a straight talking political debate here on al-jazeera. constitutional law hong kong court rulings against a ban on face masks and then a violent standoff between police and protesters at the university. and i'm kamal sons of maria with the world news from al-jazeera iran's president condemns protests over the rise in petrol prices but says poor families will start seeing the benefits for the revenue also sri lanka's new president is sworn in after a nationalist campaign promising to crush what he calls religious extremism. and

purchase outside a court in barcelona as the catalan regional leader goes on trial. so hong kong's high court has ruled the emergency law that banned face masks worn by the pro-democracy protesters is in fact unconstitutional chief executive carol lam she used a british colonial era legislation to impose that ban back in october but the court said it's incompatible with hong kong's basic law the band to be fair only inflamed the situation as well with an escalation in protests violence and destruction on monday riot police surrounded the university campus after the protesters who were holed up inside there through petrol bombs and even shot arrows at them police have now started to arrest a number of protesters who've been trying to leave that campus where china's foreign ministry has spoken as well. says it supports the actions of the police but

we don't usually do the media i don't know if you've been following closely the developments in hong kong if you haven't if you are viewing the facts with an impartial view you can see that what is happening in hong kong is no longer a simple demonstration it is a handful of violent criminals conducting violence against the civilians and they have affected social order and safety in hong kong but the police are doing is protecting the citizens lives and safety and keeping order. so we've got rob mcbride in hong kong for us rob i just saw you having a little look around there what's going on behind you. kamali this is happened just in the last few minutes or so and if i can ask joe just a zoom in here we are at the police cordon this is the whole campus is in police lockdown at the moment but in the last couple of minutes or so we have seen at least one young person we assume they could be students from inside the campus coming out there's a lot of excitement police are running around and medics are running around we saw

one young woman in a. red blanket there seems to be another person and sitting on the wall down here person with a face mask we can only assume it is a bit of an assumption here that these could well be people from inside the campus who are maybe now coming out we do know that after these incredible intense at the intensity of the fighting over the past couple of days we do know that there are a number of these students have been injured they have their own medics who look after them run around the protesters all of these different protests medical students or nurses but it does seem as though if there are people injured when we've done the standard injured people inside there may be some of them are coming out as you mentioned there throughout the day we have been seeing some large groups coming out that was a much earlier this monday that they were giving themselves up surrendering all

according to the police they came out with the intention of trying to storm through one of the barricades and break away because of course all of these people now inside this campus face very long potentially prison terms for the offense of rioting that the police are trying to work void having to go in and storm the faculty building that would be the worst option in many respects it's one thing clearing streets here of barricades it is another thing of fighting along the corridors and a lot of our trees of these university buildings with protesters. had time to arm themselves and prepare their defenses so they are still urging people to give up put down their weapons but also with a warning as we heard yesterday that if they do come out again with petrol bombs that they regard as lethal weapons they are within their rights they say to use live ammunition come out just makes me think and this is a sort of big picture thought but the things you're talking about now petrol bombs

barricades fighting forced removals this was a protest movement 6 months ago 2000000 people out in the street and the way it has evolved is quite extraordinary. it is in a video to a scary degree as everybody admits on all sides be they least be the protesters be they government which just seems to be caught not knowing exactly what to do almost powerless and in no way everybody except that it has reached this level where yes people are actually now dying and certainly being maimed didn't larger numbers protest seems to be more violent than the previous one which again was more violent than the one that happened before it is difficult to know exactly where it is going the hope is though that it's not going to derail these elections which are regarded as being very important on all sides that you still have some semblance of

a normal working government with people being elected even by partial representation it's not a perfect electoral system here in hong kong but these elections that are coming up in a week or so that those still happen but yes i mean i think this the events of the last couple of days especially with this being the last campus of the resilience shown by the protesters in holding out it's been condemned by the authorities obviously as mob violence as rioting as attempted murder by some but there will be fellow demonstrators who regard this as. it's a rallying point after 5 plus months of unrest and in fact this protest here has sparked other protests in surrounding streets here and as we speak there is a square about half a kilometer from where we are where up to a 1000 protesters have now been called together on social media and it is really unclear on this monday evening to work out exactly what their intention is whether it is just to give moral support to the students still in this campus or whether

they're planning some more direct type of action. now iran's president says families will start receiving financial assistance from monday that money will come from the increase in petrol prices which has triggered protests around the country at least $2.00 people have been killed since those demonstrations began president hassan rouhani says while people do have the right to protest they cannot spread in security. and also to bury in teheran. nearly 20000000 iranians will receive the subsidies that the government has promised later on monday evening into their bank accounts following that the government has announced the next batch will be released into the people's bank accounts on thursday and the last group will receive their subsidies on sunday so nearly 16000000 iranians will get some kind of assistance from the government but it's not clear how that will help them with this increase that they've seen over

the past few days in fuel prices they woke up on friday morning to find that the price of petrol had gone up 3 fourths in the country that's when broke out in various cities across the country and there have been a number of arrests and the government has said that although it is the people's right to protest it is not their right to riot the supreme leader has also made his position clear backing the government's decision to increase the fuel prices saying that it was a necessary step to ensure that ordinary iranians can make ends meet all this is as a result of united states sanctions on iran and the president has said that they tried everything to avoid doing this but in the end it was the only option they had now iranians are still angry and they're worried that that increase will also affect other aspect of their lives for now we are waiting to see what kind of assistance they will be getting later on monday and whether or not that will actually have any kind of major impact on their daily life russia has returned to 3

captured naval ships to ukraine ahead of a planned peace summit next month the vessels have been moved to a handover location in the black sea russia of course seized the ships off the coast of crimea one year ago a lot more than 13000 people have now been killed in eastern ukraine over the past 5 years in fighting between pro russian separatists and ukrainian forces. on a bitch go pro it is a journalist joining us from moscow now to talk about this where exactly are these ukrainian ships now. ukrainian ships at this moment are heading home to ukrainian black sea ports probably in they have been handed over by russian border guards some 30 kilometers of the coast of crimea and been insular in the neutral waters as it was agreed to and they're now being out towards their home ports of this 3 ships belonging to the ukrainian army

were side by russians a year ago russia claims that it was a provocation that they violated their territorial waters off the shore of crimean peninsula but the crimean peninsula has been annexed by russia in 2014 now ukraine has denied this and they're pursuing the matter even in front of the un maritime tribunals this very brutal ordered russia as a preliminary measure to immediately release ships and $24.00 c. men that were on the board the seamen were released but as a part of a prisoner exchange that happened in september now the ships have been released to ukrainians but the russian insists that they did not do this on the order of the u.n. tribunal that they simply finished the forensics on this ship and that they are still going to pursue the criminal charges against ukrainian c. men for this incident that happened a year ago and so then how does that fit into the fact that we've actually got

a 4 way peace summit effectively on the eastern ukraine coming up so. well ukraine has previously stated that they will consider handing over of their ships as a sign of good will gas sure ahead of the summit that there is called normandy summit that is the presidents of russia ukraine france and chancellor of germany but the russian says that one is not connected with the other however this is lost in a whole line of positive steps of the work towards a 4 way summit we saw in september exchange of prisoners then we saw fulfilling of russian's precondition of the military easing 3 points on the conflict line between ukrainian army and russian supported separatist in east ukraine so some positive steps are happening and they started happening ever since ukraine has a new president a policy which is alinsky who promised he will bring peace to east ukraine and this

conflict that to call it only 30000 lives all right thank you for that alexandra story on a very good for joining us from moscow. to explosions in the afghan capital kabul to tell you about a spokesman for the ministry of the interior says an individual threw 2 grenades guards stationed outside a military training center at least 5 other people were injured. the sermon has been held for sri lanka's new president got to buy a project punk so he claimed victory after a campaign marked by nationalist restaurant and promises of better security he now has the task of lifting the country out of an economic slump made worse by the easter bombings that killed more than 260 people here is an elf anonymous with more from an order to put on. the new leader of this country striking a conciliatory note on skiing all communities to get together to work with him as one nation to rebuild this country and move forward now go to have

a rajapaksa talking about the fact that he knew that the single biggest majority would bring him victory but he still extended a request of the muslim in time of communities to work with them to vote for him he says that this didn't happen as much as he expected but he says never mind that he's still inviting these 2 communities to join him in basically working to rebuild this country so obviously trying to address some of the sort of fractions between the communities in what has appeared a very sort of a polarized result in this election but go to our bill rajapaksa will have his work cut out for him in uniting all these communities and taking this country forward it's quite tall ask it's not an easy job with that faces him he has not just the job of uniting and caring for younger forward but also to deal with a host of economic challenges i mean the economy is in the doldrums also

exacerbated by really bad performance and economic indicators after the easter bombings so go to obey rajapaksa has proved in the past that he has a single mindedness he ended the war and now the whole issue long case hoping he can bring the same efficiency with the economy and in moving this country forward. an update on the headlines is coming up and then the victims of the worst massacre carried out by colombia's far rebels are being buried 17 years later. hello the winter front came science yesterday coming out of the interior china this is it here across the korean peninsula and ending towards northern japan by winter front i mean the temperatures are really low behind it but you've also got minus 6

us the highest you're in the day beijing is just skip through in the sunshine still acting here and the snow that went through those left plus 3 behind robin is in color that i think the name that the honshu it is a nice slow creep it certainly looks cold out time to get to wednesday in tokyo go down to 14 you'll notice but the snow is going to be brief from the high ground and on his way through however the change of season i think has taken place and of course that stretched across southern china as well the temperatures down to single figures much of inland central china in southern china hong kong's to 25 and shanghai 30 both low humidity both in the sunshine but clearly colder than of late and the system doesn't change much by the time you get to wednesday the principle remains the same. just east of philippines you might call spin that is going to be a typhoon makes landfall briefly probably early as a tuesday and the next one developing just east in the philippine sea otherwise where you might expect to see the rain there is some in western java and sumatra

but not much. and investigation into the real powers that control the world health organization their obligation to their shareholders completely overwhelms any consideration of public health can they be trusted with building a healthier future if their loyalty becomes questionable reason of people that are part of the h one n one porsche is it getting much difficult for you now that w h o has just jazz who says done here in terms of trust that you trust who on al-jazeera.

top stories for you want to jazeera the hong kong government has warned it will postpone upcoming district council elections if the city's violence doesn't stop and the latest protest right police surrounded the university campus after a petrol bomb and our were fired at iran's president says families will start receiving financial assistance on monday the money that will come from the increase in petrol prices which is triggered widespread protests at least $2.00 people have been killed since the demonstrations began and the inauguration ceremony has been held for sri lanka's new president by a rajapaksa he claimed victory after a campaign marked by nationalist rhetoric and promises of better security. countermand separatist president is on trial in barcelona for disobedience is accused of defying orders of the spanish electoral 40 or not removing the yellow ribbon that is a symbol of support for catalan independence from

a government building some new guy hugo has more now from barcelona working toward is in court. ahead of his arrival at the tribunals castle in regional president thought about so that he wasn't merely turning up just to defend his position but to accuse the central spanish government of violating his rights and the rights of catalogs however the view of the electoral board smain taining that his actions jury in the april election period of painting their yellow ribbons to public offices amounted to using tools of political propaganda and out those yellow ribbons are 7 the symbols that the procession is have been using to identify and support the politicians who have been since jailed for sedition it is part of the on go in crisis that is ongoing here in this region signifying the fight between

the central government and pro separatist sympathies of the government in catalonia meanwhile daughter himself could be disposed for up to 2 years for those actions if he is found guilty but this is certainly not going to be in any way laying any of the issues here with spain's government still struggling to try and find the numbers to be able to form a government in itself the catalan issue is still very much at the focus of that and they're going to need the catalan politicians if they're going to be able to successfully form some kind of government in the future. protesters in georgia have set up barricades around parliament to prevent him from entering demonstrators are demanding early elections after parliament failed to pass a promised electoral reform bill that would have introduced full proportional representation. protestors in iraq sparser province of set up roadblocks leading to

the country's main port in the far south of the country the closure halted traffic and it difficult for port employees to get to work demonstrations began last month over a lack of jobs and public services but have grown into wider calls for a complete change in government the international community is calling for the immediate release of libyan m.p.c. homes their gear where you are was abducted from her home in benghazi in july her family says she was kidnapped by forces loyal to the libyan warlord khalifa haftar after condemning him and his army during an interview with an egyptian television station mahmoud of the one who has more now from tripoli. so how libby a lawmaker from the eastern city of benghazi was abducted and. her family members were brutally beaten by men in military uniform in july now the 12 european countries along with the european union delegation to

libya have issued a stronger statement expressing concern over sergei was abduction and disappearance and also calling for her immediate release the statement is also calling for an investigation into the abduction of sergei and also to uncover her what about what we know that according to his family members who told him or its watch months ago that musket men in military uniform belonging to the brigade number one or 6 headed by have to disarm saddam the son of the warlord khalifa haftar they just broke into her home in july her family members were brutally beaten and they kidnapped now we know that this statement is also calling for the concerted authorities in the east of the country to uncover her word about what's the statement says also

confirming that this attack on the lawmakers again is not going to be unnoticed and we know that since the abduction of sigil in july many international institutions including the united nations support the mission in libya have been calling for her immediate release we know that the attack against politicians lawmakers and political activists in the east of the country has been very common since their operation dignity was launched by have to the forces in the east of the country in 2014. north korean leader kim jong un has supervised military drills in defiance of calls for diplomacy that's after the u.s. and south korea called off their joint military exercises as they're trying to resume the stalled nuclear talks on sunday president obama trying to urge kim on twitter to enter into negotiations but north korea says it won't be attending any summit unless it's offered something substantial.

washington is preparing for another week of high profile hearings at the impeachment inquiry into president obama trump his allies and photos have also been dominating the airwaves arguing over whether he improperly sought help from ukraine to boost his chances of reelection and support from rob reynolds with week 2 televised impeachment hearings approaching democratic house speaker nancy pelosi pushed back against president donald trump's complaints that the process is unfair he has every opportunity to present his case but it's really a sad thing i mean what the president did was so much worse than even much richard nixon did that at some point richard nixon cared about the country enough to recognize that this could not continue palosi said trump made

a serious mistake when he tweeted criticism of former u.s. ambassador to ukraine marie avan of it even while she was testifying on capitol hill that the words of the president wait time they are very significant and he should not frivolously throw out insults but that's what he does i think part of it is his. insecurity as an impostor i think he knows full well that. he's a gnat office. way over his head and so he has to do new mission everyone now one of trump's most ardent congressional defenders insists there is no 1st hand evidence trump sought a quid pro quo with ukraine to hand over military aid in return for a ukrainian investigation into his political rival joe biden and biden's son hunter who served on the board of ukrainian energy company no one's testified that there's

been a quid pro quo i was got 2nd 3rd hand for 10 information another republican lawmaker who worked closely on ukrainian affairs suggested the entire matter being investigated in the impeachment inquiry should simply have been hushed up having this all come out into public has weakened that relationship is his expose things that didn't need be exposed so this would have been far better off if we would just taken care of this behind the scenes this week the hearings will pick up steam with 8 heard or former u.s. officials due to testify one of them is gordon somnolent the u.s. ambassador to the european union and sunderland will be on the hot seat because it omissions he made in earlier testimony about he phone calls he had with trump over ukraine robert oulds al-jazeera washing. haiti's president as arranging talks to form a unity government. says international support is needed following 2 months of

protest against high inflation poverty crime and corruption demonstrated a lack of a functioning government for the past 8 months is worsening the dye humanitarian crisis. do you agree. we are meeting with civil groups we're also talking to important people of the moderate political opposition such as those of the radical opposition we are also talking to people from civil society from the private sector now i see that all people are agreeing with a solution to the crisis however opposition politicians are actually rejecting the president's call for unity should we say that the solution to the crisis is through the resignation of president john l. boys there is no possibility of sharing anything with juvenile boys he has to resign to reach a transition that is different from what we have known before. now bolivians are facing food and fuel shortages as supporters of the former president evo morales

continue to block the country's roads and so the new interim government says it's created so called air bridge to the main city la paz with military planes delivering supplies instead and they're working on similar plans in other cities where alice resigned and fled to mexico after winning an election many believe was read he does still have a lot of support though in poor rural areas. on the colombia where proper burials are at last being given to dozens of people 17 years after they were killed when a church was bombed survivors of the rebel attack are finally able to mourn the 74 victims. as our report. these miners have waited a very long time for just they the remains of the victims of the worst massacre committed by 5 rebels during the country's civil conflict are finally back where they belong almost 2 decades later oh oh white coffins for children

brown for adults thank you there's a 1000000 upon last year my father i'm a sicilian my mother and i mean also he's my brother. while i was waiting for 6 of the and for you for the 1st time i feel some peace because we got our family back it's an important step because they will receive a christian burial but will never forget the pain and they've left behind a may 2nd 2002 confrontations between 5 gravels and paramilitary forces erupted in the riverside town of book in the western jungle province of choco a cylinder bomb blanched by the rebels fell on the church where the community took refuge at least 74 died in what became known as the bohai your massacre nearly everyone here was affected there's not much left of the old city of. the bodies mutilated by the bomb and get up in communal graves and the community fled to the closest city more than 3 hours down the river when they came back they found their

town that been razed to the ground. eventually a new town was built not far from the old one but the community remained in a state of suspended grief until the signing of a peace deal with 5 gravels in 2016. then a 2 and a half year long process to identify the remains started with the help of the united nations fark leaders have since asked the community for forgiveness but while the rebels are gone many of the factors that led to the massacre remain in new york you know groups or reorganized or we don't know exactly who they are but certainly criminal groups they are there. going to these colombia does not need just they needed a 1000000000 bad group a development social development and this is the most difficult. residence a fear persists as a remaining rebel group the yellin and paramilitary gangs vie for control of

a region where illegal mining and cocaine trafficking dominate in the more you count i think this post says in our work and out the people that supported us through it all makes sense only if we make sure it will never happen again for now the community is finally able to begin the process is a healing a wound that had remained open for far too long alison beauty. second to the headlines now on al-jazeera the hong kong government has warned it will postpone upcoming district council elections if the violence doesn't stop in the latest protest riot police surrounded a university campus off the petrol bombs and arrows were fired at them. most alarming. they did weapons were used in the polytechnic university which has become

a veteran factory as well as a refugee for extremely violent viruses 50 betterman so far is this reached a critical level right just so intention murder. at all cost. the headlines iran's president says families will start receiving financial assistance on monday the money will come from the increase in petrol prices which has triggered protests around the country at least $2.00 people killed in those demonstrations since they began president hassan rouhani says while people do have the right to protest but they can't he's bringing in security. the inauguration ceremony has been held for sri lanka's new president got the bio rajapaksa he claimed victory after a campaign marked by nationalist rhetoric and promises of better security. russia has returned 3 captured naval ships to ukraine ahead of a planned peace summit next month the vessels have been moved to a handover location in the black sea russia sees the ships off the coast of crimea

a year ago more than 13000 people have been killed in eastern ukraine over the past 5 years in fighting between progress the separatists and ukrainian forces the catalan separatist president is on trial in barcelona for disobedience toters accused of defying orders of the spanish electoral authority by not removing the yellow ribbon a symbol of support for catalan independence from a government building. and protesters in georgia have set up barricades around parliament to prevent m.p.'s from getting in demonstrators are demanding early elections after the parliament failed to pass a promised electoral reform bill that's not for today thanks for your company inside story is next on al-jazeera.

it's been a year since hundreds of thousands of french citizens protested against a hike on fuel prices what became known as the yellow best movement against social inequality pose a challenge to president came out of wedlock but what's changed since then this is inside story. hello welcome to the program. when hundreds of thousands of people dress in florissant sleeveless jackets protested in fronts last november not many people realized how powerful a movement it's.