this is bbc news, i'm martin stanford. our top stories: venezuela releases 22 prisoners, including a high—profile judge, after the un accused the government of abuses against the oppostion. eight people are jailed in the uk for their part in what is being described as the worst case of modern—day slavery ever seen in britain. translation: i couldn't even leave the house to go for a walk. they were following me, spying on me. they were controlling me. president trump threatens to use executive powers to count the number of us citizens in the population census. and coco gauff does it again. another stunning victory for the 15—year—old at wimbledon, in herfirst ever grand slam.

hello and welcome to bbc world news. venezuela has released 22 people regarded by the opposition as political prisoners, including a prominentjudge. since her arrest in 2009, maria afiuni has faced a range of charges and has spent years in prison or under house arrest. the united nations commisioner on human rights had appealed for her release, before publishing a report yesterday accusing president maduro‘s government of abusing the justice system to suppress his political opponents. maria afiuni's brother said his sister still had restrictions on her freedom. translation: she can't speak to the

media. she can't use social media. she can't leave the country. she has to present herself every 30 days. the logical thing would be to get rid of all the cautionary measures and respect what the un says, which is complete freedom. but that has not happened. we continue to wait. the un says one thing, the maduro government does another. they are never serious about what international organisations say, so we are in the same situation. we continue to wait. the bbc‘s guillermo 0lmo is following developments from caracas. well, it's very hard to say what's the real reason behind what nicolas maduro‘s government does. what we do know is that they were celebrating today their independence, and also that the opposition were holding a rally for asking, again, for the end of nicolas maduro‘s rule. and we also know that these decisions made by the venezuelan supreme court comes by the venezuelan supreme court co m es after by the venezuelan supreme court comes after the release of a report from the united nations human rights

agency that has been a real political blow for the government, because it included a long list of human rights violations for which the authorities would be the ones to blame. if it is that human rights abuses accusations that have really hurt the government, do you think there will be more prisoners released as a consequence? that's also hard to say, but one very clear thing is that this report, and the release of these 22 people, come in the context of a political negotiation which is now under way between the government and the opposition. this is a dialogue that is being brokered by the norwegian government. norway has a long tradition of mediation in conflicts. they also helped to settle the colombian civil war, and now they are trying to do the same thing in

venezuela. they are trying to bring the government and the opposition together for a peaceful solution of the conflict. someone might think that this release of people could have been a kind of step in the context of these talks. but again, as usual in venezuela, the government decisions are rather opaque. it's very difficult to say what is the real reason behind it. and we don't really know what's happening tojudge and we don't really know what's happening to judge afiuni, and we don't really know what's happening tojudge afiuni, do and we don't really know what's happening to judge afiuni, do we, with the confusion spread by her brother. is she really free to do what she likes? well, i don't think she is really free to do what she likes, according to what her relatives have been saying. it is also the same case of another man, a journalist who was jailed back in 2016 after reporting on a protest against nicolas maduro. and despite the united nations human rights commissioner's announcement, he tweeted that he had been granted only partial freedom.

tweeted that he had been granted only partialfreedom. he is not allowed to leave his home state, and he is not either allowed... he also has to go to authorities, to show up every fortnight. a gang has been convicted and jailed for running the uk's largest modern slavery ring. police believe up to 400 victims were forced to work by a gang of polish criminals in the english west midlands, who raked in millions. the gang preyed on the homeless, ex—prisoners, and alcoholics. eight people have been found guilty of offences including trafficking, money laundering, and exploiting forced labour. sima kotecha reports. their victims, some as young as 17, were made to live in rooms like these — filthy, often rat—infested, with no heating or light, toilets blocked and the stench unbearable. the gang was made up of five men and three women, all from poland. 52—year—old ignacy brzezinski, 41—year—old wojciech nowa kowski

and 26—year—old jan sadowski were sentenced today to more than a total of 20 years for modern slavery offences. for the first time, the bbc can report that, in february, five others were convicted of their roles in the conspiracy, and were also jailed. together, they preyed on the vulnerable in poland and lured them to the west midlands, promising them a wealthy life. they targeted former prisoners, the homeless, alcoholics. translation: to be honest, i came here to start a new life, but i didn't know that this new life would start with such really big problems. i couldn't even leave the house to go for a walk. they were following me, spying on me. they were controlling me. more than 90 victims gave evidence during the trial here, but the police believe the true number of victims is in the hundreds. they were forced to carry out manual

labour on farms and in factories, and were paid as little as 50p a day, while their masters kept most of their earnings. the anti—slavery commissioner said this case sends a strong message that trafficking will not be tolerated. west midlands police began looking into what was happening four years. they would convince the victims, for example, that they were unlawfully in the country, that if they left the house that the traffickers provided for them, that they would be arrested by the police. sometimes they were given a debt, so, you know, they were told that they owed the traffickers £5,000, and they had to work off that debt. so there's a lot of these methods the traffickers would use to make them feel trapped. 0ne slave was given a chicken as payment for redecorating a house. another man had to wash in a canal because he had no other water. the gang was discovered after charities identified victims. this man works undercover, and wants to remain anonymous.

very withdrawn, physically shaken, disorientated. we had victims presenting with black eyes. 0ne victim presented with a broken arm, so his broken arm had reset itself, out of alignment. ripped clothing, emaciated. while the victims suffered, the gang bosses lived an opulent lifestyle, driving lavish cars and buying designer clothes. over five years, they made at least £2 million. after sentencing, thejudge, mary stacey, told the court the harm in this case was at the very highest level, and she warned that all too often such offences were being carried out in plain sight. sima kotecha, bbc news, birmingham crown court. ben cooley leads the charity hope forjustice. his organisation was instrumental in stopping the slavery ring. 0ne one of ourteam

one of our team that were community support officers embedded themselves into the community, which was a largely polish community. and our polished support worker was able to bring confidence enough to report these cases, and then we worked with west midlands police and identified a further 49 victims from this particular case. we work with people, homeless communities and the vulnerable, to help them out of exploitation. and further to that, not only did we identify the victims, but we supported them through the last four years, we supported them through with advocacy, legal support, housing, welfare, to make sure that these individuals are supported. let's get some of the day's other news: the united nations has welcomed the power sharing agreement reached in sudan in the early hours of friday. the secretary—general, antonio guterres, called on both the military and the civilian opposition to implement the deal fully.

both parties will take turns leading a sovereign council until elections are held in three years' time. one of italy's best—known circus trainers has been mauled to death by tigers. ettore weber was inside the animals' cage when one of the tigers turned on him. three others then joined the attack. the tigers are said to have played with his body until paramedics and circus staff steppped in. the incident happened during a rehearsalfor the 0rfei circus, near bari, in the south of the country. president trump has blamed the rain and a malfunctioning telepromter for a mistake in his 4july speech. the president was widely mocked for saying the us military took over airports during the american revolution, which was long before air travel existed. he has told reporters the telempromter went kaput, and that it was hard to read because of heavy rain. the us economy created more than 200,000 newjobs injune. the figure is far higher than expected, and the robust growth

has eased fears of an economic slowdown, prompted by poorjobs data in may. the professional and business services sector gave the biggest boost to the jobs numbers. president donald trump is refusing to back down over his bid to put a controversial citizenship question on the 2020 us census. he has threatened to issue an executive order to get it on the form. the supreme court has ruled against including the question, and civil rights groups say its inclusion is politically motivated. 0ur north america correspondent david willis is in washington, and has been following developments. the united states constitution mandates that a census take place here in the us every ten years. the next one is due next year in 2020, and these censuses help determine the allocation of billions of dollars in federal funds.

the allocation of billions of dollars in federalfunds. they the allocation of billions of dollars in federal funds. they also help determine the allocation of seats in the house of representatives. now, president trump, as you mentioned there, has insisted or is insisting that a question on citizenship, is the person filling out the form of a citizen of the united states, be inserted into next year's census. democrats are crying foul. they say that this will cause a lot of illegal immigrants to boycott the survey, and that will lead to a diminution of funds to democratic areas, where there are a lot of illegal immigrants, and also impact their representation on the state and county levels. so there's a lot at stake here. last week, the united states supreme court blocked this move by the trump administration to have this citizenship question inserted in the census, and president trump is now saying that he might seek to override that with the use of a so—called executive order. the question being mounted,

does he have the authority to do that? for the simple reason that the us constitution vest the power in overseeing the us census with congress, and not with the president himself. right, so it's going to go to the courts again, do we think, david? he is going to run and run this argument, presumably?m david? he is going to run and run this argument, presumably? it is going to run and run. it will now go to the courts. us government lawyers say they are looking at legal grounds for some sort of appeal, if you like, or to represent their case to the us supreme court. so this will move forward. president trump digging his heels in on this. he believes that it is vital to determine the number of foreign nationals in the united states. he is also argued, of course, martin, in the past, that millions of illegal immigrants voted in the 2016 presidential election, the election that brought him to power, although

there is no independent confirmation of that. for their part, immigrants' rights groups are saying that this smacks of xenophobia, anti—immigrant policies on the part of the trump administration, and they believe that this citizenship question will actually violate the us constitution, because it will skew the results of the census and not provide an accurate reading. as you say, it will run and run, this, i think. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: the holocaust survivor eva kor, a survivor of the worst horrors at auschwitz, has died at the age of 85. central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. police say they have been many casualties, and there is growing ‘s regulation that al qaeda was responsible. germany will be the hosts of the 2006 football world cup, and they picked the favourites, south africa, bya picked the favourites, south africa, by a single vote. in south africa,

the possibility of losing hadn't even been contemplated, and celebration parties were cancelled. a man entered the palace downstairs window and made his way to the green's private bedroom. then he asked her for a cigarette, and on the pretext of arranging for some to be brought, she summoned a footman oi'i be brought, she summoned a footman on duty, who brought the men away —— took the men away. one child, one teacher, one book, and one pen, can change the world. education is the only solution. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: venezuela has released 22 prisoners, including a high—profile judge, after the un accused the government of abuses against the oppostion. eight people have beenjailed in the uk for their part in what's being described as the country's woi’st ever case of

modern—day slavery. the government in gibraltar says an iranian oil tanker currently detained on its coast can be held for 1h more days. the tanker was seized in an operation by british commandos on monday, after intelligence reports suggested it was carrying oil to syria in violation of european union sanctions. gissou nia, an iran specialiast at the atlantic council, told me this is a very problematic situation. the thing that is important to remember here is that now the eu has banned oil shipments to syria since 2011, they have never seized a tanker at sea. so i think the iranians are very much viewing this as an escalation and as an aggressive move on the part of the eu. they are responding with aggression in turn. there is already some suggestions that perhaps

america, who has its own argument with iran of course, in a number of matters, not least the nuclear question, i have been behind this, that the british were perhaps acting as american proxies? there is a bit ofa as american proxies? there is a bit of a dispute over this, spain, there was an unnamed spanish politician or spanish official who had indicated that the uk had acted at the behest of the us government. the uk is denying this, but iranian media picked up that claim and that is what they have been saying, and indeed some long time observers and a nalysts indeed some long time observers and analysts of maritime shipping and those issues, are saying that it is unlikely that this action would have been undertaken without some degree of co—ordination with the us. so that remains to be seen, no official confirmations yet from the uk. we mentioned that nuclear understanding between iran and the rest of the world, the deadline is fast approaching for the deal to be put

back together. this kind of escalation regarding the oil tankers can only help destroy any agreements, surely? it is not a helpful thing to happen two days before iran had said it would exceed the restrictions that were placed on the restrictions that were placed on the uranium levels by the gc poa in 2015, so thatjuly seven deadline is approaching, and the europeans have been walking a fine line here ever since the us pulled out of the agreement last may 2018, there were hopes i think, by the uk, france and germany, the p3 that they could still remain in the deal and that iran would abide by the terms of the deal, but this effort to set up in steps and eu— iran trading has been slow going, and tehran has been frustrated in what it says are the

european split was lacking abilities to push trade forward. and also the impact of us secondary sanctions. i don't think the iranians feel optimistic, they feel that the europeans don't feel optimistic at this point, and with the us "maximum pressu re" this point, and with the us "maximum pressure" campaign continuing, it does seem that this deal is quickly unravelling. the holocaust survivor, eva kor, has died aged 85. she was born in romania and deported to auschwitz in191m. she and her twin sister were experimented on by the infamous camp doctorjosef mengele known as the ‘angel of death'. in later life she gave tours of auschwitz and advocated forgiveness. in 2015 she attended the trial of former nazi guard 0skar groening and reached out to him. she explained to the bbc why she did so. ino i no longer carry any anger or

hatred toward anybody. and that is not because they deserve it, but i deserve to live free of it. but once i don't have animosity and anger toward them, you are opening yourself up to a lot of other human emotions. leah simpson from the candles holocaust museum and education centre in indiana, which was founded by eva kor, knew her. she told us just what kind of woman eva was. eva was a force to be reckoned with. she told the way she thought it, but at the same time her message was so powerful and education was so important to her. forgiveness was absolutely central to her creed, wasn't it. how did she find the strength to forgive, do you think?|j think strength to forgive, do you think?” think there was a lot of reasons that went to forgiveness, but one of the simple ones was that she had tried everything else, there was nothing left and she was tired of

being angry. this was something to try, and it worked. it made her, it made her different because many people who have survived in similar ways found it impossible to do that, reach out and that forgiveness way. yes, and she was criticised for her forgiveness, but it was the most empowering thing that she had done. it changed the way she saw life and it changed the way she physically looked. the team who run the museum, led by yourself, makes this annual trip to poland, do you think those trips will continue, what now of the museum, do you think it will continue as well? i think it has to. the museum has to continue to spread her word, to share her message and educate others about this greatest atrocity. and what of the scientific experiments, which is well documented, it is part of the story,

these hideous medical procedures, did she speak of that much? she talked about medical ethics and the fa ct talked about medical ethics and the fact that people needed to have consent, people needed to understand what was happening to them and so that was a central theme to that lecture. a young man who accused actor kevin spacey of sexual assault has dropped his lawsuit against the former "house of cards" star. mr spacey was accused of having groped the 18—year—old busboy in a nantucket bar in 2016. the 59—year—old denies the claims. a motion for "voluntary dismissal" of the civil complaint was filed by the accuser, with no reason given. a hearing on the criminal charges is set to take place next week. the charges carry a penalty of up to five years imprisonment. sunday's women's world cup final will see the defending champions the usa up against the current european champions the netherlands. such has been the success of this year's tournament, that fifa is suggesting the next world cup in 2023 should be expanded to 32 teams. fifa also wants significant progress to be made in equalising prize money

between the men's and the women's game. we have already... more than doubled the prize money for the women's world cup this year, going from 15— 50 million, i am very optimistic about that, and moving ahead for the next world cup, we will doublet for the next world cup, i am very confident that we can achieve the necessary figures in order to do that. —— double it. coco gauff‘s wimbledon journey goes on — the 15—year—old has made it to the fourth round. she defeated polona hercog in three sets, saving two match points before fighting back to win the next two sets. it comes after her win earlier this week against five—time champion venus williams. she now plays former world number one, simona halep of romania, for a place in the last eight.

john watson has more. there can be no doubt that she has been one of the stories of the tournament so far, and that story continues as boko gauff books her place in the fourth round at wimbledon, her furthest at a grand slam. it was a performance beyond her years, we know her achievements already, knocking out venus williams in the early round, and she has ove 1120 m e in the early round, and she has overcome polona hercog here today in quite dramatic circumstances when you consider she dropped the first set, she had to save two points in this match before managing to claw her way back into the match, salvaging the second set before closing it out over three sets. a huge amount of support on centre court where she was playing for the first time, and you can only imagine that that support is going to grow, because she really has been one of the standout performers so far, a grand slam champion in the making and you wonder perhaps, a future world number one as well. could her

first grand slam title come here at wimbledon at the tender age of 15. you wonder. we were waiting to see serena williams and andy murray in action today, they were due to begin their doubles partnership in the mixed doubles, that has been pushed back until saturday, but no doubt the talk of the town is at wimbledon on day five at this championships, coco gauff, the 15—year—old, into the fourth round. a statue of the american first lady melania trump has been unveiled outside her slovenian hometown. commissioned by american artist brad downey and carved from a treetrunk by a local sculptor, the statue has prompted very mixed reviews, with critics suggesting that the figure looks like a scarecrow. downey said he wanted to highlight melania trump's immigrant status whilst being married to a president sworn to reduce immigration. you can reach me on twitter —

i'm @martinstanford. we saw the peak in the heat yesterday, and the top temperature, 28 celsius, 82 fahrenheit, compared with the cooler, claudia 16, 60 one fahrenheit further north. but cooler, cloudier areas heading southwards, on a weather front that has been meandering very slowly south, giving ranger northern ireland, northern england, heading towards north wales and the wash by the time we get there. the warm air uncomfortable for sleeping but it will feel much fresher by mourning further north. that fresher air is ona further north. that fresher air is on a cold weather front and is heading southwards, so i think it will introduce more clout across england and wales during the course of saturday a particular today, so it will feel cooler as a result.

cold weather front is also followed bya cold weather front is also followed by a north—westerly breeze which is never a warm direction. if you are sheltered from the breeze in the sunshine that follows across scotland, northern england and northern ireland, it will feel pleasant. the weather front will ta ke pleasant. the weather front will take much of the data meander across wales, the midlands and east anglia into the south—east. introducing cloudy skies and even the splash of rain, so if you're heading to wimbledon, it does look cooler, more cloudy, there could be some sunshine getting through that cloud, but i would not like to rule out the shower later in the afternoon, early evening, because the weather front could give a few sharp splashes of rain here, and they are not for all but what it does do is dampen the heat. 28 we saw friday not repeated, still warm across the south coast but the most of us, it is cooler temperatures, down to what they should be, there should be some lovely sunshine heading down beyond that weather front, it does not mean the temperatures are lower but it is just as strong. some showers across

the north and north—east of scotland, they will continue through the evening and overnight, blowing further southwards, blowing that fresher into the far south of england, so it looks like a fashion item the whole, even further south just a little bit of warmth maintained in the towns and cities. but it could be that on sunday we still have that weather front dragging its heels across southern parts of england, still giving the odd shower and slow to clear. a little more clout in eastern parts of england and scotland with the odd shower around but some dry, bright weather for the majority, shower around but some dry, bright weatherfor the majority, the best of the sunshine in south—west scotla nd of the sunshine in south—west scotland in north—west england, further south as well, feeling fresher, temperatures down to where they should be a matter is maintained into next week where a looks more unsettled further north.

this is bbc news. the headlines: venezuela's supreme court has released 22 people from prison, including a high—profile judge, after the un said the country uses a campaign of fear to suppress opposition. eight people have beenjailed in the uk for their part in what is being described as the country's worst ever case of modern—day slavery. police believe there were up to 400 victims. president trump is threatening to use executive powers to count the number of us citizens in the population census. the supreme court has already ruled against the practice, and the census forms have already begun being printed without the question. cori gauff is through to the second week of wimbledon. the 15—year—old american beat slovenia's polona hercog in a thrilling contest, saving two match points along the way. the two candidates to be the next prime minister have been in scotland