we go to admiralty in just a moment, but first scott heidler reports. >> reporter: over the last few days the focus on the hong kong protest movement has shifted from the umbrella to the heated argument. this is mong p k kok where that violence began. the police were in the middle. the tension was still there the next morning so protesters came out because they saw the attacks on tv. as the street protest reached the and of week one some locals where the occupations are taking place have had enough. >> the fight for democracy does not give you the right to occupy our streets, disturbers. we all have a mortgage to play. we need to make a living. we can't sleep at night. >> reporter: the reason why they're here so upset is very local and different than why people in other parts of hong kong where the protesters take their sit-ins elsewhere. >> reporter: across victoria harp bore in the main shopping direct of cause way bay people are more concerned about the broader impact of hong kong. >> the city's economy has been affected by them, and lots of shops are losing business because peopl

luckily they did not try to occupy the government blngs. >> scott heidler reporting live in hong kong. thank you for the update. >>> president obama said america's economy improved since the great recession, but more is needed to help the middle class. he responsible at north we were university and said america should be proud of the economic rebound in the last six years, and noticed the united states put more people back to work since the recession than all economies combined. >> over the past four and a half years, our businesses created 10 million new jobs. it's the longest stretch in our history. >> the president said the policies cut deficits by half, and reminded the crowd that america has become the largest oil producer in the world. >> despite all the progress many americans are struggling to make ends meet. the fact is that 45 million people are below the poverty line, struggling to put food on the table. maria hernandez worked three times to provide support for the family. how she slept in the car. usually with the engine running. she died in her car, it was consistent with

scott heidler, thank you. one of the oldest forms of art is story telling. in friday arts segment we have met a man who has turned it into his profession. he is known throughout northeast of his ability to recreate the past. >> ichabot crane got afinal look at his travel companion. imagine the school master's horror when he looked to see the face of the other rider and found he had no head! my name is jonathan cruck and i'm a story teller. i go to schools parks libraries historic sites and perform. >> and make you fall on your boombosity. >> when people first begin oteach with talk through stories. when the story is being told and you see the story teller, a connection is made, a bond most int plat between the teller and the listener. as a the teller i can watch people's faces as they're watching mine and respond. and pause, or get a little bit faster in the tale or raise my voice. you don't have that when you have a simple book on tape. what's unique about my story-telling is the theatricality. using varied voices and especially the children's interaction.

. >> let's hear more on the protest from scott heidler in hong kong. >> reporter: after spending theht, hundreds of protesters waited in front of the chief executive's office. he was a no-show. he and many other top officials simply worked from other locations. the government complex was simply closed there were fewer protesters across the city on friday, but those in the district were able to maintain their blockade of the main government buildings. police and protesters tussled when an officer who collapsed needed to be taken away in an ambulance. but the protesters blocked its exit. police then forced their way out. once the ambulance got through, they retreated behind the barricade. some of them feel what they are fighting for requires sacrifice from all people in hong kong. >> they have to look at the larger picture, if you are only concerned about what impacts your own. >> reporter: some other people in the city outside of the prozone feel those blocking the treat streetss -- street say thy are imposing on others. >> they don't like the other public to have their free choice. >

scott heidler is amidst the tents and umbrellas in hong kong. what are you seeing this morning where you are? >> what we are seeing is a little bit of a shift. not many protesters have come down to where we are. we are in front of the chief executive's office. the main protest area is down the street a little bit. again, dozens of protesters, it's 11 o'clock in the morning. before we see a peak in numbers of protesters, but dozens have come down here. this is something we haven't seen for a couple of days. where you have the protesters, barricades and police on the other side. police are taking a relaxed posture, they have gas masks on the hips but are not being aggressive. you see the police on the other side. the main protest area is at the end of the block. the chief executive's office is here. they have given a deadline. there's a couple of hours before the end of the day, technically, thursday. that is why they are here. it will be interesting if there's a reaction from the hong kong government. there's no indication that leung, the chief e

. >> thank you, scott heidler live in islamabad. >> an egyptian court will decide whether to allow an appeal for three al jazeera journalist, on 1st january. peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy and baher mohamed have been in prison for 288 days, we demand their release here at al jazeera. >> reporter: inside the courtroom are three al jazeera staff members, journalists detained by egyptian authorities for doing their job. they are accused of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood. a court sentenced peter greste and mohamed fadel fahmy to seven years in prison. baher mohamed received a seven years sentence, and given an extra three years because he had a spent bullet in his possession that he picked up during a protest. it's been almost 300 days since our colleagues peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy and baher mohamed were wrong fully imprisoned in egypt. there are no signs of a breakthrough. they continue to demand their release. >> the al jazeera network was accredited in egypt. all the channels were accredited. when, for political reasons, an entity annulled that, an egyptian court fo

scott heidler, al jazeera, hong kong. >> one of the main protest sites is admiralty. vivian, what is the mod like over there? >> it's changed remarkably in the past hour mainly because earlier there was a stage set up with all the student leaders talking to all the protesters. along with that there were live video links to other student leaders around the world. the combination of it all was a famous hong kong actor wishing them success, and it ended up with people singing. it was a very euphoric mood. since then people have left these protests. after seeing the events at mong kok, but right now we're seeing the hard quarter protesters. they're settling in for the evening. much like the day before the mong kok i wants has happened. not as many people but still a lot of home here. >> and some division, as we have seen in scott heidl er's report. it is simply inconveniencing citizens. what happens if they don't pull out by monday. that is the deadline set by authorities there. >> which just heard from a police source who quelled rumors they were going to try to disrupt

scott heidler, al jazeera, hong kong. >> a memorial was installed today off of the coast of the italiansland of lampa dusa. they attached a memorial to the hull of a ship. more than 360 asylum seekers drown. it it will prompted italy to increase sea patrols. thursday and friday, the italian coast guard rescued more than 200 my grants off of the coast of sicily. t >>> the political battle in brazil, and a race too close to call. what's at stake for the south america nation? a man who terrorized haitians for -- death of a man who terrorized haitians for decades. we're here in the vortex. only on al jazeera america. >>> top officials made a rare and surprise trip for high-level talks. the first such meeting five years. the north korean delegation is being led by the curreountry's second highest official. the two koreas agreed to res orm formal dialogue. the health of the leader isrupled to be fail. >> one of the most vicious dictators in haiti's history, baby doc, he was eventually run out of the country but not before he stole more than $400 million. mo more. >> baby doc took over after h

scott heidler is in hong kong with the latest. movement shifted from the umbrella to the heated argument. >> this is mongkok. for the first time there was violence. the police were in the middle. the tension is there the next morning. protesters came out. they saw the attacks on tv. locals, where the operation is taking police, had had enough. the fight for the democracy is not giving the right to occupy the streets and disturb us. we can't sleep at night much. >> the reason that people are so upset and what the protesters got was local and different to what people in other parts of hong kong, they want the protesters to take the sid-insless respect. >> people are more concerned about the broader impact of hong kong. >> the city's economy has been affected, and a lot of shops are losing business because people are avoiding the area. >> reporter: one historian sees a similarity in the riots of the past and now. >> now it is not quite so clear. you have interesting class divisions, divisions between students and nonstudents. among t

let's go to scott heidler who is in islamabad. tell us more about the attack. >> well, the attack took place in the morning, in the city of adequatar -- adequater, as you mentioned, when a bus was peppered with bullets. according to the police officials six died on the spot, four wounded. two succumbed to the wounds on the way to the hospital. the attack, of course, amaze the hazaras is not new. hundreds have been killed in deadly attacks, for which a banned outfit has taken responsibility in the past. however, no one claimed responsibility, but the attack is likely to heighten tensions before the shia's commemorate the month of ma haram. up to 200,000 hazaras have left ball usualingize tan province because of attacks against them. >> there has been several attacks on the minorities. what is the security situation in the area, and how is it tackled? >> well, the security situation in the province is tense. there is also a fight going on between ball usualing separatists and pakistani separatist forces. add to that there's a couple

and let's stay in hong kong and join scott heidler. and we see pictures behind you, morning once again, and the crowds are a little thinner, but they're still out there, enough of them that they're stopping traffic, and continuing to close doors, and what's the latest from you? >> ali, they're occupying this stretch in central hong kong, and in the morning hours, you have a couple of sleepy people, and organizers working on the avenue. this is the most people i've seen this early. and normally they peak at 1:00, but they had the most people at this site for the night since this started. and also, because this is national day in china, so most people are off work, and they are expecting a big, big day here. and that's why a lot of people are here this morning. it was a soggy night, and there was a heavy downpour overnight. a lot of people braved it, and it's soggy down there. but what's going to happen today? according to the protesters and organizers, they're entering phase two of their civil disobedience. we know they're expanding and

scott heidler has more. >> reporter: in what is seen as a dramatic development, dr tahir-ul-qadri told supporters to pack their bags and leave the venue of the protest in front of parliament. he, himself left the venue and supporters are picturing their bags. they'll have to take care of the tension within which they were living for the past two months. importantly the city administration will be moving in to clean up this place, which looks more like a tented village. importantly the announcement came at a time when there was an expectation that the protest would continue for much longer. tahir-ul-qadri said he was entering a new phase of what he calls the revolution, saying in the second phase he'd take the protest to other cities as well. there was speculation in the country that perhaps a deal had been done between the government and dr tahir-ul-qadri. tahir-ul-qadri on the other hand denying that there was a deal. saying "you can hang me if there was a deal with the government." . importantly, imran khan, who started his protest in conjunction with tahir-ul-qadri says that he'll c

al jazeera scott heidler reports many of 300 villages have been left with serious problems. >> reporter: this woman spent 50 years in this village near the border. 10 years ago she lost her site. a single mother has two sons. >> translation: my kids were very small and i could not see. they had to help me, and not the other way around. >> what happened to her and others was preventible. lead contamination spilled from the factories upstream. they were shut down 16 years ago, and destroyed the normal life, the company was fined about $65. the led pollution in the creek bed was never fully cleaned up. >> she lives next to the creek she relies on. a test of the hospital confirms her blindness was from lead poisoning. >> some children of learning disabilities. contamination was 100 times more than a safe level. after years of delays, restoration of the creek only tuct studies. until the clean up. the people here will be exposed to toxic levels of led from the creek. more people will get sick, being possibly more birth defects. in january 2013 the pollution control department was brought to

we'll be live to hong kong, but first a report from scott heidler. >> reporter: like every national day, the chinese flag and the smaller hong kong flag are hoisted. this is not like every other national day. for days, tense of thousands of protesters made the streets of hong kong their temporary home. seeking the resignation of the chief executive, and demanding the election reform process be reversed. looking to scale back beijing's control over candidates. student leader and fellow protesters were prevented from getting into the ceremony. >> we tried to play the national song, show the sign, and show and decide that the hong kong political reform system. >> reporter: it was not just the protesters, those that support the chinese central government role was out to celebrate the hole day. >> they don't allow us to fly the flag. why, this is what they call democracy. >> those that looked for democracy flooded the streets of central hong kong on wednesday. big numbers since national day. the founder that started this, before the student groups became involved said it grew beyond his imag

there is, after all, as scott heidler n found out, a difference in the strategy for the protest movement going forward. >> the resignation of hong kong's chief executive emerged as the first and foremost demand of the protesters. some have taken position in frost cy leung's office, forcing the police to form lines and barricade the line. the move reveals fractures. some say they would storm the building if he does not resign. >> a former leader of the democratic party. >> young activists are getting impatient. probably they'll extend the skill, irrespective of what form of action dash what further action they'll take. there is, again, a consensus among us that they would not use violence. >> if they don't use violence, escalation could result in further arrest. >> i think the hong kong government is too irresponsible. wish they never respond to our demands. i agree with the actions to go a little further than what we are doing currently. >> there may be disagreements within the protesters over tactics and how to move it forward. there's one thing for certain. beijing has been engaged in

scott heidler, al jazeera, hong kong.ierce battle in northern syria has raged all day between kurdish forces in and isil. it has been going since the isil fighters advanced upon kobane. isil descended and surrounded the town and they were pushed back four times before kurdish and western coalition forces fought them off with airstrikes. central command said they bombed four isil positions around kobane. the syrian opposition coalition is warning of imminent genocide there. building up forces nearby are preparing to defend their border. further to the east, northern iraq, another battle is raging between isil and kurdish pesh. thousands said their villages until. mon cap on the ground with more. >> reporter: >> reporter: it is a very difficult situation for the refugees here in erbil. a lot of people coming from several sectors of iraq, northern iraq, who basically had to flee when isil came to their towns and were not really even able to pack or grab any belongings and are findingthems here in the city in the suburbs. aut