California and texas record their highest single day tolls and a dream shattered are families still seeking answers about how their teenage son died while in training for the time military. The heads of some of the worlds biggest tech giants have faced a 5 hour grilling on the way they do business Facebook Google amazon and apple are accused of stifling competition and monopolizing the industry is the end of a year long investigation by the u. S. Congress which claims to outline how current laws allow the companies to avoid liabilities alan fischer reports 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 the. Merican 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 do the 4 Companies Google amazon apple and facebook stifle rivals and kill competition one 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 a competitive acquisition at the end they just 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 excess street 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 or uncovered 1000. 00 and treatments dangerous he said we do prohibit content that will lead to imminent risk of harm and stating that there is a proven cure for coke and when there is in fact none might encourage them to go take something that could have some adverse effect so we do take that down the subcommittee says it will hold new hearings is that this is not the end for the take giants its the start and it puts them on notice if they dont look at their operations legislators will alan fischer aljazeera capitol hill for the 1st time Hong Kong Police have used a new National Security law to crackdown on prodemocracy activists online for students belonging to a group called student localism have been arrested they were accused of posting content that called for hong kongs independence the controversial law was imposed on hong kong 4 weeks ago it makes subversion and secession criminal offenses and it grants Police Powers to arrest suspects without a warrant they have a some decoration for them so for example they wanted to be a stoppage of hong kong country and also they wanted to be use all demands. To keep doing this face and finally they wanted to do you know that all of that you having looked at home home. Will be able to promote the independence of the hong kong thats all its about infinity built so far we have. To go along as in hong kong and she says many are worried the case may set a precedent for more arrests in the future. They had previously had a group that im vacated independence for hong kong they had used social media they tried to gather support from overseas to try and make it republic of hong kong but they disbanded that group 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 that latest communications and social media to make these arrests the fact that they already had said that they were no longer participating in this kind of activity but now police are saying that messages on their social media that that communication means that they are still continuing these i 70 also the main worry here now is what happens next this is im president said hong kong 3 go system has not been subject to these kinds of cases before and with this 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 face justice there so theres a lot of concern around the. This term in the state of victoria has reported 723 new infections and 13 deaths the highest one day tally since a coronavirus pandemic was declared victoria is the epicenter of australias 2nd wave of the virus almost 10000 people have tested positive with more than 300 hospitalized the patio says many of the new cases have been traced to aged care facilities in a as a type a locked and hes made masks mandatory james trial as head of the epidemiological modeling unit for the school of Public Health and preventative medicine at Monash University is joining us on skype from melbourne thank you very much indeed for being with us how concerning is it that this these latest figures include people who have been an Elderly Care Facilities yes its very concerning i mean the numbers still seem to be going up even a week or 2 after weve implemented the most restrictive lockdowns that weve seen in victoria for a couple of months now and the numbers are still rising clearly the elderly are absolutely Critical Group to protect and. Actions are being taken in order to protect them as best we can and the considerable number of Nursing Homes that have been affected in melbourne is a very great cause for concern because there will be a length between when the cases occur and when the deaths occur so we can expect more patients from these facilities to be admitted to hospital and potentially have their bad outcomes in the coming weeks so it is very concerning given the fact that efforts were made to protect them why do you think the virus has been able to get to the aged care homes. Well some efforts a bit made to protect them but there are also systemic problems in in achieving and implementing those protections which it means seen in other countries pricing now certainly sweden and canada have been countries that have really grappled with these issues around how best to protect elderly people in Nursing Homes and one issue certainly that the the nature of employment of the started work in this in homes often means that. They actually are employed in multiple homes and so the star can spread the infection from place to place and thats a major problem which is sort of structural its related to the Employment Conditions of the people working there and it can and its very difficult to change overnight and yet we still do have to really try to change that obviously the the elderly people in the homes are only part of the Bigger Picture why is it do you think that the state is seeing such a significant rise in the number of people who are getting the virus now. Its very hard to know really where its so concentrated in melbourne its initially been concentrated particularly in certain postcodes in certain areas of knowledge than i initially it seemed to be located around or concentrated around some disadvantaged groups and certainly the Living Conditions around disadvantaged groups means that the virus can take off in those settings a lot faster than in other places but the reason why for example weve seen such it much been a problem in melbourne and sydney is much harder to put our finger on and i think possibly something thats going on is that winter is much considerably calm it down here in melbourne than what it is in sydney. Has recently said that theres not yet evidence that theres a strong effect of season on transmission of the virus but theres not too much else that even we want to explain why its so concentrated in one of the men as well as making masks mandatory and the other precautions that are being taken when weve been covering the story over the last few months the thing that repeatedly comes up is the level of testing are we going to see a change in the level of testing that the states going to be doing well victoria has had very good testing and we even had a testing drive just a month or so ago where we tested thousands of additional people in order to really try to get the virus levels down to very very low levels so compared to a lot of places compared to places like that u. K. Parts of europe publicised early on weve had very good Testing Capacity even early on and so actually the concern now is that as the case numbers increase that we may need to have even greater Testing Capacity than what we have had and that the current Testing Capacity could get overwhelmed in the coming weeks and so that could mean that things get worse than what they are for they get better really interesting to get your point of view on this jim we appreciate your time sir thank you very much indeed. My pleasure. The 2nd worst affected country in the world brazil has reported a record daily jump in infections and deaths only 70000 new cases and 1600 fatalities were confirmed in the past day that brings the total number of infections to more than 2500000 more than 100000 people have died brazilian president has attended his 1st government event since recovering from corona virus both in our water mosques throughout the ceremony and said he wouldnt address the audience the president has repeatedly done played the severity of the pandemic and has called the virus a little flu he tested positive for covert 19 and had been in isolation until last saturday and its getting worse by the day in the u. S. Its has the highest number of coronavirus fatalities of any nation by far nearly a quarter of the global tawny and 3 most populous states california texas and florida of a quarter the largest single day death tolls mike hanna reports from washington. With more than 150000. 00 deaths in the country the wearing of masks is finally made mandatory in the house of representatives members and staff will be required to wear masks at all times and the hall of the house on tuesday texas representative Louie Gohmert had arrived at the attorney general for a house hearing without a mosque he was then that money for not keeping his makeshift mosque hearing the hearing early wednesday he tested positive on arrival at the white house hed been due to accompany President Trump on a trip to his home state that is now in self quarantine President Trump appeared with no mosque during a number of the events in texas seen here in close proximity to his former secretary of Energy Rick Perry also masculists. And to continue to hype a vaccine that he is the claims has entered final Clinical Trials this is the fastest a vaccine has ever been developed together we will end the plague from jon we will defeat the virus the president also continued to defend the video he had retreated earlier in the week from a controversial doctor who claimed there is a fork over 1000 and that face masks are necessary for protection. Thank god were thinking. Once again he was publicly contradicted by a member of his Coronavirus Task force citing multiple studies that the cumulative data on on trials Clinical Trials that were valid namely Clinical Trials that were randomized and controlled in the proper way all of those trials show consistently that hydroxy chloroquine is not effective in the treatment of coronavirus disease or cold 19 and in Congress Republicans and democrats are nowhere near agreement on a new Coronavirus Relief bill while millions of American Families continue to struggle with the physical and economic effects of the virus leaving medical organization has issued an urgent warning the American Association of medical colleges and i quote decisive coordinated action is urgently needed to save lives it continues if the nation does not change its course and soon deaths in the United States could be well into the multiple hundreds of thousands. Mike hanna aljazeera washington. Still ahead an aljazeera of the u. S. Retreat from a nato ally 12000. 00 troops ordered out of germany and the European Headquarters has to be moved. Plus torture abuse and death well have more on the plight of refugees trying to reach the mediterranean. However got lots of hot weather loss of lives showers too across north america quite a scattering of storms on display here across the plains pushing down towards the southeastern corner eastern seaboard also seeing some wet weather from time to time of the temperatures 37 in d. C. Weakening up to 31 in new york got that heat even pushing north of the border 28 there for toronto what a rush of showers some of them very heavy pushing up towards tennessee towards kentucky around the appalachians we could see some thunder downpours possibly causing some flash flooding from time to time further south across the deep south it should be a little drier than it has been recently but you see the wet weather not really too far away up towards the primaries into central kind of the again some wet weather which was the west coast here is looking fine and dry still very hot in phoenix temperatures could touch 46 celsius on friday the high fire risk remaining across the southwest for the caribbean where we got yet more Stormy Weather coming into the leeward side as we go on through the next couple of days this developing system in may well become a tropical depression if not a Tropical Storm that will bring flooding rains possibly some mudslides a big storm surge towards the less around and also affecting parts of the virgin islands. Every piece of devastating. Thrice explored some of the efforts to recover those lost from the syrian scientists safeguarding one of our most valuable resources these are important cell phones that we have to make sure they are surviving to the refugees striving to coexist with nature ok so lets plan on their simulating what happens when an Elephant College life up to conflict on aljazeera. They want to go to 0 a reminder of our top stories 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 accused of stifling competition and avoiding liabilities under current laws. For the 1st time Hong Kong Police have used a new National Security law to crackdown on prodemocracy activity online before students belonging to a group called student localism have been arrested accused of posting content that supports hong kong independence. The death toll from the corona virus pandemic is now more than 150000 in the United States thats the highest number of fatalities in any nation by far it accounts for nearly a quarter of virus related deaths around the world. The treatment of military cadets in thailand is under scrutiny as thousands take part in an annual recruitment drive the armed forces have been accused of allowing abusive initiation rituals and some families of dead kits a speaking out scott highlight reports from bangkok. Ever since he was a schoolboy pick up on the tanya kahn wanted to become an army officer at 18 he was well on his way to that 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 pick up on died of a 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. The royal thai forces have to take responsibility because stay on in charge of odd to me terry they have to answer to why my brother is dead. Accusations of a military cover ups world entire media after pocket punks 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 creepy patterns of the super cool mental effects from the days 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 in order to stop the violence who introduced the military service bill they still want to system we want to make sure that those who want to say we suffer as a professional offices not as a 7th flossy 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 hodler al jazeera bangkok. United states has announced plans to pull nearly a 3rd of its military personnel out of germany and an ongoing ride over defense spending nearly half of the 12000. 00 troops will be moved to other locations in europe including italy and belgium White House CorrespondentKelly Holcomb explains. Making good on its threat the u. S. Announced a withdrawal of almost 12000 u. S. Soldiers from germany its a move the defense secretary insists will improve the military partnership between north american and european allies i think we are we are excited about where were going and what it will mean in terms of our ability to enhance to turn strengthen our straight to the alliance in the process the cats will reduce u. S. Forces in germany by about a 3rd about 25000. 00 will remain some soldiers will be repositioned within nato countries including belgium and italy the rest will return to the United States the u. S. European command will also move to belgium but speaking to reporters on wednesday outside the white house u. S. President trump offered a different explanation for the move he said it was to punish germany for not i contributed 2 percent of its g. D. P. As required for members of the north atlantic treaty organization. That they. Would like. Well germanys military spending is up its still smaller relative to other nato allies as a driver of europes economy republicans and democrats in the u. S. Congress have long held germany should be paying more for share defense but most oppose removing u. S. Troops from germany fearing it will weaken regional stability and nato is capacity to push back against russia. The plan to withdraw u. S. Troops from germany is expected to cost billions and could take years to execute and could be reversed if President Trump does not win reelection in november can really help get aljazeera the white house. The u. S. Has imposed further sanctions on syria its blacklisting anyone doing business with the government of president Bashar Al Assad until he supports a negotiated end to the countrys 9 year war. As one of 14 individuals and entities named in the new measures it follows a round of sanctions last month dogging the president s inner circle including his wife a smile it is time for assads need list brutal works and this above all is what our sanctions campaign is not to bring about a political solution and a resolution 2254 is the only credible path to peace the Syrian People deserve. The u. S. Department of Homeland Security says federal officers will start pulling out of the u. S. City of portland after months of protests they were deployed to despite the state governments objections with the objective of controlling anti bases and Police Brutality demonstrations bunce theyve been accused of using Excessive Force activists have been demanding for weeks that they should leave local Law Enforcement and state troopers will take over the policing of the protests john hendren is in chicago one of the several other cities where federal agents have been deployed he says their operations wont be on the same scale as important. Chicago kansas city and albuquerque were in these last phases federal Troop Deployment whats going on now is troops have federal agents being deployed to cleveland detroit and milwaukee but thats a very Different Program i spoke to a federal Law Enforcement official here in chicago he spoke to me anonymously but he said that whats happening is theyre really sending in a lot of department of Homeland Security investigators and other people who are here to investigate existing crimes he says you wont see these people on the street there are perhaps 200 perhaps a little fewer here in chicago about the same number in kansas city but the numbers that were looking at in other cities are paltry cleveland 25 detroit 40 to milwaukee 25 of those federal agents so it is clear by those numbers alone you wont see their presence out in the street in the way that we have in portland that they would be investigating at previous cases and doing other things from desks behind the scenes trying to knock down a crime rate that has really been exacerbated millions of children and both wealthy and poor countries are at risk of civil Health Damage because of lead poisoning a study by the u. N. Agency unicef as well as an Environmental Group found nearly one in 3 children have high levels of lead in their blood and this can impair Brain Development systems and vital organs that blames inadequate recycling 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 1945 dozens of plaintive said approach the cold softer they developed illnesses linked to radiation exposure before the ruling they were unsatisfied is 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 and how that killed 140000 people. A Childrens Hospital in northern mexico is being flooded in the aftermath of Tropical Storm hanna workers rushed to move beds out of rooms swamped with water at the hospital in the city of and also at least 3 people died in mexico during the storm. Thousands of refugees trying to reach the mediterranean are facing extreme rights abuses and clothing torture Sexual Assault and even death the United Nations is warning and nearly half of the violence is perpetrated by those supposed to enforce the law lets 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 disease unacceptable 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 traffickers yet yes they are keep it be traitors or violence but the primary preparatory to violence are people who are soo pushed to protect. The u. N. 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 it thinks that number is just the tip of the iceberg. It says the abuses experienced on these are the land 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 is 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 and brian al jazeera. So mowbray has agreed to pay 3. 00 and a half 1000000000. 00 in compensation to white farmers evicted from their land 2 decades ago dozens were displaced often violently under the leadership of former president Robert Mugabe half the money is to be paid in the next 12 months and the balance within 5 years they remain says in bombay will issue long term bones and jointly approach International Dollars with the farmers for funds and you can find much more on our website the address for that is w w w dot aljazeera dot com. This is a disease and these are the top stories for of americas Biggest Tech Companies have been accused of being too dominant and powerful the chief executives of Facebook Google amazon and apple have defended their Business Practices at a u. S. Congressional hearing alan fisher has more on 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 new National Security law to crackdown on prodemocracy activity online for students belonging to a group called student localism have been arrested accused of posting content that supports hong kong independence the death toll from the corona virus pandemic is now more than 150000 in the United States thats the highest number of fatalities in any nation by far it accounts for nearly a quarter of virus related deaths around the world. The 2nd worst affected country in the world has had a record to daily increase in infections and deaths brazils reported nearly 70000 new cases under 1600 fatalities the u. N. Agency unicef says nearly one in 3 children around the world has high levels of lead in the blood millions are at risk of adverse of all Health Damage to their brains nervous systems and vital organs it blames 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 and head off in 1945 dozens of plaintiffs approach the courts after they developed illnesses linked to radiation exposure before the ruling they werent classified as atomic bomb victims because they were originally located in areas deemed safe by the authorities those are the headlines coming up next its earthrise goodbye. Incarcerated. In russias toughest prisons stripped off their liberties. And unexpected creative opportunities. To singing contest like no other offers a chance of redemption and hope for the toilet didnt feel. The prison lives inside and out a tale of fingers and murders on aljazeera. And conflicts one of the silent and forgotten casualties is often the environment. From the chemical contamination of soils and the collapse of water and Food Supplies to the habitat damage caused by displacement