the financial and environmental impact of water privatized ation loads of water on al-jazeera. be the hero the world needs right. washing. dozens of activists and opposition politicians are arrested in hong kong in the biggest crackdown since china imposed a controversial national security. element cloud this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up we are extremely pleased with having been able to achieve this very important breakthrough the saudi foreign minister says the kingdom and its arab allies are restoring full diplomatic ties

with qatar. county is under way in georgia in a crucial runoff election that will determine the balance of power in the u.s. congress. a rare admission north korean leader kim jong un speaks of policy failures addressing his ruling party for the 1st time in 5 years. so then hong kong police have reportedly arrested at least 50 pro-democracy politicians and activists in its biggest crackdown against the opposition since china imposed a national security law on the city last year this video shows a former democratic party politician being taken from his home by offices the group are accused of subversion for taking part in unofficial election primaries in july china declared the polls illegal and warned the 600000 people who cast ballots that they had broken the law agent brown has more now from hong kong. these arrests

happened early on wednesday morning according to local media here 52 former lawmakers and political activists have been detained they got the early morning knock on the door from police and were told they had were accused of violating the new national security law now no one has so far been charged since that new law actually came into force on july the 1st last year only 4 people have so far been charged but i think to many people not just in hong kong but around the world it will seem like hong kong has taken another turn towards authoritarianism now on top of these arrests the police have also been raiding a number of media outlets in hong kong including the apple daily which of course was once owned by jimmy lie who of course last week was denied bail by a court here in hong kong also raided has been the home of joshua wong one of the

best known political activists here in hong kong as to what will happen now well the police have yet to confirm these arrests but we are expecting to get some sort of statement from the hong kong police during the coming hours. well i mean as a pro democracy advocates and former chairwoman of the democratic party of hong kong she says activists like yourself are only trying to keep china to keep its promises to the city. we will use our freedom we will give up our freedom to fight for what we believe in we are not fighting to suffer but the communist regime went on fighting to have independence in hong kong where just fighting for the chinese government the communist party to keep the promise of the sino british joint declaration in the basic law to allow us to be free you can say to have the rule of law but i'm calling on the international community through you al-jazeera

and other international media to look at what's happening here a crackdown i mean so senseless so mindless so ridiculous and i just hope that the people of the well people who believe in freedom and rule of law impasse and no safety always speak out for hong kong and of course return a former colonial power i know it has this chaos but britain should speak out and i will other democracy loving countries and people will also speak out for tiny little hong kong. was how he raped her and his allies have agreed to restore full diplomatic ties with ending the 3 and a half year blockade of the country leaders from across the gulf region have signed a declaration calling for solidarity and stability at a summit aimed to resolving the dispute show that this report. after 3 and a half years of a crisis that threatened the very core of the gulf region g.c.c.

leaders have agreed to end divisions and usher in a new era of cooperation the olympic relation is that has achieved a settlement of all issues outstanding in a way that is entirely satisfied factory to all nations involved all the countries involved we are extremely pleased with having been able to achieve this very important breakthrough that we believe will contribute very much to the stability security of all our nations in the region and yes all the outstanding. whether it's turning of diplomatic relations flights etc all of that will now go back to normal earlier the summit had got off to a promising starts when saudi crown prince mohammed bin said a man insisted on hugging qatar's emir shift i mean going from it and funny as the latter touchdown in the saudi city of the clearest indication yet that both countries were on the way to mending relations the qatari leader confirmed his attendance at the 41st street summits of the 11th hour only after saudi arabia

agreed to lift the land air and sea blockade it had been imposing on doha since 2017 in his opening remarks to follow leaders crown prince mohammed bin sandman emphasized the importance of cooperation and unity between the g.c.c. member states i'm with you. today we are in a dire need to stand united in the face of the challenges namely iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and other agendas adopted by its respected in the region which undermine the stability of the region this demands that we dovetail our efforts with the international community to cement the stability and security of the region also in attendance at the summit was senior white house adviser on president donald trump's son in law gerard christian or it was off to his visits to doha in the riyadh late last year that's a breakthrough in negotiations that had been led by coates was. reached since the start of the crisis courts had been exerting its efforts to solve the disputes with

its late amir ships a bottle of medicine successfully preventing the military invasion of qatar it was no surprise then that a lawless summits was named after together with the late senator of a man who also passed away in 2020 with all 4 blockading countries now agreeing to open their land air and sea borders to put out the gulf region can now begin a new chapter one that its leaders say will be written by all of them together. votes are being counted in the u.s. state of georgia also a special runoff election that could have a crucial impact on joe biden's presidency more than $3000000.00 early ballots were cast ahead of the vote to choose state's 2 senate members it will decide the balance of power in congress but results are currently too close to call the official reports from atlanta in georgia. the results so close the stakes so high as the world waits counting in georgia senate runoff will continue for a 2nd day more than 3000000 voted early on the day polling stations reported

a steady stream of voters and no problems with the running of the election when you want a final outcome we will know the outstanding number of ballots if i'm a betting person which i'm not i would say it's going be a couple days anticipate it will be a close race one where the other heavy early voting favor democrats republicans are just their supporters to turn out on the day for many they'd like the focus to finally move away from their state. but you know machinery when they come normal this election is crucial to joe biden's agenda to democratic wins here and the senate is tied 5050 with the casting vote in the hands of the vice president just one republican when this hopes of action on racial injustice climate change and health care could end right here in georgia voters have never had more power than you have today and that's the reason the whole world is watching us in ga ga by the

way for the last week georgia has been the center of the u.s. political universe the importance of the vote here couldn't be more clearly illustrated with both the outgoing and incoming president spending time campaigning in the state there's nothing more anyone can do except wait for the final result and what that means for america. alan fischer atlanta georgia. let's cross to undergo lets me use an associate professor at the department of political science at emory university joins us live via skype from atlanta in georgia so what's your view here what degree do you think that the results will shape the success or otherwise of a biden presidency well what's at stake here is the potential to have a unified party control you know between the legislative and executive branches for the next 2 years and any president would want to have members of their own party in

charge of the legislative branch it does not guarantee smooth sailing for a president's legislative agenda but it does make it easier the other thing that's actually really important for president elect biden is the senate has the advice and consent power so they are the ones who get to approve judicial nominations and cabinet nominations and so we'd expect that under a republican controlled senate that president elect biden would have a harder time getting some of his high level political appointees approved and getting some of his judicial appointees approved senator mitch mcconnell's actually made it very difficult towards the end of the obama presidency for president obama to name anybody to the federal judiciary including that one supreme court seat that he held up and tell donald trump was president of the united states if the republicans do retain control of the senate habits oxygen do you think that that gives them and indeed perhaps donald trump in the background as he looks to 2024.

well i mean i would separate out sort of what the senate republicans are going to do versus what president trump's political future is on his head saying that he is going to try to stage a comeback we will see whether or not that actually happens in the meanwhile senate republicans would have an opportunity to place a check on the biden administration not an important thing to point out is that even with a unified party control there is no guarantee that every democratic agenda but make it through the u.s. senate unscathed and in particular there are is going to be some kind to station between a more moderate and more progressive democrat so there would have to be some compromise made in order for anything to get passed and even with the democratic majority if it comes to that it's a very narrow majority it's a $5050.00 majority and so that means that you know if a democratic senator just facts then that could also pose

a problem for you know for a president elect biden to get all of his agenda through congress right now because the county is still going and we may know him till much later as to who the winner is but as far as the vote itself has been concerned what functions do you think is as people considering the votes will fight as you think different now this is when the field run in november. but you know there you know it's a different electorate the turnout has been outstanding so turnout has actually been higher in this runoff election than it was in the 2800 midterm elections which is a highly unusual you usually get much lower turnout in a runoff election so we're seeing many of the same people turning out to vote for the right office turned out in november we have some new voters who have come in so you know in particular young people who are not old enough to vote in november but are old enough to vote now. and what we're seeing is just a lot of robust enthusiasm and democrats have demonstrated that you know in their competitiveness even without knowing whether or not they won this race that they

are able to turn people out to vote in multiple elections and so we'll see whether or not this persists in future election cycles i think this portends an era of a very competitive elections and so i think we're past the era of one party dominance in this state so that was you know true for the democrats you know you know up until the 1980 s. and then you know republican dominance in the 2000 you know that's just not the case today george is going to be purple it's going to be very competitive right well we'll find out what happens in the coming under close we've done big thanks very much. north korea's ruling party congress is underway for the 1st time in 5 years it is the opi address the leader kim jong un said north korea had significantly failed in its 5 year economic plan the congress is the most important political event in the country it's really held at the last convention was in 2016 and before that 980 right has been monitoring conjunctions remarks from south korea

. he has made admissions that nearly every aspect of economic policy the 5 current 5 year plan basically has fallen short has basically failed saying that north korea has been through the worst of the worst which is a pretty incredible admission you've had this the normal sanctions that it faces from the international community compounded by the whole pandemic of the past year where basically north korea has pretty much sealed itself off from the outside world which is seeing the devastating impact on its economy and then of course over the past summer you have had these devastating storm what we're also waiting to see is this as this party gathering proceeds over the next few days is the policy that north korea will now adopt to the united states because the end of the trump era means the end of this remarkable policy of summit meetings which ended in failure

in hanoi in 2019 and the big question now is with joe biden what replaces that. still ahead here on al-jazeera rolling out but not fast enough health workers in europe say vaccines are rising too slowly. and nicolas maduro tightens his grip on venezuela as the new national assembly in school when it. hello the weather is pretty quiet across the middle east now and it's been pretty quiet around the eastern side of the mediterranean quite enough actually for some pretty tense folks see this every picture in tel aviv where we've had some fog and low cloud lingering for the past few days light winds will lead to similar conditions over the next few days like winds here in qatar as well temperatures a pleasant 24 celsius perhaps a little down on that as we go on through thursday but still pleasant enough

a bit of a cane a sleep resetting in by this stage i mean. i want to show is into northern parts western parts of saudi arabia but nothing much to speak of there of a little further south wanted to showers pushing towards the horn of africa but essentially it stays dry and fine here because showers too long spells of right across the house of africa down across the rift valley some really wet weather continuing into that eastern side of south africa and other wetter weather starting to make its way a little further northwards are going to see that grassy notching up into southern areas of medicine because we go through the next day old seychelles become a little more widespread across central parts of missouri big zimbabwe or to seeing some wet weather along with botswana elsewhere will see some showers there in madagascar antananarivo 29 degrees. but. when all that seems to matter is the headline there is always 2 sides to

a story when narratives and counter narratives of just curiosity the leader on the one hand the enemy is over neither on the other hand the listening post strips away the spin what kind of reporting if you can see it on the ground misinformation is right lays bare the bias so a lot of people believe things because they want to believe that a done covers the uncomfortable truths do you think they did enough to scrutinize the case for war listening post on a. ok what she had 0 mind about top stories this hour and the hong kong police have reportedly arrested at least 50 pro-democracy politicians and activists in its

because crackdown against the opposition says china imposed a national security law in the city last year they're accused of subversion for taking part in unofficial election primaries in july. gulf leaders have signed a declaration to restore full diplomatic ties with cutter and 3 and a half a a blockade emotion calling for solidarity and stability was agreed at a summit in saudi arabia attended by the emir. votes being counted in the us state of georgia after a special runoff election that could have a crucial impact on joe biden's presidency the election to choose the state's 2 senate members will decide the balance of power in congress. so california has reached a new single day record for corona virus cases with $74000.00 confirmed on monday that's one new case every 6 seconds the death toll is also soaring across the u.s. with a new record of 3900 deaths recorded on tuesday has reynolds reporting from los angeles

. california has entered the darkest days of the pandemic so far a record 74000 new cases of covert 19 were recorded on monday we're likely to experience the worst conditions in january that we face the entire pandemic and that's hard to imagine and the worst is yet to come with many more cases anticipated due to travel and people getting together over the winter holidays we are entering in to now this what we anticipate we anticipate the surge on top of the surge it's going to put a lot of pressure hospitals and i see is coming out of the holidays. county ambulance crews are under orders not to transport patients with little chance of recovery to overburdened hospitals they've also been told to ration oxygen providing it only to the sickest patients oxygen tanks are in short supply in

hospitals as well exhausted doctors nurses and hospital staff are buckling under the strain we haven't yet seen a post december surge. if we do. where we are now we will go under the health care system will collapse public health officials say the virus is everywhere there is no safe place outside of one's own home maybe if somebody had a grocery store and you're on iraq for just a few minutes i'm on thousands of people waited to get tested at dodger stadium the largest testing site in the u.s. one person is infected every 6 seconds in los angeles according to the city's mayor while widespread vaccine distribution is seen as the light at the end of the tunnel so far the rollout nationwide has been slow and sometimes chaotic just

4500000 people have received doses of vaccine a far cry from the outgoing trump administration's pledge of 20000000 by the end of 2020 the trumpet ministration has refused to come up with a nationwide plan for vaccination dumping that responsibility on the states some states like florida and tennessee opted to make vaccines available to all seniors on a 1st come 1st serve basis that led to long lines of people in their seventy's and eighty's waiting for hours to get shots only to be told supplies had run out nationwide 356000 people have perished from cove and 19 the centers for disease control estimates more than 400000 will die by late january rob reynolds al jazeera los angeles where the u.k. has reported more than 60000 coronavirus cases in a day for the 1st time

a monday the government announced a new national looked on in england and some parts of the country and estimates one in 50 people now have had 90. and criticism is mounting every year a slow covert 19 vaccination drive with the e.u. trailing well behind the united states u.k. and israel only a few weeks after inoculation started some members of the bloc are already facing vaccine shortages the netherlands is yet to begin its rollout steadfast and reports from maps that done. it looks like inoculations are in full swing in the netherlands but one important thing is missing a needle while all neighboring countries have started vaccinating more than a week ago the dog just holding dry runs with a 1st covert night in japs to be given in the next few days and embarrassment according to medical experts the last company to start section 8 can. be. on the run. so late. but what went

wrong also prime minister mark hurd to have no comment ahead of an urgent debate in parliament on monday the minister of health admitted he had made a mistake by counting on a different vaccine other than the price of biotech want to become available 1st this has led to frustration among medical workers who are dealing with the worst influx of covert patients since the start of the pandemic. we have definitely been frustrated we have gone through emotional months and out this happens you look at other countries for vaccinations are in full swing and feel jealous why can't we do this here the dutch delay merest a chaotic strategy overall across the e.u. this empty fractionation santa not only symbolizes the country's failure to inoculate its population rapidly it also shows how you will be in countries considered to be well organized have handled this covert 19 pandemic so poorly it was meant to be a common tax

a nation program has led to serious delays and not only here in the netherlands. in france only a few 100 japs were given in the 1st week due to bureaucratic hurdles but the government says it's quickly catching up with thousands fact unaided on monday in germany where hundreds of thousands have been unoccupied it vaccines are quickly running out and a 2nd shop might have to be postponed many are blaming the european commission for the slow rollout to $27.00 member states and the lack of facts scenes for its 400 $50000000.00 people the e.u. is accuse of being so keen to work together and step that it fell behind countries where. the european medical agency has yet to approve the model seen which is already widely used in the u.s. and u.k. after pressure the netherlands moved its vaccination program forward and will now start inoculating medical workers and employees of care homes on wednesday but it will take months before vulnerable groups like the elderly will be vaccinated stop

fast and al-jazeera. the head of the world health organization says he's disappointed that chinese officials have not finalized permissions for the rival of experts into china to examine the origins of covert 90 i am very disappointed with this news given that 2 members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute but i have been in contact with senior chinese officials and i have one is again made many it clear that the mission is a priority for w.h.o. and the international team i have been assured that china is speeding up the internal procedure for the earliest possible deployment we are to get the mission underway as soon as possible opposition figures in the central african republic won't last month's election the know because of what they're calling

numerous irregularities president fast in our transition. was reelected with more than 53 percent of the vote but the opposition says half the population was unable to cast ballots because of violence from rebel groups. at least 4 people have been killed in flash flooding in bolivia 2 inch rain and hail hit the city of sucre on monday washing away kiosks and vehicles the city's largest farmers' market was in the worst affected area residents say drains blocked by rubbish made the flooding worse. venezuela's president nicolas maduro has tightened his grip on par with the swearing in of a national assembly controlled by his socialist party marks the end of control by the opposition we boycotted last month's election because they said it was neither free nor for sure is about as much. the pictures of latin america's independence hero. and laid precedent to go chavis i return to venice way less

national assembly a symbolic act by the ruling socialist party to let the world know my ludo is now in control of the legislative body. i tell you this without any rhetoric that we cannot fail we cannot but succeed this time we have to repair what has been damaged we have to rebuild what has been destroyed to rebuild what has been damaged by hatred betrayal and violence but it took what critics say was a fraudulent election last month for my little to take power in the assembly venezuela's opposition has been in control since 2016 and since then has been in constant confrontation with a government denouncing what it called dictatorial ways 2 years ago the president of the body white who proclaimed himself press and claiming mother was elected the country's leader in a fragile involved why the last mandate in the assembly expired on tuesday but members of the opposition have extended for another year not as leader of the

assembly but of a parallel body to challenge my daughter's legitimacy. this effort and this sacrifice it's worth it this need for change and this scream for freedom it's worth it the parliament is worth it this resistance by each venezuelan it's worth it this country is worth it yes it's worth it the sacrifice the determination respecting our constitution it's worth it to fight for men and women who are giving everything for venezuela but with the assembly now in my daughter's hands analysts wonder what will happen to why though on the opposition. now that model has taken control of what many see as venezuela's last democratic institution. his capacity to mobilize people has deteriorated the opposition is divided the confidence that they can remove from office is small but he still has a stock for a political fight the united states will continue to recognize and more continue to support him even with biden and power canada japan and other countries recognize

him to controlling the national assembly gives my lula the legal tools he lacked in the past and the appearance of legitimacy in front of international law. with this madeira from a legal point of view he can validate the national assembly in front of his allies like russia china and turkey to sign agreements or oil concessions that legally need to be done by the assembly aside from their madeira from a real point of view already controlled every institution. by the us grip on power remains strong despite why those efforts as he has failed to turn the bolivarian armed forces against him. but disenchantment with the economic and political situation in the country is significant and growing and that's why the confrontation with the opposition is unlikely to end anytime soon. and. no way has become the 1st country in the world where electric cars make up most new

vehicle sales new figures show that 54 percent of all vehicles bought last year were electric tax exemptions have made the market more competitive it's part of the norwegian government's goal to end the sale of petrol in diesel cars by the year 2025 decade ago just one in every 100 new cars was electric. much more web site of course al jazeera dot com is the address al-jazeera dot com. so this is out there these are the top stories and hong kong police have reportedly arrested at least 50 pro-democracy politicians and activists in its biggest crackdown against the opposition since china imposed a national security law in the city last year they're accused of subversion for taking part in an official election primaries in july jim brown has more from hong

kong these arrests happened early on wednesday morning according to local media here 52.