welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: faced with a supreme court ruling against him, president trump abandons his bid to add a question on citizenship to the us census, but insists he'll press on with an executive order. the lion air crash in indonesia — lawyers say the families of those who died in the boeing 737 max have been cheated out of compensation. the daily struggle for water. one of india's biggest cities continues to feel the effects of the worst drought in decades. this is one of chennai's largest lake, now parched and desperate for rain. and amal clooney tells the bbc that a global hostility towards journalists risks undermining democracy.

president trump has said he's dropping his attempt to add a citizenship question to next year's us census. the move was blocked by the supreme court last month. opponents fear it could deter immigrant households from taking part in the census, lead to an undercounting of the population in democratic districts, and benefit the president's republican party. but he still hopes to press on, announcing instead an executive order, requiring all government agencies and departments to provide records on population. today i'm here to say we're not backing down in our effort to determine the citizenship status of the united states population. i stand before you are planning new

steps, my administration is taking to ensure that citizenship is counted so that we know how many citizens we have in the united states. our north america correspondent peter bowes is in los angeles. the president makes it sound like this is a very straightforward issue,in this is a very straightforward issue, in fact, who is counted in the census is a very contentious, very political issue. it has become increasingly political and of course it is usually important he was counted in the census, traditionally, it has been citizens and noncitizens, it is a count of a number of people in the country, it's important for allocating funds to different areas, allocating seeds in the house of representatives, and the fact that the president is not getting his way of having that key question on the census form, has actually delighted a lot of his opponents, there were fears, the census bureau themselves said that if the view —— if the question were

on the, if the result in fewer people filling up the census form and the end result would be rather skewed in terms of its effectiveness and accuracy. a lot of people are delighted that the president hasn't got his way with the form, what he's doing is changing tack, his trying to, it's important to point out that this executive order isn't usurping what the supreme court said, it is just a different tack. it's a different way to get that information from government departments, data that already exists about the majority of people, this country and the president is hoping that is how he will get his account of the number of citizens at the number of noncitizens. clearly this is a question we will conduct, thank you very much, indeed. we will be speaking to the president of the national laws committee under law later. relatives of people who died in the boeing 737 max crash in indonesia have been cheated out of compensation according to their lawyers. many families who lost loved ones in the plane crash last october

were persuaded to sign agreements that prevent them from taking legal action against boeing. the bbc has discovered relatives signed similar agreements following two previous crashes in indonesia — and the agreements prevented them from suing in the us courts. boeing declined to comment on the agreements. panorama's richard bilton reports. last october, a boeing 737 max crashed into the sea off indonesia. all 189 people onboard were killed. within weeks, relatives were offered compensation by insurance lawyers. but families who took up the offer had to sign agreements that would prevent them from taking legal action against boeing or the airline lion air. merdian agustin‘s husband ika was killed in the crash. they give give me some document to sign, the document said you can have the money but you can't sue us, lion air, you can't sue boeing.

merdian didn't sign, but it's believed around 50 families did. they will get compensation ofjust under £74,000 each. but under indonesian law, the families were entitled to £71,000 any way. the relatives of those who died in the crash had little to gain by signing these agreements. but they could be very valuable to boeing, because in signing them, the families have agreed never to take legal action over the crash. we asked boeing if they have had any communication with the insurance lawyers who helped organise the agreements. they didn't answer our question. they said the insurers for boeing are in discussions with other insurers round the world as is typical and customary in circumstances such as these. but we have discovered boeing has benefited from similar agreements following two earlier crashes. and each time, the same insurance lawyer was involved.

boeing use the agreements to prevent families from suing in the us courts. now lawyers for the lion air families say they have lost out. the families who signed the releases and discharge have been cheated out of compensation, they have been preyed upon by insurance companies and by the council for those insurance companies, and ultimately to the benefit of boeing. boeing says it truly regrets the loss of life and will continue to help with the healing process. last week, the company said it would provide $100 million to help communities and families affected by two recent 737 max accidents. richard bilton, bbc news seattle. let's get some of the day's other news. the us state department has condemned what it called

the iranian revolutionary guard's attempts to harass a british oil tanker. iran denies confronting any foreign ships in the gulf. but britain's navy said it had to intervene yesterday to protect a bp oil tanker from three iranian vessels. the uk has raised the threat to british shipping in iranian waters in the gulf to the highest level. the un human rights council has voted to set up an investigation into alleged crimes committed during president rodrigo duterte's waron drugs campaign. it will focus on reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances. the philippines government strongly opposes the resolution. sudan's ruling military council says it has foiled an attempted coup. a spokesman, generaljamal omar, announced on state television that 16 people had been arrested and four detained — among them current and retired officers from the army and national intelligence and security service. he said the coup attempt aimed to block a power—sharing deal

being finalised between the military council and pro—democracy demonstrators. these dramatic pictures show the moment a majorfire broke out at an electricity generating power station near moscow, sending plumes of smoke and flames 50 metres high. 11 people received medical treatment including five people with minor burns but no one was hospitalised. the cause of the fire is under investigation. the mayor of new orleans has warned that a tropical storm moving towards the coast of louisiana could bring 48 hours of continuous rain. latoya cantrell warned residents to seek shelter or leave the city. manuel bojorquez from cbs news has the latest. those mandatory evacuations are happening in low lying parishes south of new orleans, but such capacity all eyes on the mississippi river and here's why. flooding along the nation ‘s section has sent a lot of water downstream so the river is

already swollen. that coupled with the potential storm surge from the tropical system and the additional rain could spell trouble. officials have said they believe the levies that protect the city like the one we are on will hold during the event but they fear that the water could overtop some of them. while there is still uncertainty in the truck of the tropical system, they are urging eve ryo ne the tropical system, they are urging everyone here to be prepared. david johnson is vice president of customer service at entergy. they are an energy provider with over a million customers. he's in new orleans. thank you for giving us your time, you must be very busy indeed, how it looking? the storm isjust now beginning, but right now things are calm. it is the calm before the storm. when you expect that storm to hit? the forecast have —— the forecasters told us within the next 24 forecasters told us within the next 2a hours we are expecting a tropical

storm to hit than four. what have you been able to do to prepare? all of our crews have immobilised and are ready to respond. we rehearsed these types of scenarios throughout these types of scenarios throughout the year and we believe we are ready to respond once a strong positive. and how ready do think your customers are do you think many of them have actually left? we have heard from a lot of them, emergency management teams that many of the residents have evacuated but there are certain communities whether residents are still here. some of the things we encourage our customers to do to make sure they have the emergency plans in place, and was the storm hits, please stay out of standing water, stay away from down power lines, allow crews to come and do what we do. the vizier has offered so much from flooding, new orleans in particular, from the outside it seems particularly terrible, they should be facing this again. it's tough

when a storm like this comes through, however, we have been battle tested in this region and as i mentioned earlier, we have gone through a series of drills and lots of training to be able to respond to this so we think you're ready for this. anticipated is going to come through as a category one hurricane, let it go through, once it passes through, wants to say for us to get started, will dispatch our crews. this idea that the levies are ok but there may be overtop, a levy that there may be overtop, a levy that the water comes over, it's no real use at all, is it? extra doesn't help us in this region, whatsoever. we've heard that the levies at this particular point are safe, the water levels are high but every storm is different so we just have to wait until storm arrives, valletta passed through and we will see what happens. you very much for talking to us, he is hoping for all the best. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: lobster dinner lands a french

minister in hot water. more on the lavish dinner charged to the tax payer, next. 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. 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. applause this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: donald trump says they will leave no stone unturned as he asks government agencies to provide information to determine who is — and who isn't — a united states citizen. the lion air crash in indonesia — lawyers say the families of those who died in the boeing 737 max have been cheated out of compensation. one of india's largest cities is running out of water, millions of people are struggling as taps run dry. monsoon rains which are city depends on a late this year and environmentalists partly blame

climate change and they want this is a problem which could affect all countries. our south asia correspondent rajini vaidya nathan reports. scrambling for every last drop. they are running out of water and also out of patience. it is a daily desperate ritual. here, trucks have replaced taps as the only source of water. and yet this is chennai, one of india's largest and richest cities. "we are only allowed five buckets of water a day from the lorry", this woman tells me. back at her house she shows me how her family struggles. "we have to use this for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing clothes. it is difficult." even more so because there has been a record heat wave here in india. a few houses away, a mother of two says she used to take water for granted.

"water is more precious than food and gold," she tells me. "god has to bring the rain. only that can save us." for now, this landscape remains thirsty. it is hard to imagine that this is one of chennai's largest lakes, now parched and desperate for rain. in better times, this reservoir is one of the city's main suppliers of water. this satellite image shows just how the lake has vanished after a year of poor monsoon rain. almost all of the city's reservoirs have run dry. this one reduced to a mere puddle. chennai is a warning card to the global community. if it happens here it can happen anywhere. environmentalists blame climate change for the erratic weather pattern and drought but they also warned that the number of lakes and ponds that store and collect

rainwater has dwindled. taking these water bodies to build commercial and residential property has had an impact in regard to how much water we can conserve and how much water is therefore the population to depend on. when hollywood actor leonardo dicaprio shared this picture of a well in one town, the plight of chennai gained wider attention. when we visit the same well, it is almost empty. it is estimated that by 2025, half of the world's population will live in an area where demand for water exceeds supply. as the crisis in chennai continues, millions rely on these trucks. "oh, lord, please fill the lake," they chant. families keep praying for the rains but that alone cannot solve this city's water woes. environmentalists warn this

is a problem of our own making. let us take you back to our top story. president donald trump's announcement on that he will issue an executive order requiring all government agencies and departments to immediately provide records on population available from existing databases. there has already been a supreme court ruling against him on the question of putting a citizenship question of putting a citizenship question on the next us census. i'm nowjoined from washington by kristen clarke, president of the national lawyer's committee for civil rights under law. hello. good to talk to you. thank you very much for your time. what you very much for your time. what you make of the president's announcement? well, it is a win for the civil rights organisations that have been fighting this

administration over their attempt to add a citizenship question to the census. we won. we filed suit against the trump administration to block this attempt because we knew that this was a move that would discourage immigrant communities and people of colour from participating in the census and today we learnt that that census will go out to every household in the united states without the question. so on the one hand it is a sound victory for the groups that have been fighting for a fairand groups that have been fighting for a fair and accurate census. but what we did learn is that president trump will now seek to, nonetheless, obtain information regarding the number of on the up ——of undocumented people in the country by essentially collating data from various databases across the federal government. and that was an option a lwa ys government. and that was an option always available to the administration. and, in some respects, we did not learn anything

new today. what we will be doing is looking very carefully to see what president trump does with that data, how does he intend to use that data? but as far as the original issue, which was fighting to ensure a fair and accurate census, we won on that issue today. and the concern about the citizenship question, if they understand it right, is that people who had reason to fear the authorities, for deportation in particular, if there was such a question on the census would be less likely to take part, be less likely to be counted, less likely to get the chance to vote. unit, the us constitution that we carry out a census every decade. and a fair and accurate census is one census every decade. and a fair and accurate census is one that captures the full population, a full count of the full population, a full count of the population. and president trump's administration pursue the citizenship question for one reason and one reason only, they thought to weaponised the census and structure it in weaponised the census and structure itina

weaponised the census and structure it in a way that would discourage participation among communities of colour and participation among communities of colourand immigrant participation among communities of colour and immigrant communities. and that is unlawful, it violates the constitution, and was something that we went to the courts to fight back and resist and we did so successfully. just briefly, if you don't mind, can a presidential executive order over a supreme court decision against it? well, it is a victory because they are not able to obtain this information through the census. essentially what we learn todayis census. essentially what we learn today is they will obtain it another way and on another day by combining information from various databases that are maintained by agencies across the federal government in the united states. we have concerns about. this is essentially an attempt to compile data on a massive scale in a way that is unprecedented and ina scale in a way that is unprecedented and in a way that we have not seen before. we don't know how long it will take for them to pull this data

together. we don't know what they will do with that data. but that is a separate fight for another day and we will be policing the trump administration with careful vigilance to see how that effort plays out in the months ahead. kristen clarke, thank you very much. for more on this story visit our website at bbc.com/news, where there's more of the attorney general‘s comments and plenty of background on immigration in the us. amal clooney has warned that donald trump is creating a global hostility towards journalists which is undermining democracy. the lawyer spoke as a british special envoy on media freedom at a conference in london. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet sat down with her. the leader of the most powerful democracy, when he speaks about journalist, is saying that they are the enemies of the people. president trump. yes, president trump. ithink

it is important you had other foreign ministers from democracy through this conferencing actually we have to be vigilant in guarding press freedom. at the same time a medically in my speech that democracy are also is creating problems —— medically. there are also problems for the media in australia at the moment, isolated a case in northern ireland, isolated thejulian case in northern ireland, isolated the julian assange case in northern ireland, isolated thejulian assange case in others. so none of this data perfect records. it is important that the uk and canada are standing up and saying press freedom is important what can be done to actually improve it and this should be a foreign policy priority and they agree with that. because you yourself mentioned about president trump, senior editors in the united states, including of the new york times, went to see president trump to say you understand that rhetoric is dangerous. did you have any conversations here with ministers to say have you also spoken to president trump and other leaders to say this has to stop? well, i think this campaign is one of the ways to respond to that so that the voices

we are hearing are not only those of, you know, the leaders of hungary or the philippines or places that are using language that vilified the media, but they are through organisations like this that can be a response to that. amal clooney speaking to us there. the french environment minister is under pressure after an investigative website, mediapart, alleged he hosted lavish social dinners of lobster and fine wines paid for by the taxpayer when he was parliament speaker as well as carrying out expensive renovations of his official residence. francois de rugy didn't deny the dinners took place but said they were "working dinners". ramzan karmali has more. a demonstration with a difference. the lobster. a stark reminder of who their anger is directed at. french environment minister francois de rugy. the investigative website mediapart said he hosted a dozen low jerry dennis between 2017 and 2018

at his official residence. on the menu, expensive shellfish, champagne, and vintage wines costing more than $500 a bottle. there is no suggestion of illegality, but his future is very much under the spotlight. translation: there are ethical rules which must be followed when representing the electorate in the nation, in this case they were simply not respected. indeed, you should not be part of the government. things got worse for de rugy later, when mediapart said the taxpayer had paid $71,000 for the renovation of his government provided apartment including $19,000 ona provided apartment including $19,000 on a dressing room. these are the headlines de rugy and president macron‘s centrist government would have wa nted macron‘s centrist government would have wanted to avoid. this damaging row co m es have wanted to avoid. this damaging row comes as they try to recover from more than six months of gilet jaunes and anti—government protests. protests impart fuelled at the political elite being out of touch with the ordinary people. mr de rugy

has insisted that the dinners were linked to hisjob and has insisted that the dinners were linked to his job and the renovation work had been necessary for the apartment because of some rooms were in poor repair. translation: there were checks to be made. i'm quite ready to comply. if there have been any errors on my pa rt there have been any errors on my part i will be ready to correct them. that is a part of it. it is normal we have to show accountability to the french people. i have been elected, you know, since 2001, have boys been accountable to the french people. later, mediapart also said that the under fire minister had rented social housing since 2016. mr de rugy, for his part, said he had no knowledge of this and posted details of his agreement for the apartment on his facebook page stop but this image will be hard to forget and for many the scandal has put notjust mr de rugy but the whole government in hot water. ramzan karmali, bbc news. we will let you know how that font plays out. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcmikeembley.

hello. thursday brought us a warm and humid day across many parts of the country, but we also had some heavy showers and some thunderstorms, too. friday won't be quite as warm or quite as humid, there'll be a mix of sunny spells and just a few showers around, mainly across eastern england and eastern scotland, too. but many of us will avoid the showers. so we've got an area of low pressure which is pushing off towards the east. higher pressure waiting out in the west and that will dominate more as we head on through the weekend. so friday morning, then, a reasonably dry start to the day, dry in most places. more cloud for northern ireland and the north—west of scotland will bring a few spots of drizzly ran, a bit mistiness — particularly around the coasts, too. the bulk of england, wales, and southern scotland should be dry with some sunshine. but there'll be some afternoon showers bubbling up anywhere from east anglia and lincolnshire through north—east england, towards eastern scotland, too. in the sunnier spells, top temperatures will reach around 25 degrees down towards the south—east.

just a small chance of, perhaps, catching a passing shower at wimbledon. but in general, for the final three days of the championships, we're expecting a lot of dry, settled weather with some sunshine. not quite as hot and humid for the players or the spectators =— certainly compared to the past couple of days. but we couldn'tjust rule out one or two passing showers at wimbledon during friday afternoon or saturday afternoon. as we head through friday night into the early hours of saturday a lot of dry settled weather, once again, with some clear spells. the overnight temperatures will be a little bit lower than recent nights. so not quite as warm and humid as we start off the weekend. through the day on saturday, still the chance of one or two showers lingering, particularly in the east. but this area of high pressure is going to be building in from the west as we move through saturday and on into sunday. bit of a change in wind direction. we've had the winds coming in from more of a westerly direction. but on into saturday the winds turn more north or north—westerly, bringing a few spots of rain initially to the north—west of scotland and then it's parts of eastern scotland, north—east england, down the spine of england that we'll start to see a few isolated showers cropping up. most places will avoid them. some long spells of sunshine and temperatures 17—23 degrees. not quite as hot or as humid as it

has over recent days. heading on into sunday, as high pressure builds it's looking largely dry and settled. not many showers around at all. a little cooler with the breeze coming in off the sea around the east coast. the warmest of the weather probably towards the south—west. top temperatures there in cardiff around 25 degrees. just the odd chance of a passing shower but most places will avoid them. and then it stays largely dry and settled into the start of the new working week. a chance of things turning more unsettled with further showers cropping up during the middle part of the week. that's it for now. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump has abandoned his attempt to add a question on citizenship to the us census the supreme court had already ruled against him. but he now says he'll now use an executive order to find out how many immigrants there are in the country. the lion air crash in indonesia: lawyers for the families of those who died in the boeing 737 max say they have been cheated out of compensation. it's after the bbc discovers many families who lost loved ones were persuaded to sign agreements that prevent them from taking legal action against boeing. new orleans is bracing for tropical storm barry which is forecast to hit on friday. residents in some low—lying areas have been asked to evacuate. the mayor says that the storm could bring 48 hours of continuous rain.