the very best this could be the end of communism or the. crisis and. that defines our march to. 1979 big bang. starts december 23rd w. this is deja vu news asia coming up a ritual sacrifice thousands of animals and a pall killed in the name of religion for hindu davao to suggest to the gods for animal rights activists a cruel custom plus is a crackdown underway in sri lanka as growth of iraq takes the helm of the country we take a closer look at what his leadership means for opponents and minorities. i'm

serious almost down to welcome to date of your news asia it is good to have you with us it's been called the world's bloodiest festival every 5 years in nepal hindu the forty's gather for the god the my festival in they paul a religious event where thousands of animals are sacrificed to a hindu goddess but it is a controversial practice and it's pretty devote against animal rights activists who have been fighting to get the mass sacrifice stopped it's a gruesome scene thousands of buffalo slaughtered in a field but the hindu pilgrims this is a gift to a goddess a sacrifice meant to bring luck and prosperity. devoted from all over the country bring their animals for slaughter families journey here carrying along their heart's deepest desires while mother my son failed in his exams promise to offer a goat in about 4 of his grades improved. his grades are good now and i hope my son

will finish 1st in his class. the centuries old tradition takes place every 5 years in the remote nepali village of the poor. animal rights activists have long argued that it's inhumane and in 2016 nepal supreme court agreed calling on the government to bring an end to the practice. the supreme court of neighbor has already taken certain steps and the government really needs to come into play here and make sure that these steps are implemented i'm fortunately i don't really see much of an effort put on the ground sacrifices taking place and be added that concern the doesn't register with worshippers here who believe their sacrifice serves a higher purpose. that's not what i do animal rights groups interfere i don't understand what they want they came here 5 years ago but our beliefs are stronger

than those of the animal rights activists or the level. officials have begun encouraging to vote he's to offer money instead of livestock but with scenes like this it's hard to see that any alternative would have broad appeal with the faithful. and for more on the story we can speak as they have stressed that she's the president of the federation of animal welfare naipaul she joins us from kathmandu high say her in 2016 the supreme court there nepal directed authorities to stop the sacrifice why is it still happening. it's a near like you know like it's so humid out there still is a van marked these are like it's not banned. by you know but it up movies we start a slaughter but instead i had other discussions that it was like the fight davies a man from the indian government in very anyone. but because of lacking in senses

and often what it has not come people is to me does it be parted of the work is gone from india to center this 1st of all that mean is not was happening. ok and so have we look at the perspective of the davao teens who come to us festival they would say you know the animals here are not being tortured this is part of their tradition a very deep and rich tradition to tradition isn't it important to respect that as well it is important for us but the guard is nervous and on my spirit being he is but all are authorities but i guess that it wasn't the fight that there's the defense thank. god this is the mother of the universe and all that gives us and he was somehow kind of mother us the life it's once you i don't think so ok and you know some difficulties because of the opposition have said they will stop sacrificing animals so do you hope that you can change people's minds or do

you think that authorities are going to have to step in and enforce this yes we need to stand the people's mind because of our long being made to do this time did not simply 5 the number of sickly i descend has been dropped companies in the previous post will have to work on the ground and as well as government events they don't want to get stuck this kind of is the one we know a lot of the one i think ok so they have stress that president of the federation of animal welfare nepal thank you very much for joining us. thank you so much. sri lanka is heading for new elections early next year after president got the buyer rajapaksa announced he is suspending parliament since one thing to victory in elections last month but a fox that is looking to ride the wave of popularity has promised to make sri lanka safe again after the easter sunday bomb attacks that killed 269 people and he has

the support of the buddhists and how a majority but his critics and the country's minorities are worried about their own safety rajapaksa is accused of being responsible for human rights abuses against opponents and minorities during sri lanka's long running civil war in a country where ethnic tensions have divided communities for decades there are growing fears that the new president will rule with an iron fist. steeped in symbolism president go to buy a rajapaksa swearing in ceremony at a revered put is trying was a clear signal of his political agenda. rajapaksa is a member of sri lanka's majority some khaled buddhist community. he's a former military man and his defense secretary oversaw the defeat of tamil separatists that ended. 10 years ago. but he has been

accused of human rights violations during the crackdown and of eva seeing forced disappearances of a penance and dissidents. his reputation as a strong man gave him a boost in the polls with security a huge issue in the country especially after the easter sunday attacks in april this year in which militants linked his lot mixtape killed more than 250 people. i consider the foremost responsibility of my government to ensure the national security of my country. we will rebuild the state security machinery is to secure the country from terrorism underworld activities robbers extortionists good and i get a lot. to put his nationalists from this and how a community will be choice and his victory for them it's immense the majority

status of the sinhalese of the other ethnic groups in the country. we don't have as we know remote and ideology that the country needs us in our leader does not bend down in front of minorities now that ideology has won. islamic banks and courts sharia universities those all destroyed the social integrity that we have. in the. many fear that drudge of pax's presidency will stop the flames of that hatred against minorities and especially muslims. but at the end of it honestly some of the sinhala people have misunderstood us and think that muslims are cruel and must be eliminated. so we have a fear that muslims could be attacked again using the easter sunday bombings as an excuse. to light would be going to end it by amity. since winning the election

president rajapaksa has surrounded himself with the highest of nationalist politicians not least his own brother who is in south president for 10 years and was sworn in as prime minister in november. the fact that political power now lies so firmly in the hands of sri lanka sinhalese majority will exacerbate fears that such a pax's presidency might happen up old rifts among religious and ethnic communities . and we can speak to human rights activist ricky fernando he joins us for more on this story rikki good to see you thank you for joining us here on d w we have seen news already of authority seeking information on sri lankans who have fled who have left the country we've also seen an opposition media outlet that had their offices raided tell us more about how the environment in sri lanka has changed since the election. the environment for minorities particularly religious minorities and also human rights activists independent minded journalist

is becoming more and more fearful and uncertain and there's also fear and uncertainty about institutions whether they would be able to continue to function as they have been functioning before and there's also uncertainty of it as some of the progress made in a few cases of humorous violations like disappearance this is a nation's progress as they have been progressing in the last few years so there's a green be the fear and uncertainty there's a lot of uncertainty as you're saying we've seen reports of activists actually leaving the country are you planning to stay and sri lanka and why i certainly am planning to stay here and i think there are many more activist who are planning to stay there many of us have stayed in sri lanka in very difficult and dangerous times but there is a great deal of fear there is actually on the contrary there is a couple of activists we were different from when we was a thinking that there might invite been prices in travel overseas for human rights

related meetings so all those days a great deal of uncertainty and fear there are many activists who are determined to stay and continue their activism. now president of pax and winning the election he said right away all minorities have the right to practice religion and culture that will be assured he has also been focusing on no reviving sri lanka's struggling economy so are the fears that you're describing based on his reputation perhaps and not on reality is some only based on reputation and partly it's that repudiation of the history of reprisals minorities and decent as it was through but also because of what's been happening in the last few weeks since his election is there's been independent journalists been summoned into it that there's been receipts by intelligence agencies or pieces of sousa's idea organizations there's been suicide activists who've been someone finder a geisha and there's been a variety of intimidations that have been going on in the last few weeks so fears and uncertainty is also based on days and in terms of the fears an uncertainty is

about progress being made for accountability particularly in terms of court cases pending before sri lankan courts there's also for by the transfer of a. very important lead investigator shani of a seeker and also the fleeing the country of one of the investigator understand sube so these are all grounded on what's been happening the last few years last 2 weeks but also the historical record of the right boxes of human rights activists everybody fernando speaking to us thank you very much thank you. we'll leave you now with pictures from hong kong of this weekend marks 6 months since pro-democracy demonstrators started taking to the streets to fight what they see as china's growing influence in the territory here's a look back now at 6 months of hong kong's protests we'll see you next time.

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moon. travel now. economies around the world are cooling what does that mean for the globe's biggest cities those economic engines built on trade manufacturing and finance we'll take a look. also on the show china's carbon balance is a hot topic at the ongoing u.n. climate change conference. and more worries about the safety of ride healing services as goober reveals thousands of sexual assaults on both passengers and drivers. this is your business report i'm stephen beers in berlin thanks for

watching the trade wars starting to affect economic growth in the world's largest cities that's according to a new oxford economics report researchers say g.d.p. growth in 9 of the top 10 biggest global cities will slow in 2020 they said the trade war in a general global slowdown is having effect american high tech regions like silicon valley will be especially hard hit over the next few years a growth in china's 4 largest metropolitan areas beijing shanghai and pictured here has been around 10 percent per year for the last decade but that's expected to slow to 6 percent over the next 2 years and the fastest growing cities in the world are in india but despite booming growth rates in places like surat and bangalore overall those cities are economic lightweights when compared to the likes of new york london and tokyo now let's bring in our financial correspondent in singapore andrea hang. so many of the fastest growing cities here as i just said are in india

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