the hong kong frankton friction truth is it anyway on al-jazeera. many of the agencies that are critical to our security kurt nurmi damage president elect joe biden accuses the trumpet ministration of obstructing his transition to power. come about this and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up a teenage pro-democracy activists is set to be sentenced in hong kong the latest in beijing's escalating crackdown on dissent another group of rohingya refugees is moved to an isolated island off bangladesh despite fears it could be vulnerable to

floods. the restrictions come into force in south africa including a curfew and a ban on alcohol sales because of rising corona virus infections. u.s. president elect joe biden has accused the trumpet ministration of damaging security agencies and impeding his access to intelligence as he prepares to take office man with just 22 days left in the white house trump is also adults with members of his own party republicans in the house of voted with democrats to override a presidential veto and defense spending money also refused trump's demands to back an increase in cash payments to americans are slim john reports from washington. members of the u.s. house of representatives interrupt their holiday break to decide whether to give

americans $2000.00 each in the midst of the covert $1000.00 pandemic the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table the vote in favor came after us president donald trump finally signed into law on sunday a bill giving americans a one time check for $600.00 even though he had said the amount should be higher i hope it will enjoy a strong bipartisan support the president of the united states has put this forward to something that he wants to see and terms and part of his signing the legislation yesterday i hope that that will be that view will be shared by the republicans in the senate but some republicans worried about increasing the budget deficit $600.00 per person is all the government could afford but looking at this bill today it makes me feel like we're in the parliament of afghanistan burundi amun or bolivia

do we really think the way to improve the quality of life for americans is to just print more money from the fed if you look around we're going to be printing another $400000000000.00. the other business before congress overturning trumps veto of the annual military spending bill something both democrats and republicans agreed had to be done. as congress works to keep both ordinary americans and the military afloat the incoming president is accusing donald trump of interfering with national security for political purposes joe biden made the accusation after meeting with his national security team right now we just aren't getting all the information that we need for the on going out going to and from not going to stray shoe in key national security areas it's nothing short of more of you of irresponsibility.

no comment from president trump just a new campaign style video he posted on his twitter account even though he's already lost the election rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington. teenage pro-democracy activist tony chung is being sentenced in the hong kong court for desecrating china's flag and taking part in an illegal protest has been found guilty of both offenses which relates to events at a rally in may last year and a separate case brought against him he's accused of seditious activities under a controversial national security law of almost certainly has been in prison since october but did it go pollens outside the court in hong kong so he's being sentenced today but i get the feeling that this is not the end of the story. that's right tony chen today faces charges of just equating the flak that unlawful assembly at times from last year's anti-government protests where he was found

guilty or he said to have thrown a chinese national flag up in the air let it live on the ground and he broke the pole he was also taking part in an on authorized protest now the charges for these are the maximum penalties for this could be anywhere up to 6 years for both but that is mild compared to what he could be facing and the coming months he has also been charged under the national security law for secession activities this goes back to when he was 15 when he started a group online group calling for hong kong's independence and that saved relatively quiet until the protests of last year and again traction 2 words. sometime during the earlier this year and into up until the national security law was put into place so you disbanded that group just hours before july the 1st but he has since been accused to posting social media posts and then in october he was nabbed

across the road from the u.s. consulate in a cafe and he was accused by prosecutors of trying to seek asylum in the united states and now he also faces charges of sedition under the national security law which could get him a lifetime in jail tony jones only 19 years old and there are thousands of other cases that are moving through the poster does this one set a significant precedent. right there about there been more than 10000 over us timing back from last year's protest countless of those going through the courts some of them even taking place today it's a daily occurrence now for the case of tony chang sent a particular message to his generation their generation that were born after 1997 after hong kong had over back to china but it was a time when these young people were led to believe they can say and do whatever

they want so long as they remain peaceful even advocate independence so tony and his generation called for home to be able to be its own have its own sovereignty. but since that national security law came into place and all these activities are now seen as criminal activities and so it is seen that this particular generation has been targeted and this is a generation that probating and grow with opposition politicians have called a lost generation david thanks very much indeed has to be a good part in talking to us from our side the court in hong kong will be staying across that of course to find out if there is the sentencing that happens today the government of bangladesh has started really casing a 2nd group of rock india refugees who fled there from me and dogs up to 1800 refugees are being moved from their camps and coaxes bazaar to bus on char island the u.n. and human rights groups have condemned the relocations arguing they amount to

ethnic cleansing. this is where the group is being taken this is by song chart is one of several unstable islands that emerge from the sea 20 years ago after silt bunched together at the mouth of a river that critics say it's not safe because it's prone to flooding during the monsoon and it's known to be lashed by psych loans which have a child who's got more from she's a gong. well the 2nd batch of rowing are refuges on the process of getting into the navy vessel that on their way to the remote coastal island. nearly 1800 rowing our refuges were in the shot place to be transported today to this remote coastal island you can see behind me the refugees are coming up to get into the naval vessel one vessel already had left there started by navy ships patrol boats rather now this is the 2nd batch the 1st batch run on december for the government is determined to relocate at least 200000 refugees to this remote coastal island

despite opposition from rights groups and even the un and the government on its part saying there's issues of congestion and a lot of crime and security issues in the camp and they want to gradually decongest the camp and many miles the congestion in. football on area and also the government is under immense public pressure to resolve this crisis the bangladesh people you talk to said that the international community is providing lip service not doing anything tangible for the refuges it's up to bangladesh to resolve this crisis and the international community need to do far more than just the lip service of the robber says that he didn't like to for human rights watch he's joining us now from bangkok it's good to have you back on. let's talk about this move 1st of all part of the problem as i understand it is that nobody's been allowed to actually go in and have a look at this island to see if the bangladeshi government has actually done what

it says it's done which is to make this island protected against flooding. that's correct the u.n. through the u.n. country team and the u.n. refugee agency u.n.h.c.r. have repeated lee asked for the bangladesh government to permit them to go on to the island to take an international assessment team complete with engineers and others to really look over the island and make sure that it is in fact safe for the refugees to be there particularly in the case of a cycling or other major storm in the area they've also asked to have access to the refugees to determine whether the people are moving their voluntarily and so far the bangladesh government is either not answering or refusing you know the story changes depending on who you talk to in the bangladesh government but the reality is that the un who the international community and the barons governments and the diplomats and and in dakar all looking to to actually take on this assessment are

just not being allowed to go there they're not big find the financial pressures on the bangladeshi government with regard to their give refugees and united spoken before about the severe security issues that are being faced in the camps there the bangladeshi government had to do something didn't it. well the bangladesh government could do this the right way they could basically talk with the rohingya involved and then involve them in the planning assess really who wants to go there there may be some people who do want to go there voluntarily but we can't access that and so far the bank that actually is track record on telling the truth in this matter is pretty much mixed. you know i think that people want to work with bangladesh they want to find a solution for the rohingya but bangladesh is doing it the wrong way they're just plowing ahead without real regard for whether the rohingya want to be there or not and there are certainly cases where people have been sent there and voluntarily and not been permitted to leave. as tom corresponded was just telling us the

bangladeshi government is critical of the many other foreign governments who say by saying that they have been paying only lip service to efforts to try to get some sort of repository an agreement with me but the knives they doing very much i mean how legitimate do you think that complaint is well i certainly think that there needs to be much more pressure on myanmar to really agreed to take the rohingya back and permit them to return in safety and dignity and voluntarily with protection with citizenship with the right to freedom of movement all the things that they need to have and i think that it's true that the international community has not done enough on that so bangladesh does have a legitimate complaint there but on the other hand you know when the foreign minister of bangladesh says that bus on char's a beautiful resort 2 2 make you act like it was some sort of vacation island you know i mean that is a level of mendacity that really can't be tolerated. if the bangladeshi government

does say it does do what it says it's going to do which is eventually allow a foreign journalists and local journalists and also aid agencies on to the to do as you have been asking them to do which is to be able to look at it and find out whether or not they've actually made the changes they're supposed to if there are changes required how confident can you be do you think that bangladesh is actually going to listen and is going to a lot of those changes to be made. well the that's why we want to have the u.n. go in that's why the u.n. assessment is so important because basically the donors the governments around the world who are contributing money to help bangladesh take care of the rhondda will link their funding decisions to whether there's a assessment that shows that in fact by sancerre the santarus safe. there's a linkage here and the and the leverage on bangladesh is in fact the financial resources that it is asking for to take care of the rohingya on bus on char and no

one is stepping up to provide those funds at this time because no one is confident that the assessment that the bangladesh government says they've done is 2 2 credible for robertsons the deputy director for asia human rights watch has always feels good to have you with us thank you very much indeed thank you. still ahead on al-jazeera of south korean officials voted speed up its coronavirus vaccination efforts after a variant of the virus is detected. at a global i cried as a saudi court sentences a woman rights activist losing a whole flow to more than 5 years in prison. for. storm bad has grown fast and lazy if this is big as the one that brought the british isles its brutal way down to northern italy and i think pretty windy to

the wind at its worst on that western flank at the moment will be the next day or so picking up the waves of the west in france and in northern spain quite significantly so this is the snow in midland things about 15 centimeters fell it stopped falling now but the air is now culls throughout central western europe and a bit further south as well as because there is a sudden limit how cold it will be and it's probably somewhere like montenegro where you get this southerly wind coming here so the next few days temperatures in the low single figures for the most part with the exception probably of southern italy and the time being greece and the balkans with subtle even if that isn't quite warm compare the average in many parts of eastern europe and in scandinavia for the whole year now quite obvious it's not quite as warm as that everywhere but look at belgrade 15 and look at this feed into montenegro as the winds in the west turn round to the west london still is in the cold weather

a might get some snow from that part of after of montenegro a breezy for windy wet time for the next couple of days. ok calm and making or not hyping the situation be part of the debate my. the main characters are women when no topic is off the table the law is in the last allow no child marriage to happen legally easter basically archaic walls ballots often legitimized and legal one is pedophile. online jump into the conversation and he teaches me part of this stream on out is there a. thought

you know just remind of our top stories this hour president elect joe biden has hit out again over the lack of information his transition team is getting from donald trump's of ministration biden warning that he's still being obstructed on national security issues and that key agencies have been severely damaged by chaunce policies. teenage pro-democracy activist tony chung has been sentenced in hong kong for desecrating china's flag and taking part in an illegal protest jones also accused of seditious at tipitina's under a controversial national security law. by that action started relocating a 2nd group of working of refugees who fled there for me in march they're being moved to a low lying island that rights groups fear could be vulnerable to flooding. air travel in the united states has reached its highest levels since the pandemic took hold in march the u.s.

transport authority says nearly 1300000 people were screened at airports on sunday that's despite public health warnings against travel during the holiday season a fairly spreading the coronavirus for them. california's governor says the recent spike in holiday travel will lead to a surge upon surging case numbers like infection numbers across the state are pushing intensive care units to capacity governor gavin newsom says it's likely the current stay at home order will be extended and los angeles county alone one person is dying every 10 minutes we certainly anticipate that the middle of january is going to be a pretty difficult time in our hospitals where their cases from this week and next week really start to stack on top of one another impacting the emergency rooms are ospital wards and our i.c.u. spaces that when i speak to hospital leaders throughout the southern part of the state they're worried about the middle part of january south africa's president

acetyl ram oppose a strict measures to combat a surge in corona virus cases they're driven by a different fast spreading variant that's after it became the 1st african country to pos 1000000 infections indoor and outdoor gatherings will be banned the 9 pm curfew will be enforced failure to wear a mask correctly in public has been made a criminal offense a person who does not wear a mask could be arrested and prosecuted on conviction there would be liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 6 months or both. a fine and imprisonment i must admit that this is a drastic measure but it is now necessary to ensure compliance with the most basic of preventative measures how much has or has more from port elizabeth.

it was a doctor and many of the health workers who were calling for these restrictions they were saying that they are really surprised of authorized number of fictions what surprised them quickly it happened and generally others african the same they also not surprised that new measures were put in place jane the festive season thousands of people were traveling up and down the country visiting friends and family and some of them with big parties and gatherings many not wearing mosques not practicing social distancing not sanitizing and we are in the eastern province this is one of the provinces where this variant was i didn't fide and people here when you speak to them you can meet people here who will tell you that i have had 7 people in my family who have died from 19 you told stories of people who attended funerals of prominent people and they came back and many of them became sick and port elizabeth is considered coronavirus hotspot at the moment and people who

listen to president. had mixed feelings someone saying they understand why they had to be very heavy handed and somewhat harsh in what he did a saying that it was unnecessary these measures are too extreme and he shouldn't have done that the philippines is external to air travel restrictions to keep out the more contagious strain of the coronavirus travelers from 19 countries and territories will be banned from entering until mid january early of those months the government imposed and then extended a ban on flights from britain one of the countries where the virus mutation was 1st detected. south korea has secured very a vaccine for another 10000000 people as a grapples with a rapid rise in covert 19 infections dealing with madonna comes the same day the country reported 40 new coronavirus deaths its highest ever one day toll the government's also unveiled a new $8000000000.00 aid package for small businesses and people who lost their

jobs due to the pandemic robert writes following developments from seoul south korea has faced an awful lot of criticism for what seen as an overly cautious program of vaccinations basically beginning in the spring and then taking up pretty much a full year before the bulk of the population will be vaccinated so that this is a government which is largely been applauded around the world for its handling of the coronavirus when it comes to the thing that will finally solve the problem it really does seem to have taken a misstep here so we've seen the government respond with a conference call between the president being jay and the boss of modernity to secure these extra vaccines and also to step up the delivery timeline that's of the real concern here that people here in south korea are seeing vaccines being rolled out around the world in fact u.s. military from choose day here on south korean soil being vaccinated the start of their vaccination program south koreans themselves won't see their 1st vaccines

until the spring if it does come as we are having this 3rd surge this wave of around a 1000 new cases a day and also setting sadly in you daily death toll record of 40 deaths there that might not seem much compared to other parts of the world but south korea before this winter wave set in was having a number of days when we had no cases of people dying from covert 19 at all so south korea does not look as though it is on top of this thing as it once did. russia has admitted its coronavirus death toll was more than 3 times higher than previously reported the new figure emerged as a number of european countries reported delays in the initial rollout of coronavirus vaccines are reports. extending the vaccination program under pressure of a new figures russia is now offering its own sputnik feet vaccine to front line workers such as doctors and teachers over the age of 60 as well as to younger colleagues

according to data from the national statistics agency around 26000 people die due to the corona virus in november alone in response the deputy prime minister has said or thought he's have never hidden any data recovered 90 mortality rates. in portugal this nurse was one of many health workers getting a covert 900 job at lisbon's largest hospital the country hopes to vaccinate nearly 10 percent of its population joining the 1st phase as part of the northeast i think it's part of our civic duty to try to prevent the pandemic as with measles and other viruses like influenza and that said while in spain monday's front pages were all about the start of the vaccine rollout but phases perspire on the delivery of a new batch by a day due to what the government's calling a logistics hurdle spain's health minister says vaccines will be available to the public and she's day mourning and predicts 70 percent of the population will have been immunized by the end of summer 2021. the main worry for people arriving at

this ski resort in central germany was getting stuck in the snow not the corona virus but the national vaccination campaign is facing delays in several cities because temperature records showed hundreds of doses may not have been kept cold enough during transit it comes as u.k. health care officials sound the alarm helpful 40 say there are now more covered patients in hospitals in england than joining the previous peak in april the government says reopening schools in january will involve trade offs with other restrictions but its own scientific advisors have reportedly said any national lockdown in january would have to include all schools to prevent the virus spreading exponentially and asked whether teachers will soon get the vaccine cabinet minister michael gove was. noncommital that we prioritize those will most vulnerable the eldest and those with other challenging conditions and then we then make sure that the vaccine can be distributed throughout the u.k. is hoping to get approval for

a 2nd vaccine developed by astra zeneca this week so it can started ministering it early in the new year but it knows that it will only be part of the solution to a still growing crisis. al-jazeera access to the beach in rio de janeiro will be blocked on new year's eve to prevent crowds from gathering there millions of people typically had to rio's coastline every december the 31st to ring in the new year or the 191000 people have died from coronavirus in brazil andria de janeiro is one of the hardest hit cities. and certainly as immigration minister is warning temporary visa holders they could be deported if they're caught breaching covered $9000.00 health rules that's up to local media reported some of those video holders were among hundreds at a christmas day beach party in sydney a number of public health orders have been in place following a recent outbreak of corona virus cases most australians are doing the right thing most temporary visa holders are doing the right thing but there is

a small number of the holders who are doing the wrong thing and 10 months into this pandemic that is unacceptable so i've asked the department of how the thing is to bring forward any cases working with the new south wales police in new south wales agencies that they're aware of of people have breached their basic and nations and we will examine those phases and we will cancel them when necessary the world health organization is warning the next pandemic could be even worse officials say covered 19 has been a wakeup call for the world. just random it has been very severe it's spread around the world extremely quickly in the script at every corner but this is not necessarily the big well. this virus is very transmissible. and it kills people and it just deprives so many people of locals but its current case with our city is read recently look at other emerging diseases this is a wake up call the family of a prominent saudi woman's rights activists say they will appeal her jail sentence

was in a huff law was sentenced to 5 and a half years in prison on monday drawing international condemnation she's been held since 2018 and relatives say she's been sexually assaulted and tortured while in prison or about money reports lose a know how good had been a prominent activist the years demanding more rights for women in saudi arabia the u.n. rights groups have been demanding her release from a saudi prison she'd been arrested in 2018 without the activists but instead saudi media reporting the court sentence had little to 5 years and 8 months in prison. she was found guilty on charges including agitating for change and mounting a campaign against the saudi royal family she has campaigned against the ban on women driving a ban that was lifted the same year but the kingdom continues to deny that she was arrested for this reason her brother says her family will appeal the verdict

showing up the war way with just. a sham trial that can but in that way. it can clearly show that the court in the trial from day one has been politically motivated the saudi cool suspended 2 years and 10 months of a sentence a many say this could have been to avoid a confrontation with the u.s. president elect joe biden has been openly critical of the kingdom's human rights records and the transition team security advisor tweeted the sentencing was unjust and troubling the judge's verdict today i gave her credit for time already served and so if you do our math there's a good chance that she might be out. of prison in about 2 months and that that's not a coincidence because i think the incoming biden ministration really is when heavily on the decision of the saudi authorities on this talk how to move the family says

last year saudi authorities offered to release her but only if she gave testimony denying that she'd been tortured and sexually harassed the saudi courts say there was no evidence of this the family say the torture was designed the brute who way to break her but she won't be broken. this is all just here are these the top stories u.s. president elect joe biden's hit out again over the lack of information is transition team is getting from donald trump's administration biden's warning that he's still being obstructed on national security issues and that key agencies have been severely damaged by trunk's policies. the u.s. house of representatives has voted to approve higher cash payments to americans struggling joining the coronavirus pandemic but president trumps demand for to.