which they would be able to exploit these things and al—shabaab able to exploit these things and al—shaploit these things and al—shabaab is well aware of this and it exploits the so that troops drawdown is next year, the election is next year, with these kind of security situations, it's going to be incredibly difficult to conduct a one man, one vote inside somalia. so given that, what needs to happen now to try and prevent more attacks like this? i think one of the things that might not be very popular for a lot of people to hear, particularly at this delicate time, is we are past agreeing that al—sha baab this delicate time, is we are past agreeing that al—shabaab can be defeated by the use of force. it is a question now of the authorities not just a question now of the authorities notjust inside somalia but also the neighbouring countries, can you, ethiopia and other countries in the east african region and including the regional authorities, the intergovernmental authorities as well as the african union in the east african community to figure out a political solution out of this bec

well, the evidence is clear. 0bviously, al—sha baab are not doing? ab is part of somali people. we know that you cannot fight intelligence. it has been proven. if you look at iraqis, what happened in afghanistan, so we have been asking for a long time for the un and the international community to lift the embargo so we will be equipped to tackle this and do it on our own. we have neverfelt that someone from outside is able to help us defeat al—shabaab and that has never been the case. can see it clearly, it has been happening. as far as we clearly, it has been happening. as faras we are clearly, it has been happening. as far as we are concerned, we are 100% positive that we can take care of this on our own if we get the support from the international community rather than just coming up with ideas and joint attacks that we know cause civilian casualties every day. with that include sitting down with representatives of al—shabaab? i think it will come down to that. the time is now to start a dialogue and start negotiations. it has been happening in afg

the president of somalia has blamed al—sha baab militants

this tells us that al—sha baab is still strong.otect and save lives. somali forces are due to take over from african union forces in may, 2020. does this attack show the somali forces are clearly not ready to do that? actually, it is the opposite. ifeel that we have been ready and we have been waiting for this moment to arrive. the somali forces have been ready from day one. we know al—shabaab. 0ur troops are ready to fight, if the international community allow us to do that. 0ur boys will take care of that. the united states' defense department are conducting a review of american deployment in africa and, in somalia, there are 500—600 special forces troops carrying out drone strikes. will this attack lead america to reconsider its involvement in somalia? well, to be honest with you, we have never felt that the joint attacks are helping or eliminating al—shabaab. we know, in fact, that the intelligence on the ground is getting stronger and stronger. so this fight here against al—shabaab is something that we, as somalis, need to fin

the president of somalia has blamed al sha baab militants for a deadly bomb attack but said they wouldn't succeed in demoralising the somali people. 70 people died and many more were injured in the capital mogadishu. our africa correspondent andrew harding reports. moments after the blast, an eyewitness films the scene. smoke still billowing from a vehicle, the remains of what is thought to have been a massive car bomb. shocked civilians move in to look for survivors. the attack was timed to catch the morning rush—hour in mogadishu. many students had been heading to classes. dozens were killed when the bomb exploded at a busy intersection in the somali capital. attacks like this are not unusual here, but they are seldom so deadly. this man said the blast caught him as he was getting out of a minibus heading to work, his leg injured. within minutes, emergency workers were at the scene. somalia, plagued by violence for decades, is still wrestling with extremism. the country's president quickly blamed the islamist militant group al—shabaab. mohamed farmajo said their aim was to instil terror

this attack shows that al—sha baab for speaking to us. plan to defeat the group? well, we sure hope so! and what happened today is certainly an indication that there is no effective plan from the government's side in that horrible, horrible terrorism act that took place today, took dozens of lives. we don't know exactly the number, by the way, because the mayor of mogadishu right there holding a press c0 nfe re nce , mogadishu right there holding a press conference, two generals on each side were pressing him not to mention the numbers. did you think it might be more? so everything is politicised. you think it might be more people killed 7 politicised. you think it might be more people killed? 0h, definitely, definitely, and we will find out but the sad thing is nothing will change. under the current government, as you are aware, more people have been killed by terrorism in comparison to the previous government all combined, the number that were killed in the previous government all combined. so the question is if — and we know that al—sha

the president of somalia has blamed al sha baab militants for a deadly bomb attack but said they wouldn'ty more were injured in the capital mogadishu. 0ur africa correspondent andrew harding reports. moments after the blast, an eyewitness films the scene. smoke still billowing from a vehicle, the remains of what is thought to have been a massive car bomb.

well as african union and eastern african community, so figure out a political solution, because al—shae out a political solution, because al—shabab will not be completed defeated by force. solution, because al—shabab will not be completed defeated by forcem needs that political solution and certainly getting other groups together. i'm afraid we have to leave it there. thank you very much. riot police have clashed with protesters inside a major shopping centre near hong kong's border with mainland china. the retail outlet near the chinese city of shenzhen is popular with shoppers from the mainland. 0ur asia pacific regional editor michael bristow reports. in a few days, it will be a new year, but in hong kong it's now an old story — violent clashes between police and protesters. plain clothes officers arrested just over a dozen activists at a shopping centre near hong kong's border with china. the protesters have been trying to disrupt trade that takes place with the mainland. chinese shoppers travel to hong kong, buy cheaper products in bulk and then go back across the border to sell.

he believes al—sha bab, a group of islamist militants, are to blame, but said they wouldn't succeed inemoralising the somali people. the us democratic presidential hopeful, joe biden, has tried to clarify comments in which he appeared to rule out testifying at donald trump's impeachment trial. mr biden told reporters that he had always complied with legitimate requests from congress. riot police have made arrests and fired pepper spray in a hong kong border town after about 100 masked demonstrators gathered in a shopping centre. they were protesting against shoppers from mainland china. demonstrators have been targeting shopping centres across hong kong all week. more protests are planned leading up to january 1st. now on bbc news, it's time for dateline london's look hello, and welcome to dateline london, the programme that brings together some of the uk's leading columnists with the foreign correspondents who file their stories for the folks back home with the dateline london. it being a reflective time of the year, we're looking back on 2019 — when britain backed boris to get brexit

just this month five were we killed when an islamist militant group al sha bab targeted this hotel popularlitary officers leading to a fierce gun battle with security forces. no group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast but for citizens of this bustling capital city it is a horribly familiar scene. riot police have clashed with protesters inside a major shopping centre near hong kong's border with mainland china. pepper spray and batons were used by security forces after demonstrators marched through the mall in sheung shui. the retail outlet near the chinese city of shenzhen is popular with shoppers from the mainland. protesters in hong kong have been targeting shopping centres across the area in recent days. a navy seal diver who helped rescue a youth football team trapped in a flooded cave in thailand has died from a blood infection he picked up during the rescue. petty officer beirut pakbara had been under medical supervision since the rescue 18 months ago, but his condition worsened. he died yesterday. a mother whose husband and two children drowned in a swimming pool on the

the al qaeda affiliate al sha shabaab has claimed responsibility.e'll continue to the stay in contact with our farai sevenzo there as he learns things and we pass things along as we follow the story. >>> now to the state of hawaii, teams there on the ground, they're set to resume the search for one person still missing after a tourist helicopter crashed on thursday. the remains of six people on board have been recovered. our josh campbell has details from hawaii. >> reporter: a crash site in a remote area inside a state park in the northwest section of the island of kauai. now, this tourist helicopter is one of many that you typically see in hawaii, a popular attraction that allows tourists the ability to look inside of volcanos and water faulls, to gt a look at the landscape. the coast guard, u.s. navy, as well as kauai fire and rescue were alerted after the helicopter failed to return to base at its allotted time. that missing aircraft report launched a massive search and rescue effort involving multiple agencies throughout the night, working some