this is bbc world news, i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: a high profilejudge is amongst 20 prisoners released by venezuela after the un accused the government of human rights abuses. the controversy over the census — president trump threatens to use an executive order to get his way. alaska is baking — the us state, which lies partly in the arctic circle, records it's highest ever temperature. and fearless, fabulous and still only 15 — coco gauff‘s incredible wimbledon story will go into the second week.

hello and welcome to bbc news. 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. will grant reports. venezuela's independence day traditionally marks the togetherness and resistance of its people in the face of the spanish colonial power. not any longer. now it seems it is an opportunity for the two sides in the country's unending political crisis to call for the other to back down. first, the opposition, led by the self—declared interim

presidentjuan guaido. he used the national holiday to highlight a profoundly damning report by the united nations into the government's human rights record. translation: the un has said it clearly. venezuela today lives in a dictatorship. let the world see that too. we have not surrendered, nor are we going to surrender, to any dictatorship. we are going to continue in the streets. meanwhile, the government of nicolas maduro is still reeling from the un report. it can still turn out its supporters, and the military, for a show of force on independence day, but it cannot disguise the fact that the un outlined numerous cases of torture at the hands of the state, and the killing of more than 5000 people last year by a pro—government elite police unit.

the maduro government has tried to discredit the report as biased, however it came from a former ally, michele bachelet, a woman who knows human rights abuses when she sees them. the un commissioner was a victim of torture herself under the dictatorship of augusto pinochet in chile. my office has also documented excessive use of force in the context of security operations by the special action forces, with multiple killings mainly of young men. many could constitute extrajudicial killings and should be fully investigated. despite the government's defiance, they did release more than 20 prisoners, including judge maria afiuni. a high profile case, she is considered by many venezuelans to be the victim of major political interference in the justice system. although she has been released from her sentence for the bizarre crime of "spiritual corruption," her family says she is still not completely free. translation: she can't speak to the media, she can't use social media, she cannot 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 does not happened. we continue to wait. the un says one thing, the maduro government says another. they are never serious about what international organisations say, so we are in the same situation. we continue to wait. the crisis in venezuela shows no sign of letting up. talks are stalling, and both sides are as far apart as they have ever been. there is little chance of greater unity in venezuela by next year's independence day. some breaking news, hearing about a powerful earthquake that has struck in southern california, the second and less to —— less than two days. the size is not immediately clear but it was felt over a wide section

of the region, it has rattled nerves but there are not immediate reports of damage or injury. a powerful earthquake originally reported a 7.1 magnitude, but we now believe downgraded to 6.9 according to reuters, and we will keep you up—to—date as things develop in southern california. eight people have been convicted for running what's being described as the largest modern slavery ring in britain. the gang leaders, all from poland, lured alcoholics, homeless people and freed prisoners from poland with promises of well paid jobs. once in the country, they were forced into heavy manual labour, threatened, humiliated and beaten up. 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 ago. 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 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. let's get some of the day's other news. the government in gibraltar says

an iranian oil tanker currently detained on its coast can be held for another 1a 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 red because of heavy rain. staying with the president now, because he's 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 and has more. 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. 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, ajuly. 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 temperature 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 aren't built 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 26c 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 been very unpleasant and something we are not 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. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a 36—year campaign to recognise babylon as a world heritage site finally bears fruit. central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. police say there have been many casualties, and there is growing speculation that al-qaeda was responsible. germany will be the hosts of the 2006 football world cup, and they pipped 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. the man entered the palace through a downstairs window and made his way to the queen'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 on duty, who took the man 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. 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 is 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.

the remarkable journey of the 15—year—old tennis sensation cori gauff — nicknamed coco — has seen her through to the fourth round, after she defeated polona hercog in three sets on friday, 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 coco gauff books her place in the fourth round at wimbledon, the furthest she has ever been at a grand slam. it was a performance beyond her years, we know her achievements already, knocking out venus williams in the opening round, magdalena rybarikova, a former wimbledon semifinalist, no less, in the second 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 what the talk of the town is here at wimbledon on day five at this championships — coco gauff, the 15—year—old, into the fourth round. a little earlier i was joined by dan wolken, a sports writer for usa today. dan wolken, national sports columnist at usa

today. thank you so much for your time. coco was trending on twitter. why are fans so excited? tennis has had a lot of these young prodigies over the years, but it's actually been quite a while since we've had someone this young to make it into a grand slam tournament. the game of tennis has gotten so much more physical. the window of the prime years for men and women has really moved into the mid—20s, late 20s. so for the teenagers it's really difficult to get there being in professional tennis, so for this young lady to break ——their footing in professional tennis, so for this young lady to break through at wimbledon, she was ranked 300—and—something in the world and had to qualify to get in. grass, very unusual surface, and she just seemed like such a young lovely woman, great family, bright smile, she's really captivated notjust the american tennis fans, but american sports fans in general who are

on the fringes of the sport really, manyjumped on the bandwagon today. there is obviously — she's very talented and done so well to get this far at wimbledon, but is itjust talent or was it a bit of luck, too? certainly. she is a player who people within the tennis world have known about for a couple of years, there's been a lot of buzz around her, so it was only a matter of time before she got one of these kinds of opportunities. but you get to wimbledon, you don't expect much, she beats venus williams, then there starts to be this momentum and it looks for a little while today like it was going to end, hercog was really in control of that match, then up 5—2, hercog trying to serve it out, she could not get it done, the momentum turned, hercog got a bit nervous. she played poorly late in the second set and in parts of the third set, and it gave coco an opportunity to take control.

but you have to give a lot of credit, a 15—year—old was able to really commit to her game, commit to her shots and raise her level under a lot of pressure, very unusual for someone that young. the ancient mesopotamian city of babylon has been declared a unesco world heritage site. iraq has been campaigning for nearly a0 years for it to be added to the united nation's prestigious list. but unesco has warned that babylon is in an extremely vulnerable condition — and needs urgent conservation work. the bbc‘s tim allman has more.

4,000 years old, give or take. 0nce home to the mythic hanging gardens of babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. it's almost a surprise this place, steeped in history, wasn't already on unesco's list. translation: babylon is a symbol of identity for the iraqis, so the city is considered a part of the history of iraq, whether it was from the architectural or scientific aspects. but babylon has suffered in recent years. first, from the construction of a palace by saddam hussein, then with it being used as a base for us troops. the iraqi government has promised millions of dollars to safeguard the site. translation: when i come to babylon and see the civilisation and ruins here, i feel proud that my

ancestors built this. therefore, it's our duty to preserve it. world heritage status is meant to protect places or landmarks that are considered to be important for the whole of humanity. many here will say that babylon, with its legacy and art, culture and religion, is finally being given the recognition it deserves. 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 while being married to a president sworn to reduce immigration.

you're watching bbc news. 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. and 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 giving a little bit of rain to northern ireland, northern england, heading towards north wales and the wash by the time we get towards 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 weather front, and it's heading southwards, so i think it will introduce more cloud across england and wales during the course of saturday, and particularly 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're 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, east anglia, down into the south—east. so it introduces cloudier skies, definitely, 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 also 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 that we saw on friday not repeated. still pretty 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, though, coming through behind that weather front. some strong july sunshine does not mean the temperatures are lower, 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, just 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 on the whole. even further south, just a little bit of warmth just maintained in the towns and the 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. looks like there'll be a bit 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 potentially in south—west scotland and north—west england, further south as well, feeling a bit fresher, temperatures down to where they should be. and that's maintained into next week, though it looks more unsettled, doesn't it, 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. a second earthquake in as many days has struck southern california. the size of the quake was not immediately clear, but it was felt over a wide section of the region. there are no reports as yet of injuries. the american state of alaska, which lies partly in the arctic circle, has recorded its highest ever temperature of 32 degrees celsius. and tennis player coco gauff is through to the second week of wimbledon. the 15 year old american beat slovenia's polona hertzog in a thrilling contest, saving two match points along the way.