used to be didn't of human and i'm still using them in understood 2 going in. a mob of hong kong antigovernment activists around the territories the justice minister in london pushing to raise a child into the ground and leaving her badly shaken. beating appalled and devastated the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine testifies the 2nd public impeachment inquiry into donald trump saying she's become a target for the president and his allies. and child abuse in the u.k. links to beliefs including witchcraft is on the like this with many saying political correctness is becoming a barrier to protecting vulnerable children. very

well welcome to you you're watching our national with me nikki erin it's great to have you with us and our top story this hour following months of protests for a lot from the unrest in hong kong is now being felt much further afield for the 1st time since sunday government demonstrations began on the chinese territory activists have attacked the hong kong official who was visiting london. was. was very well the video that we just saw shows hong kong's justice secretary terry's a chain who was actually at the time in the u.k. giving a speech about successful dispute resolution how she was targeted by dozens of protesters who pretty much mobbed her as she left the car now the activists were yelling murderer and they also chase her down the street to put it show of the

incidents the one that we just saw shows a chain being swamped and screamed ad and at some point she was even pushed to the ground and she injured her arm and she was taken to hospital by ambulance for treatment now an interesting detail is that hong kong's justice secretary kerry's the chain is actually quite a key figure in the drafting of now with drone acts tradition bill that sparked all the protests and the 1st place now china has of course already commented on this incident with hong kong justice secretary the boy into moves perpetrators who organized one on one communication committed the fragrance assault on the senior official of the poem kong special administrative region it has once again proved that the rule intention is to destabilize hong kong now the taking such violence abroad went into the u.k. the action deserves to be condemned not always by been tied chinese people

including the hong kong compatriots but also by the british public and the international community unanimously there was a very formal response to this violent incidents from the u.k. police and woman was taken to hospital by london ambulance service suffering an injury to her arm inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances that has been orest at this stage one of a constant. you know we've seen since the protests broke out in the hong kong the protesters themselves the clearing strenuously about their protests are peaceful but we've been seeing them. lots of blockades can we bring in the kind of difference what's happening there well they do not seem to be asked species full as they claim to be kong has been crippled by protests since march but practically all over the place the media continues to call them peaceful however they have been

seen to be quite familiar with medieval style weaponry there even building watchtowers and even using catapults to stand off police for instance the daily mail put and it's had lined the story of how protesters are using swimming pools to tast patra bombs so it does seem that the mainstream media in general is not really criticizing the methods that they're using but more somehow sort of romantic their struggle while the protesters transform hong kong university is into a weapons factories and armed themselves with patra bombs the media is still impressed but what they call novel methods of taking on riot police so it does seem that the coverage has focusing so far very little on the danger posed to those caught in the crossfire.

the. other night. we have from shanghai based professor benjamin child who believes that it's clear bias in the coverage of the protests. i'll try that on call i don't worry too much about prolong as a nation. and the violence there that matches the local violence of some of the protesters to hold the police is to constrain expression because the protestors as creative violence to this position of power the more i was such a point the hunger for this alone is really hard to can think about it but i know a large part of the general public is hugely unsatisfied to put it right now there

is no effective way to unite the polish to fight against the protesters yet you see what. some of this boston media covering the story i think is yes and the post and also some but the media not only china needs what we called the whole world i think will come because. the minds of hong kong will be one example of how one high the civil rights and peace process they did hell open knighted by some outside forces. former us ambassador to ukraine has claimed she feels threatened by donald trump allies the allegations were made public during the 2nd public hearing into the president's impeachment inquiry of alleged collusion with ukraine's leader the ex diplomat diplomats marie ivanovna chas being accused of hampering a corruption investigation into ukrainian energy company by democratic presidential hopeful joe biden's son held a top position let's go live now to new york and our correspondent ted of molten

for more on this case that good to see you quite serious accusation so far what else is being revealed during the impeachment inquiry bring us up to speed. so as the congressional hearings regarding the impeachment inquiry are continuing we've got testimony from marie in of it and she is testifying this is a former u.s. ambassador to ukraine she was removed from her position in may of 29 teen and she is testifying and donald trump is seems to not be quite happy about her testimony now she is one of the people that was mentioned in the phone call between trump and zelinsky and as she was testifying donald trump decided to speak up on twitter about what he thinks of her and he referred to or as the woman said that she is the bad news this is donald trump every women in the which when turned bad she started off in somalia how did that go than folks who would say ukraine with

a new ukrainian president spoke on favorably about her in my 2nd phone call with him it is a u.s. president's absolute right to appoint ambassador has now the former ambassador has accused donald trump of intimidating her she is furthermore said that she was not involved in the body biden family corruption scandal and that she was furthermore not involved in any meddling in the 2016 elections with information from ukraine being leaked in order to use against the trump campaign now it's also interesting that she seems to blame everything on u.s. president donald trump but not just trump also on russian president vladimir putin this is some of what we've heard. this theory of ukraine interference in the 2016 election and let amir putin's interest. well i mean president putin must have been aware that there were concerns in the u.s. about. russian meddling in the 2016 elections and what the potential was for

russian meddling in the future. you know classic for an intelligence officer to try to throw off the scent and create an alternative narrative that maybe might get picked up and get some credence now it's quite interesting to note that despite the fact that these are impeachment inquiry hearings regarding donald trump and possible inappropriate dealings with the government of ukraine the name of russian president vladimir putin seems to find its way into the headlines quite a bit you would wonder how relevant it is to the conversation but yet the name of lattimer putin seems to continuously come up in these impeachment inquiry hearings now it's also important to note that only $13000000.00 americans watched the 1st round of impeachment inquiry hearings and that was less than 5 percent of the population but if you'll look at a couple of years ago when james komi the former fired f.b.i.

director when he gave his testimony it was actually $19000000.00 americans that watched and when the brett kavanaugh hearing was happening with the accusations against the man who eventually became a supreme court justice there was actually 20000000 americans that watched that hearing and the testimony against brett kavanaugh so it seems that the u.s. public is less and less interested in these congressional investigations and hearings but the impeachment inquiry hearings will continue and more testimony is coming and date capable pin thank you both. these kind of open speaking life new york thank you. number of children in the u.k. known to have suffered abuse linked to witchcraft is rising according to local government figures but since most of those who practice that come from abroad the british government is being accused of turning a blind eye to phase it could face accusations of racism that shoddy at woodstock's

he takes up the story. hidden under the guise of religion faith and belief witchcraft is an ever increasing threat in child abuse cases in britain the number of such incidents has risen by more than a 3rd in just 2 years as local council say they are housing the equivalent of 38 cases every single week the shocking research released by the u.k.'s local government association also highlights f.p.m. or female genital mutilation it puts numbers at a record high with 1000 children having already been abused or at risk of it in the last year while it's more common in such an african communities the u.k. did have its 1st conviction for s.g.m. back in february.

despite that life threatening and dangerous practices like f.d.m. part as many as $60000.00 girls at risk every year there's a misconception that the ancient custom of s.g.m. is a religious one even though it originated some 2500 years ago meaning it predates both islam and christianity and is not mentioned in any holy scriptures nor endorsed by religious leaders but the cultural often described as a barbaric tradition mainly occurring in africa isn't being fought as it perhaps should be as experts say there's a fear of being called racist. i'm so angered by these figures for so long the political power that black people have has been dismissed people are scared to tackle if g.m. and witchcraft is this scared of being accused of racism but it's racist to ignore it it's more races to look away it really hurts that we still have to tell people the black kids need protecting following the 1st f g m conviction earlier this year

more measures have been put in place to help put an end to the epidemic of abuse including extra guidance for prosecutors and police is down to cultural practices it's down to ideologies and he's damned political correctness i want to know when a feminist song on this issue there is not enough we mean speech about this and it's because when women like me speak up we are told we are racist and he has to stop that's where you have the political correctness has got to go where we each is like a cancer and he stops people from breaking the silence we need more words we need strong words we need government and politicians and prime ministers to stand up and say that anyone anybody who is involved in this practice if there is even a remote suspicion children need to be looked at medically but much doesn't happen

either for so long abuses like f.e.m. have been hidden doused in sticker or into but it seems like calling a tower for what is maybe the only way to protect vulnerable children. from the protests in germany show no signs of relenting the latest event think thousands descend on how to vent their anger at the government's new agricultural policies traffic was brought to a halt as the city played host to a conference of the country's federal and regional environmentalists ministers who were discussing among other things imposing restrictions on the use of pesticides and many farmers say the new stricter regulations that would stifle the sector. among the masses that have provoked outcry on a ban on some pesticides and regulations to protect the groundwater from nitrates on thousands of bungalows tips us was with the farm as convoy as they set out the humvee. and. it is early and the morning 'd that they should be working on their lands but instead of

these german farmers have hopped on their tractors and will be rolling into amber to make a big point. as the country's regional and environmental ministers are meeting here in hamburg the farmers want to make it clear that the shifting balance between ecology and argue culture is putting them out of business as the ever tightening e.u. and national regulations on the use of chemicals from wheat killers and fertilizers the roots know we've become from the german government is so hard for us that we cannot drag on our farms we cannot have made good crops. have followed a frozen for the for the dairies at the root of the rigorous restrictions is the protection of wildlife and habitat the farmers agree the looking after nature is

the core to the job but what infuriates them more is how they were shut out of the conversation of how to go about implementing fundamental changes in their life would fall from this today we are staying here and spending a shoulder chose a minister for environment here in germany and we invited here to come here she is staying involved and she don't speak to us and we needs a communication that's good support lemus the biggest problem is that the politicians don't talk to those who want to have a dialogue with them and participate in the decision making processes. that's what we're here who'll be hurt. the government insists that germany's farmers are not a bad no i expect something from farmers yes they do and that is change but i don't do some of them supports in them financially or it is important is that we together with our european partners have direct payments as an instrument to support small

and medium sized farms and this is a very important signal for many farmers that they have certain insurance against fluctuations but the german government is under pressure itself by the european commission over its sluggish and environmental protection record there is even the prospect of huge fines and legal actions if they do not do more having tried time and again to quietly highlight their problems germany's farmers are now having to be more tough with ever public protests while they might be outflanked by the increasingly influential green lobby and the e.u. pushing the government for more reforms they're determined not to lead generations of farming families in the process eventually success for archie. now climate change is being blamed for devastating floods continuing to search through the italian city of venice that's the assessment of the matter as other officials called the was crisis back in half a century

a blow to the heart of italy. the basilica is at risk i prayed a lot i tried my best last night to see the crazy huge worry for me as well as through our city people's lives and security are my top priority now while we risked our lives thank god we had a security plan which is quickly implemented. well

let's discuss this further and cost live to our panel now i'm joined by rick stuff that a marine biologist on conservation expert dr sharon george is a senior lecturer in environmental sustainability and green technology also hope lyons a columnist for spikes on line and political commentator andre walker welcome all of you to the program is a pleasure to have you with us let's go to rob 1st place and from a scientific standpoint what trade get these floods in venice and why we now linking this to climate change while looking back to 966 it was put down to a freak storm and a drop in barometric pressure. well i think that there's a don't ongoing problem with all this which is that it's sinking and combined with a gradual rise in sea level means that this kind of thing is going to become more common they thought since your thought is of no that is for a very long time the most is project which is meant to protect venice has been

a very very long time coming and it's why behind churchill in the. and that's is the answer to the situation rather than talking about climate change in general it's about providing the infrastructure to properly protects venice in the future because this with that that has a high water on a regular basis and particularly bad examples like this committee for a few years and it's quite obvious that something very serious needs to be done to protect the city which is obviously surrounded by water and mindanao it's a rick please there rick the headlines of the worst flooding in half a century that very i catch in on they but flooding in this essay is that is you know it happens dozens of times a year so to what extent are climate change activists really looking to catch on to a big story here. i mean it's true that this isn't strictly gender climate change it is a series of different events it's very high tide coupled with the storm so climate changes could be exacerbated some of this in the fact that sea levels have risen

the plant 20 centimeters in the last 100 years so that's going to have a big effect is addition to that. in dan things like so again in individual events to climate change the frequency that these will occur will be more and more in the future so things like storms will become more prevail and that combined of the high tide is what we will cause this flooding so it can't be put so down to climate change they probably has exacerbated the effects yeah i'm moving out to all. according to the best images the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now at its highest in 3000000 years now this gas can linger for thousands of years trapping heat which in turn is warming the things in triggering floods 1st if you like venice sort of this is a major concern. well i think it's a concern whether it's a bigger concern i think is up for some level of debate look fundamentally freak weather patterns will happen they continue top and they have historically happened i think the concern that i've got is not so much that i'm against reducing

pollution or indeed reducing than about seo take we really since the atmosphere what i'm concerned about is a very shrill worry it which freak events like this are treated are really if you look at people like extinction rebellion who are campaigning in the united kingdom really to return britain to the stone age in order to achieve c o 2 targets are concerned we go over the top when the points i've made regularly is my concern about the way that we're traumatizing your own people by telling them the world is going to end imminently i saw young people on the television the other way. you will die of old age i will die of climate change i think that level of i think that that level of. trail choking ice and insincerity is incredibly dangerous and actually much more dangerous than the freak weather potts i was ever going to buy so right now we're told the toys and the kids i have to absolutely disagree with that the level of of c

o 2 rice that we're seeing now is unprecedented at the rate of rise you talk about this being an event that happens you know regularly in terms of history and the last 121 to get we're seeing flooding here on this level 6 times poor for those in the last 20 years so the weight of changes happening is happy faster and faster and that those natural disasters happening faster and faster and you have to consider that the majority of people around the globe live in major cities that are at risk there near to coastal areas in low lying flood areas and this isn't this isn't just the climate change activists being an alarmist here we have to look at the data and look at the way that c o 2 is rising and we're talking about climate. we might be too much to map. across the planet yes they are. yet the number of people who die

it natural weather disasters falls year on year look i'm not saying that we should be we should continue to pollute the planets in the way that we're doing it but what you've just said to what we just heard on this program watch out because most of us live in the areas of flooding or near the coastline that suggests there is it so you want some risk to your life and actually that's not true as i say the number of people who die in weather related incidents falls every single year ring let's. just in the mice in because you know you can have better all sorts of better infrastructure defanged days there's a huge risk from climate change then yes isn't necessarily the best example of something which mean happens there's a huge risk in competence and the atmosphere a new controversy not anybody but. yet can they be need be the banks they need to be economically as well so it's not just the race from the womb that that's not the

only thing that hits it is that in directly through our ability to grant the prices no social injustices that happen down the line it's a very complex situation that is look you look look well to tickle sit ins this happens in every generation was it thomas malthus who suggested i think a couple of 100 years ago that if the population rose over i don't know 500000000 then we would all starve to death because we wouldn't be able to grow all food these naysayers are always around when the parts i think's really important to get across here is the way that a lot of these climate activists oppose improvements in technology that actually are going to save the planet it's so i'll give you a classic example for years and years and years they are opposed to nuclear which is a 0 carbon technology today they do not want to allow was the time to move to a low carbon economy what they want to do instead. it's cutoff net carbon to 0 by

what in the next 20 years that would mean no more coming house because more like a state if no law heating of your homes it returns it returns britain to the stone age and that is something that i think we need to fight against because i do 6 truly dangerous let me also let me say that it's all very old veins and it is although he said it is all it is although they say it is all it is all very open if you used to talk about it it is all very easy for you to talk about not wanting economic growth as gretta from the those bought it's always phones and to do that if you are rich like gretta harder to do that if you are subsistence farmer in nigeria we have lifted that shape 1000000000 people i don't think you have again the past 10 years of war you guys want. people to medieval paul to take over your own how because he has a population gives thing tony what do you make when they're bringing people unnecessarily. wow i never think he's in with like hocus pocus about climate change that we very dangerous language we've been mapping this

date to the years and years we've been predicting what's happening we'll tell you i mentioned that a problem here is worried about what's going to happen because we have met the math and seen the rise of change of c o 2 levels at the rate of change that we see now and the limey tracks that local. but some of that stuff let's. see what's what are you going to do to replace fossil fuels and don't say wind and solar because they're just not up to it so what are you going to do to replace fossil fuels over them as well as living in the dark ages you're going to replace those is going to have a plan to do that or that was your solution is what i just wrote a book on this again you're talking about this exaggerating the risk of climate change which is a genuine risk and then it's the time you mention going back to you could make a stone. the dark age that's not going to happen does need to be

a change in how we look at the economy and it needs. to be more regs are thought about. plans on television gratz a film appears on television and says we need to end the myth of perpetual economic growth i make the point again that's easy to say if you're from sweden i can ride around the 4000000 pound yachts if you're subsistence farming africa that can demonstrate that sort of policies i think we have learned that the only thing people in the past 10 years i'm going to actually make my point was doing well and they have this climate change happening that's the most vulnerable place in the to climate change why do you why did you give up why did you give up your house and lifestyle and not economically grow yourself the truth a mattress why should children starve to death because of your how because pocus religion it's grotesque it's a there's an interesting show sometimes i thank you mr williams time that if you put billing address in order next year ends with a better economic model you of the juice in inequity in the population who. benefit

legal changes clients are up to the question the guy is rubbish out in australia that's been a case of a person suing his pension fund for not being green enough and while they have authorities in hawaii they've passed a measure to sue large companies and seek compensation for damaging effects of climate change is there a danger here that climate change might be used to make a quick buck do you rob. absolutely i mean there's ambulance chases in every single field my concern is that as i've stated already is that there is no alternative put forward really except we're going to change the economic system become explained how they're going to change the economic system in a way that allows people to carry on living the decent lifestyles and improve their lifestyles over time around the world the use of fossil fuels or or a technological development that's going to replace them there is no replacement

for fossil fuels as yet so just declaring that we're going to cut c o 2 is not the answer sorry no final thoughts please i think we can cut c n 2 and then we can cut c o 2 quite drastically by reducing the amount of energy that we use and we do have technology to capture this and we have technologies and new people we've got wind we've got away from marine technologies and things that haven't been exploited because of economic reasons and if we can invest in those shoes then we can our massive change this whole situation and we can reduce the waste massively on that note thank you all about participants in our panel ric staff of marine biologist and conservation expert dr sharon george is the senior lecturer on environmental sustainability and green technology rob lowe is a columnist despite a light and political commentator on jaywalk i thank you all. and thank you for joining us here on r.t. international we're back in 30 minutes with all the.