stream on out is there. understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world. take place we'll bring you the news and current or for that matter to you. more than 50 pro-democracy activists and former politicians accusing them of trying to overthrow the city's government. elam's the rommany watching after their allies my headquarters here in doha are also coming up they want 'd to sell it. to work for all of georgia the u.s. state of georgia relax its 1st black senator moving democrats a step closer to securing a majority in the senate also in the u.s. members of congress prepare to turn

a ceremonial occasion to certify the presidential results into a partisan fight. and the netherlands is the last day you nation to begin its covert 1000 vaccination rolled. back into the program police in hong kong have arrested more than 50 pro-democracy politicians and activists in early morning raids it's the biggest crackdown so far under the controversial national security law which china imposed last year beijing declared the polls illegal immoral that the 600000 people who voted broke the law we begin our coverage with adrian brown in hong kong. former legislator lam choking didn't seem surprised when police came knocking at his front door early on wednesday morning they tell him he's suspected of violating the new national security law. a scene played out of more than 50 other addresses in hong kong the

drama was recorded by an unidentified person inside lamb's home and later posted on his facebook page before he was taken away al-jazeera had interviewed him several weeks ago just after he resigned as a pro-democracy politician along with almost the entire opposition camp i will keep fighting for democracy of hong kong their version of enda and the guy that was in response to the disqualification of full fellow legislators following a ruling by china's highest political body police say wednesday's operation involve more than a 1000 officers and involve raids on 3 media outlets as well as honor office where a solicitor who is also a us citizen was arrested we have a arrest 53 presses for the all francis office a person under the. p.b.s.

the national security law the detentions were linked to an unofficial primary vote held last july to select candidates for the legislative elections due 2 months later a poll that was eventually canceled with the hong kong government citing covert 90 now all those involved in organizing a primary are suspected of subversion which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment a further sign of the tightening authoritarian grip here says one analyst it seems to me this is the chinese communist party trying to change the political culture of hong kong it's imposing leninism why did they arrest these people because they demonstrated capacity to organize the u.s. president elect joe biden has said that china will be at the center of his foreign policy so it's possible hong kong will be an early point of friction with china's

president xi jinping who has said the campaign against ascent here is justified in the name of safeguarding national security adrian brown al jazeera hong kong. well in july hong kong's opposition held an unofficial primary vote just mentioned to select candidates for the parliamentary election china said those primaries violated the wide reaching national security legislation that it imposed on kong a month earlier where the old gives broader powers to punish political crimes or as a result of a year of anti-government protests china's says the national security law will help return stability to the territory but human rights groups say it erodes freedom countries like canada and the united kingdom began making immigration easier for him congress some activists began to flee the territory well earlier we spoke to said he pro-democracy activist who fled hong kong in august he stressed the urgent need for an international response. freedom distaste opportunities will be

really limited on the ground and therefore through the help from the international community because of the foreseeable future we can longer access pace there will be any large scale social cold has in hong kong due to the repression and those also difficult lighting and the same time when most of the politician activists are arrested due to this is it is and that's these are all hope of democracy camp. being practically eaten by the big government and that's why the help from the international community we should not abandon the holy and freedom of hong kong so society the congress party can actually use economy dominance try to impart to you apparently and to to ask them not to bother about the human rights issue in china and this is not just about hong kong is also about people who

currently suffer bats and shin chan and that's why we urge the especially near should stop and stop signing. as just as take a step step back try to cause sit at the other crosses. coming in fast and. the us nowhere democrats are close to taking control of the u.s. senate to senate seats were at stake in one of elections in the state of georgia on tuesday in warm democratic raphael warnock has beaten republican incumbent kelly loffler and in the other race the democratic challenger has a slim lead ellen fisher reports now 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. anything. is possible. because the 1st african-american elected to the senate from georgia a state which has been overwhelmingly republican for a generation the 2nd race remains too close to call democrat george off 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 will 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 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 al-jazeera atlanta georgia. here's an associate professor at the department of political science at

emory university she says even if democrats control both chambers of congress there's no guarantee that joe biden will be able to get his agenda passed. 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 until donald trump was president of the united states an important thing to point out is that even with a unified party control there is no guarantee that every democratic agenda would make it through the u.s. senate unscathed and in particular dare are is going to be some contest station between more moderate and more progressive democrats so there would have to be some compromise made in order for anything to get passed. supporters of president old trump began gathering outside the u.s. congress in washington d.c. u.s. congress gets ready to certify the presidential election well thousands are expected to take part in wednesday's so-called march to save america they reject joe biden's victory claiming election fraud thanks to claim trumpets repeated since

the vote in november. well he said if occasion is set to take place on wednesday i will long the final stage in the process to officially declare by was the 46th president of the united states is political hain explains in this era of trump it's 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 heads comes through

for us i have. was rising. our 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 judge to be at work tomorrow 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 the 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 go out to 0. they had of the world health organization says he's disappointed that chinese officials are not finalized permissions for the arrival of experts into china to examine the origins of covert 19. i am very disappointed with this news given that to remember is 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 it made it clear that the mission is a priority for w joe and the international team i have been assured that china is building the internal procedure for the earliest possible deployment we're going to get the mission underway as soon as possible in the united states california has confirmed

4 new cases of the more contagious strain of covert 19 the state recorded a single day high of 74000 of all virus infections on monday and the number of patients in i.c.u. wards has now quadrupled since november the head of health services in los angeles says hospitals are so overcrowded patients are being left in hallways and ambulances when germany's lockdown has been extended for another 3 weeks and this time the rules are even more stringent vaccinations there and the rest of the 27 nation european union started over a week ago earlier on wednesday a nurse became the 1st person in the netherlands to receive a covert 19 shots is being criticized for being the last one in europe to do so. correspondents basson is live for us standing by and it's done it's been a painfully slow rollout of the vaccine in the last. today.

absolutely a very frustrating and slow start of the fact the nation program here in the netherlands just started this morning the fact scene was stored for nearly 2 weeks people here especially medical workers were looking at neighboring countries for fractionation for in full swing and nothing was happening here the government has come under a very strong criticism yesterday in parliament they had to defend themselves the prime minister margaret. mistakes have been made and also the minister of health was under a lot of pressure we seem to have just lost at the moment medical workers are being facts in a. hospital here behind me can you still hear me of course the you know the government to do a lot of pressure as you say but all eyes of course not just on the government but on the medical authorities to seek approval of the vaccine know what news on mars.

exactly european medicine agency has started its meeting at nearby in amsterdam to decide on the modern arphaxad the approval was delayed it was supposed to be approved to last monday but they needed additional information so they have another meeting we expect this decision by the by 13 g.'s this isn't a few hours from now it's very eagerly awaited because especially in countries like germany where many people have been inoculated already vaccines are actually running low so they are really needing not a vaccine to come to the market as soon as possible because also after the price of a vaccine has been given a 2nd shot is needed and like in the u.k. in germany this this 2nd shot might be delayed which could also lead to certain complications so that's why it's important they're all waiting for this decision here and i'm for that and then of course there's another fax in that most countries

here in europe especially in an island also has been counting on which is the astra zeneca vaccine and that approval process has yet to start so a lot of delays here in the european union indeed will see how the law of the lands through the day and i'm sure rejoining you literally as well thanks. well still ahead here on al-jazeera one day after gulf leaders announced an end to the cattle blockade many questions still remain. and a rare admission from the north korean leader kim jong un the knowledge is his economic policies have failed and says the country has learned painful lessons those stories after the break. it's time for the perfect gentleman who went on sponsored point qatar airways

this wintry weather is significantly dangerous strong winds and snow developing over the sea of japan the sea hitting home shoe and hawk down a metre to snow like the art of what's already there the avalanche risk will be high and anyway most people get to be snowed in to be honest if you're facing the coast is getting progressively colder in tokyo it's pretty cold elsewhere stowe has caught the western edge of south korea it might do the same again if you insult your high temperatures minus 10 for both thursday and friday it's subzero in shanghai and is dropping down to a hari of 13 in hong kong it's a really cold or significant weather likely to be in japan snow's been the story up in kashmir as well and this disturbance in the atmosphere is given a bit more moisture which is not good news low level weather in russia stan the north of india has been persistently folkies or not quite as close as being and the rain has been hans does well in chennai and as you can see in the forecast it's

further west and this is a little unseasonal to be quite honest and it doesn't do anything to lift the fog in the north of india and the northwest of pakistan this is the forecast for delhi for the next few days need i say more. sponsored power qatar airways. from fossil fuels to modern day renewable as societies develop their energy demands increase requiring innovative solutions to make such demands as a global power development of investment companies nebraska power is uniquely positioned to deliver against these developments we provide business growth promote social economic benefits and provide innovative safe and environmentally sound energy solutions for future generation the brash pioneering future energy.

of the back i want you all deserve me to hell romney a reminder of our top news stories hong kong police have arrested 53 pro-democracy politicians and activists are being accused of subverting state power is the biggest crackdown under the controversial national security law which china imposed last year democratic challenger raphael warnock has won a hotly contested u.s. senate runoff in the state of georgia he beat republican incumbent. in the other race democrat jon also holds a slim lead over david purdy but the race is still too close to call the outcome will decide the balance of power in congress and germany's lockdown has been extended for another 3 weeks this time the rules are even more stringent on wednesday the netherlands vaccinated its 1st citizen

a care home nurse make it one of the last countries in the e.u. to begin the rollout. saudi arabia the united arab emirates bihari and egypt have agreed to restore full diplomatic relations with tathata the announcement followed choose days golf summit in the saudi city of. the could tare amir's 1st visit to saudi arabia since the illegal blockade began 3 years ago delegates from the gulf countries signed a declaration calling for solidarity and stability. all of 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 flight etc all of that will now go back to normal but it might sound like happy families but hey let's cross over to mohammed values live for us at home at international airport in. homage to one wonders whether the lifting of the blockade now means that one would see the resumption of connectivity both on the ground and in the air we saw you on the ground obviously yesterday at the border the land border nothing was happening there any flights started between holland and saudi it'll.

well so not yet exactly we have been here for like an hour or 2 looking around we looked at the boards we don't see any shed your lights from qatar or to qatar so far so there is no statement so far from the qatar airways about the timing of this but we know that it is happening very soon that's what they told us and we know that the world is waiting for this and the region in particular and the people of this region are waiting for this because tremendous difficulties that result of 3 years ago on this blockade the arab blockade would remember as frequent flyer as the doubling of the hours of flights from here to sudan foresters from here to south africa and even from here to europe and in and many other countries that situation is going to end because you know with the lifting of the blockade now means shorter flights even best's even cheaper fares so many people many entities

are going to benefit by this not only qatar airways that lost tremendous amounts of its income because of that blockade but also even other airlines remember that it is not just qatar airways that is going to benefit it's also. airlines the saudi airlines because they've been using doha and and it's only going to be positive even climate change may benefit reports talking about this gas emissions because there will be shorter flights from qatar to the rest of the world so it's going to be a very good news when it starts it's very go to start very soon but not yet not yet so he indeed i'm sure will be many also disconnected families that would like to connect in the not too distant future of course will be very close i what's going on at the airport in doha thank you. wiki leaks founder julian assange will soon learn if he'll get his 1st taste of freedom in more than 80 years a bail hearing is being held in london on monday a judge rejected a request by u.s. prosecutors to extradite

a songe on espionage charges he's accused of endangering lives by publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential documents the extradition attempt was blocked on account of his mental health. north korea's leader has made a rare admission of failure speaking during the country's largest political event kim jong un said its economic plan had failed significantly and acknowledged painful lessons have been learned rob bride has more from seoul in south korea. a rarely held event it is normally the propaganda set piece for the ruling workers' party of korea to trumpet its achievements but in his opening address north korea's leader kim jong un admitted his country has failed economically going through what he called the worst of the worst organ injury entry in the country's 5 year economic development plan finished last year and we fell short of our goal significantly in almost every sector already facing international sanctions the

country has virtually sealed itself off from the outside world during the global pandemic it suffered further during typhoons and flooding over the summer that damaged infrastructure and crops. and the end of the trumpet ministration means the end of the road for the unprecedented period of summit diplomacy with the united states in october north korea put on an impressive show of strength at the 75th anniversary of the ruling party's founding but kim seem to be suffering the strains of recent setbacks kim jong un must be really really frustrated even saw disappointed our bart lack of any progress you specially on the front of economic development since the breakdown of the summit meeting with the u.s. president on from in hanoi so the north korean leadership has been basically flailing trying this and that without any well coordinated strategy

north korea watchers will be looking in the coming days of this congress for any clues about kim's likely approach to the new administration of u.s. president elect joe biden and whether there will be a return to more traditional arm's length diplomacy. the 1st test could come soon with a possible announcement of resumed military exercises between u.s. and south korean forces in the spring which had been largely suspended during trumps term you have a very a narrow window of opportunity very limited amount of time for biden or the musicians to. strike a conversation and dialogue with north korean regime so close to the inauguration north korea's position for now seems to be a cautious wait and see. from the bride al-jazeera seoul. the u.s.

director of national intelligence is the latest official to point the finger at russia over a massive hacking attack president trump has downplayed the attack and trying to shift the blame away from russia cable and on to has more from washington d.c. . this is really a definitive statement by the wider intelligence community pointing the finger directly at russia the statement says that it is in their words quote likely that russia was the origin of this attack and they said it was a serious compromise that that will require a sustained and dedicated effort to remediate the statement also said that the purpose of the attack according to the intelligence agencies in the u.s. was not to bring down computer systems in america but rather to just intelligence gather and to get intelligence and they believe that was the purpose of this attack now this is a significant statement because it comes from 4 different key government agencies

the u.s. director of national intelligence but also who signed on to this statement was the f.b.i. n.s.a. and homeland security as well so that was is why this is considered such a definitive statement and while they're not saying that it is absolutely russia clearly they're saying it is very likely in this statement they did not provide any evidence on how they are reaching that conclusion now this so-called solar winds attack that happened last month was one of the most devastating and significant cyber attacks here in the u.s. in recent memory had brought down or at least brought it was an attack on at least no less than 10 federal u.s. government agencies and as well as dozens of other private companies as well were also hit by this. what you'll do there with me so rob a reminder of all top stories hong-kong please of the rest of.