this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. my name is mike embley. after hundreds of arrests in hong kong in protests against china's new security laws, up to 3 million residents could be granted new rights to live and work in the uk. putin poised to keep power for a very long time. early official results in russia show apparently overwhelming approval for keeping the president in place. the white house insists claims that russia paid bounties to the taliban to kill us troops are unverified. the us strikes a deal to buy almost the entire world supply of a drug that helps recovery from covid—19. fears for recovery from covid—19. brazil's wildlife is the fears for brazil's wildlife is the number of fires in the

amazon rise over the past year. hello and welcome. if anyone in hong kong was wondering what china's new national security law would mean, they didn't have long to wait. protesters took to the streets on the first day of it coming into force, and hundreds of arrests soon followed. the majority were for public order offences, but a handful came under the new legislation which carries a potential life sentence for crimes such as calling for independence from mainland china. john sudworth reports. 23 years after china took control of hong kong, it was an anniversary marked with tear gas and arrests. familiar scenes, but the stakes for protesters are now so much higher, with the new national security law in force. for hong kong's pro—beijing leaders, though, this was a day to celebrate, with a

flag—raising ceremony and a champagne toast with chinese officers. for beijing, this is all about sovereignty, with china denying that the new law breaches its promise to britain to uphold hong kong's freedoms. but the uk government clearly disagrees, and it is now pushing ahead with its plan to offer up to 3 million hong kongers eligible for british national overseas passports, or bnos, a route to citizenship. we will grant bnos five years‘ limited leave to remain, with a right to work or study. after these five years, they'll be able to apply for settled status. and, after a further 12 months with settled status, they will be able to apply for citizenship.

senior chinese officials, though, had already made it clear they've no time for what they see as foreign meddling. translation: we are making a law concerning a region of china to safeguard its national security. it's none of your business. hong kong's protesters, though, are certain that something fundamental is being lost. i'm angry at the disrespect for human rights that this national security legislation brings. i think, very obviously, the purpose of the law is to change hong kong from rule of law to rule of fear. this photo shows the first man arrested for advocating independence from china. and new police banners were on display, warning that such slogans could constitute secession or subversion — new offences punishable with up to life in prison. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing.

in response, the us house of representatives has unanimously approved legislation seeking tough sanctions against chinese and hong kong officials involved in human rights abuses. the so—called hong kong autonomy art. house speaker nancy pelosi said the new security law signalled the death of the one country, two systems principle. when beijing announced its intention to pass the so—called national security law, so—called, we were concerned. it was frightening. it is nothing short of an all—out effort to negate the rights of the people of hong kong, in violation of the agreements made under the one country, two systems. we were concerned of what it might be, and it exceeds even those horrors. the law is a brutal, sweeping crackdown against the people of hong kong, intended to destroy the freedoms they were promised.

speaker nancy pelosi there. earlier, official results suggested that vladimir putin will have the results you choose the russian constitution to stay in the kremlin to 2036. first returns suggest his referendum has won a 3:1 majority backing, but his rivals say it's just a blatant power grab. our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg has the story. in russian polling stations right now, rule number one — put on face masks and gloves. rule number two — if you're vladimir putin, ignore rule number one. the president called this vote to change russia's constitution, to make the country stronger, he says. to protect russia's history and its heroes. to guard its natural resources. to keep the animals happy. but critics say the smiles are a smokescreen for the kremlin‘s main objective. putin himself, and his people, they pretend that the major change is about this, about strengthening russia.

but the main purpose is to allow mr putin to stay and to occupy the position as a president forever. two terms — it means forever. for the barabanov family, that's a worrying prospect. in a polling station that looks more like a clinic, they voted no to the new constitution, but with little hope of winning. after all, campaigning against the amendments had been banned. and the vote itself lacks independent observers. russia is going the wrong direction. this direction is to dictatorship. i think it's a sad day. there will be less political freedom. that's very bad for us. i think, for putin, he's not acting in our best interests, and he needs to step down. critics of the vote say

that what is happening here is nothing more than a show, and here's one example. even before polling began, copies of the new constitution were printed and published and available in the shops. it says here on the cover, "valid when the official results are announced." in other words, what that result was going to be was never in doubt. some russians believe that putin forever is a good thing. when an experienced politician is staying in power, especially in a country as difficult as russia, i think it doesn't hurt if he is supported by the people, and that is exactly the case. the president said he would never change the constitution to stay in power. well, never say never. so you could see more of this, only next time, it'll be the new constitution.

president trump has insisted that he was never told by the us secret services about reports that russia paid afg hanistan‘s taliban militants to kill american soldiers. in the past few days, the us media have reported that according to the us intelligence, russian bounties resulted in the deaths of several us servicemen. we never heard about it, because intelligence never found it to be of that level where it would rise to that... when you bring something in to a president, and i see many, many things, and i'm sure i don't see many things that they don't think rose to the occasion — this didn't rise to the occasion. and from what i hear, and i hear it pretty good, the intelligence people didn't even — many of them didn't believe it happened at all. i think it's a hoax. i think it's a hoax by the newspapers and the democrats. north america corresponded david willis has been giving me

more details. the white house has been scrambling to deal with this ever since last friday, mike, when the new york times first published these allegations. the new york times has since followed up with more details, more flesh on the bone, if you like. well, today, the national security advisor, robert o'brien, has said that the president wasn't briefed on this particular piece of intelligence because it was uncorroborated at the time. he said that the information was included in the president's daily intelligence briefing, but the career cia officer who was giving that briefing decided not to include it in the mention that — the report that she gave to the president for the simple reason that it was unverified intelligence, and mr o'brien said he supported that decision. now, president trump has described all this as a hoax, made up by the fake news media. but the fact is, mike, that it is well—known that the president doesn't, perhaps, pay the closest attention to his daily intelligence briefing, and prefers, on many occasions, to rely on an oral summation and on information he gets from the conservative news media. now, today the white house

spokeswoman, kayleigh mcenany, said that the president does indeed read his daily briefings. she attacked the new york times for the leak of this, publishing the leak of this information, and she said the president is the most informed person on planet earth when it comes to the threats we face, and i quote. it is a difficult one for the president to defend himself on, though, because the commander—in—chief above all else is supposed to have the back of this might trouble many people, even some of his die—hard supporters. it might indeed, and also troubling is the fact that this is a briefing, daily briefing, made up of hundreds of pieces of raw intelligence which is passed on to the president every morning in written form, and indeed, in president trump's case, in oralform, in a tradition that goes back to harry truman.

now, the president, the commander—in—chief, is not the only person who has access to this information. the vice president, senior members of the cabinet, get access to it as well. hence joe biden, the presumptive democratic presidential contender this november, has accused president trump of a dereliction of duty, and he said that when he was in the white house as vice president, both he and barack obama would read the daily intelligence briefing from cover to cover. so we have a lot of democrats piling in on the president. and this is becoming increasingly embarrassing for the white house, given the fact that the former national security adviser, john bolton, has said that he briefed the president in person on this very piece of intelligence about russian bounties as far back as march of last year.

just bring you some breaking news this hour. the washington post, the new york times, and associated press are reporting right now that a new york court has lifted the temporary restraining order against the publication of a book by president trump's nice. we are chasing confirmation on this but it seems to enable the publisher to continue printing and distributing that insider account by mary trump. the restraining order on her seems to be in place, opening her to possibly being sued for a breach of nondisclosure agreement. as far as we can establish at the moment the book was clear to be distributed and sold. more to come on that as soon as we can get it. to stay with us on bbc news. this too, as well. we have the latest from tighter regulations imposed on 300,000 people in melbourne. china marked its first day of rule in hong kong

with a series of spectacular celebrations. a huge firework display was held in the former colony. the chinese president, jiang zemin, said unification was the start of a new era for hong kong. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly that was cloned in a laboratory using a cell from another sheep. for the first time in 20 years, russian and american spacecraft have docked in orbit at the start of a new era of cooperation in space. challenger powered past the bishop rock lighthouse at almost 50 knots, shattering a record that had stood for 3h years. and there was no hiding the sheer elation of richard branson and his crew.

welcome back, great to have you with us. police in hong kong have made several arrests under china's new national security laws on the first day they came into force. preliminary official results suggests russians have overwhelmingly backed plans to allow vladimir putin to run for more presidential terms. and the us has struck a deal to buy almost the entire global supply of a drug known to help people recover faster from covid—i9. in trials, remdesivir has helped shorten hospital stays for the most seriously ill by about four days. the manufacturer says other countries have ta ken manufacturer says other countries have taken part in trials of the drug, originally an antiviral against ebola. let's speak to the professor of

emergency at the cornell medical centre. thank you very much for your time. in the wake of the trump administration defunding the world health organization and blaming china for the virus, what you make of this? well, it is certainly a very polarising move. 0n very polarising move. on one hand, the us federal government has made a very firm investment, however, critics certainly perceive this as a competitive move as opposed to a collaborative move. american officials would say of course the united states has a big surge in cases and the company is an american company, the producer, and has licensed companies outside the us to produce the drug. yes, that is accurate. but certainly, if you buy up 500,000 treatments in total, representing 100% of the july treatments as well as 90% of the august and september

treatments, then you are certainly taking the medication out of the system for three months. what do you think are the chances, and the timescale for patients outside of us to get remdesivir? it will be very difficult. certainly they may have to wait after these three months, there have been factions or sections of the company in different legions that are trying to produce it in lower or middle income countries and higher income countries. we don't want to have a situation we have people creating the drug off patent and there is no quality assurance of the medication. what does it suggest you about how the us might react if there is an effective vaccine eventually? well, that is also — the world is basically speaking that this is a

competitive as opposed to collaborative move. there is a lot of concern about the potential that this is going to be the same sort of situation as with remdesivir as it would be with the vaccine, in that the us might go ahead and monopolise or take all of the medication and not make it available for other countries. similarly, it unfortunately might have the effect of pitting other countries if they develop the vaccine first, because as i understand, the uk right now is one of the leaders in terms of making the vaccine, if they develop it first and some of their patients and people were involved in the remdesivir study and weren't able to access this, we would really hate to see the world respond in a competitive way. this is a human and public health crisis. it should be humans versus the virus and not humans versus the virus and not humans versus humans stop this isa humans versus humans stop this is a global pandemic and we all depend on one another. doctor

manish grig, thank you very much. please keep safe and healthy. thank you for your time. thank you. you too. and the new zealand health minister, david clarke, has resigned over recent controversies resigned over recent c0 ntrove rs i es over resigned over recent controversies over his handling of covid—i9. he was criticised for abridging strict foreign rules for travellers returning from overseas and ignoring lockdown by taking his family to the beach. united states has registered more than 52,000 new covid—i9 cases in the past 2a hours, that is a new one—day record. daily figures from the john hopkins university show another 706 fatalities, that brings the nationwide death toll to 128,000, it is the largest figure in the world. hospitalisations are increasing in several cities, including houston, texas and phoenix, arizona, because of the new surges. dozens of people had

been cleared out of areas taken over by protesters three weeks ago. protesters in seattle and other american cities began in response to the death of george floyd in minneapolis, in may. statue of stonewalljackson does make a statue of stonewall jackson has been taken down in virginia, the capital of the confederacy. the statues are being removed in response to a long—running campaign but particularly in response to the anger caused by the killing of george floyd. the number of fires in brazil's amazon ra i nfo rest fires in brazil's amazon ra i nforest has fires in brazil's amazon rainforest has hit a 13 year high according to government data. deforestation levels also higher this year to last year. conservationists are gravely concerned about the future of the ecosystem, and the countries distracted of course by the pandemic. freya cole

reports. the slowing destructive burn. the amazon ra i nfo rest destructive burn. the amazon ra i nforest is destructive burn. the amazon rainforest is riddled by fires. an economic disaster eclipsed by the coronavirus pandemic. brazil has now recorded more than 50,000 deaths linked to covid—19. and at the same time is witnessing widespread loss of one of the world's most important ecosystems. translation: forestation in 2020 is going to be larger than it was in 2019. according to data from brazil ‘s government funded space agency, the inpe, there were 22118 fires in the others on this june there were 22118 fires in the others on thisjune —— in the amazon was at that's that is more than 20% that it was last year. deforestation is up 34%. the clearing of land already

represents a serious health problem. if we have land clearing and covid—19 together, this could bring catastrophic consequences for the residents of the region. the dry season will soon be upon the amazon, fires will increase, the smoke will get worse. it heightens the threat to some of brazil's poorest communities whose livelihoods rely on the health of the rainforest. freya cole, bbc news. in australia, lockdown restrictions have come back into force in melbourne, with ten suburbs linked to coronavirus outbreaks returning to stage 3 restrictions. more than 90,000 victorians were tested over five days, but it hasn't stopped the need for stricter measures to be enforced. residents in the identified "hot zones" can only leave their homes to shop for food and supplies, exercise, for care or caregiving and to study or work — if they're unable to do so from home. let's speak to the bbc‘s

phil mercer in sydney. this is the result of a spike in infections, mike, in the southern state of victoria in the last couple of weeks. double—digit increases every single day. now, australia's confirmed coronavirus cases are relatively low by other country's standards. we know that there are just under 8,000 confirmed covid—19 cases in this country. there have been 104 deaths. but it is that spike in places in victoria that has the state government down there extremely concerned. the state's chief medical officer said the increases were "heartbreaking," so what it means more than 300,000 people will now be subject to stay—at—home orders. they are legally enforceable for the next four weeks. and of course the increases are worrying, but it's another big economic hit? it is. australia's economy

is facing an almighty hit, facing its first recession since the early 1990s, and many businesses around the country who were hoping thatjuly could bring some sort of resolution or some sort of end to the restrictions, certainly in victoria and those lockdown suburbs will once again be feeling the financial pain. it's worth noting too that the state government in victoria is blaming breaches in its hotel quarantine system for many of these new cases. what happens, mike, with returning australian citizen and permanent residents returning to australia, they face a mandatory 14—day stay in isolation in a hotel, and it is thought that infections have somehow leaked out of those hotels into the broader community, and that's why parts of melbourne and are subject to these reintroduced lockdown orders. phil mercer there. more than 350 elephants have died in botswana,

but mystery surrounds the cause of their death. i should warn you that some of the images in this story are upsetting. the cluster of deaths was first reported in early may of this year, in the north of botswana in the 0kavango delta. by mid june, the number had more than doubled. scientists have described the incident as "completely unprecedented" and a "disaster" for africa's declining elephant population. botswa na's government has ruled out poaching — noting the tusks were not removed. the two most likely causes are poison of some form, either that's laid by people or something that is occurring naturally, such as anthrax, which is in the soil. or a disease, a pathogen. either is very concerning, but from a conservation perspective and a public health perspective as there is significant populations of people living nearby. in a world of covid—19 were everyone is focused on the fact that diseases can pass from animals and people and can have catastrophic consequences for the global economy, but it is quite complicated in the current administration have gone

to great lengths to try and demonstrate to rural people in botswana that they do not put the lives of elephants before the lives of people. so they're trying to encourage people to think that the government is looking after them and not solely focusing on wildlife. and the problem with that, for me, is that this is not necessarily just a wildlife situation, this is potentially a public health situation and catastrophic for the economy as well. there are investigations going on into that of course and we will report as we have more. nasa has released time—lapse photography of the sun's outer atmospheric layer. it shows the transit of mercury and venus across the face of the star.

more on all the news for you any time on the bbc news website and on our twitter feed. thank you so much for watching. hello. 0ur weather is set to serve up some pretty mixed fare in the days ahead. the general theme is that things are unsettled and there will be spells of rain affecting all areas at some stage and it will be pretty windy and our temperatures are looking distinctly lacklustre. if anything, perhaps thursday, one of the quieter days of the three or four ahead. this is the area of low pressure that will come barreling in on friday. thursday, we have a couple of weather fronts working their way south across the uk. cloud and rain to start the day in southern scotland, northern ireland. drifting into northern england. through the afternoon we then start to see the front breaking up and the rain turning increasingly into showers. a little bit of warmth in the atmosphere, those showers can really get going through the afternoon across the midlands and eastern england and some heavy and thundery

downpours to come. not all areas seeing them, but pretty punchy where they do break out. here are thursday's top temperatures. 12 across northern scotland despite more in the way of sunshine here. in the south, we could get up to 20 degrees but the temperatures of course will plummet if you get caught in a heavy shower. thursday evening, we will see many of those showers dying away, any stray showers from scotland clearing as well but then we look to the west into the early hours of friday for that big area of low pressure starting to show its hand, rain by the end of the night into southwest scotland and northern ireland. 0vernight lows, about 11 to 1a just about covering it. wind strengthening already first thing on friday. it will be a windy day across the board. a set of weather fronts will mean some fairly persistent rain across the northern half of the uk, just a chance the southeast of england may stay dry throughout despite building cloud here. some of this rain for wales, northern england and northern ireland and scotland is going to be heavy and it will get significant totals by the time the day is out.

top temperatures, typically in the mid to high teens. feeling cooler in the rain. 21 with a bit of brightness in the southeast. and here is the weekend. low pressure still doing its business sending a series of weather fronts our way. the positioning of those at the moment is quite difficult to pin down but a rough rule of thumb at the moment, it looks like like the wettest of the weather on saturday will be across the southern half of the uk and shifting further north for sunday. it stays unsettled and rather cool even on into next week.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

amid protests in hong kong against the new security laws imposed by china, it's been announced that up to 3 million residents could be granted rights to live and work in the uk. nearly 400 people were arrested — most for public order offences — some face, potentially, a life sentence for calling for independence. early official results suggest that voters will overwhelmingly approve vladimir putin's push to change the russian constitution allowing him to stay in power until 2036. russian constitution allowing him to stay in power until2036. it suggests a 3—1 power majority but is printed —— critics call it a power grab. the white house denies reports that donald trump was never told about a bounty on american soldiers in afghanistan.