al jazeera. to work for all of georgia a historic victory in the georgia runoff democrat who raphael warnock has declared the winner becoming the u.s. state's 1st black senator. so when you watch al-jazeera live my headquarters here in doha also coming up hong kong police arrest dozens of pro-democracy activists and former politicians accusing them of trying to overthrow the city's government. and in a rare admission north korean leader kim jong un acknowledges that his economic

policies have failed and says the country has learned in full lessons also. but is weightless words in its new parliament which seize control of the national assembly return to the ruling party and leaves the opposition out in the cold. to the program we start in the united states where democrats are close to taking control of the entire federal government and one of the senate runoff said the state of georgia democrats raphael warnock has beaten republican incumbent kelly loffler and in the other race the democratic challenger has a slim lead elevation has more from atlanta. the results so close the stakes so high but for the democrats raphael warnock claiming a far speck 3 defeating kelly loeffler so i come before you tonight as a man who knows that the improbable journey that led me to this place in this

historic moment in america. could only happen here. we were told that we couldn't when the selection. but tonight we proved that with hope hard work. and the people by our side. in the thing. is possible. because the 1st african-american elected to the senate from georgia a state which has been overwhelming republican for a generation the 2nd race remains too close to call democrat george also of leads the every vote no even more important as a possible game changer in washington the 1st victory is good news for joe biden but he really needs both seats without it he won't be able to push on with his agenda and address issues he believes have been neglected over the past 4 years like climate change health care and racial injustice 3000000 early votes were cast

in georgia a record and it's no clear that help the democrats there was a big turnout on the day a new problems reported with the running of the election we didn't have any issues the election our reporting is gone relatively smoothly so we feel like the counties are kind of getting in the groove despite the fact we know they're all exhausted from the last week georgia has been the center of the u.s. political universe the importance of the vote here couldn't have been more clearly illustrated with both the incoming and outgoing president spending time campaigning in the state but even donald trump's appearance not enough to carry both candidates over the line georgia by the way all eyes are no on the 2nd senate race the final vote in the 2020 election cycle one that has changed the face of america but done nothing to heal the deep divisions in the country alan fischer atlanta georgia.

police in hong kong over us and more than 50 pro-democracy politicians and activists in early morning raids is the biggest crackdown under the controversial national security law which china imposed last year this video shows a former democratic party politician being taken from his home those detained are accused of subversion for taking part in unofficial election primaries in july china declared the polls illegal and warned that the 600000 people who voted broke the law after their dream brown has more from hong kong. this police sweep began early on wednesday morning raids were carried out of more than 50 addresses across hong kong the police say more than a 1000 police officers were involved in this operation the biggest mass arrests of activists and former legislators here in hong kong since the new national security law was imposed on this territory on july the 1st they include some of the best known faces in the pro-democracy camp we've heard from the secretary of security

here in hong kong john lee he's been justifying the detention saying those detained have been involved in what he called an evil plan to paralyze not just hong kong's parliament but also hong kong society now these arrests are linked to that unofficial contest that was held back in july to determine which candidates from the pro-democracy camp would take part in the legislative elections which were due to be held in september those elections of course were cancelled by kerry lamb citing coded 19 so they're being held for an unofficial political event tied to an election that is now being cancelled the government is also saying that people who voted in that unofficial primary will not be investigated only those people who organize the unofficial poll. china's foreign ministry has expressed support for the arrests and denies they infringe on people's freedom sent on their even more we

support the hong kong authorities in france telling the agencies and the hong kong people's rights and freedoms in accordance with the law and not affected by what's affected is the so-called freedoms of some people who were colluding with each other and trying to undermine china's sovereignty solidarity and stability. north korea's leader has made a rare admission of failure speaking at the workers party congress the country's largest political event kim jong un's economic plan has failed significantly and pound painful lessons have been learnt can promise that the workers' party would find a way to make a radical leap forward robert bryant is in south korea and has more on kim's remarks he has made admissions that nearly every aspect of economic policy the fight current 5 year plan basically has fallen short is 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 is pretty much sealed itself off from the outside world which is seen the devastating impact on its economy and then of course over the past summer you have had these devastating storms 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 saudi arabia the united arab emirates bahrain and egypt have all agreed to restore full diplomatic relations with qatar the announcement followed tuesday's gulf summit in the saudi city of a lower for cattles amir it was the 1st visit to saudi arabia since the illegal

blockade began more than 3 years ago delegates from the gulf countries signed a declaration calling for solidarity and stability. you know like the correlation. 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 we we have as you mentioned been working very hard towards achieving this breakthrough for many years and the timing is. just that it's that we were finally able to reach that conclusion and reach. a mechanism that was satisfactory to everyone and i am happy to report that we are at a place where everyone is satisfied and happy and yes all the outstanding.

whether it's turning of diplomatic relations flights etc all of that will now go back to normal cattles i'm in shape to me mihama the pani thanked the state of coates for its huge efforts to bridge the divide and to bring unity to the gulf. 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 in a new era of cooperation the olympic relation is 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's had got off to a promising starts when saudi crown prince mohammed bin said a man insisted on hiding qatar's emir shift i mean been hunted and funny as the letter touched down 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 since 2017 in his opening remarks to follow leaders crown prince mohammed bin salomon emphasized the importance of cooperation and unity between the g.c.c. member states and 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 george 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. waits was reached since the start of the crisis courts had been exerting its efforts to solve the disputes with its slate a mere ship's a bottle of medicine successfully preventing the military invasion of qatar it was no surprise then that the last summit 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 qatar the gulf region can now begin a new chapter one that its leaders say will be written by all of them together. al-jazeera the. well still ahead here on al-jazeera searching for loved ones who went missing during the years of war in libya families plead for justice from the

world's top court. and powering ahead the country that's now buying more electric cars than petrol and diesel combined we'll tell you which one it is after the break . there has been flooding as you know in peninsula malaysia and there is more on its way 200 millimeters in the last 24 hours just east of kuala lumpur and as you can see with this feed of the northeast monsoon the show's going to keep going again to top up those floods is pretty widespread showers elsewhere malaysia and especially indonesia but that is rather more normal the concentration has been around longer and a bit society is singapore to. and we've had a tropical cycle and just saying goodbye to image and but it will still be acting as a bunch of thunderstorms in tropical queensland so there will be more flooding forward

had to treat 2 or 300 been a beat is come out of the sky has been river flooding flash flooding on the ground and you can see from the forecast that will happen as it goes slow the sas with the remains they're all so sudden queens and and also northern new south wales look pretty potentially stormy in the next few days new south wales the rest of em victoria looks rather a dry a picture temperature wise it's still hottest in the west of the 38 again in perth up to 40 rods i'm yet to friday which is still a stormy day in queensland and we get on to new zealand you see more rain significant rain throughout south and eventually north in the next 2 days. for the al-jazeera wild pugh's into the murky wild of state sponsored spyware. and the discovery by al jazeera journalists in syria that technology and smartphones carefully system. is this the new frontier of espionage.

think about the sophistication of exports to break into phones this is as good as it gets. the spy you know on al-jazeera. move. about the watch of his are with me so romney a reminder of our top stories democratic challenger raphael warnock has won a hotly contested u.s. senate runoff in georgia he beat republican incumbent kelly loffler in the other race democrat john also off holds a slim lead over david perdue but that race is still too close to call the outcome

will decide the balance of power in congress and hong kong police have arrested $53.00 pro-democracy politicians and activists there being accuse observer state power is the biggest crackdown under the controversial national security law which china imposed last year. and north korea's leader kim jong un has held a rare political convention where he's admitted the country's economic plan has failed significantly he promised the workers party would find a way to make a radical leap forward and. supporters of president began gathering outside the u.s. congress in washington d.c. as congress gets ready to certify the presidential election 1000 expected to take part in wednesday's so-called march to save america they reject joe biden's victory claiming election fraud a baseless claim trump has repeated since the vote in november well the certification is set to take place later on wednesday i will mark the final stage in the process to officially declare biden as the 46th president of the united

states but as particle hain explains in this era of trump is expected to be controversial and unprecedented. this announcement of the state of the vote it's supposed to be a formality. the us vice president along with members of congress receiving the certified votes from the states donald trump of new york has received for president of the united states 304 votes and declaring the election over by president al gore did it george w. bush of the state of texas has received for president of the united states 271 votes and he had just lost the election to george bush by just over 500 votes the vice president votes but his vice president my pence prepares to take the gavel he is under pressure to throw out joe biden's win and i hope mike pence comes through for us i have. was brazil. a great vice president comes through for us he's

a great guy. for us if he doesn't come through a lot like a quite as much according to the constitution the vice president doesn't have the power to do what the president wants but more than 100 house republicans and at least 13 senators have promised to try i have an announcement georgia. i january 2nd i will it just to feel like toro was 1000 they're calling for an emergency audit of the vote and are threatening to challenge the results for key states if they don't get it we've got tens of millions of americans now think this election was stolen we need to get to the bottom of it again what's what's explained we need to explain it get that off the table to be clear there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud even though the trump campaign has filed almost 60 lawsuits claiming that there is all of which

have been thrown out by the courts but if these republicans do object to certify the results from certain states then each chamber will debate each challenge for up to 2 hours before voting on whether to certify the results it's unlikely they have the votes to actually change the outcome challenges have been made in the past but never with these kinds of numbers i would like to see it named for what it is which is the republicans are making a plea to get rid of democracy and and and offer something else which looks like entrenched politicians get to decide who the next leader is and it's absolutely breathtaking as a matter of constitutional basics never before has the loser of a presidential election refused to concede or call the election stolen but for president trump this is one more precedent breaking move on his way out a last ditch and likely futile attempt to stay in power patty called me out to 0.

venezuela's president nicolas maduro has talked his grip on power with the swearing in of a national assembly controlled by his socialist party that marks the end of control by the opposition who boycotted last month's election because they said it wasn't free. trees about has the story. the. years of latin america's independence hero. and late 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 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 daughter to take power in the assembly.

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 proclaimed himself press and claiming model 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. in this effort and the sacrifice it's worth it this need for change and the 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 madeira from office is small but he still has a stock for a political. fight the united states will continue to recognize him 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 ruler the legal tools he lacked in the past and the appearance of legitimacy in front of international law. with the sma duro 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 concessions that legally need to be done by the assembly aside from their madeira from a real point of view already controlled every institution. 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. several mass graves have been discovered by the libyan government in the city of the forces of all old clean to have to took over the city hundreds of civilians were detained killed and tortured people who say war crimes were committed and want to see those responsible face trials of the international criminal court there is a bullet train a report from to her but we do warn you that you may find some of the images in his story disturbing. a grisly discovery in the city of this mass graves is evidence people here say of the war crimes committed by

fighters loyal to the warlord who is faster to who knows how to command center during his campaign to seize the libyan capital tripoli. hundreds of people are alleged to have been killed here by that and can you know that militia loyal to him those who have lost relatives want those responsible to face the international criminal court or i.c.c. in the hague will be held and if the militia kidnapped my brother who has 6 children they have developed psychological disorders where is my brother where is the government where is our justice system i call in the justice ministry and the i.c.c. to arrest the perpetrators there is anger here into huna over the lack of accountability committed by forces loyal to have their city officials fear if justice isn't served who did them it and lawful means the generations to come may see greater abuse in themselves the i.c.c. has started an investigation but has yet to bring any charges. if you say that

there is a clear lack of support from the government we are in dire need of help at the very least we need a team of therapists for our children to deal with the psychological conditions. 75 years old she says her brother and 6 other men from her family were kidnapped by the ilkhan yet militia she believes they were killed beside her a sign that reads no real conciliation until those missing are returned she says she has $45.00 grandchildren who have lost their fathers what had a total not whom i thought it will happen and don't want to is a massacre the dirt here is trembling from injustice the innocent are killed and shaking in their graves the criminals are roaming freely in eastern libya and the innocent are either dead or missing is that justice. her 10 year old grandson tells us he misses his father and uncle he says he will avenge his family when he grows up it's authorities don't know yet and justice isn't served for the thousands

of families affected by how to his military campaign there is no political solution that will heal their. wounds and memories that will likely last for generations now a trainer al-jazeera to whom the head of the world health organization says he's disappointed that chinese officials have not finalized permissions for the arrival of experts into china to examine the origins of cave at 19 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 med it clear that the mission is a priority for doubly joe and the international team i have been assured that china is speeding up the internal procedure for the earliest possible deployment we're

going to get the mission underway as soon as possible. germany is extending its nationwide lockdown until the end of the month it's also introducing tougher restrictions in a bid to control surging coronavirus infections chancellor angela merkel says the country needs to restrict contact more strictly. legislatively for the interface to our goal of course remains to get below 50 infected people pretend 1000 inhabitants 7 days so that the tracing of infection change is possible again this becomes even more important because we're aware of the mutation of the virus in the u.k. which spreads more quickly and thus causes more infections for contact this means we have to be to take care of the careful here in the united kingdom reported more than 60000 kroner virus cases in a day for the 1st time one choose day came as the government announced a new national lockdown in england in some parts of the country an estimated one in 50 people now has covert 19 but levels of the new strain growing rapidly in the

capital need barker reports now from london the sign painters were out at dawn reaffirming the rules the spread of coronavirus in the u.k. is spiraling out of control after months of confusing on and off restrictions for many the new total lockdown lore in england from wednesday is a wearisome next step but the new variant of the virus 50 percent more transmissible than the 1st threatens to wreak havoc on the nation's health system in a downing street briefing the prime minister called for one last major national effort to stem the virus before massive vaccinations turn the tide when the number of patients in hospitals in england is now 40 percent higher than the 1st peak in april i think obviously everybody you want to be sure that we in government. i'm now using every 2nd of this lockdown to put that

invisible shield around the elderly and the vulnerable in the form of vaccination only a few days ago the government was urging parents to get ready to send their children back to school after the holidays but now under the new restrictions they're close to virtually all people must work from home and all hospitality and non-essential shops shut and there are fines for rule breakers scotland wales and northern ireland have imposed similar measures it is almost a mirror image of the 1st national lockdown 10 months ago we're very familiar concerns about the impact on businesses in the economy which is why the british government says it will release extra billions to help soften the blow the streets in central london are quiet and empty but after days of government indecision other areas seem slower to catch on. the majority of people packed the latest lock down but rather than the owner simply being on people to follow the rules and expose the

rule breakers experts are calling for greater government clarity and support in many ways the problem doesn't lie with people's resilience with their psychology with their willingness to do things it lies with government policy so if you look at the areas where there is low at here it's low compliance like for instance of isolation in the u.k. it's very much to do with the fact that we give people precious little support to do something that is difficult for instance it's very difficult if you live in a multiple captaincy house to isolate from from others so we could as they do for instance in a number of countries we could give people who tell accommodation to support people people are also more likely to follow the rules if the measures are working their fear is that the tactic employed in earlier waves won't be enough alone to contain the new variant this remains one of the country's best hopes the rollout of the oxford astra zeneca jab began on monday the government sets numbers just targets of

inoculating 13000000 vulnerable people by the middle of february this is now a critical race between the virus and the vaccine needs park out london. noise has become the 1st country in the world to electric cars make up most of their call sales now new figures show that 54 percent of all their calls purchased 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 and diesel cars by 2025. 0 with me said robin a reminder of our top news stories democratic challenger raphael warnock has won a hotly contested u.s. senate runoff in georgia he beat republican incumbent kelly loffler now in the other a stomach that john also off holds a slim lead over david pity you but that race is still too close to call.