this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. the headlines: international spotlight on china over claims it's running political indoctrination camps for ethnic uighur muslims. the battle for ghazni in afghanistan — the government says up to 200 militants have been killed in the city after a taliban attack. the taliban have started fleeing from the outskirts of ghazni, so the situation is fully under control. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: turkey's president erdogan accuses the us of a "stab in the back" as the country's currency crisis deepens. the race to rescue 500 greyhounds — under threat after the closure of asia's only legal dog racing track. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. good morning.

it's 7am in singapore, midnight in london, and one in the morning in geneva, where a senior chinese government official has strongly denied allegations that a million muslim uighurs are being held in detention centres in shinjiang province. beijing says reports of the centres are completely false. it said uighurs enjoyed full rights and so called ‘re—education‘ camps did not exist. translation: the argument that 1 million uighurs are detained in re—education centres is completely untrue. on the freedom of religious belief, shinjiang guarantees

citizens freedom of religious belief in accordance with the law and protects normal religious liberties. that strong denialfrom china came despite a un human rights panel saying it had received credible reports that one million uighurs were being held in what resembled a "massive internment camp shrouded in secrecy". our correspondent steve mcdonell is in beijing following developments. china is coming under what appears to be increased international pressure over allegations that it is running a network of political indoctrination camps in the country's far indoctrination camps in the cou ntry‘s far west indoctrination camps in the country's far west for ethnic uighur muslims. it is also facing the unusual situation of having to explain its government's robin —— policy in the shinjiang region on the world stage. a un committee heard what it described as credible evidence that i heard what it described as credible evidence thati million ethnic uighurs have faced some sort of education detention as part of this process. now, a chinese government

delegation has gone to the un and said that figure is simply not true. they also said there is no arbitrary detention in shinjiang and that these are re—education camps don't even exist, although this could be something of a semantic debate, because, beijing says, that in shinjiang those who commit minor crimes are sent off to training centres to help them reintegrate back into chinese society in the far west. now, one person's training centre could be another person's political indoctrination. the chinese government is making no apologies for the way it is running shinjiang. it has told the un that there has been a major crackdown there has been a major crackdown there in order to rein in violent islamic extremism and those who would separate shinjiang from the rest of china. the critics of the

policy say that a lot of ordinary uighurs are caught up in this very same crackdown. however, the chinese government again says this is not being targeted at any ethnic group and is not designed to, in any way, stop people from practising their normal religious beliefs. our other top story this hour — thousands of mourners in north—east yemen have taken to the streets for the funeral of 51 people — 29 of whom were children, according to houthi officials. they were killed when the bus they were travelling in was hit by a plane from the saudi—led coalition fighting a civil war in the country. mark kaye from save the children says the lack of condemnation from governments including britain is shocking. our silence on this is deadly for yemeni civilians, it basically suggested the saudi and in russia led coalition that they can do whatever they want with immune —— impunity. so far from whatever they want with immune —— impunity. so farfrom uk government all we have had is a solitary to become a tweet from a minister of

state bank we expressed concern about the debts of 29 children. and thatis about the debts of 29 children. and that is a disgrace. we should be out there condemning this. also this hour — two senior government officials in kenya have been charged with fraud over the building of a $3.2 billion railway line funded by china. the officials are accused of paying more than $2 million in compensation to private firms which falsely claimed they owned land which the line was running across. the officials have pleaded not guilty. the soul singer and icon aretha franklin is "seriously ill" and receiving hospice care in detroit. friends and family are reportedly at her side, as support flooded in online from friends and fellow artists. the 76—year—old cancelled planned concerts earlier this year due to health concerns and was ordered by doctors to rest for two months. and this video is getting a lot of attention online. the swiss mountaineer dani arnold has set a new record — climbing the notoriously tough north face of the grandes jorasses mountain in the western alps. he reached the top, which stands over 4,200 metres, in two hours, four minutes of free climbing. the climb involves negotiating

a granite face of 1,200 metres which mr arnold did without ropes or support. what an amazing climb. nato and us forces in afghanistan have described as a "failed attack" a four—day assault by taliban militants on the city of ghazni, in which nearly 100 afghan soldiers and police died. a spokesman said nearly 200 taliban had been killed and that ghazni was under government control. there are fears that civilians trapped in the city are unable to find food. the city lies on the key highway between kabul and kandahar. control of it would effectively allow the taliban to cut off southern afghanistan from the capital, kabul. the battle for ghazni has been

raging since last thursday. afghan forces have had to face constant attacks and ambushes by surrounding insurgents as they try to reach the city. now supported by american military air strikes and some american ground forces, they say they have managed to push the calibre and to be out scores of the provincial capital —— taliban to the outskirts. this shows there are still pockets of resistance in some of the city's neighbourhoods, where the taliban and are openly roaming around. the afghan government told the bbc that after monday's push it is now in total control of the city. reinforcements have arrived. they are top security leaders. they are already in the city. the calibre and have started fleeing from the outskirts of ghazni, so the

situation is fully under control —— taliban. local residents fleeing ghazni described the situation for civilians as very bleak. many civilians as very bleak. many civilians have been killed or injured. food supplies are running low, there is no electricity, and major communication lines are cut. one of those injured says bodies have been lying in the streets for days. translation: government forces are unable to transfer dead bodies, some of which are in a very bad state. we desperately need them to be collected and those injured to be taken to areas of collected and those injured to be ta ken to areas of safety. collected and those injured to be taken to areas of safety. the international red cross now warns of growing humanitarian concern as much—needed medicine is also running short. the pressure continues i beat taliban to enter peace talks with the afghan government, but the group has only increased attacks across the country. a series of earthquakes has killed hundreds of people and displaced

almost 400,000 in recent weeks on the indonesian island of lombok. two million visitors were expected to visit the island this year — but can the island cope with such numbers — during a disaster of this magnitude? andrio adiwibowo, a public health researcher at the university of indonesia, joins me now from jakarta. andrio, you advocate "disaster—sensitive tourism" what is that? ok, 0k, disaster tourism can be a science, but for the country that relies on the tourism industry, the tourism disaster base should be, it can bea tourism disaster base should be, it can be a solution to prepare and recover the tourists. many of the disaster base tourism. how equipped are indonesian islands like the gillis and lombok to deal with disasters?

yes, i think we need more people. we still have a lack of preparing those. we are not very well co—ordinated in dealing with these disasters. it is incredibly tricky to ask tourists to come in and yet also have things in place that will make them feel safe. what do you think the government should be doing then our? ok, it is going to be a long road, a loss of home work. first, we need to revisit, revise oui’ first, we need to revisit, revise our regulations, especially in lombok, there is a new kind of tourism where the tourists come to

the remote island. we need to make the remote island. we need to make the new regulations that can cope with the disaster that will happen in ramon islands. —— promote islands. there are two approaches. top gun, the government needs to control and monitor the building and everything to make sure the buildings meet safety standards —— top down. bottom—up, we need to educate people. you also need to ask for international super. tourists need to be more critical when they come to the tourism site. that is the strategy that we can do for the future development. we appreciate your time. thank you very much for joining us. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: is there a victory lap and a brighter future for 500 greyhounds under threat after the closure of asia's only

legal dog—racing track? also on the programme: we report on the long hours spent queuing at london's heathrow airport for travellers from outside the european union. their big crowds became bigger at the time of the general approached. —— the big crowds. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutal former dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse

of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later, when the sun set over the bay of bengal. hello, everyone. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. yes, thanks for being with us. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: international spotlight on china over claims it's running political indoctrination camps for ethnic uighur muslims. the battle for ghazni — the afghan government says up to 200 militants have been killed in the city after a taliban attack. a south korean woman has beenjailed for secretly photographing a male nude model.

so—called spy cam porn is a huge problem in south korea, and has sparked protests in recent months, with women demanding more action. this rare case of a female offender, a 25—year—old, ended in a 10—month jail sentence, sparking accusations of double standards. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the south china morning post reports on a government crackdown on celebrities allegedly avoiding tax in mainland china. the report says that a taskforce has been put in place to tackle the activities of some of the country's highest paid celebrities, who are involved in offshore currency transfers. the new york times has a feature on russian president vladimir putin's struggles in the face of western sanctions. the paper notes the declining value of the russian ruble and mr putin's waning popularity. and, finally, to the japan times,

which reports on an uproar over the installation of a statue of a child wearing a protective suit at fukushima station. the paper says that local residents believe that the statue gives visitors the false impression that people still need to take precautions after the 2011 nuclear crisis. and those are the papers. moves to ease turkey's currency crisis have failed to stop market turmoil as the country's row with the us deepens. president recep tayyip erdogan said its nato ally was seeking to stab it in the back after the us imposed sanctions over its refusal to extradite a us preacher imprisoned in the country. mark lowen reports from istanbul. in his 37 years of work, hakim akcay has never seen it this bad.

he imports all his stock from abroad and, as the turkish lira plunges, he is making huge losses. from selling a0 pairs a day, he's down to two, as the currency fall hits his turkish customers' pockets as well. translation: banks used to beg me to give me loans. now i'm begging to get them. i'm cancelling my order to try and sell what i have now and in three months i will see if i have to close down. turkey is now in a full—blown currency crisis — the lira crashing last friday by 18% and still falling. for long, there were warnings its economy was overheating, fuelled by credit and construction. but the collapse was sparked when donald trump hit turkey with sanctions and tariffs over its continued detention of an american pastor. president erdogan is stoking conspiracy theories among his nationalist base, with

talk of foreign plots. rejecting an interest rate rise that could help, he instead hit out at the us. translation: on the one hand, you're a strategic partner, on the other, you shoot yourself in the foot. on the one hand, you were a partner with us in afghanistan when everyone else was leaving. you were a partner with us in somalia, you're a partner in nato. on the other hand, you stab your ally in the back. is this acceptable? his supporters are rallying behind him. this business group showing off the lira they bought today. the government is framing it as a matter of national survival. "everyone knows this is an economic attack on our country," he says, "trump and america will be destroyed and turkey will stand tall." the lira crash matters beyond turkey, because other banks, currencies and markets elsewhere in the world have fallen amid fears of contagion.

and with president erdogan warning that the row with the us risks pushing turkey to seek alternative partners, an unprecedented rift has opened between two nato allies. tourists are making hay while the sun shines, as the luxury suddenly becomes affordable. if more holidaymakers are tempted here, it's a small solace amid turkey's economic woes. when i was here, it took me by surprise that i get so much lira for my euros, but it's great. we can afford even better restaurants than we did already, actually. we liked the middle standard and now tomorrow we will make a reservation for a really nice turkish restaurant. but no such joy for hakim, closing early, and not knowing where his currency will end up tomorrow. turkey's diplomatic fights and its economic decisions may be

made above him, but it's he and 80 million others here who are paying the price. mark lowen, bbc news, istanbul. the future is looking brighter for more than 500 greyhounds abandoned after a racetrack closed in macau. fears for their safety has been hitting headlines worldwide after asia's only legal dog—racing track closed down last month and the former owners of the track failed to find the dogs new homes. there's also been widespread concern at the conditions the dogs have been kept in. albano martins is the president of macau animal welfare group anima. hejoins me live from macau. thank you so much forjoining us, mr martins. first of all, there were about 650 greyhounds, but more than 100 of them have already been

adopted. what happens now to the remaining 530, is there any interest to adopt them? well, we have now exactly 532 greyhounds, and we have coal operation between anima, the government and the former track owner “— government and the former track owner —— cooperation. and we are trying to get them adopted in asia, australia and also in europe and the united states. is there certain criteria, mr martins, for the adoption, or do you give them away when someone adopt them? no, we have a lot from hong kong and macau. we have a in hong kong and around 70 from macau. no one will receive any greyhound unless we check their own conditions and we have an interview with them. so, all animals that will

go to europe, mainly europe and the united states, will be met with rescue teams in europe and the us, and all without the same procedure. we will check very carefully all of the adopters. but you can't find homes for them all. oh, sure i can! sure i can. if they are going to europe, will the greyhounds race again, or will they be pets? no, we will not give any greyhound to any rescue centre that will be using them for racing again. we are an anti— racing association and we will be sex all animals so there is no way for them to breed them again and we will only send those animals that are in good shape —— de—sex. u nfortu nately, are in good shape —— de—sex. unfortunately, not all of them are in good shape. we will try to recover them and we will have, tomorrow... so, what are you doing,

mrmartins, for tomorrow... so, what are you doing, mr martins, for the greyhounds who are not in shape? well, tomorrow we will receive a group of australian vets to have a completely checkup of all greyhounds and we will classify them in several ways. those that are prepared to be adopted, but all as i told you will be de—sexed, and those that need some treatment in order to be adopted later. we are not in a rush. we have more than one year to do this operation. we appreciate you joining us on newsday and we hope you are able to have these greyhounds adopted over the next year. thank you so much forjoining us, mrmartins, from year. thank you so much forjoining us, mr martins, from the animal protection group, anima. now, babita, even the most enthusiatic of travellers is likely to get frustrated if they're flying into london's heathrow from outside the european economic area. figures obtained by virgin atlantic show waiting times for these passengers to clear passport control have risen to 2.5 hours last

month. i was going to ask you, rico, has this happened to you? no, it hasn't happened to me, i got back from the us, san francisco and new york — no problems whatsoever. it is interesting because people have taken to social media to say there isa taken to social media to say there is a huge issue here. the uk government is promising extra border staff but they also are saying they don't want to compromise on the passport checks. here's caroline davies reporting from heathrow. these are figures from frustrated airlines who think the uk border could be better managed. they say leaving people waiting at the border for several hours, orfor leaving people waiting at the border for several hours, or for however long, is a bad first impression when they first get to the uk. this often happens to people from outside the european economic area, roughly outside europe's orders, from the rest of the world. so why is it happening? according to the home

office they have blamed computer failures and they have said that they have had a large number of cases dealing with adults and children who are vulnerable. of course there are things outside their control, if the flights are delayed, and all arrive at the terminal at one point, the queues will be longer. there are being solutions suggested as well. heathrow airport have asked for people from low—risk countries, as they refer to them, from america and canada, that they might be allowed to use the electronic system, the gates, to go through rather than queueing up to see a person at the border. and i hope, babita, when i go to london next month, i won't have to wait 2.5 hours to get through passport control. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. coming up later: despite good times for the economy, why are so many australians not feeling it? and, before we go, we told you about the brilliant meteor show which lit up the world's skies overnight. well, many of you have been sending

us your fabulous pictures. these families in israel camped out to see the annual perseid meteor. the shooting stars were particularly spectacular here in greece where a moonless sky made for the perfect backdrop. it is an annual event, it always happens in july and it is an annual event, it always happens injuly and august, and if you missed it you have to wait another 12 months to see it. we have some stunning pictures for you on the bbc news website if you missed it from around the world. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. we will see you soon. hello there. it doesn't look like

the widespread, hot, sunny weather will return soon, but there will be some warmth in the forecast, particularly across england and wales throughout this week. something a little bit cooler, though, at the end of the week. we start this morning on a warm note across central, southern and eastern parts of the country, but more cloud across the west. even so, double—figure values here as well. so for tuesday itself, always more cloud across the north and west of the country, that's because of a brisk westerly wind feeding in this moist airfrom the brisk westerly wind feeding in this moist air from the atlantic. so the best of the dry and bright weather will be in the south and east. we could see the odd heavy shower in the afternoon. to the north and the west, more of a breeze, 17— 20 degrees. to the south and east, 2a— 25 and it will be fairly humid again as well. on into tuesday evening it will be a dry one. england and wales, eastern scotland. more cloud in the north—west. the reason for more cloud in the north—west, as i

mentioned, the weather coming from the atlantic. into wednesday this area of low pressure will make inroads to create an unsettled day in the north—west corner. more cloud, outbreaks of rain for north—west scotland and northern ireland, into north—west wales and with the best of the dry and bright weather in the south and the east corner. the wind arrows are on because it will be a blustery day wherever you are and certainly in the north—west with the rain. that will impact the temperatures. 15— 22 degrees. we could reach 25— 26 or even 27 in the south—east. it changes as we head into thursday. the area of low pressure pushes south—east. it pushes the cold front across the country as well. it could be quite a wet morning across england and wales as that band of rain sings its way southwards and eastwards, tending to fizzle out as it does so. but eventually it will clear away and behind it will leave cool and fresh conditions with sunshine and some showers. most of these in the north—west. temperatures ranging between 14— 21

degrees, it will be cooler across—the—board. and degrees, it will be cooler across—the—boa rd. and then degrees, it will be cooler across—the—board. and then we see another area of low pressure move in on friday particularly in the north—west of the country. once again it will be windy. in fact we could see gales in exposure in the north—west. outbreaks or persistent may be heavy rain here. the further south and east that you come the dry and bright of the ten —— it will tend to be closer to high pressure from the near continent. again we will see the split in temperatures. heitinga in the north—west. low 20s in the south—east. —— high temperatures. so the week starts slowly in england and wales. as low pressure m oves slowly in england and wales. as low pressure moves through it will send some cool and fresh air rights across—the—board. sharma i'm babita sharma with bbc news.

our top story: there's growing international pressure on china over claims it's running political indoctrination camps for a million ethnic uighur muslims. but beijing says reports of the centres are completely false. officials say uighurs enjoy full rights and so called ‘re—education‘ camps do not exist. the afghan government claims almost 200 militants have been killed in the city of ghazni, four days after the taliban began an attack on the city. more than 100 soldiers and police are believed to have died. and this video is trending on bbc.com. these amazing pictures of dani arnold, who's set a new record climbing the notoriously tough north face of the grandesjorasses in the alps. he reached the top in two hours, four minutes — without ropes or support. it's called "free climbing." stay with bbc world news.