Briefing that weve just received led me to believe it is a hoax Democrats Press the white house on just how much donald trump knew about allegations that russia paid taliban fighters to kill u. S. Soldiers. And protests in ethiopia after a popular singer and government critic shot at. And in school the africa cup of nations has been postponed by 12 months due to the coronavirus the continents biggest sporting event will now kick off in cameroon in 2022. Now china is imposing a new security law on hong kong 23 years after it took back control and promised a one country 2 systems policy its been signed by chinese president xi jinping and is now in force critics say the legislation erodes hong kongs freedoms adrian brown reports. It normally takes a year for Chinas Parliament to pass legislation this time it happened in record time just 40 days the new security law completed its passage after a vote by the countrys most powerful political body the Standing Committee of the National Peoples congress in Hong Kong China supporters were also celebrating before the news that even being confirmed. A contentious measure that spits it he divided the city was once more defended by its chief executive the legislation oppose imposing legal principles such as presumption of innocence and protection of the rights of the sox that it will have no race respectively fact her critics here say the new law now threatens to stifle even small displays of dissent like this one in a local Shopping Mall on tuesday china is causing passing a law without without even asking. Police im not going to be proper procedures the laws passing had an immediate political impact democracy activists joshua wang announced he was resigning from the Political Party he helped found before the party itself was dissolved also desponding 2 other smaller political groups that advocated independence. For hong kong this is the most Dramatic Development since its return from british to chinese rule since then chinas had thousands of troops garrisoned in the city now its secret agents will be able to legally operate here as well a body to gather intelligence will also be set up the timing of this new law is no coincidence wednesday marks the 23rd anniversary of hong kongs handover from britain to china police have sealed off the area around a Convention Center where locals and mainland dignitaries commemorate the event each year before the handover china promised that hong kongs freedoms including an independent legal system would continue for 50 more years to many people here now it seems that promise has been broken in july the 1st is traditionally a symbolic day marked by a large march but police have denied an application for another this year citing the coronavirus and the potential for violence several groups though are vowing to test the ban adrian brown al jazeera hong kong. Well lets take a closer look at some of the Main Elements of this legislation china will set up a National Security agency in hong kong and it will not be supervised by the local government the agency will have jurisdiction over what the law describes a serious cases trials involving National Security secrets cannot be conducted behind closed doors and the maximum sentence is life imprisonment a local government will also set up a National Security committee chaired by the chief executive and decisions made by that body cannot be challenged in local courts when lawson lee is the founding chairman of the united democrats which then became the Democratic Party of hong kong he was also the face of the Democracy Movement before the handover back in 1907 he explains how hong kongs power is being roses. My party will stay on and i will stay in hong kong of course we realize that the prospects of being put into prison would be very high but the prestige of this law what this piece of legislation in fact for me means one. Is that when the British Government returned hong kong to the peoples republic of china 23 years ago it was on the promise of dumb show the then paramount head of china that hong kong will be run by hong kong people with a high degree of autonomy which means that apart from defense and Foreign Affairs we the people of hong kong will be masters of our own house in terms of the executive power educate power and judicial power now that a person who does not everything is. The state of hong kong people born in hong kong is now the communist party bordering on instead of being enjoyed a high degree of autonomy now the communist party will be ruling with comprehensive power of control now this is what this war is all about that they are now actually defining the new position. Which is just another chinese city we have no degree of economy and go after this this is a problem they have complete control of even our courts this is what they would do not with every case but this code has already there in relation to some small number of cases china may actually decide now americas leading government expert on Infectious Diseases is warning the number of corona virus cases across the country is likely to get much west if people dont follow Health Recommendations dr anthony found she has been testifying at the u. S. Senate. It is going to be very disturbing i will guarantee you that because when you have an outbreak in one part of the country even though in other parts of the country theyre doing well they are vulnerable i made that point very clearly we are now having 40 plus 1000 new cases a day i would not be surprised if we go up to 100000. 00 a day if this does not turn around haul for more now lets cross live to mike hanna who is in washington d. C. For us mike i do feel like i ask you the same question my stays these days cases in the u. S. Continuing to rise everyone still warning that the west is yet to come. Indeed yes well that was says dr fox you put a very disturbing analysis in terms of where this is going he was mentioning there the u. S. Is recording some 40000 new cases that they present dr g. Predicting the possibility of this rising to 100000 now dr park she was giving evidence before the Health Committee of the senate and this came at a time when 16 states have reversed their reopening procedures among them incidentally of the 1st 3 who dropped mitigating measures at the urging of President Trump texas and arizona and florida they were the 1st to open they are now completely reversing the process as cases begin to spike in each of those states another very disturbing figure is in 7 states that rate of hospitalisation has increased by 25 percent in the past week now what this indicates is that not only are the cases continuing to spike but the severe ety of the infection is continuing to have an impact in those 7 states as well a large number of those people between the age of 18 and 35 who in initial hit up the virus would largely ruled out of being the most worst hit victims so certainly a very bleak reading and very bleak representation by a doctor in the senate indeed mike hanna there for us in washington d. C. Thank you for that update. Now Congressional Democrats say dont trump must have been at least aware of the allegation that russia paid bounties to taliban fighters to killed u. S. Forces in afghanistan after attending a White House Briefing now trump has repeatedly denied he was not informed but a series of media reports over the past few days citing intelligence sources of question that claim the latest report from the New York Times alleges that trump received a written briefing in february democrats are calling for a full account from the Intelligence Community the president called this a hoax publicly nothing in the briefing that we have just received led me to believe it is a hoax there may be 2 different judgments as to the level of credibility but there was no assertion that the information we had was a hoax well lets not speak to our White House Correspondent candy halkett committee i see these intelligence sources are insisting that this information was included in the president s i believe daily written briefing as far back as late february what implications might that have. Well has enormous implications for this president because once again there is this lingering question about what the president knew when he knew it and why if these allegations are true he is not going to indicate that he would do something to hold russia accountable these are some of the questions that are being raised by Top Democrats and we should point out in the last hour by the Presumptive Democratic president ial nominee joe biden the fact is he said that the idea that donald trump didnt know is a dereliction of duty he says if he was briefed and did nothing this is also a dereliction of duty if any of these are remotely true then this president should be declared unfit to continue to run for president of the United States so some very strong words from the opponent facing off in the november election with donald trump in fact the joe biden also said that he may ask the white house for a classified briefing something that he would be entitled to as the democratic president ial nominee he says so far the white house has not offered that but democrats are particularly angry as you point out they are demanding that they get an intelligence briefing that isnt from the white house perspective what does that mean they want to hear from the director of National Intelligence they want to hear from the cia director there gravely concerned that there has not been further action taken in the form of potential sanctions in fact their chair of the House Intelligence Committee adam schiff even suggesting that this idea or notion that russia should be included among the g 7 making at the g 8 that this is not something that should happen that russia should not be a part of what he called the civilized nations so there is a lot of anger there is a demand for a wider intelligence briefing one that we should point out the white house has so far not offered insisting that the president was not aware of this the president also saying that but now we know according to 2 anonymous intelligence sources they say that the president was briefed in late february that also. He was included in this information it was included for the president a daily intelligence briefing and in fact they were so concerned about how serious this was that it was disseminated to the broader Intelligence Community as far as back as may it came to just moving beyond Party Politics here how damaging is this for the president within his own party with the republicans. Well this is certainly an issue when it comes to russia that many republicans and conservatives feel is case closed they would argue that this is an attempt in an Election Year to try and generate. Headlines they will point to the russian investigators in that embroiled the president s 1st 2 years in office saying that there was no collusion found between the 2016 campaign and russia when it comes to donald trump this is something that a special prosecutor Robert Muller looked into and found that there was no collusion this is something that he in fact had it off to come members of congress to look into they had that opportunity and of course that led to the impeachment of the u. S. President which ultimately he was not removed from office because that involved the senate which is controlled by republicans so it really comes down to the hands of the voters in november and right now as weve been covering for the last 4 years this is divided country those that support donald trump continue to do so those that are opposed seem to stay the same so in terms of this latest scandal if you will having or having an impact on the president it seems Many Americans minds are already made up White House Correspondent candy how theyre outside the white house for us thank you very much candy. Now plenty more ahead for you on this news hour including the u. S. Address the u. N. To extend an arms embargo against iran but others and the Security Council voice their opposition. And Police Used Tear Gas to break up protesters demanding quicker reform from sudans Transitional Government and in sports course they make a big move in the race to win the Portuguese League title son that will be here with that story. Well there are reports of deaths in ethiopia and protests after a popular singer known for his politically themed songs was shot dead thousands of fans followed her child who dresses cost get to protest his killing the police are investigating what happened to the musician whos known for songs about the rights of the aroma of people and the rumor ethiopias Largest Ethnic Group but theyve often complained about discrimination last week criticized ethiopias leadership well that was in an interview to a Media Network thats owned by prominent government critic joe mohamed hes now been reportedly arrested muhammads t. V. Station says he was detained after his bodyguards faced off with federal police local media say his Security Team had refused orders to decide a baba but the spokesman for the federal Police Denies that mohammed was detained the Prime Minister is calling for calm all right now we can speak to saddam a lemma shes the editor in chief of the at a standard and she joins us now via skype from frankfurt there are clearly some complex dynamics at play here and i want to start with the chinese legacy he was an aroma icon can you give us a sense of where he sat within both ethiopias political and cultural scene. Thanks for having me. Yes he is and i can hes hes loved across not only by respect but also all the other people of europe that he has he leaves behind a legacy and embodied him and just be a remote People Struggle for equality and justice and that in that country he came to prominence during that protest which you know that youve been covering for years protests by the river which i should be in the current Prime Minister to so his position now because i jolly well as the mellow dick part of this trip when you know when people were out and district being being shot at being killed he you know he comforted the or people with his song was a song of revolution with his song or 5. And with this song what resistance to the system that really or crest the people it led into the streets so he leaves behind a legacy of a man that as i see it in my my tutor hes the indices to shouldnt of the conscious if there were more people so its very easy hes a figure larger than life and and its very difficult for for everyone to comprehend but not only for the oral but across the board as well because hes also a singer for romantic songs hes not just the resistance singer so its a its a big legacy that he leaves behind today as you say so many of his songs were about the marginalization of the aroma people and they were used in protest of previous regimes now i mean the current Prime Minister idea that is around the himself but hes also facing some political tensions of his own can you talk us through some of the dynamics here. Well you know i mean initially there has been a lot of excitement you know. The Prime Minister has a wide range of acceptance by everyone. That has been you know depleting as we go by 2 years down the line a lot of critics are rising against the Prime Minister the way he handled the transition the way he. Was not willing to discuss with opposition to have a genuine dialogue as many were calling for it but you know the icing on the cake came when he as many referred to and constitutionally had the parliament and the upper house approved extension of his time in office because of current and that was raising a lot of anger a lot of frustration among a lot because people wanted him to have a dialogue with the opposition was. The you know Civil Society organizations instead of just having a parliament that is a 100 percent concurrent by his own party rubber stamp an extension of power in the office so this was raising a lot of eyebrows not only a movie room but also either saying that people dont know how long this is going to last because the parliament is now going to tell us when the coverage is going to be over what its safe for if youve been peeper to have an election so these coming from the Prime Minister who say that you know he would love help the country transition into a democratic system but we have many saw it as a return to authoritarianism so her journal had an interview last week in which she you know directly criticized the way the Prime Minister was handling there in 4 but also he was hes outspoken usual sort of in this