigration trump tied the census question to that and now it's a huge political defeat gabriels andro. washington. speak to eric campbell is a us political analyst joins us live on the news hour from washington very good to

have you with us do you think this executive order by the president is a face saving measure how big of a political defeat is this for him. this is actually another resigning defeat for the president on this issue of immigration he was president trump ran on the issue of immigration and fact if you go back to the 28000 midterm elections the president believe that this issue is a winner and he still believes heading into his own reelection campaign that this is an issue that will bring him success however we see the president continue to lose in the courts just recently the courts ruled against his will as ability to actually move funds to build the border wall along the u.s. southern border and now we see the president losing again on this issue of the citizenship question today's executive action by the president was simply a face saving measure to show that his base that he is willing to continue to fight on this issue that he believes will actually bring victory not only to himself but

to the g.o.p. for years to come eric just explain to our international audience why this issue of citizenship is so controversial i mean why wouldn't the u.s. ask people if they're citizens in a sense and it's a logical question is it not you know it is a logical question in fact the u.s. supreme court said that the president actually has the right to x. the question however what we saw from the ruling from the highest court in the land is that they believe that the reasoning behind why the u.s. government was asking the question simply did not comport with what the with what the government was providing as a master and fact they went so far as to say that they believe the response the government gave for asking the question was contrived which is a very diplomatic way of saying that they believe that the trump administration lied as to why they were for asking this question why were they asked only so i shouldn't want to say i was sorry to interrupt you why precisely do you think the

trumpet ministration wanted to ask this question. well a deceased political operative actually stated that the reason they wanted to aks the question is they believe that the question word fact asked on the census that many undocumented people in the united states illegal aliens simply would not participate in the census this is actually meant to count everyone in the united states not those who are citizens and non-citizens it is meant to count everyone so it's meant to be all inclusive not just for those who are actually deemed u.s. citizens so what's going to happen now with this executive order you think from the president is it going to change anything no actually it won't this census were actually go out without the citizenship question what the president is now seeking to do is take all of the in from a take information compiled from other u.s. agencies to get a more clearer picture of who are no those that are non-citizens actually in the

united states which again goes counter to what the census has been to do the census is actually meant to be all inclusive all encompassing not and fact to exclude or remove those who are in the united states thank you so much for talking to us harry thank you for sharing your views eric ham is a us political analyst joining us and from washington. and outrage continues in the u.s. so adama time separation of migrant children from their parents and growing calls to decriminalize border crossings by a sign and seekers who enter the u.s. the m. xico christensen only has a report from neil. in cities like new york president donald trump's policy of prosecuting asylum seekers who cross the border illegally separating them from their children and holding them in overcrowded facilities has served as a rallying cry for immigration activists and faith groups no more deportations no

more detentions no more raids no more threats and raise your head if you think it should be a civil offense rather than a crime to cross the border calls to decriminalize border crossings making them a civil rather going to criminal offense have gone from the fringe to mainstream supported by leading contenders for the democratic presidential nomination in recent debates democrats won as far as supporting health insurance for the undocumented for term supporters cracking down on illegal immigration has been a top issue but opponents say the u.s. administration's treatment of migrants in search of a better life does not fit their own legs time while the focus of the immigration debate has been at the us mexico border the trumpet ministrations strict interpretation of immigration law has been playing out a courthouses like this one all around the country this is where the undocumented who have been living and working in the community some for more than a decade have been rounded up for deportation experts say decriminalizing border

crossings has appeal for free market republicans as well as democrats but promising the undocumented health insurance could be a step too far not imprisoning them not taking their kids away from them these are things that you know are commonsense to normal everyday americans we don't treat people that way but the idea that you're going to start giving medicare to people who don't even have a legal status in the united states that's where you start to lose people with growing evidence that migrants are being held in inhumane conditions activists say decriminalizing border crossings would eliminate the legal justified. cation as well as the high cost for doing so while freeing up resources to prosecute those who are a real threat kristen salumi al jazeera new york. hurricane warnings have been issued for the u.s. state of louisiana along the coastline parts of new orleans are still underwater after wednesday's severe storm flooded streets and buildings residents are being

evacuated hurricane barry is expected to make landfall on saturday in libya a car bombing in the city of benghazi has killed at least 4 people and wounded dozens the blast targeted the funeral of a special forces commander loyal to the warlord tiny for half time the head of special forces was attending the funeral but was unharmed. has more from tripoli. symmetry is very close to the headquarters of the special forces unit which are under the control of the warlord. have to understand that this was a funeral held for a former commander of the special forces units and he would get under the former regime of moammar gadhafi but in that symmetry there were the military units including the special forces individuals including their commander the current

commander the major general. we know that these explosions could be used as a pretext to push the special forces individuals to join have to this military campaign to seize the capital tripoli especially we know that there are many special forces individuals including their current commander. they refused to join have to this military campaign to move on tripoli we also know that. medical sources in a bunch of ozzy's say that the number of victims could rise especially those wanted many of them have been in critical condition. in syria at least 11 people have been killed in a car bombing in the north west 35 others including children were also injured explosion happened in the rebel held city of a close to syria's border with turkey and it's been a year since rebels in the southern syrian province of dead since then the un and

human rights groups have documented cases of terry detentions and arrests as they know how to reports from beirut the security situation is getting worse. it was a symbolic moment in syria's war when the opposition surrendered in july 2018 the southern provinces where the pro-democracy movement began back in 2011 we taking it had special significance for the government even though the opposition remained in control of some towns as part of russian brokered reconciliation deals that avoided further fighting a year later state control seems weak and fragile well the situation has really regressed over the previous 3 months where we've had a spate of different assassinations. syrian army which is something which we haven't really seen in areas which have been agreed upon reconciliation the state

hasn't been the only target for rebel commanders particularly those who joined units of the army as well as civilians who joined state institutions have been killed it's not clear who is behind the violence the opposition believes the government has much to gain. there have been many assassinations of civilians and former leaders of rebel groups who agreed to reconcile they've been killed the aim is to create a state of fear eventually change the so-called reconciliation deals. some say the rest and there are is linked to the battle for influence between government allies russia and iran they have been recruiting locals and former rebel fighters into the different government affiliated military and security branches they control. rising tensions between the rain ians on the russians across syria on the front levels 1st militias attacking each other and do shuffle senior positions the latest of which was basically changing all of the heads of the security agencies in syria in

all different sides on the ukrainian within the iranian coalition are reporting rising tensions with russia and its allies. the return of the state to the southern province has not improved people's lives syrians have shown their anger they have protested in towns where security forces aren't present speaking out against the lack of jobs that essential services as well as the arrests and detentions international rights groups have accused president bashar assad of reestablishing repressive rule if there are people continue to strive for freedom in the birthplace of their revolution senator beirut. investigation is underway after a rocket carrying a satellite for the united arab emirates failed minutes after takeoff there european vaguer rockets which left it off from french guiana suffered a major anomaly 2 minutes into its launch the last payload was the 1st of 2

satellites that was to create the falcon i satellite system for the u.a.e. the launch was twice full spawned due to bad weather. still ahead on the al-jazeera news hour how decades up to argentina's so-called dirty war forensic experts are still working to identify the victims and serena williams eases into another wimbledon final peter has the action coming up in sports stay with us. hello there no real lecithin there's a strong plum rains across much of central and eastern china this article is blanketing much of the country as you can see. and all that cloud in the last few hours so more rain in your 4 calls which is typical for this time of year another

bad day in shanghai on friday you're dry it is warm and $28.00 but look at these rains further to the south and the west and really all that happens today is that they tend to increase again across these more central states you can see in fact also a shanghai view on saturday you will have a some rain with a high of 2432 the in hong kong then a bit further towards the south well again we're seeing the usual new showers the thunderstorms increasing calls late in the day but a pretty clear picture the last few hours across much of borneo out towards the west northern areas a small rain showers $33.00 in kuala lumpur and again it should be a find if you're in south today as well as on friday so you can see it 32 in singapore are going to pretty good day for you in south as well then we head across tools india now the last area of monsoon rains to really get strong in the last 24 hours has been across much of the northeast warnings in place here and again as we head off into friday and into saturday the rains heaviest in this region and very warm in new delhi clear skies and a high of 37. the weather sponsored by cats own words.

from cutting edge medical technology toxic behnam could be a vast resource for the development of lifesaving drugs to advances in the most difficult regions of the world really easy and again it's something that many of the worst getting the you heard the upside. down are innovative solutions to global health care problems if you will to to make a difference and maybe all of those were good sure it was sold to cure on al-jazeera also one of our biggest strengths is that we talk to normal everyday people we get them to tell their stories and doing that really reveals the truth people are still gathered outside these gates waiting for any information most of them don't know whether their loved ones are alive or dead or miami really is a place worth 2 worlds me we can get to washington d.c. in 2 hours we can get so on jurists in the rest of central america about the same time we're born these where those 2 cultures north and south america beats us to

teach you great it's a very important place for al-jazeera to be. there watching the news hour on al-jazeera with me fully back to blow a reminder of our top stories iran's revolutionary guard has denied blocking a british tanker in the strait of almost meanwhile police in gibraltar have a rest of the captain of a named rainy and tanker seized by british troops last week. to don's only military council says it's arrested 16 people over an attempted coup by army officers council members say the group tried to prevent the signing of an agreement with a pro-democracy coalition and the un is to investigate the philippines governor.

so-called war on drugs which watchdogs say has gained more than $20000.00 lives philippines is being a prevent extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances but it's rejected the most. afghans has passed a tax bill targeting tech giants a 3 percent levy his companies such as google facebook and amazon but it's angered the white house with the u.s. president ordering an investigation into the plant's about larry for some paris a show of hands and a display of defiance french senators passed a law taxing tech giants despite threats by the united states washington says the levy unfairly targets american companies and it's opened an inquiry a move condemned by france's finance minister i think that the best way of dealing with that kind of difficulties between the u.s. and france is not great is not opening

a procedure under section 3 or one for the 1st time in history of the friendship between the u.s. and french it is to build a compromise at the g 7 level. so that we can have a concrete and effective solution on the taxation of digital activities the tax targets firms with the global revenue of more than $800000000.00 including $30000000000.00 in france at least 30 companies will have to pay 3 percent tax on their french revenues because most are american including amazon and apple facebook and google washington says the levy is discriminatory in a statement the u.s. is trade representative said the president donald trump had directed the we investigate the effects of this legislation and determine whether it is discriminatory or unreasonable and burdens or restricts united states commerce the u.s. investigation could lead to washington imposing retaliatory tariffs on frauds. that's

something the french government would want to avoid but there's little doubt that there is a growing sense of frustration amongst many french politicians with trump's approach to international disagreements should mr trump threatens everyone in all areas he's become an article amity when you're head of such a power you have a responsibility you don't amuse yourself by threatening states that are is responsible and democratic is france and that seek to define the sort of regulation needed to address today's new economies so that there can be justice the european commission has been pushing for tech firms to abide by e.u. competition law rules and pay more tax in europe france's new law is a major step in that direction it also fulfills one of the french president's campaign promises emanuel mycroft moving to the us but taxing wealthy tech companies was one of the yellow vests main demands so french public opinion is likely to be on my cross-eyed natasha butler al-jazeera paris and u.s.

president on trump has been hosting what is called a social media summit at the white house it included a line up of online personalities from across the right wing media google facebook and twitter officials were excluded from the gathering accuse them of bias against him and other conservatives alan fisher has more from washington. well donald trump believes the right wing voices are being held back on social media platforms that many are being deleted that a lot of his supporters are allowed to follow him so he invited many of those who do support him online to the white house not invited the big tech companies people who could perhaps point to algorithms that suggest that right wing voices are not being taken off unless they breach the standards of those platforms now the economist the right wing magazine described those who were called to the white

house as aggrieved discontents pessimists and reactionaries zealous ideological and cavalier with the truth donald trump actually praised those in the room for their support he said and this is a direct quote from the president of the united states he complimented them on the crap you think up donald trump if he can do one thing it is galvanize support online his online media operation is very sophisticated but he says the fact that he's going to own 60000000 followers and president barack obama has almost doubled that is a sign that many people are not allowed to follow it went on a long rant about how he has never bought followers on twitter and when he questioned twitter on why he was losing followers they would told him it was because they were trimming down the number of boats the number of false accounts that were on twitter itself it's interesting that donald trump decided to hold this

summit in the white house this week just a few days ago a judge ruled that he could not ban people from his official twitter account that even if they criticize them he couldn't kick them off it seems that the judge was saying look if you give it out then you've got to take it as well i pulled a sara is a journalist for the online news website slate in oakland california she says that transacted a false bias by social media networks is a political tactic ahead of the 2020 presidential election. the pressure is coming but we're not seeing actual legal change to kind of force the companies to deal with this information in a substantive way or to deal with the hate that spreads on their platforms in such a viral way and you know it doesn't look like there's going to be any sort of legal change moving into 2020 you know it's not even like clear that it's required that you have to label that a political ad as you know who it's paid for by or that it is

a political ad on these platforms so it's not clear that anything is going to change and he's really tying tying their hands from doing anything so in one camp we have congress members a lot of democrats saying the social media companies need to clean up their act they need to make sure that there aren't you know trolls from russia or other foreign governments or even here in the united states forwarding this information and then on the other hand you have trump saying well this is censorship and and so it's really forcing the companies into a place of an action when is when is president nicolas maduro government and opposition parties will hold negotiation talks to resolve the ongoing political and economic crisis dura says they will discuss 6 key issues but did not specify what they are the breakthrough follows 3 days of meetings in barbados between representatives of my dural and those of opposition who don't want to go and the united states has imposed sanctions on venezuela's military counterintelligence agency over the death of a navy captain while in custody and often

a cost so was arrested in june for his alleged role in a coup pronto overthrow president maduro authorities later buried his remains despite opposition from his family members who demanded an independent review into his death. an international team of experts has launched a new campaign to locate victims of argentina's military dictatorship of the 1970 s. about 30000 people disappeared during the period now known as a dirty war terry civil has our report from us. our truth and justice have been for decades the main objective of the argin time entropy elegy forensic team that's why they continue to work to shed light on what happened to the thousands of people who were disappeared during argentina's dirty war over 40 years ago my mom was alive from yet it would take samples from the relatives and create forms with information from the donor and the relative who disappeared there

would compare it with the band samples we have the team was created in 1906 when argentina embarked on a process of exhumations of the many unmarked graves found in the country believing that many of them could well contain and identified victims of forced disappearances the argentine mantra polity forensic team believes that with their work they can help the relatives find justice but also some type of closure they're currently working to identify the remains in this boxes there are 600 remains that allegedly belong to people who went missing during the dictatorship in argentina in the 1970 s. and eighty's their expertise has taken them to 55 countries including south africa syria iraq colombia and mexico where the attempt to help relatives find the remains of their loved ones they use genetic profiles drones infrared cameras to locate mass graves in the most remote locations but they would either says that's not the

most important part of their investigations the main church will introduce us to incorporate a family members in the war usually medical forensics sister just take some information for their families. and their provider overboard bug. well so we do it in norway we have the farm it is the center of our work to reduce. emissions they are in for about the americas of families don't trust industry they come to us because they don't trust industry one and all optional that's why they played a crucial role in the investigation into the disappearance of the 43 students in argentina by mexico who were killed by a drug cartel with the complicity of the country's security forces the relatives wanted the team involved in the search and not mexican authorities in argentina there are many who are still trying to locate their relatives sylvia my necklace was father disappeared in 1975 he was a left wing activist. i've always tried to find him and i know his remains are

somewhere we have very little information on what happened to him but i want to find what is left of him and that's why these and to apology team is crucial for victims of conflict and violence because the loci victims and help hold accountable those involved in serious human rights abuses around the world. and to see that when a society is the remains of 33 victims of the 99570 it's a massacre have been laid to rest in the bosnian town as the 24th anniversary of the kings in which more than $8000.00 muslim men and boys were rounded up and killed by bosnian serb troops the bodies of a 1000 victims are still missing china has reacted angrily to accusations that is detaining hundreds of thousands of ethnic wig or muslims in an unprecedented move ambassadors from $22.00 countries including australia britain canada france germany and japan have written to the united nations human rights office say safe

china's policy in this change on region is unlawful wayne hale is in beijing to tell us more about the chinese reaction. china's ministry of foreign affairs has responded to the letter signed by 22 countries regarding the situation in shin jang province and predictably i guess it was dismissive of this letter saying that this was an attempt to politicize the issue of human rights and that this was a domestic affair for the government in china to deal with and it wasn't up to anyone outside china to comment on the situation there it also pointed out that there has been no terrorist attack in the region for the past 2 years evidence it says that this program is working remembering that the government maintains that these are not detention centers in jang province they are vocational schools with

one of the main aims being to prevent terrorism and extremism and also responded to a request in the latest sign by these countries that inspectors experts be allowed meaningful access to the area the government saying that it has already organized trips involving media and so-called experts diplomats to the region and what they reported when they returned it was quite different to what has been put trade in the western media the important word to emphasize here is meaningful in those trips in the past those trips have been very much controlled by the government controlled by the security forces and the government really only showing the people on those trips to shin jang exactly why.