it's not ok to hunt you rather than. argentina has tough economic problems to deal with and that's not being helped by the coronavirus been demick which is why preserving nature is a major challenge but it's not just about protecting the wildlife it's the wildlife that would generate outearn and the work opportunities that would convince locals to protect the natural wealth they already have. already in place argentina. this is on to syria and these are the headlines at least 50 people have been killed in attacks on 2 villages in western the it happened in an unstable border region and neighboring mali can afonso and in the in a correspondent a military says more from the army he shares capital well an official told i'll

just say that the attackers the gunmen that targeted these 2 religious crossed over into the museum from mali and that at least 50 people have been killed in one of the villages he's not sure about the number of casualties in the 2nd village but he said a government delegation is already on its way to assess the situation there now we've seen increased activity in terms of operations by m groups in mali i like to either tell you there or i saw. there have been vigils in process in baghdad marking the years since the us assassinated tyranny in general qassam soleimani iran and the u.s. have accused each other of escalating tensions in the one up to see the anniversary healthcare workers in india have taken part in a drill to test it delivery effect scenes india's drug regulator is on the verge of approving the country's 1st coronavirus vaccines for emergency use it has the 2nd

highest number of cases behind the us. hospitals across england have begun receiving doses of the newly approved oxford university and astra zeneca covert 19 vaccine it's the 3rd vaccine to be approved you case in another record jump and infections more than 57700 on saturday alone in the us said cruz says he'll spearhead an effort by nearly a dozen fellow republican senators to overturn joe biden's election victory they plan to objects when electoral college results are tallies in congress on january 6th but the senate's role in certifying results is largely symbolic president donald trump has refused to concede defeats and those are the headlines stay with us on al-jazeera inside story is next.

quelling dissent in hong kong china faces an increasingly angry but popular movement in this former british colony from attempting to impose firm security laws to cracking down on activists breaching his old that silence those who dissent so how will the turmoil in hong kong play out in 2021 this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program today from doha i'm peter it's a movement that swelled into the millions when the backing of both leaders and the public around the world is being championed as one of the 21st century's most

important social movements but in 2021 the hong kong democratic movement is a far cry from what it was in its heyday key figures are behind bars or they're facing charges pro-democracy politicians either walked out or they were kicked out of the legislature new strict security laws are being used to shut down beijing's critics thanks in part to the pandemic massmart she's on a few and far between and most recently a group of activists who fled from hong kong to taiwan has been sentenced to prison . don't go so how you date on something you got the chinese communist party is white washing itself through this incident involving 12 hong kong there's by harming hong kong people setting a trap to create a so-called unique judicial system to create their so-called fair and justice trial this is the act of a rubbish totalitarian regime could according to the official state media. have all of them have p u n

t and say that all we appreciate are very old then fair transparent to their system of china and this is so totally absurd so how did we get to where we are today well the pro-democracy movement has operated since the u.k. handed sovereignty back to china in 1997 but its most recent activity started in march 29th teen that's when mass rallies sit ins and protests that sometimes became violent began over a law that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland china the withdrawal of that bill in september 29th teen was seen as a major victory but the protests didn't stop in june last year the hong kong government responded with a set of security laws although not explicitly stated they could ensure any critics of the government would be put behind bars and it's worked in the last month significant people like joshua wong agnes child and jimmy lie of being locked up.

there we are here we go let's bring in our guest from beijing we have political analyst i know tangan in london we have nathan lore he's a pro-democracy activist who fled hong kong before the security law came into effect and in canterbury in the u.k. we have kerry brown kerry is the director of the lao china institute professor of chinese studies at king's college london gentlemen welcome to you all coming to you 1st how will be judging carry on trying to reshape hong kong in the coming year. it is obvious that it may case comforting scheme that turn hong kong into just send all the never city confiscating is freedom and in for examples rights so in the near future shame the next year i believe that i have end up roach will continue and hong kong people will continue to be suffering from these political persecution and put some of this into an immediate historical context if you can was covert a game changer for the chinese government. no actually not i mean the game changer

was the security law that was passed earlier this year which basically allowed the authorities crackdown on what they saw as reprehensible so they did not see the way that made us they saw that a small group of protesters were trying to hijack the economy and the politics of hong kong and in essence make it and which would be of course trees kerry brown in canterbury what happens in the coming year in 2021 if the chinese government kind of crosses a line or pivots towards something that might be seen as retaliation as opposed to an atta distance by remote clampdown. well i think coming 90 has given everyone a bit of a breathing space ironically because i think things were escalating and getting out

of control for everyone in hong kong in the previous year and the coming year i think really we're going to probably see where realistic beijing continue its policy of really controlling where it can control it doesn't want to see any more protests and i think for the people in hong kong it's going to be basically how do you carve out with this pretty brutal kind of set of circumstances a kind of space for domestic politics. defending the identity of the city about its you know economic future but also its political future not to say beijing holds most the cards i mean whether one likes it or not it holds most of the cards what can the world outside do about it well they can work in concert with each other on particular issues and i mean trump's presidency kind of did that a bit but they're going to have a great deal of commitment because the cost of taking on beijing these days are

higher than they've ever been before and if a lot how do you do that particularly with joe biden coming into the white house at the end of this month there was a hugo of poll across the asian neighbor countries around that region and all those people said we actually prefer trump because of what he said or edge towards saying as opposed to what we might think about what joe biden will possibly say when it comes to foreign policy specifically to do with hong kong. well that's initially we have a new a mission in the us and i think that all the democratic activists in hong kong will be willing to work with. both on ministration and saying that for now china's a land take cooperation alliance is likely more likely to be formed and by them initiation to be honest and i think it is really important because europe is great so in beijing's eyes that beijing wants to prove to the can so i think

actually with the by the mission with more edge to have a global cooperation in democracies and achieve a goal we slack a whole china accountable under tangan is it likely in 2021 that we will carry on seeing some countries regional powers as well as international powers apparently not really knowing how to react to what's critics of the beijing administration would say is in effect the annexation of hong kong or by step change the beginning of the annexation of hong kong. well let's keep this in perspective be a home call it was always part of china is taken away by the british you know during the opium wars basically is surprised. you know and a symbol that the group does drugs chinese people so i began a period 100 years merely asian this is not exactly

a good moral cause to say that you know somehow on holiday special and different because it was ripped away from you know it's a recurrence so at this juncture you know beijing is trying to and i would agree with professor as they are trying to normalize hong kong they were upset you know the basic laws required that there be a security agreement past surely after 1907 never was there very patient for a long period of time they expect they increased the number of representatives in the legislative council but that nothing seemed to work with that and instead you kind of had this radicalization occurred and i think nathan and his group represents but they're not a government in exile these are groups of people who the beijing government sees as just troublemakers who have the wrong idea about what hong kong is own is not a separate nation to anyone on the mainland it is simply something that has been

returned to get to china after many many years being you know separate kerry running canterbury you maybe have a a darker scenario at the back of your mind for the coming year but the reality is that we're talking about media control with talking about thousands of people being detained 100 slice thousands of people being imprisoned and to pick up on what a tank in beijing is saying there that was the original problem with handing back hong kong from the british to the chinese in 1907 because the treaty that 3 dates had that in the mind of the beijing government in the mind if she jingping the treaty itself like old treaties with the british was essentially skewed in the wrong direction. i don't really think that that's the key thing here no one in 1907 i mean i worked just after that in the british foreign office with people who

had been involved in that negotiation and i think what's no one expected was that china would grow economically to the state that it's in now in need of the world's you know biggest economy here in a few years time i mean how come it's still a very significant economy but at that time it was a quarter the size of the mainland chinese economy now i think it's about 2 percent so this is really sort of create a disagree librium you know it's kind of really unbalanced things and you know. a significant economy but it's not anything comparable to what it was in 1907 so the 50 year handover kind of you know period of the one country 2 systems is your business in a sense has been truncated by the sheep in leadership i mean rightly or wrongly and that's kind of what's happening and there's all sorts of reasons for that quite complicated about you know china's geopolitical situation at the moment i mean i think we've got to remember though that in hong kong there are very serious

domestic issues that all of the protesters and interested parties have been speaking about and need to be addressed the inequality the issues of you know many people living a kind of stands and laughed which is not great because of the enormous costs of property you know the kind of extraordinary kind of decline in public goods because of the economic structure of the city and i think everyone is going to come along trip interest really in trying to address those issues at the heart of this probably a lot of the discontent is by the fact that hong kong for many people that live there is not delivering doesn't it we continue to be discontent but carrie you sound a little bit as if you're playing the financial footprint of hong kong yes it's not economically where it was in the late 1990 s. but the reality is just according to the f.t. last week one remembers hong kong investors put $86000000000.00 u.s. dollars through the system through the fiscal system of hong kong in the year up to

december just got. yeah i mean but 86000000000 globally isn't a great deal i'm not saying hong kong is not a significant economic center and a finance center but it is nowhere near as important as it once was i mean it's still important but it has to factor in you know a lot of other issues including which is the really important issue the fact that china's economy on its own is so much more forceful and powerful now nathan law in london there is a central problem here isn't there and the problem will remain it's the elephant in the room as far as cheating ping is concerned as far as the government in beijing is concerned there's a central conceit on your part which they don't like and it's this you see yourself as culturally chinese you demand the right to stay culturally chinese but you show

no loyalty whatsoever to beijing. well 1st of all i see myself as a home counties and are secondly i think the consensus and the mainstream demands of our calm people are autonomy and democracy and these other things that beijing promised hong kong people in 1907 so for now beijing has been suppressing the rights of hong kong people and we're still living in an undemocratic system we do not select our chief executive and we do not say that our legislature so i think this is the point it is not about whether normalizing hong kong or asking people to be silent is about and and representative government and all of the rights of all calm people are being deprived so i think this is not about whether plead loyalty to division government is about they despite the demands of income people and the basic very humble demands of them and i think for now if our beijing continuous to act in that way to disregard tom people's way of life and freedom that kind of i

then that building of hokum people and the discontent towards the whole point beijing government will continue to grow and. this this whole debate shifts in a direction that nathan would feel more comfortable with if the international media didn't basically sometimes especially the print media give the beijing or thorough seize a pass the new york times last year published an op ed piece by somebody who was unashamedly pro beijing and if you read anything in the financial times to totally and utterly dependable newspaper of course it is but anything the f.t. writes about hong kong is clearly viewed through rose tinted spectacles. well i would tend to disagree with you if you start looking at the balance of international press it is very much pro kong you know people like nathan are

lionized is you know it's free to feed on freedom fighters it's people who are bringing the good fight i would suggest that we go back to what kerry said and that is there are real problems in hong kong they're not caused by beijing the inequality has been caused by homeowners these very wealthy families top 100 probably i don't know what you know. 5 maybe 6 percent of everything out there it's the rest of the people who are suffering and it regardless of whether hong kong was free completely free tomorrow it would not change the basic inequalities that have to be addressed the fact is home home does not pay a single cent to the mainland in taxes never hats it's the other way around. beijing has been sending subsidies and policies to hong kong to prop it up to keep it going to have it be a financial center home is very very useful to beijing and look and they hope it

will continue to be as part of this greater bay area so this idea that somehow there's as many level its attitude towards hong kong by beijing is simply wrong cheating think wasn't out there trying to elicit some sort of response from a bunch of young protesters had the misguided idea that hong kong was an independent nation or that whole color should never go back to the mainland this was started in hong kong over the frustrations and i would agree with kerry over these basic inequalities and i think you're going to see beijing try to address those as they are to have more talk about public housing relieving that kind of a misery that 99 percent of the people in hong kong suffer under you know no economic future a loss of basic business right now with coconut. it's been exacerbated the whole what wasn't the protests in terms of tourism is not completely gone because it

can't possibly get there because of quote until ok so nathan own home is in serious problems ok thanks for making law back in london give us a sense of the conversations that you and your supporters and your political colleagues are having because the tectonic plates of politics are about to change and they are changing in real time the incoming by the administration is desperate for a deal on the environment at the next c o p talks post brics it boris johnson is keen to get an environment deal what happens if the chinese start lobbying at the highest ranks of the high in the highest circles in washington and they say something in effect along the lines of ok we'll give you a deal on the environment on the global environment but you turn the other way when it comes to hong kong and the muslim week in china. well 1st of all relied to clarify some points on the curb aging people says is about separatism what's

happening in hong kong but that is not the fact the fact ace and most of the protesters in hong kong are demanding for autonomy and democracy these are promised on implementation of system by beijing and the way that they do it is by protesting and raising those demands and i mean for now the global politics after the bind by the ministration came on turn that on a thick certain cooperation with china in regards to public health climate change exacta and the way we see it is important that we that kind of cooperation is not being abused by china as a leverage to get rid of their responsibility for what's happening on their grounds including the human rights violation in hong kong and those countering cam in changing so i think and i hope that even though there is a certain kind of cooperation we have to laugh rage and laugh ikeda's to

a way that we can really hold china accountable by including humor i classes and by working closely with allies in europe in asia and also in other parts of the world with all democracies so i think it is that era that we step into a multilateral 'd approach towards the risk and authoritarian expansionist nature of china and i hope that in this fight we can really hold china accountable and to get them to implement democracy and autonomy in hong kong kerry brown in cannes 3 however this idea of leverage is perfectly good if you want to adopt the moral high ground i guess but the reality is you know when you get someone like i way way who you know released a stunning documentary 6 weeks ago now i guess it was 6 weeks ago now he says the people of hong kong are prepared to sacrifice everything but there's little left to sacrifice surely. well i mean the people of hong kong.

the fundamental issue is that of course the biggest thing that the sovereignty of hong kong was decided in 1907 i guess i mean before 97 it was under british control after 1007 back with chinese control with captain beijing so the big issue is resolved and it means that you're sort of dealing with tactics to kind of how about how the outcome eventually of this will be for hong kong with another big issue which is you know in 2047 the one country 2 systems kind of comes to an end even though it looks like it's already come to an end so that's a very very tough context to try to do anything i mean your if your protest in hong kong you you know you have to kind of work out what is realistic and what you're going to get the international community support for the international community doesn't support independence of the whole call the international community does support you know the defense of particular rights and freedoms that they believe

were promised in 1971 counties but there's got to be a strong consensus on that i mean the british government recently has become stronger in saying that it wants particular things but the british government has its own fights in bricks and other things and so is not the player it once was at least on this issue i guess if i was a homecoming activist i would be keen to get international support but i would be wary i would be very wary because at the end of the day you've got a lot of agendas from the trump and then the abida ministration others who really are looking maybe to use hong kong as a way of getting to beijing because they don't like beijing it's not because they may have a deep and profound desire to support our cause so i think the home counties activists and others are in a really tough position ok i'm a tank and briefly we're heading towards the end of the program in the next 60 seconds or so what happens if it goes from bad to worse and 2021 you know we now live in a hong kong scenario hong kong situation where h.s.b.c. for example. will reportedly and i stress reportedly freezing the accounts of

pro-democracy supporters in hong kong i mean given that it given his financial back story that's a no no anyway but clearly if it's if it's true that means the beijing government can just do it flick a switch and then nobody has any money well it depends on how they're acting on the wire i was prosecutor if they have evidence and they are able to show that the people they want these accounts seized are somehow terrorists are often source separatist movement they can do that we do that in the us it's done in europe it's done all of the world it's not wrong because beijing does it as long as it's legal i don't know as you said it's rumors h.s.b.c. i would agree with you as extremely troubled. and we don't need to go into that there but let me be clear you know we're talking about this very rationally and calmly here but i think you know people need to go back and take

a look at pictures of the protest and office that's happening there next lights people being beaten up in the streets people literally having to shut down their businesses because these marauding protests are decided who they wanted and who they didn't want to attack any stores that they saw as contrary to their ideas so this was not a peaceful demonstration it started out as such ok and it moved into a violent problem so that was the last 30 seconds to nathan law nathan you're on record as having said quote we can choose how we respond to fear do you have another big issue and it's this xi jinping is clearly playing a long game he's thinking about the party congress not in 2021 he's thinking about the party congress and where he is in relation to the creates an issue of china in 2022 and in that regard you have got a big fight that still to come at you. undoubtedly the perception of the democratic population is getting worse and worse to a shine

a because of how they handled the covert endemic and also the treatment of calm people when the shutdown people so for now i'm quite optimistic that in the future there will be a growing trend of being assertive and tough towards china even though it's cheap and wants to play the long game but it doesn't mean that the time is with them so i will continue to do my fantasy work to raise awareness to these human rights foundation in china and hong kong and hope that their democratic countries their leaders were recognized the threats of the chinese communist party and work together to cut it gentlemen thank you very much they were our guests here on inside story they were in a tangle with the law and kerry brown and thank you 2 for your company you can see the show again any time to the website al-jazeera dot com and for more discussion goes my facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash inside story or follow the conversation on twitter at inside story for me peter davi and the team here in doha thanks for watching i will see you very soon for the moment of.

a runoff that will determine if democrats take control of both chambers of congress has no candidate receives a majority in this election george or is getting ready for a historic vote to challenge a republican senate majority. joining the special coverage of the q. restore just senate runoff. a secret mass grave in arlon discovered at an institution run by catholic nuns is. a mission shock to its core.

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and al jazeera. where every. i'm hella mohit in doha with the top stories on al-jazeera at least 50 people are feared to have been killed in 2 attacks on villages in western the share it happens in man gazey an unstable region bordering mali booking a fossil and been in armed groups linked to al qaeda and i so have launched attacks there in the past a correspondent with the trees has more from the capital niamey an official said the government all targeted the 2 villages have cost engineers from the border with mali and that is not the only problematic area in asia the border with brooke you know fossil.