welcome to bbc news, i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: venezuela releases more than 20 prisoners, and a high—profile judge after the un accused the government of human rights abuses. president trump threatens to use his executive powers to include a controversial citizenship question in the population census. venezuela's supreme court has released 22 prisoners, including a high profilejudge. maria afiuni is one of many people the opposition says are political prisoners. she was first arrested ten years ago

and had been sentenced again in march for corruption. the move has been welcomed by the un, which published a highly critical report on thursday, accusing president maduro‘s government of widespread human rights abuses against the opposition and minority groups. but maria afiuni's brother says his sister still has 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're never serious about what international organisations say, so we're in the same situation. we continue to wait. the bbc‘s guillermo olmo is following events from caracas. well, it's very hard to say what's the real reason behind what nicolas maduro‘s

government does. what we 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 this decision made 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. president trump is refusing to back down over his plan to put in a controversial citizenship question in 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 correspondent david willis in washington has been following this for us, and has this update. the us constitution mandates a census take place here in the united states every ten years. now, the next one is due next year, in 2020, and that census helps the government to allocate billions of dollars in federal resources, and it also helps define how areas are drawn up for contesting in the house of representatives. now, president trump wants the question inserted into next year's census: "is this person a citizen of the united states?" it's 70 years since that question has been asked in a general census here, and democrats and some immigrant rights groups are up in arms because they say that merely posing that question could deter a lot of illegal immigrants from taking part in the exercise,

which would skew the outcome, and could lead to them losing both congressional state legislative seats, and of course those billions of dollars in federal funds that i was talking about. now, last week, the united states supreme court blocked a move by the trump administration to have that question asked in the 2020 census, president trump now saying that he might use an executive order to basically overrule them. so, if he issues that executive order, does he actually have the authority to force that question into the census? it's a very good question, and in actualfact, a lot of legal scholars are saying that he probably doesn't, for the simple reason that in the us constitution, it falls to congress to oversee the implementation of a census here, not so much the president himself. so this is clearly destined for some sort of protracted legal challenge,

given that government lawyers have told a federaljudge that they intend — they have been told to basically prepare additional arguments to go back to the us supreme court and see if they can get that verdict overturned. the tunisian government has banned the use of the niqab in public institutions like government offices. it said the decision was based on security reasons. the niqab covers a woman's entire face, leaving only the eyes visible. the order comes after three suicide bombings in the capital tunis in the space of a week. ramzan karmali has more. the aftermath of a suicide bombing in tunis, just one of two attacks that rocked the tunisian capital on one day. the bombings resulted in two deaths and several injuries. earlier this week, a suspect being chased by police detonated his suicide vest.

witnesses say he was dressed in women's clothes. it's this security threat that has resulted in the prime minister, youssef chahed, banning the niqab from government offices. the niqab is worn by some muslim women as an interpretation of modest dress and as a symbol of religious faith. there was a mixed response to the order on the streets of tunis today. translation: it's for our safety. if someone wears the full veil, you are no longer able to identify them, so it makes sense that it should be forbidden, at least in public institutions. translation: i think that the problem lies here. if we start to take decisions that limit the freedom of individuals for security reasons, there may be even more serious decisions being taken that limit the freedom of individuals, so there's no reason why the state should prohibit any woman from wearing the veil. wearing the niqab in state buildings was not allowed up until 2011, a ban that was lifted

when the longtime ruler zine el abidine ben ali was ousted. rights groups have urged the government to make sure that the current restriction is just a temporary one. 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. the government in gibraltar says an iranian oil tanker currently detained on its coast can be held for another fourteen 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. president trump has blamed the rain and a malfunctioning teleprompter for a mistake in his fourth ofjuly 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's told reporters the teleprompter "went kaput", and that it was hard to read because of heavy rain. 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. 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. jaguar land rover is investing hundreds of millions of pounds to build a range of electric vehicles at its plant in birmingham. the company says it will help secure the jobs of more than 2,500 workers at the plant — although it announced almost double the number of job losses earlier this year. our business editor simon jack is in castle bromwich. after 6,000 lay—offs in the last two years, workers at jaguar land rover finally had a reason to be cheerful as they arrived at work today. the boss announced the company was spending nearly £1 billion on electrifying one of its most famous models. julia and martin davies got married after meeting at the plant. 0ur son—in—law‘s here, so this is the next generation. they're taking this on. it's secured their futures, it's just fantastic. jlr has been very downbeat about the damage a no—deal brexit

could do to future investment. today, there was a change of tune. today is the day of electrifying the plant, and honouring our people, who are going with us to define a new, electrified future. you're spending nearly £1 billion, when you said that the prospect of a no—deal brexit would stop investment in the uk. some will say you were crying wolf. we have made clear our statement to brexit, and nothing has changed. however, it's also quite clear that we have a clear strategy, and really want to go ahead. and we are, from a heart and soul point of view, we are a british company. seeing a production line stand idle like this is not normally good news, but not today. this lot is going to be stripped out, totally retooled, to make the electric successor to the x] model. in the race for electrification, jaguar land rover started almost

in last place, with 90% of its fleet powered by diesel. this is a very big step into an electric future. £1 billion sounds a lot, but it is tiny compared to what others are spending. the big manufacturers are making very big moves. vw alone is investing £70 billion in electric cars. daimler, the owner of mercedes, is spending £33 billion. in total, carmakers have announced investments of £2110 billion, with nearly half of that earmarked for projects in china, with the rest in north america, europe and japan. the car industry's fundamentally changing. there's going to be more change in the next 10—15 years than the previous 100 years. and it's a great shame that, at this critical moment, the uk's punching below its weight because of concerns and uncertainty around brexit, for example. we've got to cut through that as quickly as possible. it is the end of an era for the xj, as the last of the old generation leaves the building. privately the company says,

brexit permitting, other models may follow where the xj has led. things are heating up in alaska — the us state has just experienced a new record high temperature. the us weather service says 90 degrees fahrenheit, or 32 celsius, was recorded at anchorage airport on independence day, july the fourth. the previous high was around 30 celsius, while the average at this time of the year is just 18. brian brettschneider, who's in anchorage, is a climate researcher at the university of alaska fairbanks. he told us climate change is affecting everything. the entirety of alaska has been warming quite a bit in the last number of decades and it is unquestionable that we are several degrees warmer, and you add a warm air mass on top of a warmed world, then these records are far more likely to occur. these kinds of temperatures

that we've seen, is this where we expected to be with unchecked climate change, or is this worse or better than you thought it might be? well, i know, you know, there are are a number of projected temperatures and ranges for 50—100 years, this kind of temperature was off our radar. we didn't expect anything like this for quite a long time. so it's kind of caught everyone off guard, and perhaps may be something we should expect to see in decades to come. what did it actually mean for anchorage and alaska to have these kind of temperatures that are so unusual at this time of year? this far north we just don't tilt for cold — sorry, warm temperatures. 0ur houses don't have air—conditioning. they are built to keep heat in, not to let it out, so it's been very uncomfortable at nights, our house — my house didn't get below 26 celsius at night.

we've also been dealing with wildfire smoke from a nearby forest fire meaning we have to keep our doors and windows closed at night. it's very unpleasant and something we are accustomed to. people, especially the elderly and people with breathing and respiratory issues, many of them are having a difficult time. as a climate researcher, where do you think alaska needs to go from here? is it a matter of continuing to try and get movement on climate change globally or does alaska need to climate—proof its state? we really, we attack this from two different sides. one is from the adaptation side and the mitigation side, but also from the policy side to work to reduce our carbon emissions here in anchorage. we have a climate action plan

that we just implemented, other cities around the state are doing that as well. we also have some acute community issues, they are literally being washed into the ocean as permafrost melts and sea ice is no longer there. so this is a 2—pronged approach on how do we deal with it in the short—term versus how do we deal with it in the long—term and we are making progress on both sides. 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. president trump may use an executive order to include a controversial question on citizenship in next year's census. government lawyers say they're still looking for legal grounds for the move. the former leader of the far—right english defence league, stephen yaxley—lennon, who calls himself tommy robinson, faces jail after being found guilty of contempt of court.

yaxley—lennon was convicted of filming defendants in a child sexual explotation trial and broadcasting the footage on social media, in breach of a reporting ban on the case. our special correspondent, lucy manning reports. crowd chant: shame on you! the news that stephen yaxley—lennon had been found in contempt of court did not go down well with his supporters outside the old bailey. some surged at the police, missiles thrown, batons raised. it had been calmer in court, where the man also known as tommy robinson just shook his head as the judge said he had interfered with the justice process. it was this controversial broadcast live on social media last year that meant he had broken strict rules about what can be reported about court cases. doesn't seem like much guilt... he had filmed and confronted defendants accused of sexual exploitation of girls outside leeds crown court.

it was viewed more than 250,000 times. the judge said mr yaxley—lennon‘s behaviour, aggressively confronting some of the defendants, live—streaming from outside leeds crown court and breaking reporting restrictions, was "a serious interference with the administration ofjustice". leaving the courtroom, mr yaxley—lennon claimed it was a corrupt decision, and he would appeal. you've now been found in contempt of court. you lost your chance... do you think tommy robinson has just been burst now? you don't care, do you? you don't care that people's freedoms have been taken away. you don't care that ourjudicial justice system has just prosecuted someone because of who they are, not what they've done. you don't care, do you? you're a journalist! do you not care about people's freedoms to report? you don't care. you're meant to be a journalist, and look... do you think you're going back to prison? i know i'm going back to prison. despite his claims, the court found he had broadcast information that no other journalist did

or would have been allowed to. last may, mr yaxley—lennon was sent to jailfor 13 months, but released afterjust two, because it was found the decision had been rushed. he will now be sentenced again, and could face up to two years in prison. lucy manning, bbc news. the former prime minister, sirjohn major has said mps and fellow conservatives need to put the country before their party in their approach to brexit. he warned that the wrong choice of leaderfor the party could be a disaster for the economy and for peace in northern ireland. he was speaking stephen sackur on the bbc‘s hardtalk programme. the troubles in northern ireland started with the murders of those customs officers. go and ask the taoiseach, there were plenty of people both on the nationalist side and on the republican side he would be only too willing to have an excuse be only too willing to have an excuse to restart violence. so let

us excuse to restart violence. so let us not just concentrate excuse to restart violence. so let us notjust concentrate on one aspect of that are now that is a huge impediment. now, ispent aspect of that are now that is a huge impediment. now, i spent a large number of years of my time in downing street working on the irish peace process, which, to his credit tony blair picked up and finished. you cannot risk returning to the problems we had before in which over 3000 people were killed. i have never seen you sing 3000 people were killed. i have never seen you sing it as i thought you several times in the past, i've never seen you so you several times in the past, i've never seen you so exercised, you several times in the past, i've never seen you so exercised, angry so never seen you so exercised, angry so passionate and even never seen you so exercised, angry so passionate and even angry, are you as a point where you are prepared to say to your own party, which you say you've been in since they, that if the party elect a prime minister that in the end commits to leaving on october 31 with no deal if necessary, are you saying i will recommend to conservative mps that they bring down that prime minister? i don't necessarily think that is the way

it's going to evolve. there are some things i think certainly has to do with the absurd suggestion of bypassing parliament by provoking it for example, that simply must not be permitted to happen. i have made my view ethically clear. i believe the direction we are in, i have no personal ambitions, i'm not going back into politics, there is nothing the government will offer me, i'm not interested in any of that. all i'm saying is on behalf of the people who do not have a voice to speak, the 48%, that what we're doing is bad for the future of our country. and parliament, parliament, i'm not in parliament, parliament must decide how to protect that. it's not a me to tell them how to do it. people would be interested if you were prepared to give a pathway to forging and blocking a no—deal brexit but surely it is incumbent on you as a former leader of the conservative party in a former

conservative party in a former conservative prime minister to say whether like kim carr, a former colleague of yours and dominic grieve, that you believe it would be right if it comes to it for conservatives to vote no confidence ina prime conservatives to vote no confidence in a prime minister and a government thatis in a prime minister and a government that is committed to a no—deal brexit. i think i said earlier, stefa n, brexit. i think i said earlier, stefan, quite clearly, if you have thatis stefan, quite clearly, if you have that is quite clearly between your country and your party, you choose your country. but is in all circumstances with nine put to one side. so you would leave the conservative party if you had to? no, no, no, it's nota conservative party if you had to? no, no, no, it's not a question of me leaving the conservative party. i will have been a conservative sense my 16th birthday, i haven't moved. i'm not moving from the conservative party. if they move away from me, thatis party. if they move away from me, that is a choice that they make. i shall stay where i am inside the conservative party, fighting for the sort of conservative party that generally is one nation, that doesn't cast aside the interests of

48% of the people within this country without reflecting on what their needs and concerns are. that isa their needs and concerns are. that is a sort of conservative party i would wish to see and there are many conservatives within the house of commons who feel exactly as i do. it is not the whole of the conservative party who is absolutely obsessed with the question of brexit. it is a portion of the conservative party. former british prime minister sir john major. and you can see the rest of that interview in the bbc‘s hardtalk programme over the weekend. john mccririck, who for many years was the face of british horseracing has died at the age of 79. mccririck‘s eccentric presenting style made him a household name. sarah campbell looks back on his life. the each way sharks and thieves, one, two, three... with his deerstalker hat, wild gesticulations and memorable turn of phrase, for decadesjohn mccririck was the face of racing. you listen to me and got up! he was such a massive figure.

he was a marmite figure because there were people that absolutely loved him or couldn't abide him. there was not really anything in between. each way, one, two, three. first at itv and then channel 4, he became a household name, explaining the odds. but, away from the racecourse, his forthright opinions were often less well received. crowd boos. even the normally genial alan titchmarsh asked him to leave after he insulted a fellow guest. after controversial appearances on reality tv shows, including celebrity big brother... he's french kissing my neck! ..he was dropped by channel 4 from their racing coverage. he lost a subsequent age discrimination tribunal which determined his pantomime persona and male chauvinist views were unpalatable to audiences. so, imagine if you woke up, nojob.

devastated at no longer doing thejob he loved... having no purpose in life. it's terrible. ..less than a year after this interview, racing has lost one of its most colourful characters. the racing journalist, john mccririck, who's died aged 79. 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. she now plays former world number one, simona halep of romania, for a place in the last eight. natalie pirks was watching. game face on for the biggest match of her young life. just 15, coco gauff has shown composure beyond her yea rs gauff has shown composure beyond her years as the wimbledon crowd were amazed. she looks so calm. but it

appeared the occasion was getting to her with an error strain served to lose the first set. coco needed her mojo, but as she stared down the barrel of two match points, polona hercog lost her nerve. tie—break time, this is also new to coco and her devoted family. he can't watch. but perseverance pays off. yes! and into a deciding set we went. what an extraordinary rally. it was a match swinging this way and that. the first time in the match, gauff looks like the likely winner. her opponent was highly experienced. they were going nowhere, and finally after almost three hours, gauff proved she is no want to be. this kit is the real deal. the fairytale continues!

the crowd was amazing. even when i was down match point they were still cheering me on and i'm just super thankful that they believe in me. as the mercury rose, it was hard for some to keep focus. this would have woken them up. no drenching is, but an upset to begin the day. last yea r‘s an upset to begin the day. last year's finalist, kevin anderson sent packing in straight sets. the man who beat him to take the title, novak djokovic, came to add a tricky time to win in four sets. we'll have to wait till tomorrow for the much anticipated matchup between andy murray and serena williams in the mixed doubles, but it was fitting that tonight belong to a comeback kid whose captivated centre court in her first kid whose captivated centre court in herfirst grand kid whose captivated centre court in her first grand slam, kid whose captivated centre court in herfirst grand slam, teenage dream so herfirst grand slam, teenage dream so hard to beat. natalie pirks, bbc news, wimbledon. definitely one to watch. the weather now with heather willets. hello. we saw the peak in the heat yesterday, and the top temperature,

28 celsius, 82 fahrenheit, compared with the cooler, cloudier 16, that's 61 fahrenheit, further north. that cooler, cloudier air is heading southwards, it's on a weather front which through the night has been meandering its way very slowly south and giving a bit of rain to northern ireland, northern england, heading towards north wales and the wash by the time we get to dawn. the warm air uncomfortable for sleeping but it will feel much fresher by morning further north. and that fresher air is on a cold weatherfront and it's heading southwards, so i think it will introduce more cloud across england and wales during the course of saturday, and in particular today, so it will feel cooler as a result. now that cold weather front‘s also being followed by a north—westerly breeze which is never a warm direction. but again, if you are sheltered from the breeze in the sunshine that follows across scotland, northern england and northern ireland, it will feel quite pleasant. but this weather front will take much of the day to meander across wales, the midlands and east anglia, down into the south—east. so introducing cloudy skies and even

the odd splash of rain, so if you are heading off to wimbledon, lucky enough to be heading off to wimbledon it does look cooler, more cloudy, still think there could be some sunshine getting through that cloud, but i would not like to rule out a shower later in the afternoon, early evening — because that weather front could give a few sharp splashes of rain here and there — not for all, but what it does do is dampen the heat. so the 28 we saw friday not repeated, still warm across the south coast but for most of us, it's cooler temperatures, back down to what they should be, with some lovely sunshine coming through behind that weather front, it does not mean the temperatures are lower, but it is just as strong. a few showers across the north and north—east of scotland, and they will continue through the evening and overnight, blowing further southwards, blowing that fresher air into the far south of england. so it looks like a fresher night on the whole, cooler night, even further south, just a little bit of warmth just 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 cloud in eastern parts of england and scotland with the odd shower around, but again some dry, bright weather for the majority, the best of the sunshine in south—west scotland and north—west england, further south as well, feeling fresher, temperatures down to where they should be, and that's maintained into next week though it looks more unsettled further north. there's more on the website. 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. president trump is threatening to use executive powers to count the number of us citizens in the population census. the supreme court has ruled against the practice, and the census forms are already

being printed without the question. the american state of alaska, which lies partly in the arctic circle, has recorded its highest ever temperature of 32 degrees celsius. and 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. it's 3:30 in the morning, in a moment samira ahmed will be here for newswatch, but first on bbc news it's time for click.