>> the u.s. records another new daily record of coronavirus infectionsns. california ordering the closures of the recently reopened bars and theaters. donald trump grapples with a scandal concerning u.s. troops in afghanistan, the leadader repeating his claim that he was not briefed about the intelligence. and the amazon rain forest sees

its worst june in 30 years. heads to peak fire season and there are concerns over a repeat of last year's devastation. thank you for joining us. we are starting with the u.s. new -- setting another record of covid-19 infections. 50,000 new cases weree announce, new highs in states like texas, and now other parts of the theiry are rethinking plans. new york city deciding not to let restaurants resume indodoor , andce e next week california has backtracked on reopening. -- correspondent resort reports. >> a change of course in california. as fires spread, the governor has reordered the closure of bars and indoor dining. spreadbottom line is the of the virus continues at a rate

that is particularly concernrni. pleaease let us protect our livs and address the seriousnessss to which we must address the papandemic and the recent incree in the transmissions and the deaths related to this disease. thend set of baseball at july 4 weekend approaches, dodger stadium has been administering coronavirus testing. california was the first state to impose stay-at-home orders and has seen a spike of cases as well as other states across the west and south of the country. >> it's unfortunate that the city opened up a little too , people are going to bars and having gatherings and going to restaurants. surgege,is also seeing a reporting its biggest one-day spike in cases on wednesday as intensive care units reportedly

operate beyond full capacity. and in arizona, which has more cases per capita a than anywhere else, vicece president mike pene paid a visit, who met with the state's who ordered bars and gyms to be s shut down. he is heading to florida, we reported cases trend upward. u.s.e: the fallout in the continues after local media claimed russia paid taliban militants to kill american troops. one of the key questioions is ws donald trump not given a briefing, or did he not read it? his inaction sparking criticism from several military figures. the white house has not addressed the substance of the report. alexander has more. wereree the soldiers putting their lives on the line in afgfghanistan, was russia putting a price on theheir head? the newly revealed intelligence

assessment says that was the case. anger as people ask why the president seems to be doing nothing about it? have jumped to donald trump's offense, -- defense, saying he was not briefed. and moscow's involvement is nothing new. >> we took this seriously and handled appropriately. the russians have been selling small arms that have been putting americansns at risk for0 years. we have objected to it. when i meet with my russian counterparts we talk about this each time. >> president trump said he was not told about the alleged russian bounties before it was reported and he does n n believe it w was true.e. >> the intelligence people -- many believe it did not happepen and i think k it's a hoax b by e newspapers a and the demococrat. >> hououse democrats raising serious questions about this account, saying it's inexcucuble that the presidentnt was not

briefed soonener, given that lis were at stake. meanwhile adam schiff says s i's ininexplicable why president trp is not on the phone to president putin and working harder to get to the bottom of what happened. one reason for the president not knowing about the intelligence has already come to light, those who briefed him learned early in his administration he did not like hearing negative analysis about russia, leadingng to hiss nationalal security teaeam brieg him less often on russian related threats. ethiopia, a singer, whose death on monday sparked unrest, has been buried. the singer was shot while heldng and the funeral was 100 kilometers from the capital in their hometown. two arrests have been made, but no motive has been given. the protests have left 18 people dead. this was a powerful political

voice of an ethnic group. landslidebeen a huge at a jade mine in northern myanmar. 113 people have been killed, the wave of mud was triggered by heavy rain according to police, warning was issued not to work in the area but some people did so anyway or ---- anyway. let't's go to our correspondent, daniel, what more can n you tell us?? daniel: locals are expecting the dedeath toll to rise, there are people misissing. and poce had issued a warning, they had seen heavy rain in the area and they warned people to not go to this gathering. miners mina forr jade, and they send it to china, where there's a huge demand.

companies mining ,ssentially dumped their waste after they've gone through and picked out the largest pieces of the precious gemstone, and scavengersrs pick througugh it. while e people have been warneda lot of thehese people went, obviviously at a time where a lt of people are struggling for money, given what's happened with the coronavirus. there are enough desesperate people despite the warnings. might be too soon, but what can you tell us about the victims? and how common are accidents like this in myanmar's jade minds? ----mines? dadaniel: the simple answers t o too comommon. there was ananother landslide whwhere a hundred people died in 2015. a lot of people are freelelances

so there'nono occupationanal health or r safe the -- safety. theyey scavengee through large kremmling areas of rocks looking for the gemstones. rocks,bling areas o of lolooking for the gemstonones. it's a very dangerous t trade, e north of myanmar a are the footothills s of the himalayas. it's very mountaininous. it's also o the monsoonn at the moment. so there's a huge amount of water coming throuough the area, and they loosen these areas that have been mined. they are susceptible to having landmine -- landslides. claire: thank you for that update on the situation. daniel quinlan reporting. amazon rainn in the forest of brazilil is making headlines after worrying figures were released for june. 20% month 2200 fires, about

more than june last year. there are fears that the smoke blanketing the area could make matters worse with covid-19 the m's. our correspondent rereport -- covid-19 victims. our course wanted reports. >> hectare upon hectare of green, pockmararked with crater. detected in the amazon rain forest, up from year. 1900 fires last ngos are terrified of a repeat of the infernos that raged last summerer, , are sosounding the . [speakaking forereign languguag] >> in this peperiod of extreme heat, some of these fires occur naturally.

many are started intentionally, ofoften by farmers that cut down trees and set fire to the earth to clear the land. technique, inshed conjunction with illegal logging is gradually destroying the region according to environmentalists. [speaking foreign language] >> unregulated deforestation has always alarmed those trying to protect the lungs of the planet. the lungs oft on brazilians is alsoso a primary concern as the country continues cases inexplosion of coronavirus, communities are once again braced for the arrival of the thick smoke thaht sweeeeps across the region durig

fire season. there are 200 clusters in maiainland france, but the situation is under control. the health minister said, after a month and a h half that the lockdown w was listed. is bucking guiana the trend. this town went into lockdown on the 1 17th of march, it's now july and it's 4.5 thousand inhabitants are not allowed out for anything but essential journeneys. the locacal economyy hasasll but ground to a halt. language]foreigign people have tested positiveve for the virus, adherg to lockdown measures is a tall order for some of the poorest communities.

over 300 peoeoe have come too rely on food d handouts provided by the governmenent in conjunctn with aid agencies. [speaking foreign language] >> just t acrossss the river lis brazil, and t the town has recorded over one point 5000 cases of covid-19. all but essential travel between france and brazil is banned. but the border is 700 kilometers long and hard to patrol. police carry out regular checks to make sure only those with commission are out, and to push back attention -- pushshback on clandestine crossings. french]g land, authorities carry out controls on the highway leading to the capital.

anybody with a high temperatures turned away. french guiana has one of the highest infection rates in france and these measures will only be lifted when that begin to change. some of egypt's world famous tourist attractions have reopened to locacals and foreigners. the first flight carrying tourists arrive from ukraine on wednesday. the tourism accounts for 20% of gdp. our correspondence report. >> three months later and back open for business. visitors have some extra steps to go through, with temperature checks and handwashing as part of the process. all part of a wider reopening at key tourist destinations including the egyptian museum in cairo, the measures took effect on wednesday. [speaking foreign language]

>> authorities are helping to prop up a sector that was hit hard during the lockdown, gdp,ating up to a fifth of 3 million people in the country to for thed a -- up gdp. if you were were on hand to see the pyramid's reopen. [speaking foreign language] we decided to come to the pyramids, because they had been closed for so long, we thought it would be great to see. we wanted to explore the pyramid's in that scope. >> international flights to egypt have started as a wednesday. claire: that's it for this edition, thank you for watching. ♪

>> hello and welcome to the france 24 intervrview, our guest , she is russia -- maia the cofounder the news website grappler, and has been a critic of the regime of president rodrigo duterte. she was found guililty of cyber currently appealing her conviction. she joins s us from manila. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. storys case relates to a from 2012 about the alleged ties of a businessman to illegal drdrugs and human trafficking. but you believe that t this has nothing to do with the article, but it's a clinically motivated case against you and journalism in the philippine, w why is tha?

>> context. fifirst it was a public interest story about a sitting supreme court justice going through an impeachment trial.l. so p public intnterest i in thay in 2012, the period of prescription for libel is one year, normally. but to have this case brought to court, that has been n changed o 12 yeaears. in tererms of context, this is this one case. 2 28, i hadat it in to go througugh 11 cases and investigigations that ththe government filed. i have eight arrest wararrants issued against me, i i was arrested twice in five weeksks. i have done nothing but be a journalist. >> and there is this prospect of a six year jail sentence. do you have hope that the appeal will be heard? or do you believe the justice

system is in the hands of the president and you stand no chance? >> i can't ever say i stand no judiciary tot our prove me wrong. the patternrn is bad.d. let's s put it that way. filed our motion, it's a partial motion for reconsideration on the 29th of june. it points out 13 things that are wrong wiwith the verdict. ige legal acrobatics that hope the judge will address. siteviously, your news at has attracted the ire of the president, especially for your coverage of his so-calllled warn drugs during which thousands of people have died. do you believe that this is the real reason behind your legal

troubles? >> there are two. one is thehe impunity series, whicich we have continued againt this brutal drug war which according to human rights group has killed thousanands, the governrnment admits ababout a thouousand people e being kille. i impunity anddl of something we call the propagagaa war. how the philippine government has used facebebook, which has become our internet, to manipulate the way people think and the public sphere. we came out with those stories and 2016 and we have been under intense attack on social media first, the weaponization of social media and those same attacks coming from the president and officials in 2018. also the weaponization of the law. and in 2019 we had the arrest warrant and in 2020 the conviction. the narrative was at the journalist as the peoplele's criminal passing forward and

here we are. >> and where are we in the philippines? d democracy''s death by a thousand cuts. rattler is nonot the only new soururce under attack. we were the t trd. the first is the largest newspaper, the philippine daily inquirer. the family that owned it was trapped wiwith legal cases withn a short period of time and they said t they would d sell the pa. the second is ththe largest broadcaster in the philippppine, soon aftfter the president took office he said he would not renew the franchise. years, may 5,our 2020, it's thehe largest network and it w was shut down.. rattler, aith government regulatory agency gives a shut down.. they tried to revoke our license in january 201018.

been almost two months, you're talking about a network of employing -- a network that employs about 11,000 people. i used to have a thousand journalist. it's not alone, but i think the differences that we are pushing back. we are calling a spade a a spade becaususe this time period, our rights and democracy are at stake. >> calling a spade a spade does not mean that you believe the presidenent is a dictator. >> i don't know what to call him . i try not to make it personal, even when you say i'm a harsh critic, i'm not doing anything different from whatat have beenn years ago, almost t 35 whwhen i became a reporter in 1986. i would say the presisident is e most powerfuful leadeder the philippines has had, and we are

seeing institutions, weak institutions, weak law enforcement, a all collapspsingo do their biddiding. waslast time the network shutut down w was 1972 when thee was a declaration of m martial law. it was shut down for 14 years. they had to shut down again now. it wouldld have been unthinkable before this timeme period. i believe we are standing at the precipice andnd president iia dy -- and the president has put in place measures that are fundamentally changing the ghts guaranteed to filipinos under our c constitution. >> so yoyou are afraidid for democracy in your country? i woulds been fourr years, say two things stand out. the pandemic, this is our 15th week on a lockdown.

a pandemic that is largely led by retired military men, the response t to it. instead of p putting doctors in charge we have had the president say it filipinos brereak quarantine, he said shoot them dead.. this is frightening. developopment big is that a few weeks ago, the house of representatives has passed an anti-terror law which is to coney and at best and -- dracaconian at best. of small group of secretaries can actually declare a dissident. somebody was just critical could be declared a terrororist. and that person -- like me -- can be arrested without a warrant and held in jail. >> this bill was one of several

examples raised during a debate at the united nations human rights council recently. there was a panel of experts that came out with a strong report criticizing widespread human rights vioiolation, u.n. human rights chiefs vividly there's alwaysd the possibility to prosecute the president before the international criminal court. do you believe there's a buildup of international pressssure? or does s not affect him at all? phililippines is playing an outsized role in geopolitical powerer. we see this in what's happeninig in the south china sea. aboutilipippines does c care whatat the international communy thinks even of the president's rhetoric is that he would go it alone. he knows he can't. one of the first things hehe did

when he e became president was o go to beijing and say the philippines would p pivot from s longtime ally, the united states , and pivot to china and russia. that c changed a lotot of thing. business hasas changed, china hs comeme in. doterms of what the u.n. can and whetheher the philippines is payiying attentition, it is. , when thehe icc threatens to looook at what's happening he pulledd out of thee icc. part of our only defense is journalists is that the global commmmunity is helping us shine the light. otherwise, the brutal deaths continue, the death by a attack onuts and press freedom continues with impunity. taken by the were

traditional u.s. ally, travel ban's on senior officials. but other countries have not followed suit, including european countries, the european union. are you calling on them to do the same? to put more prprsure on ththe regime? are you disappointed they have not done so? >> it's hard for mee to answer that question, becauause then i could then bee accused by my government of sedition o o treason. the me put it this way. the problem of protecting philippine democracy is fundamentally a philomena -- a filipino problem, but the philippines plays a local role. and its long-tererm allies s hae taken posititis and are pututtig increasing pressure, including the european union. the area which was activated to take away the e visa of the man who carried out the drug warar o

is now a senator, when that happened the government was upset and cananceled a long-term military agreement with the united states. thatst recently rereinstated because the philippines needs the unitited states s during ths titime of covid-19 and increasig aggression from china. i ththink the president has a challenge to balance his competing interests, including what china is doing in terms of and closer ties with the philippines. have time for.e thank you very much for being with us on this france 24 intervieiew. and thank you for watching it. ♪

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