World have dangerous amounts of lead in their blood. Now the heads of some of the worlds biggest tech giants have enjoyed a 5 hour grilling from house members in the u. S. On their Business PracticesFacebook Google amazon and apple are all accused of stifling competition and monopolizing the industry its the culmination of a year long investigation by congress detailing how the companys avoid liability under the current boss alan fischer has a story he now is the Ranking Member fittingly the tech giants appeared virtually to face questions the subcommittee chairman making clear he sees a problem their dominance is killing Small Businesses and you factoring in the overall dynamism of the engines of the American Economy their ability to dictate terms call the shots up and entire sectors and inspire fear represent the powers of a private government this was meant to be an inquiry into Business Practices did for Companies Google amazon apple and facebook stifle rivals and kill competition when republican. Immediately made clear he also wanted to talk about bias online we love the fact that these are American Companies but whats not great is censoring people censoring conserves and trying to impact elections and if it doesnt end there has to be consequences from each of the 4 bosses a common theme they were innovators job creators the definition of american excellence theres room in retail for multiple winners we compete against large established players like target costco kroger and of course walmart a company more than twice amazon size our goal is the best not the most in fact we dont have a dominant share in any market or in any product category where we do business facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg face questions about the participant other social media platform instagram this said one congressman went to the heart of the inquiry basic story is the game is a threat that could potentially siphon business away from baseball and so rather than compete with it facebook put it this is exactly the type of into competitive acquisition that the n. H. S. Those were designed to prevent Mark Zuckerberg was asked about hate speech appearing on his site he insisted he was committed to intercepting it before most users saw it he said that this success rate was Company Running it 89 percent but he wanted to get that up to 99 percent. Zuckerberg also talked about the recent removal of misleading content around qubit 19 and treatments dangerous he said we do prohibit content that will lead to imminent risk of harm and stealing. There is a proven cure for code when there is in fact no one might encourage them to take something that could have sniper suspects so we do take that down the subcommittee says it will hold new hearings of september this is not the end for the take giants its the start and it puts them on notice if they do their operations legislators will own fisher aljazeera capitol hill well as you just heard there facebooks chief executive was on the defensive about the spread of misinformation related to covert 19 on his platform now Health Officials say it hampers the fight to contain the virus several baseless theories on social media have also been shared by the us president himself now this week donald trump retreated a video from a little known physician dr stella manual with false claims about the virus that doctor had also previously came that medicine is use is made using d. N. A. From aliens trump also reasserted his support for hydroxy chloroquine as a treatment despite several studies that disprove it and last month the u. S. Food and Drug Administration cautioned against using the drug because of Health Issues and also after an outcry the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group suspended plans to run a segment featuring a Conspiracy Theory that the falsely claims top Infectious Disease expert and thinks that she created the virus and shipped it to china where we can now speak to Colleen Sinclair she is an associate professor of social psychology at Mississippi State university and she joins us now on skype from start for thanks for being with us and are Numerous Health experts now have criticized the confused messaging when it comes to this pandemic in the u. S. Can you give us a read of where it is that moment do people know what they need to do to protect themselves and others. Well thats a hard question i mean its hard to know exactly what Everybody Knows i would like to recommend and like to put out there that i believe the majority of individuals are aware of the virus being a problem being serious and necessary steps that are needed such as social distancing and masts as being important can mean so much of this debate as weve watched it unfold in the u. S. Has become so politicized to so some distance whether to a mosque reopen schools and i see that anthony found she has been conspicuously absent from white house briefings of late who do the public trust that. I think a lot of the public still does trust. As well as who in the c. B. C. But a lot of the information in the problems that youre seeing is that people are getting information from friends and friends of friends and other individuals they see on social media the individual transmission of information can be more persuasive than that which comes from corporations and organizations well also when you talk about individuals that is the u. S. President i want to talk about hypoxia conklin and the doctor and i knew that hes retreated i see that she at one point also suggested that in demetrius this could be caused by having sex with demons in your dreams i mean how much weight does the president give to head tweeting. I cant speak to whether or not the president believes those things or even knew about those before he tweeted or read tweeted what she had to say i believe he was looking for i cant say but whenever the president tweets any sort of information because when hes in Authority Figure to a significant portion of the population trusts and likes him then all of the gradients there to make messages more persuasive from a certain source have extra weight with him. Colleen weve also over the course of this pandemic seeing deliberate campaigns of descent from asian the russians for instance that have been spreading false advice has that changed behavior. Its really hard to tell at this point what the impact has been on behavior we know from studies of have been conducted so far again also very preliminary its happening very quickly that people who attend more to news sources that provide more misinformation and some pieces just information are less likely to engage in productive strategies more likely to believe its a hoax or that we should be reopening everything all at once. Theres also been changing messages from the w. H. O. Themselves on many of these issues on immunity mosques and and it feels like its all been very black and white that it fits and it feels like that itself has also created the space for more misinformation to spread how much responsibility do you think the w. H. O. Begs for this well im actually this is the nature of science right but this is what is nice about science is that science self corrects but when people are looking as you definitely find during times of stress and during times where dread events particularly take hold of us who are afraid like you saw around the a bowl of virus for example we want those hearty answers and we want them fast and so whenever people get frustrated with the Scientific Method but changes the recommendation once we get more evidence then people can just come to discount all of that evidence all together and one of the reasons that again individual sources become more trustworthy to us than do these organizations claim given the mess that where and now around all of misinformation that weve already seen spread in the confusion that people are battling with what you think needs to be done at this stage of the pandemic with regard to addressing misinformation yes and in terms of trying to get people to protect themselves and if that means. Yeah im fortunately were confronting a serious problem that were seeing have dire consequences with people attacking towers that people not to give direct of measures with the virus spreading and so it is really important that we address this information ive done and you know ive tried to educate people about what misinformation as fortunately we see lies spread faster than truth and that is the nature of the problem so all we can do is try as these different organizations such as facebook or twitter to take down this misinformation because it is so dangerous its costing people lives and we can try and spread truth more so than fact i also strongly encourage people to always fact checked leaves fact check thats because it comes from somebody you trust and like doesnt necessarily mean that its true. Associate professor of social psychology at Mississippi StateUniversity Great to get your thoughts here on out there thanks for being with us coming. To you for having me and for the 1st time Home Companies have used a new National Security you know to crackdown on prodemocracy activists online for students belonging to a group called student localism has now been arrested accused of posting content that advocated to hong kongs independence the controversial imposed on hong kong 4 weeks ago now criminalize a subvention answer session and grants police the palace to arrest suspects without a warrant. They have a some structural racial quota for some who want to be a selfish hong kong country and also they want to be jews all demands to to keep doing this thing and finally they want to talk to you god is all that if you havent gotten home call. With a bill to promote the independence of the home call the cell wall piece about the things they do so well you have. Lets not get that here from hong kong al qassam devika pollan joins us from the t. V. I see that at least one of the students are just 16 years old what more do we know about these arrests. But try to regina i was there all very young as you said the youngest of which is 16 years old that between 16 and 21 there are today here in hong kong and they had previously had a group that i became the independence for hong kong they had used social media they tried to gather support from overseas to try and make a republic of hong kong but they disbanded that on june 30th that was exactly a day before the National Security law came into place which very clearly says that anyone who advocates any kind of secession from hong kong to break away from the rest of china will be punished but the concern here is once again is the fact that there the police are using their bases communications and social media to make these arrests the. That fact that they had to abandon these groups the fact that they already had said that they were no longer participating in this kind of activity but now believes are saying that messages on their social media their communication means that they are still continuing the psychopathy also the main worry here now is what happens next because im precedented Hong Kong Regal system has not been subject to these kinds of cases before and with the new National Security law theres a completely parallel system set up to deal with such cases which would even allow these students and these young people to be sent to Mainland China and the justice there so theres a lot of concern around the and one of the main issues now is this will set a precedent for calm calm Going Forward in particular. Speech online and perhaps even within conversations amongst other people of police have been as you said been given the powers now to arrest people without a warrant and also to even infiltrate their Communications David to fall in there with all the latest for us from hong kong thank you very much to. Our returning to the coronavirus pandemic and the death toll has now surpassed 150000 in the United States thats the highest number of fatalities in any nation by far and accounts for nearly a quarter of the recorded global death toll now the 3 most populous states south california texas and florida have all recorded their single day largest death tolls for us House Speaker nancy pelosi says face masks and are mandatory on the chamber fill after republican congressman louie government tested positive for the coronavirus the texas representative claims he contract and what he calls the wound virus spyware ing a face mask now gomez has previously refused to cover his face place he said the failure to wear a mask is a serious breach of decorum and warned men that they could be punished and thrown out of the chamber. On the 2nd west affected country in the world brazil has also reported a record daily jump in infections and deaths nearly 70000 new cases and 1600 fatalities were confounded just in the past day that brings the total number of infections to more than 2500000 while more than 90000 people died and brazilian president diable snorer has attended his 1st government event since recovering from the corona virus both scenarios you can see a mosque throughout the ceremony and declined to address the audience the president has repeatedly downplayed the severity of this pandemic and called the virus a little flu he tested positive for covert 19 and had been in isolation until last saturday. Straight ahead here on out there. That will have more on the prize or refugees trying to reach the mediterranean. Hello welcome to the look of the International Full cost still have some very heavy rain in the forecast the parts of japan Korean Peninsula and into central areas of china the my you front still bring you some very heavy pulses of bright not quite as intense or prolonged as it has been recently but the show is still there nevertheless and nothing little further north will be some wet weather coming into the south korea for a time pushing into central parts of honshu nudging up into Northern Areas of japan where we have seen some flooding recently show was still there was to go on into the weekend but not as widespread as is said over the next couple of days pennywise parts showers meanwhile across the philippines lots of cloud showing up here some heavy downpours certainly on the cards as we go on through the next couple of days those showers just grazing the far north of borneo wanted to show was there into malaysia indonesia is generally fine and dry will be a few showers once again as i would expect into thailand showers continue meanwhile long dispose of rain to northeastern parts of india into bangladesh running right up across the foothills of the himalayas a boot on pushing up into more the poles seeing some very heavy right and the showers continuing are up the Western Ghats war big downpours coming in here and the slightly not in the way a little further north. Capturing a moment in time. Snapshots of all the lives. Of the stories that one people are afraid to talk to the track and kids and providing a glimpse into someone elses was new up pursuing in the dream of coffee a life inspiring documentaries from impassioned filmmakers. Witness on aljazeera. Hello again im a star thats remind you of our top stories here this hour the c. E. O. s of Facebook Google amazon and apple have been defending their Business Practices at a u. S. Congressional hearing theyre accused of stifling competition and avoiding liability under current rules. Police have arrested 4 students for allegedly posting suggests a freshness to content on social media now this is the 1st operation and forcing chinas National Security or since it was imposed 4 weeks ago. Brazil has reported a new order dany jump and corona virus infections and stats nearly 70000 new cases and 1600 page tell us hes working found in the past day brazil is the 2nd worst affected country in the wilds after the u. S. Now millions of children in both the wealthy and poor countries are at risk of irreversible Health Damage because of lead poisoning the study by the u. N. Agency unicef and an Environmental Group found nearly one in 3 children have high levels of lead in their blood this can impair Brain Development nervous systems and vital organs it blames inadequate recycling of lead acid batteries paint in homes and food contamination by lead glazed pottery or we can speak now to Nicholas Reese hes a unicef climate and environmental environmental specialist and also one of the lead authors of this report and he now joins us from new york by skype nicholas a 3rd of children with Dangerous Levels of lead in their blood thats a huge proportion i see even though its a rich and poor countries its much worse for developing nations can you talk us through the dangers here the kind of impact we could see in a whole generation. Yes certainly it is it is a global issue absolutely but it is an issue that the lower middle Income Countries about a 3rd of the worlds children as you say are living with blood levels. By micrograms per deciliter which according to the u. S. C. D. C. Is the level needed for action in fact theres no safe level of exposure to let the critically toxic substance what gets into a childs body and affect their Cognitive Development its been shown to affect come into development 5 micrograms been shown to have a 3. 00 to 5. 00 point. Loss on a cue as a result and this then has further Ripple Effect of course i read then the next lesson i was going up there was concerns about lead in paint for instance and other substances whats driving these levels of contamination and now. Well thats thats a very good point because youre right a lot of people remember this is a pain to shoot definitely still a pain issue in a lot of parts of the world. And therefore the need to to eliminate it is very very very important but was also an issue in gasoline for a long time on this very country there was this bad gasoline and that is that it caused a tremendous improvement on one hand but what were seeing on the other is the they used the exposure from the improper recycling that used lead acid battery in lower middle Income Countries especially the number of vehicles has almost tripled since 2000. And it isnt these vehicles has the disease but the batteries are predominantly use at the same time youve got about 85 percent of the world lead used is also in lead acid batteries so youre seeing this incredible rise on the other hand. Used by the batteries especially in lower middle Income Countries and with that has come the improper recycling when the batteries are recycled improperly. They the chemical lead especially and get out into the soil into the air especially where the batteries might be burned. d and to potential water sources nearby and thats whats causing a lot of exposure. Because i see that its largely being driven by the informal processing is that trans rights what can actually be done that there is no one has to try to regulate Something Like that. Yes i mean. The thing here just like with is gasoline and paint we know how to focus problem its to read it is to improve the practices so that. People are recycling batteries in a proper way and as often it often happens in the Informal Sector what wed like to see is a better sharing of what it takes to recycle. Properly so that the communities are not exposed we know in the u. S. And in. Europe the the the recycling problems are incredibly contained people mechanized in many cases and people dont have access there is no leakage out recycling we need to make sure that these technologies are available to all countries so that so that we can recycle batteries. Particularly for the children. Im sitting next last race there and also this unicef report thank you so much for being with us here on out is there an excess thank you. Japans government has now been ordered to recognise victims exposed to radio radioactive black rain after the attack on hiroshima back in 1905 dozens of pain to suppress the coats off the they developed illnesses linked to radiation exposure now before their wedding they went satisfied as atomic bomb victims because they were originally located in areas that were deemed safe by the authorities next week will be the 75th anniversary of the u. S. Attack on hiroshima that killed 140000 people. Well tens of thousands of people in barbaria have filled the streets of the capital demanding the entire cabinet resigned protesters and severe blocked key intersections and what is now the 3rd week of anti establishment rallies Prime Minister boy congress of his cabinet has accused of maintaining links to the mafia corruption and suppressing freedom of speech president room and read of has expressed support for the Protesters Thousands of refugees trying to reach the mediterranean are facing extreme rights abuses including torture Sexual Assault and even death and the United Nations says warning nearly half of the violence is actually being perpetrated by those supposed to enforce the law Alexia Obrien reports. The harrowing journey through the desert to libya and across the sea to europe can take weeks or even months. Migrants and refugees fleeing war poverty and persecution face not only scorching temperatures but what the u. N. Describes as unspeakable brutality and inhumanity im not getting used to reduce cheating to steal monies on those dark study sticks that are in the report an acceptable a un investigation based on thousands of interviews outlined stories of Sexual Violence and torture even death and if found half of the violence was perpetrated by Security Forces immigration officers or border guards. Past we we believe that it was mainly smugglers on traffic use yes yes keep it between 2 is all violence but the primary perpetrators of violence are people who are soo pushed to predict. The un found that in 201819 at least 1750 people died before reaching the mediterranean making it one of the most deadly routes for refugees and migrants in the world and the things that number is just the tip of the iceberg. It says the abuses experienced on these overland routes have remained largely invisible with more attention on the ocean where hundreds of people drown every year. This week alone hundreds have been brought ashore in europe rescued from sinking and overcrowded boats they are the lucky ones others a saint back to war torn libya to be held in Detention Centers often the u. N. Says in appalling conditions on monday 3 sudanese migrants were shot dead on their return to libya when they tried to escape you have to understand that countries like libya who is in conflict civil war people are going to use displacement does not see for the u. N. Report calls for accountability and for the International Community to show that it cares whether people like this live or die Alexia Brian Al jazeera now opposition leaders in mali are threatening a 2nd phase of civil disobedience if the president does not step down they say there will be more protests after the muslim festival of aid president abraham is accused of corruption mismanaging the economy and failing to contain armed groups the opposition has now rejected several attempts by west African Leaders to resolve that disputes. Are human Rights Groups are raising more concern about the abuse of military cadets and thailand and some families of dead cadets speaking out our correspondent scott hyder reports from the capital bangkok. Ever since he was a school boy tania khan wanted to become an army officer at 18 he was well on his way to their dream when he suddenly died at an Army Training school. After his death 3 years ago Community Children made a book of drawings for his family Army Officials said talk upon died of sudden cardiac arrest his parents skeptical ordered a 2nd autopsy it revealed that his major organs were removed further examination showed evidence consistent with physical abuse how. The royal thai forces have to take responsibility because stay on in charge of military they have to answer to why my brother is dead accusations of a military cover ups world entire media after pocket case became public again raising attention to the tradition of abuse of initiation or hazing rituals in thailands armed forces a Police Investigation is Ongoing Amnesty International recently conducted an investigation on abuse in thailands military we interviewed 19 new recruits between november 2016 and july 2019 spread across about 9 different provinces. Different training cycles and yet we found consistent patterns very clear patterns of dispute the call mental and sexual abuse since the 1950 s. Thailand has held a lottery for its draft in which around 100000 young men are conscripted into military service for up to 2 years this takes place every year usually in april because of code 19 this year its been pushed back after the young men are given a basic physical check up and a review of their paperwork the rest is up to chance whether they will be called up to serve the move Forward Party says they are the only Political Party truly pushing for reform in the recruitment process. That sick guy potential in order to stop the violence will introduce a military service bill they so want to system we want to make sure that those who want to serve with serve as a professional offices not as a 7th posse offices. 2 years ago a memo was circulated at the top levels of the military calling for closer examination of cadet abuse claims but no major changes have been made aljazeera as interview requests for military response on cadet abuse went unanswered and if the military continues to ignore voices of concern theres a chance more mothers will only have photos to remind them of their sons scott harder al jazeera bangkok. And it addresses aljazeera and these are the headlines the c. E. O. s of Facebook Google amazon and apple have been defending their Business Practices at a u. S. Congressional hearing theyre accused of stifling competition and avoiding liability on the current rules alan fisher has more on just how that hearing played out the Tech Companies are essentially saying that theyre very american and that their end of it if theyre smart and they make big profits and they see that theyve had to be innovative and theyve had to include people because if they didnt they would disappear in the way that 10 years ago if you were talking about the take giants hed be talking about my space and friendster remember them no no one does because of course they fell away when Facebook Google and others took that space so they insist that what theyre doing creates jobs it creates wealth it creates opportunity for many people for the 1st time Hong Kong Police have used a near National Security you know to crackdown on prodemocracy activity online for students belonging to a group called student localism have been arrested accused of posting content that advocates for hong kongs independence. The death toll from the corona virus pandemic has now surpassed 150000 in the United States thats the highest number of fatalities in any nation by far and accounts for nearly a quarter of the recorded global total the 3 most populous states california texas and florida have all also recorded their largest single day death toll and brazil has reported a new record daily jump in corona virus infections and deaths nearly 70000 new cases and 1600 fatalities were confirmed just in the past day the u. N. Agency unicef says nearly one in 3 children around the wells have high levels of lead in their blood millions are at risk of irreversible Health Damage to their brains nervous systems and vital organs a games inadequate recycling of lead acid batteries paint in homes and food contaminated by lead glazed pottery japans government has been ordered to recognize victims exposed to radioactive black rain after the attack on hiroshima in 1905 dozens of plaintiffs approach the courts off to they developed illnesses linked to radiation exposure before the ruling they want classified as atomic bomb victims because they were originally located in areas deemed safe by the authorities next week will be the 75th anniversary of the u. S. Attack on hiroshima. Those are the headlines that the more news here on aljazeera off to slavery a 21st century evil. Jumped into the stream and julian Global Community this generation will have to create its own democracy social media online be part of the debate let me put it to me. When no topic is off the table is taking on all the systemic violence that people have suffered not only now but for decades we are going to be to transform lives the way he gets it business if were going to adapt to climate break down this street on out is there. For 300 years the most powerful nations on earth group rich and strong go on the profits of the slave trade over 12000000 men women and children were to be transported from africa on slave ships like this to the colonies and plantations in north and south America Today slavery is illegal in every country on the planet but the truth is slavery did not die in the 19th century it is alive it is thriving and it is bigger than ever