al jazeera. and. dozens of activists and opposition politicians are arrested in hong kong in the biggest crackdown since china imposed a controversial national security will. read out in a cloud this is out 0 ally from doha also coming up we are extremely pleased with having been able to achieve this very important breakthrough site a foreign minister says the kingdom and its arab allies are restoring full diplomatic ties with cutter. vote counting underway in georgia and a crucial runoff election that will determine the balance of power in the u.s.

congress. a rare admission north korean leader kim jong un speaks of policy failures while addressing his ruling party the 1st time in 5 years. so hong kong police have reportedly arrested at least 50 pro-democracy politicians and activists and its biggest crackdown against the opposition since china imposed in national security law in the city last year this video shows a former democratic party politician being taken from his home by offices of the group or accused of subversion for taking part in an official election primaries in july china declared the polls illegal when the 600000 people who cast ballots that they had broken the law for more on this let's cross live to beijing brought in hong kong an agent tell us more about these arrests how significant other.

well nick these arrests happened early on wednesday morning according to local media here 52 former lawmakers and political activists have been detained they got the early morning knock on the door from police and were told they had were accused of violating the new national security law now no one has so far been charged since that new law actually came into force on july the 1st last year only 4 people have so far been charged but i think to many people not just in hong kong but around the world it will seem like hong kong has taken another turn towards or thora terrorism now on top of these arrests the police have also been raiding a number of media outlets in hong kong including the apple daily which of course was once so owned by jimmy lie who of course last week was denied bail by a court here in hong kong also raided has been the home of josh what was wrong one of the best known political activists here in hong kong as to what will happen now

well the police have yet to confirm these arrests but we are expecting to get some sort of statement from the hong kong police during the coming hours we have heard in the last few minutes though from the incoming u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken who has been commenting on twitter he said that the arrests amount to an assault on those bravely advocating universal suffrage in hong kong and he said the biden heris administration will stand with the people of hong kong. patron thanks agent brown there in hong kong so the arabia and its allies have agreed to restore full diplomatic ties with qatar ending their 3 and a half year blockade of the country and leaders from across the gulf region have signed a declaration calling for solidarity and stability at a summit aimed at resolving the dispute which mother shell has this report. after 3 and a half years of a crisis that threaten the very core of the gulf region g.c.c.

leaders have agreed to end divisions and usher in a new era of cooperation the olympic relation is 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 and yes all the outstanding. whether it's turning of diplomatic relations flights etc all of that will now go back to normal earlier the summit's had got off to a promising starts when saudi crown prince mohammed bin said a man insisted on hiding qatar's emir shift i mean been some of that funny as the letter touched down in the saudi city of the clearest indication yet that both countries were on the way to mending relations the qatari leader confirmed his

attendance at the 41st street summits of the 11th hour only after saudi arabia agreed to lift the land air and sea blockade it had been imposing on since 2017 in his opening remarks to follow leaders crown prince mohammed bin solomon emphasized the importance of cooperation and unity between the g.c.c. member states and i'm with you. today we are in a dire need to stand united in the face of the challenges namely iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and other agendas adopted by its respected in the region which undermine the stability of the region this demands that we dovetail our efforts with the international community to cement the stability and security of the region also in attendance at the summit was senior white house adviser on president donald trump's son in law gerard questioner it was off to his visits to doha and riyadh late last year that's a breakthrough in negotiations that had been led by coates was. reached since the start of the crisis queens had been exerting its efforts to solve the disputes with

its fleet a mere ship's a bottle of medicine successfully preventing the military invasion of qatar it was no surprise then that a lot summits was named after together with the late senator over a man who also passed away in 2020 with all 4 blockading countries now agreeing to open their land air and sea borders to put out the gulf region can now begin a new chapter one that its leaders say will be written by all of them together john i'll show you i just don't. get by top story now on the matter rests in hong kong we can speak to emily lau who is a pro-democracy i've cut and a former chairwoman of the democratic party of hong kong joins us live by skype really welcome to the program so new year new u.s. president to come china making its intentions plain yes it is very very scandalous and very shocking this morning many hong kong people and the

wealth or cut to the fact that there was such mass arrests and i think as we speak nobody has got the exact number of people have that have been arrested even the police when the reporters asked them they cannot give a number but they know it's many and they are not just political activists form a legislative district council as journalists and also you know years and all people it from several josiah takes that this is terrible this is called crackdown and this is terrible you are a pro democracy advocates and you say that repression of course will generate resistance but china is determined to have its way can you beat the way to the state. well maybe not but we're going to give it a damn good try and maybe you meant will not be able to talk to me if i'm arrested

as well so we will use our freedom we will give up our freedom to fight but what we believe in we are not fighting to suffer but the communist regime when not fighting to have independence in hong kong where just fighting for the chinese government the communist party to keep the promise of the sino british joint declaration in the basic no to allow us to be free you can say to have the rule of law and develop democracy why is that a crime are you worried that you might be arrested well i think long gun pasta time of getting worried as the saying goes when the when to go and get house the tough get going we've got a new u.s. president joe biden coming in the next couple weeks what's your sense there is any sign of. what's what is the role of the international community i don't

know but i'm calling on the international community through you al-jazeera and other international media to look at what's happening here a crackdown i mean so senseless so 2 minor it's so ridiculous and i just hope the people of the well people who believe in freedom and rule of law impasse and no safety to speak out for hong kong and of course britain the former colonial power i know it has this chaos but britain should speak out and i hope other democracy loving countries and people will also speak out for tiny little hong kong i mean we appreciate you taking time to talk to us so it's very much thank you. well votes are being counted in the state of georgia after a special runoff election that could have

a crucial impact on joe biden's presidency was and $3000000.00 early ballots were cast ahead of the vote to choose the state's 2 senate members it will decide the balance of power in congress with more than 2 thirds votes counted the results are still too close to call. the runoff in georgia the 2 republican senators david duke 80 loffler against democratic challengers john also often refer to a war not the vote will determine who controls the u.s. senate democrats need to win both seats to deny the republicans a majority they could use to block large parts of joe biden's legislative agenda. well if the democrats secured both the senate would be split down the middle vice president carmel harris would then get to cast the tie breaking vote joins us live from georgia's capital of atlanta. important votes of course so we're getting an idea of how it's shaping up. well it certainly it seems that we could well go into a 2nd day of counting votes the man who runs the elections here suggest that that

is a very reasonable suggestion but at the moment they're publicans ahead but they still have to count a lot of the ele votes that were cast in the cap county which is a suburb of atlanta and historically that tends to go democratic in fact in the presidential election that was around 80 percent democratic and that would mean the number of votes that still have to be counted and they reckon there's probably somewhere in the region of $170000.00 if you take 80 percent of that that would be enough to push the democratic challengers into the lead but there are still some other republican counties to have to put together their final voting tallies although those votes are more likely to run into the hundreds rather than the thousands now we know that the democrats are watching this race very closely i've been speaking to someone at the see the 2 were watching developments here in

georgia over the last couple of hours they were saying that it's still too early to make a decision on how this race is going to go but privately they were slightly concerned that the figures they were seeing not least because republicans were not doing quite as well in some places as donald trump they did exceed his vote in a couple of places but they really needed to get much better to note on the day given the of those 3000000 votes cast early a lot of them came from democratic areas as for the democrats well the obviously are looking for a victory tonight if they can possibly get it but the understand that this might take some. time because if you go back to the presidential election back in november. joe biden won by 2 tenths of a percent and also it took 8 days to carry all 'd the ricoh as well and given that these races are so incredibly tight there is every possibility that there will be recounts not maybe across the whole state but in a couple of the counties where the results are very tight indeed neither team

neither the republicans nor the democrats are saying anything publicly at the moment but there are watch parties all over this state as they keep an eye on the results as they come in and as you see nick this is very important for joe biden he is hoping for a double when for the democrats here if that happens then that means his agenda for early action on crucial issues such as health care climate change and racial injustice suddenly becomes much more achievable if he has control of the senate which you would do even though it would be tied 5050 with camel house as vice president that's where the casting vote would be or i will see how things pan out thanks a lot an official there in atlanta georgia. still ahead here on al-jazeera rolling out but not fast enough health workers in europe say vaccines are arriving too slowly.

it's time for the perfect jenny. sponsored plan qatar airways hello the weather is pretty quiet across the middle east now and it's been pretty quiet around the eastern side of the mediterranean quite enough actually for some pretty dense fog see this every picture in tel aviv where we've had some fog and low cloud lingering for the past few days light winds will lead to similar conditions over the next few days like winds here in qatar as well temperatures a pleasant 24 celsius perhaps a little down on that as we go on through thursday but still pleasant enough a bit more of a keen eastley breeze setting in by this stage we want to shout into northern parts western parts of saudi arabia but nothing much to speak of there of a little further south one of 2 showers pushing towards the horn of africa but essentially it stays dry and fine here because showers too long spells of right across the heart of africa down across the rift valley some really wet weather

continuing into that eastern side of south africa and other wetter weather starting to make its way a little further northwards are going to see that gradually notching up into southern areas of mozambique as we go through the next day or 2 shows become a little more widespread across central parts of mozambique zimbabwe also seeing some wet weather along with botswana elsewhere will see some showers there in madagascar antananarivo a 29 degrees. qatar airways gay com and make sure you're not hyping the situation be part of the debate my main characters are women when no topic is off the table the law is in the last allow child marriage to happen legally these are basically archaic walls dads off in the jet mines and legalized pedophiles on adderall online jumping to the comments section and meeting to be part of the discussion this stream on out is there.

but again you're watching al-jazeera for mind of our top stories this hour hong kong police have reportedly arrested at least 50 pro-democracy politicians and activists in its biggest crackdown against the opposition since china imposed a national security law in the city last year are accused of subversion for taking part in unofficial election primaries in july. a gulf leaders have signed a declaration to restore full diplomatic ties with cotton and 3 and a half year blockade the motion calling for solidarity and stability created a summit in saudi arabia attended by the emir. votes are being

counted in the u.s. state of georgia after a special runoff election that could have a crucial impact on joe biden's presidency the election to choose a state's 2 senate members will decide the balance of power in congress. now north korea's ruling party congress is underway for the 1st time in 5 years and in his address the leader kim jong un said north korea had significantly failed in its 5 year economic plan the congress is the most important political event in the country and is rarely held the last convention was in 2016 and before that back in the 1980 s. let's take this on we can speak to underline cough who's a professor at the cook minute university joins us live from seoul via skype professor welcome to the program 1st up kim has been very up front in his admission of policy failures is this unusual. slightly but not dramatically unusual because then we discussed their future congress in seoul when they

published documents that i was all set for and the mission that with plans they use to develop them 2016 for the 5 yet to come on the goals this brands have and did in company. this time it was probably one of them i would expect a hotshot board to use as a data he basically said it was a failure in the butcher do all areas will bob once again they would not say that way because the situation is bad and they hid their aging bay for us and everything will go from the company can you be the good ones probably a 1000000 right so what is how bad is the situation in north korea what does it mean for for the average person who lives. depend depends 'd. everett's goes into the. he or she is there like we did even the capital city. he

did mean for a while but in oil access to imported goods maybe here you not care that he's bought only a little for him and right. eggs all kind of big it doubles the youngs with each of my jewelry he was in pyongyang now which is near because that i have been the loan from bull mean improvement in their living standards when you are leaving the confines significant 5 of people in it he said you might get cannot take in the scale it is just basically not to be one please as the same time always to be don't have separate it might happen but so far you are not standing but you could have more so few people in the company fight more teaching i'm not getting enough calories so you can tell us about this new paltz and a big leap forward what do you make of the. it's one of their most guardian leader ever in australia and neither has been talking about the last 70

years so i'm not saying no i'm not saying but he cites we should wait for more documents published bob and we're probably the bill see some kind of changes but so looks like the airline is jews just too old or to survive problems created by the international sanctions and i mean this is more important because well chad needs weeding to support the most kadian government is not taking cheney's raise all this paper in a lot of changes that are ready to be shipped pretty or charged of all sketchy but most korean government is not taking it because they i pray that. coming across or she is going to mandate. weight and have to leave that sort of interrupt you will have to leave it it's great to draw on your expertise we do appreciate that underlying culture from and university thank you very much and.

thank you. california has reached a new single day record for corona virus cases with $74000.00 confirmed on monday that's one new case every 6 seconds and death toll is also sori across the u.s. with a new record of 3900 deaths recorded on choose day from reynolds reports from los angeles. california has entered the darkest days of the pandemic so far a record 74000 new cases of covert 19 were recorded on monday we're likely to experience the worst conditions in january that we face the entire pandemic and that's hard to imagine and the worst is yet to come with many more cases anticipated due to travel and people getting together over the winter holidays but we are entering in to now this what we anticipate what we anticipate the surge on top of a surge it's going to put

a lot of pressure hospitals and i see is coming out of the holidays. county ambulance crews are under orders not to transport patients with little chance of recovery to overburdened hospitals they've also been told to ration oxygen providing it only to the sickest patients oxygen tanks are in short supply in hospitals as well exhausted doctors nurses and hospital staff are buckling under the strain we haven't yet seen a post december surge if we do. where we are now we will go under the health care system will collapse. public health officials say the virus is everywhere there is no safe place outside of one's own home maybe you have somebody at the grocery store and you're on iraq for just a few minutes i'm on thousands of people waited to get tested at dodger stadium the largest testing site in the u.s.

one person is infected every 6 seconds in los angeles according to the city's mayor while widespread vaccine distribution is seen as the light at the end of the tunnel so far the rollout nationwide has been slow and sometimes chaotic just 4500000 people have received doses of vaccine a far cry from the outgoing trump administration's pledge of 20000000 by the end of 2020 the trump administration has refused to come up with a nationwide plan for vaccination dumping that responsibility on the states some states like florida and tennessee opted to make vaccines available to all seniors on a 1st come 1st serve basis that led to long lines of people in their seventy's and eighty's waiting for hours to get shots only to be told supplies had run out

nationwide $356000.00 people have perished from cove and 19 the centers for disease control estimates more than 400000 will die by late january rob reynolds al-jazeera los angeles united kamins reporter more than 60000 coronavirus cases in a day for the 1st time a monday the government announced a new national lockdown in england in some parts of the country and estimated one in 50 people now have come from 19. criticism is mounting every year covert $900.00 activation drive with the e.u. trailing well behind the united states the u.k. and israel only a few weeks after inoculation started some members of the bloc are already facing vaccine shortages and the netherlands is yet to begin its roll up a step fasten reports for months to. it looks like inoculations are in full swing in the netherlands but one important thing is missing a needle while all neighboring countries have started vaccinating more than

a week ago the dutch just holding dry runs with the 1st covert 1000 japs to be given in the next few days and embarrassment according to medical experts. to stop section 8. 111 so late. but what went wrong also prime minister mark hurd to have no comment ahead of an urgent debate in parliament on monday the minister of health admitted he had made a mistake by counting on a different vaccine other than the price of biotech want to become available 1st this has led to frustration among medical workers who are dealing with the worst influx of covert patients since the start of the pandemic. we have definitely been frustrated we have gone through emotional months and out this happens you look at other countries for vaccinations are in full swing and feel jealous why can't we do

this here the dutch delay merest a chaotic strategy overall across the e.u. is empty fractionation sandal not only symbolizes the country's failure to inoculate its population rapidly it also shows how you will be in countries considered to be well organized have handled this covert 19 pandemic so poorly it was meant to be a common tax a nation program has led to serious delays and not only here in the adolescence. in france only a few 100 japs were given in the 1st week due to bureaucratic hurdles but the government says it's quickly catching up with thousands fact unaided on monday in germany where hundreds of thousands have been unoccupied it vaccines are quickly running out and a 2nd shop might have to be postponed many are blaming the european commission for the slow rollout to $27.00 member states and the lack of facts scenes for its 400 $50000000.00 people the e.u. is accuse of being so keen to work together and step that it fell behind countries

where. the european medical agency has yet to approve the madera about vaccine which is already widely use in the u.s. and u.k. after pressure the netherlands moved its vaccination program forward and will now start inoculating medical workers and employees of care homes on wednesday but it will take months before vulnerable groups like the elderly will be facts and data step fastened al-jazeera amsterdam. the head of the world health organization says it is disappointed that chinese officials have not finalized permissions for the arrival of experts into into china to examine the origins of covert 19 i am very disappointed with this news given that 2 members 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 many it clear that the mission is

a priority for doubly and the international team have been assured that china is speeding up the internal procedure for the earliest possible deployment we're going to get the mission underway as soon as possible opposition figures in central african republic want last month's election an old because of what they're calling numerous irregularities president for star change what they have there was reelected with more than 53 percent of the vote but the opposition says half the population were unable to cast ballots because of violence from rebel groups. at least 4 people have been killed in flash flooding in bolivia terentia rain and hail hit the city of secrets on monday washing away in vehicles in the city's largest farmers' market was in the worst affected area residents say drains blocked by rubbish made the flooding worries. norway has become the 1st country in the world

where electric cars make up most new vehicle sales new figures show that 54 percent of all vehicles purchased last year were electric tax exemptions of make the market more competitive as part of the norwegian government's goal to end the set of petrol and diesel cars by 2025 a decade ago just one in every 100 new cause was electric 3rd fix is an automotive in and liston says that norway can get ahead thanks to its well we have to remember that the electric grid across every country is quite old because it hasn't been around for more than a 100 years but lot of it hasn't been updated and that's the biggest problem it's not the purchase of the vehicle it's or that chicken and egg you can have the vehicle and charge at home but we've had problems here in the u.s. we're cities have had brownouts and there's no ability to charge your car or those charging stations are just that enough of them and that's going to be the biggest problem that norway is going to have to have to clear because without that you can't charge or vehicle people will then get frustrated and go back to diesel and petrol i think there is a place for gasoline and diesel and electric but also you'll see what china is

doing which is blue gas it's a form of hydrogen and compressed natural gas and those together can propel both battery and combustion engines and that may be one of the solutions in the future without having enough electricity to charge of the car. so this is and 0 these are the top stories and hong kong police have reportedly arrested at least 50 pro-democracy politicians and activists and that's because crackdown against the opposition says china imposed a national security law in the city last year 30 queues of subversion for taking part in an official election primaries in july a jim brown has more now from hong kong these arrests happened early on wednesday morning according to local media here 52 former lawmakers and political activists have been detained they got the early.