on lost support in hong kong spread to mock racine movement china threatens a firm response. to the shock carry this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up rocky protesters set fire to the iranian consulate in the city of shah playing in tehran for propping up the government they want to move. on the unions hold their 2nd general strike and we question the government to abandon conservative economic plans. plus concerns in mexico that america has plans to designate drug gangs as

terrorist groups that allow washington to operate inside its territory. as president has signed 2 bills into law that back hong kong's pro-democracy movement american sanctions can now be imposed on chinese and hong kong officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses and special trade status will be reviewed every year territories leaders say it'll damage relations with the u.s. while china's expressed a stream of right over the move saying it will respond with farm counter measures pedicle hansen following developments from washington. this could be a powerful tool if the president chose to use it it's not at all clear he's going to not only does a lot to him saying people in hong kong and china but if that special trade status that could be so critical if the secretary of state was to come back and say no china is not going along with the policy hong kong doesn't have enough independence

they could basically take that status away that would have a huge impact on trade but bigger than that it could send a signal to a financial markets to investors that hong kong is not a safe place to park your money so that is the big concern it does seem unlikely that they're going to take these steps the other bill that the president signed for concrete lee it stops american companies from giving or selling any thing to hong kong authorities that could be used against crowds such as tear gas canisters or rubber bullets so sadly what the president is going to do it's not clear congress has given him this authority he has sent the signal that he doesn't want to use it so we'll wait to see what the secretary of state says but for this president the big concern is the trade war he needs were all america to get reelected and right now they're really hurting because of this trade war. and remember all talk to sarah clarke and hong kong 1st is go to andrew thomas in beijing and of course. the timing here and you know this is all happening while the u.s. and china have been in this extended trade war so what is the reaction out of

beijing. well the practical measures the potential sanctions are one thing but what beijing has already reacted to is the mayor consent by donald trump to this u.s. senate legislation and the symbolism but all that represents and what beijing has said already 1st thing thursday is that this is encouraging the violence in hong kong they put out a very long very strong statement already little bits of it here the u.s. has been disregarding facts and distorting truth it openly backs violent criminals who rampantly smashed facilities set fire and assaulted innocent civilians and they are suggesting that with the formal passing of this act it will give encouragement to the protesters in hong kong quite apart from any practical measure that sanctions in time may have now they're also saying this isn't just about hong kong other this is all part of a concerted effort beijing failed by the u.s. lawmakers to undermine china as

a whole to this statement goes on this acts will only further expose the militias and hedge morning nature of u.s. intentions to the chinese people it's very aim is to undermine hong kong stability and disrupt the chinese nation's endeavor to realize the great renewal so really fieri a statement here which concludes with a pretty well not very veiled threat it's all that china will take countermeasures design clear as yet what those counter measures will be the statement says that the u.s. will bear all responsibility for those consequences we may find out a little more in 2 hours time when the minister of foreign affairs here in beijing holds its daily press conference but for them to have put out a statement that long and that strong and that's really really says how angry beijing is about this ok enter thomas at the latest from there shanghai and hong kong the activist how long has the u.s. has shown it will prioritize human rights over a business. for you as president sign on to hong kong human rights and democracy

act that's the remarkable achievement of all the hong kong is no match for a democrat or republican is the new bipartisan consensus from both the us administration and the congress is to stem of hong kong to pyro ties human rights and democracy and not be over right by the trade negotiation circle are trying to slide from hong kong so let's put all this in some context well what else are you hearing there about the reaction in hong kong obviously. rather is pretty pretty enthusiastic about it. well the pro-democracy movement will consider this a victory and lot of the ongoing protests have been here for around 6 months this is a small win but certainly one that they will embrace the government however has was just responded strongly objected to these acts now becoming law it says it deeply regrets the decision by donald trump to sign the hong kong human rights and

democracy act they say it disregards the genuine concerns of the people here in the city and it also in defeat is in hong kong's internal affairs so the government here is pretty much told the u.s. to back out of the other matters that concern the residents here that the words they've used unnecessary unwarranted and will harm relations between hong kong and the united states it also says it sends the wrong message to the people they describe as violent protests now on thursday we have another rally expected tonight and that this rally was all about the hong kong human rights and democracy act in effect donald trump has signed it on the same day. for that the protest movement i could also attract big numbers as a result ok sir clark with the latest from hong kong sara thank you just itching is a political scientist and pro-democracy campaigner who's the founder of alliance for true democracy he joins us via skype from hong kong so let me ask you about what sarah was just saying that this has the potential to really motivate the

protests and the pro-democracy protesters do you agree with that. yes this is a very significant more a booster for the pro-democracy movement in hong kong it also indicates that the international community including the american public will assess seriously the nature of the chinese communist regime public opinion pressure we've got the human rights issues in china who probably become rather significant in the presidential campaign to come in the united states but we also have to realize that there is still considerable room of when all of our for donald trump and for china at this stage the state council will stand if you or 2 us congress in one year's time in the u.s. congress stand its recommendations the white house the white house then does size what actions to take so our chinese authorities are more concerned with the public

option and trends in the united states rather than with concrete actions on the part of the donald trump administration today so that is exactly why they have not responded word of our serious retaliates 3 measures at the moment so you mentioned the presidential election and how it human rights in things like that may be an issue but often what is more of an urban issue no matter what the country is the economy and the trade war that's going on that china has has not been good for farmers in the u.s. might you see a possibility of donald trump although he has signed this into law not really putting his weight behind it because he has other concerns. i agree i think the trainable solutions are going on and both sides are very serious with the negotiations and they do not intend are to let the hong kong issue or to ever mostly affect the the negotiations the hong kong issue is not new to dave it has

been going on for 6 months and trade negotiations have also been going on both sides who want to have trade agreement and indymedia restage agreements to satisfy domestic needs but both leaders are concerned that they must not be seen to been making too many concessions to the other side and the other problem of course is the lack of mutual trust between the 2 governments what realistically as you pointed out that these protests have been going on for 6 months. and the initial things that the protesters want they got but then the list expanded what realistically do the protesters are supposed pro-democracy movement hope to get out of china the promise to send a program up with the movement understand that china poverty will stick to its heart one and on kong and therefore you cannot expect much from the time you see

the sheer love on the kerry land and mr asian most hong kong people however feel that they have their baseline concerning human rights freedom there but the rule of law and so on and they believe their peace and articulate their position now that they have the opportunity they would continue their proper us to expose the lack of legitimacy and representative knows on the part of to carry them in that situation and to demonstrate that you cannot govern effectively display most of saying china us from hong kong thank you very much there. now police in hong kong have entered polytechnic university for the 1st time since putting pro-democracy protesters under siege at that campus police say they are searching the grounds to remove makeshift weapons and petrol bombs university has been surrounded by police for 11 days after protesters retreated into the catholics following fierce clashes that led to several arrests chinese own mobile app to talk has admitted it removed

a viral video that criticised beijing's crackdown on weaker muslims for began her video with the make up to tauriel before condemning china's massed attention of ethnic weekers and other minorities in judging province to talk initially denied as its claims that her video was taken down on her account locked for a month but the company has now admitted the video was briefly removed due to what they said was human error and has issued an apology. there dramatic escalation of iraq's anti-government protests crowds of torques dirani and consulates and the shia holy city of they accuse tehran of propping up iraq's government which they have been railing against for 2 months the current date and the reports was hundreds of anti-government protesters stormed the compound of the iranian consulate in the jaffa $55.00 to tie a 1000 blankets and replacing the iranian flag with an iraqi one

was analysts say the symbolic importance of the attack in a shia majority city cannot be understated this is the city where the ayatollah khomeini used to live it's considered to be you know the heart of the shia muslim world and iran thought that it had the population the iraqi shia population on its side in terms of its you know regional policies clearly that's not the case. protesters say rand is exerting t. much power in iraq they want the iraqi government to take action to limit it was it's the 2nd time this month that in a rainy and consulate has been targeted by iraqi protest as 3 weeks ago security forces killed to demonstrate is in the city of copula. both attacks feed into the wide to anti-government protest movement that the gulf to iraq since october so it's unclear you know what options the government in iran has in response to these

protests i don't think they have very good options and as so i suspect right now there is deep panic and paranoia in tehran over what happened today in niger. the challenge for iran is how to respond without alienating the shia community upon which its provide to expand its regional influence victoria gayton be algis saying . still ahead on al-jazeera task for for. survivors and 10 year digging to find the remains of missing loved ones and it's more preparation delays in the philippines leave foreign teams to become force just days before the start of the southeast asian. hello there things are getting a little bit milder across areas of iran there's quite

a bit of cloud around but the real weather is further to the west but it's fairly falls moving so as we go through thursday want to shasta lingering through areas of cool in anchorage just 12 degrees celsius but we have to 12 celsius in tehran and you'll see have baghdad then down into kuwait kuwait city 26 degrees if you warming up there just 7 celsius in kabul on friday base a fairly quiet picture although the raise the chance of a few more pushing into that fall western side of 21 celsius and beirut should still come with some pretty nice sunshine that across the peninsula it is fine for the most pollen here we could just see want to cheat coastal shiloh's into amman down across into yemen and maybe just the interior of northern saudi but it should be dry much of cattle temperatures feeling pretty good as well about 27 degrees for the next couple of days and a senator much across into riyadh 26 in abu dhabi mole cloud those you can see that generally across most southern portions of the arabian peninsula then down into

southern africa the seasonal rains pretty active all the way right the way to mozambique. it is mostly it's warming cape town for the next couple of days although cooling off from friday to 23. al-jazeera is investigative unit goes undercover in the caribbean we don't do it brian would just use a token of appreciation exposing trade and deploy. sports today just $250.00 than the price will go to war over not involving some of the region's highest officials. agreed among all al-jazeera investigations diplomats to sail.

watching out 0 let's recap the top stories right now president all trump assigned to bill's backing on kong's pro-democracy activists american sanctions can now be imposed on chinese non-con the facial stain responsible for human rights abuses the hong kong government calls the legislation unnecessary. police have entered polytechnic university for the 1st time since putting pro-democracy protesters under siege at the campus police say they are searching the grounds to remove makeshift weapons and petrol bombs iraqi protesters have strong new iranian consul in the shot setting it on fire testers play moran for propping up a government they had spent 2 months demonstrating against. the kenyan our government recovery efforts have been stretched beyond their limits by devastating floods and landslides so people have been left to dig into the mud themselves

searching for the remains of missing loved ones reports in the village a time call in storm ravaged west county. the people of called village in kenya county called mission days of the floods on landslides swept away the homes still such and for the bodies of the missing relatives william domi cuba is looking for the body of his 5 year old told what somebody's gonna i found the body of my son who also died not far from here so i've asked my neighbors to help with the search for my daughter who body is under this rubble the flood some. called follow days of torrential rain entire families were wiped out when i saw towards a rock some mud swept across the. village the land but once held the homes is now covered by mud and rocks. lost his entire family down by the loss of

them it's hard to bear the loss of my sister who had just finished school today as well as my mother and 2 brothers i'm in the world in all 21 people died in. live in bodies have been recovered the rest are still missing. william capello is yet to find the bodies of 7 of his 9 children who died he done you know with my appeal to the government is to help me raise and educate my only remaining son life will never be the same for us we also need machinery to move these rocks to check if there might be anybody's underneath. but government rescue workers are yet to reach this fall flung village have been hampered by the torrential rain and floods swept away bridges and roads in was the court that tried to do that took place here as part of a dream picture affecting many parts of west cork county and with continued rainfall there's the possibility of water repeats government officials have been appealing to people to move to safer ground but the people of this village say they conned do

that until they find the bodies of their loved ones locals say told the walls disaster that witnessed and they dread and if for the loss of life. we need the government to carry out some conservation work deforestation over farming has made the soil prone to sliding. most survivors into. the local charge others have chosen to live in the open not sure when if ever their lives come to a time to any sense of normality. some call in north western kenya. the southern africa where elections in namibia are being seen as a huge test for the governing party scandals have eaten away at its popularity reports. namibia's ruling swapo party has been in power since 1990 when the country gained independence from south africa but this could be a tough election for president again god who's running for a 2nd term

a corruption scandal involving the country's fishing industry could taint his party's image al-jazeera investigative unit and the anti secrecy wiki leaks and covered evidence of government officials accepting bribes or kickbacks from iceland's the biggest fishing firm in exchange for lucrative fishing rights the fisheries minister and justice minister has so far as i and the president was asked about the scandal shortly after voting. we will deal with corruption we declared war on corruption we have taken steps ostland was also do it corruption came from where you were coming to corrupt our people we will do with ours and you must deal with you. opposition parties what namibians implicated held to account popular cannot investigate itself and one or 2. matter. judicial inquiry. and people in the fishing industry

with our field of. cases and then we. met as i have been in there maybe a is a relatively small country but it has a lot of natural resources it's a 5th of its citizens live in poverty a recession and a drought is making life more difficult for the poor rising unemployment and inequality could also erode some of the ruling party's popularity 5 years ago again god won the presidential election with 87 percent of the vote there are scenes of. for maintaining discontent but i don't think we're going to see those really come to fruition for this election perhaps in another 5 years there will be a candidate in opposition candidate to an independent candidate who can really give a run for its money both in terms of you know an opposition party and a presidential candidate. the opposition in the media is not united like other

former liberation movements in southern africa still enjoys support from the black majority many see it as the party that for now represents black interests but some political analysts predict the result could be close and the military says it is on high alert in case there is post-election violence. al-jazeera. unions and student groups in colombia are holding a 2nd nationwide strike in support of anti-government protests around lights which started last week have seen multiple confrontations between protesters and police on the ends are angry about corruption and propose cuts to a minimum wages changes in pensions and taxes in bogota where he says the latest demonstrations have been largely peaceful colombians have been on the streets for nearly a week now an anti-government protest this is the 2nd national strike that was called by the leaders of the protests that paralyzing most public services transit schools both public and private here in the capital. and this time

the national strike was called after the start of negotiations failed between the leaders of the strikers and the president. doesn't that but what the president is doing is ridiculous he needs to address a list of demands it's clear he doesn't understand the reasons why people are in the streets nor what a serious negotiation looks like the demonstrations have mostly been peaceful but people are increasingly anger towards what they see as a very violent response some part of the police especially during the 1st 2 days of the demonstration and on saturday when a teenager was hit in the head by a project tiled thrown by police man at the line cruz i'm 18 year old student that died so many of the people are on the streets honoring him and now asking for the government to this mantle columbus anti-riot police and then there is no excuse for

the way that they have been attacking people that have been marching peacefully they're taking away all right to protest president even to get maybe a serious concession and as part of what he's calling a national conversation that here has started the way of the different social and political sectors in. the country he said took a saying that he's going to cut that sale taxes for the poorest people in that country trying to reduce the said health costs for the forest pensioners he also announced 3 days in colombia without sales taxes but most people here can see there are those populists concessions that nothing have to do with the deeper reforms that the protesters are demanding which means that these demonstration at least for now will continue. donald trump interventionism after he announced plans to designate drug cartels as terrorist groups it's designed to disrupt cartel finances

and impose travel bans on cartel cartel leaders but there are warnings that went up backfiring alan fischer reports from mexico city. the death of 9 americans in a cartel ambush earlier this month sparked widespread outreach for the victims 3 women 6 children were traveling through a remote area in northern mexico when they would attacked jule u.s. mexican citizens the family the labatt ins demanded the white house days ignorant mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations you're going to do a telephone interview with a right wing talk show host president donald trump said the process is underway i've been working on that for the last 90 days you know designation is not that easy you know i don't go through a process. mexico's drug cartels are huge operations they control large chunks of the country and are involved in drug trafficking assassinations kidnapping and political corruption being designated a terrorist organization by america means it becomes illegal for anyone to

knowingly support the groups if banks realize they handle any cartel funds they must block the money under and form the government a new members are banned from entering the u.s. and so taking this move while it might benefit the president in the united states and it might make people feel righteous and justified in satisfied here that we're taking stronger steps alternately may make it harder to do business with the mexicans and we need to be a team with them in order to get this problem solved mexico's policy on fighting the cartels has changed under the new president and today's man well lopez obrador who's been in office almost exactly a year he believes in hugs not bullets and that social conditions need to change to make the cartels less economically powerful got bit as young. see cooperation yes. interventionism no but one expert says if the u.s. president follows through on his threat to clear out the cartels and uses military

action there could be significant mexican backlash with this they do a side he can stay in mexico and organize who are one attack or something against the mexican government in mexican soil and this is the problem because mexico is very nice you know listing that because of their country and the us it any difference of that the mexican government has had donald trump make threats like this before remember when he threatened to close down the entire border and then backed away they will of course start making plans but they're hoping that the white house will back away from what many people here see as a dangerous and dramatic overreaction alan fischer al-jazeera mexico city. more protests that has and malta over the murder of a prominent journalist and possible links to high level government figures demonstrators want prime minister joseph moscow to resign after his former chief of staff was named as

a person of interest in that case 2 senior ministers have quit over the scandal at the prime minister as refusing to step down. the street over mining could loom large over bogan bills and dependence referendum on new guinea the region's vice president says he plans to redistribute copper and gold mining rights are raising a stake held by the government upon new guinea a 60 percent share would go to work until with the rest of a level to investors the move could complicate negotiations after the independence flow polling began last saturday and ends on december 7th. the southeast asian games start in the philippines on saturday but organizers are dealing with complaints that athletes have been forced to sleep on floors and go hungry smell and organize more from manila. i don't press conference here in manila organizers in charge coming from the government actually denied that they have been disorderly in their management of the sea games here in the philippines they even said that

they will investigate reports that some athletes have suffered food poisoning have been brought to the hospital and there is in adequate food for athletes and members of the changing team from different countries the even went as far as leaving journalists holds local and international for what they described as exaggeration of reports coming in on social media and in publications but journalists errant the once reporting it out police themselves have complaining of management and they have they have been asking the government to be sickly fix it as soon as possible specially logistical and managerial operations like organizing hotels hotel rooms and bus transport system now president of. already said that he wants an investigation into how the scene games is being managed by several factions of his government this isn't the only controversy that has surrounded the sea games last

week there has already been an inquiry in the senate about whether the budget allocated and loan for this project is overpriced and whether the funds have been disbursed properly. this is al jazeera let's recap the top stories right now here's president onil trump assign 2 bills into law the back hong kong's pro-democracy movement reckon sanctions can now be imposed on chinese and hong kong officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses and on kong special trade status will be reviewed every year the territories leaders say it will damage relations with the u.s. while china has expressed extreme upright over the mood it is some of the u.s. ambassador and promised to respond with firm counter measures atika haynesworth following the developments from washington d.c. the president made it clear he didn't want to sign this bill he doesn't want to see anything jeopardize what to him right now is the most important thing is getting

that trade deal with china don't forget he wants to be reelected if you're going to do that he needs to win rural states rural states of the farmers are really hurting from this trade deal from this trade crisis so the president wants to see a deal get made congress forced his hands he did it but he said in the signal he might not put all that really into place hong kong police have entered polytechnic university for the 1st time since putting pro-democracy protesters under siege at that campus police say they are searching the grounds to remove makeshift weapons and petrol bombs in a versity has been surrounded by police for 11 days after protesters retreated into that campus following fierce clashes that led to several arrests. and a dramatic escalation of iraq's anti-government protests crowds of torch the iranian consulate in the that is a holy city for shia muslims 100 surrounded the building lighting tires blankets and anything else they can find on fire and chanting iran out they accused iran of

propping up iraq's government which they want replaced this is the 2nd time in this month an iranian consulate has been targeted by protesters. at least 19 people have been killed in a rebel attack near the village in the democratic republic of congo it will add to anger among locals who targeted u.n. peacekeepers saying of failing to protect them earlier the united nations admitted one of its peacekeeper shot and killed one of the protesters who died in the last few days unions and student groups in colombia are holding a 2nd nationwide strike in support of anti-government protests. are angry about corruption and propose cuts to minimum wages changes in pensions and tax increases . those are your headlines keep it here on al-jazeera more news to come in the meantime witness is up next. what kind of care does that provide in lives anyone willing to pick up the calls we bring you the stories and developments that are

rapidly changing the world we live in so is it possible for trump to actually commit to a piece on the counting the cost on al-jazeera. well there were no one was the way the. world the love all of you know all told new york the lower. normal and you know. we are no more no way to

you or you were to. be.