and punished for speaking out on kong's pro-democracy activists. some will serve more than a year in jail for joining mass demonstrations against china's tightenings grip on the territory also come this violence must end so says the u.s. vice president after 8 people are killed in yet another mass shooting this time in a fed ex facility in indianapolis a massacre known as clear motive. and a show of confidence. astra zeneca germany's

chancellor says she's happy to take the vaccine and. to do that she also warns of a crisis in mozambique where more than half a 1000000 people have fled attacks by islamic militias our correspondent reports from an island where people are seeking shelter. welcome. some of hong kong's knows prominent pro-democracy campaigners have learned the price of standing up to china's increasing power accords handed down sentences on $10.00 protest leaders over mass demonstrations 2 years ago is spite of brutal crackdown remaining anti-government activists say they haven't given up hope was

they've just been handed a sentence for participating in protests yet they are still calling for hong kong as freedoms was. media tycoon jimmy lie i was among those sent to jail for produce a painting in a future pro-democracy protests back in 29 taint. he received a sentence of 14 months. thinking that. it is not but there are many more times. more people would love to have it in seattle i don't know that until. 3050. 4 of those convicted were given suspended sentences including 82 year old former lawmaker martin leahy and elder statesman of the pro-democracy movement. the convictions are a blow to the pro-democracy movement in hong kong which is facing a strong crackdown by beijing and hong kong authorities. cannot think of the civil

human rights front is very very disappointed by the sentencing today it creates a chilling effect that makes us citizens afraid of speaking up it also makes the society gradually lose a rational patient and peaceful voice to communicate with the government oh yes there were. massive protests swept hong kong organized 29 tain they began as a reaction to an extradition bill allowing people to be transferred to mainland china and then activists feed opposition leaders could be sent to china now they. being prosecuted at harm. despite the sentences activists say they won't back down in the fight for freedoms for home kong but it's getting tougher and tougher to stand up for democracy in the city. we're joined by christian should cooper she's a professor of contemporary chinese studies at the university of trigger in western

germany welcome for fessor give us some perspective how much of a blow have these sentences dealt on hong kong's pro-democracy movement. well it's definitely a huge blow because basically those were people who participated in the peaceful overall peaceful protests which was yes it was not. allowed as a protest by the police but overall it was peaceful and it's also a blow to the will of law which many of them helped to build up and the least and as as marketing one of the the ones who was sentenced today said so i think it's beyond not being a blow against them as a democracy movement but as against hong kong ass as a country all with a strong rule of law initially what does their sentencing of media baron jimmy lie mean for press freedom in hong kong. that's again of course a huge signal of basically anybody who would. get involved in 2 critical

independent reporting which hong kong was always a kind of stronghold visa v. the people's republic of china would get in trouble would get potentially sentenced and i mean we keep hearing from journalists who are in hong kong that it's getting increasingly difficult to get stories across and the pressure increases on various newspapers to kind of be more patrie and i think they all feel the chill off the national security law and other existing legislation so i think the overarching question that everybody today has is whether you can imagine a mass pro-democracy movement emerging again in the future or has china successfully crushed dissent. what i think china has been crushed to send for all for you know for for a long period of time i mean people are still very angry young people are getting more angry because they lose trust in exactly what hong kong was famous for the rule of law and democracy and one of my fee is actually is that there might be less

and less you know channels and platforms for a rational dialogue and this is soley the forward off the hong kong knees and the chinese government so i believe that people will go out on the streets again they will step up especially with the upcoming elections in december as we've just learned and i don't think that a strong voice of democracy in hong kong will go away professor we only have about 30 seconds but these sentences were issued against prominent hong konger who participated in the 29000 movement how much has the chinese crackdown extended to ordinary hong kong or. clearly it has been expanding we also have seen at least the arrests and the cause of these peaceful protests and i think it's a strong signal also to everybody basically who wants to get involved with democracy and freedom that he or she might get arrested so this is really i think

a chilling signal beyond the current sentences christian she could ship she could for my policies from germany's university of tree are thank you so much you're welcome thanks for having me so what does the future of hong kong's pro-democracy movement look like correspondent phebe kong asked one of those sentenced a former chair of hong kong's democratic party. a silver medal awarded to young song by the government for his political walk it was something this former lawmaker felt proud of but 12 years later it seems to represent a hong kong that's been lost time the central government in beijing. is to. follow the approach to hong kong try to is my country and home to my whole to love your country doesn't mean you love certain

political regime young so much one of 10 defendants found guilty of organizing or attending marches in 2019 during massive anti-government protests many opposition icons of his generation now sentenced for the 1st time this is just the 1st of 6 charges against young saw him the 73 year old has taught at the university of hong kong for decades while also engaging in politics in course he was the only defendant to read out his submission in person. it's a civil disobedience a prayer beauty but i don't feel remorse because i don't think i have done anything wrong and so i don't be picky my pace and. goal for appeal imprisonment. won't be a surprise to me. young son calls himself

a moderate who hoped for democracy under chinese rule but that hasn't happened before hong kong's handover from britain to china you saw him and fellow activists martin lee set up the democratic party they were among the 1st snow maker is directly elected to voice dissent in the chamber and pave the way for hong kong's party politics but now the national security law and intellectual overhaul are making it difficult for opposition parties to even survive. typical realty prayers we disagree worth all the praise of democracy we have managed over the possibly 3 years so this is a big retreat with the no call is it is time for you action again i've been talking about the politics i think is a big question to all whether we go back to the pressure group politics in 70. 5 of his generation may soon become history but he doesn't think that efforts will

have been in vain history is so full of struck quoth. he said gage myself on politics and i don't think i would leave home call my toll democracy in waters about a party politics is about the won't take but also just our ways of living through insist all the russia no peace approach and i think this is the way to solve the problem in the long run. believes democratic values a noun deeply rooted in hong kong's culture his fight isn't over yet. and we can tell you that young son the former chairman of the hong kong democratic party featured in that report has been given a suspended sentence he's still facing 5 other charges let's take now a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world at this hour raul castro is standing down as head of cuba's communist party the more.

that brings an end to the leadership of castro and his brother fidel they ruled cuba for more than 6 decades raul castro says he's handing on to a younger generation the leaders of germany france and ukraine have called on russia to pull its troops back from the ukrainian border for a lot of news a lenski met emanuel met in paris and angela merkel joined by video link so when he called for a summit involving all 4 nations. a gunman has killed 8 people and wounded several more in the latest mass shooting in the u.s. the attack in indianapolis has prompted renewed calls for tighter gun controls vice president campbell harris says the violence must end. it was shortly after 11 pm on thursday night when the police were called out to the indianapolis airports

roads were closed and much of the airport placed into lockdown police said officers responded as quickly as they could but they arrived to light at the fed ex building morning. received a call reference shots fired to that location as officers who responded. say they arrived to an active shooter incident. at that location. primary information at this time is that the alleged shooter has taken his own life here at the scene. police say 8 people were killed suffering injuries consistent with gunshot wounds 5 others were taken to hospital one is said to be in a critical condition. witnesses at the scene say they saw a man firing what they thought was an automatic firearm. saw a man with a submachine gun of some sort automatic rifle and he was firing at. open and i

immediately ducked down and got scared as day program police was still collecting evidence trying to identify the shooter and his motive last night in the doubtless was revisited by the scourge of gun violence that has killed far too many in our community and in our country although we will learn more about this case in the coming days. and in the coming weeks no piece of information will restore the lives that were taken. this is the latest in a spate of mass shootings in the u.s. after a period of relative calm during the coronavirus pandemic and it's already prompted several calls for stricter gun controls. back to europe now germany is seeing its highest rise in corona virus cases since january 1 of the main reasons is the slow

pace of vaccinations fewer than one in 5 germans has been given a 1st dose but the vaccination drive has picked up speed in recent days among those getting a 1st jab was chancellor angela merkel her office released this image of her stamp vaccination document the 66 year old was given the astra zeneca vaccine and said she was delighted. political correspondent simon young joins us now simon i imagine chancellor merkel receiving an asteroid might be a much needed shot in the arm for germany's vaccination drive. well indeed issues of things moving forward but probably you could say it also shows how slowly them moving forward as you say i'm going to medical 66 years of age she's only just become eligible now to get this shot she's had it today

and she did make a big deal out of it she didn't make a media moment out of it there have been no pictures released of her actually getting the vaccine all we've seen is what you just saw there the the sort of vaccine booklet that belongs to angela merkel so anyway yes the vaccination is moving forward but still not as quickly as some say it needs to indeed the debate about stricter measures is still ongoing of course let's hear what chancellor merkel had to say in parliament them enough but i have seen more not punish me if we've learned a lesson 13 months into the pandemic it's this. that's a virus doesn't forgive any half heartedness it only makes things worse. the virus doesn't forgive hesitation it just makes everything last longer. the virus doesn't accept any negotiations it understands only one language the language of

determination. medical making her case there are we going to see german lawmakers finally taking the steps that public health officials and doctors are pleading for . well i think this a bit of legislation is going to go through in the end there have been quite stuff all given it's about it paula meant because you know there's a lot of focus on imposing really tough and unusual things such as night time curfew. that's something that's got a lot of people up in arms it's already happening indeed from saturday night for instance the 1st nighttime curfew since the 2nd world war be imposed in the city of cologne so you know these a measure is that really do you go to people's personal freedoms but medical experts say it is needed because many of them say we are in the middle of a 3rd wave already so i expect the talking will go on and probably not

soviet of next week will this legislation be passed off and there may even be cool challenges to it off to that but a lot of people say this is the kind of thing that's needed to get a grip on the situation here in germany you know we should mention we have seen glimmers of hope this week with vaccinations finally kicking into gear will this be enough simon to break the 3rd wave. you know well that's the big question and i think a lot will depend on the role of variance there all more dangerous more infectious variants around some of which apparently can cause more serious disease and maybe some of the vaccines. ready to get it get it to meet that challenge if you like but nonetheless vaccination clearly is still very important 20000000 doses of now bain issued here in germany still only 18.5 percent of the population that's had even one dose so there's still quite

a long way to go to the most of 70 or 80 percent which makes puts what's needed political correspondent simon young simon thanks as always as coronavirus cases rise here in germany medical workers or warning that intensive care units are pushed to the brink d.w. reporter tests of also visited a berlin hospital that is close to capacity. we're at the intensive care unit in the lynn scully test hospital half of the patients here suffer from cope at 19 dr thomas kuhn and his team have their hands full and the beds are filling up. because of the lowly you can see that there is an increase at the moment we're not yet in a situation that brings us to the edge of what we can do with your crown but we

know that if the numbers continue to rise we could certainly have problems go through the hellish program. in recent weeks the number of covered patients in germany's icy use has been rising sharply again by now at the peak of the 2nd wave of the pandemic has almost been reached intensive care beds are becoming scarse and the workload of stuff continues to grow. intensive care nurse tim cook has also noticed that. i'm on record and i documented now in this 3rd wave it is particularly noticeable that the patients are getting more seriously ill and they are ill for longer and also they need a lot of care that means the situation is very challenging and very stressful for us you really need time to relax when you're off work. but it is not just the sheer increase uncovered patients that worries the teeth that patient's health is deteriorating fast and this 3rd wave of the pandemic they are also an effort to get

them before probably also because most people over 80 years old have already been vaccinated. the average age is now much younger compared to the 1st or 2nd waves and we see that very clearly we don't really have any patients who are over 80 years old anymore they're almost non-existent if you would you know to what extent german hospital could pass. average varies greatly from region to region some are already completely full others are still coping one thing would help more vaccinations one in forgiveness we won't get out of this without back scenes and they are very important but it is also important to stick to hygiene measures keep it distance and observe current coverage for structure of each and everyone must take this been demick seriously and can do that part to make us get out of this is quickly as possible the truth will come if the number of patients continues to rise other important treatments would have to be postponed in some areas and many that

is already the case the situation many doctors agree is serious. well the un is warning of an escalating humanitarian crisis in northern mozambique more than 600000 people have been forced from their homes by islamist militias many more are facing food shortages. traveled to a region plagued by insecurity. from the ad the islands of more than beaks northern coast look like paradise but life on the ground is increasingly difficult ebor is one of the last islands that have been spared from islamist attacks. a flood of refugees has more than doubled its population in just a few months and united nations 8 mission isn't able to feed everyone yeah. yeah. i know. that we've been here

since 7 in the morning and haven't gotten anything i don't know what they tell us they are all out of their roofs down on loomis what should i do now next to your bank he was. very nice i was lucky enough to receive some rice flour corn and cooking oil terror groups have attacked her home village on the mainland twice and want everyone to leave but the villagers had nowhere to go then the attackers came a search time. to be secular. had just chopped off the wondrous instead of the one no resistance b.l.y. gave everyone heads to watch even the jewish nun as they were well yes i decided. now marie lives in the hut with her 3 children she has adopted another child who had lost his parents on the way yeah.

the next day we started for the neighboring island of cuba and by the u.n. food program has also plans a mission here. that the island's government administrator helps with distributing food that's critical for survival he said i'm lucky to be up here. without. them it's a crisis almost everyone here lives smiled the city of god the refugees are from the main let's look at their followers and and tell me this without this would not be the case small town settlement it is a lot about 4000 people lived on this island before the insurgency now it is more than 10000 people was thousands of displaced people. looking for a safe place to stay just that this isn't exactly a safe place. terrorists attack the island pillaging it and killing 2 villages terrorists kidnapped 30 islanders mainly gilts. people about

tex most against the terrorists and so far not a single soldier has been stationed here on the island. final preparations are underway for the funeral of prince philip the husband of britain's queen elizabeth . and his wife sophie viewed flowers left by members of the public outside st george's chapel in windsor where the funeral will take place only 30 close relatives will attend due to restrictions the funeral is being closely followed here in germany where the british royals trace their roots and where they still have many fans. queen elizabeth the 2nd and prince philip on the 2015 state visit to germany it was their 5th such trip but they were still greeted enthusiastically some traveled hundreds of kilometers to catch a glimpse of the royal couple. we had to do it and i'm very glad we did.

values tradition pride and the friendship between england and germany. the queen is something special when she's in germany you have to be there. the british royal family is very popular in germany royal weddings are broadcast live on television and millions watch. visits republicans become royalists at least temporarily. people can project a lot onto the entire royal family because it is so present in the media but at the same time the royals personally want as little as possible to be known about them. many people find the tradition the glamour the ceremony fascinating the castles the titles the carriages. but most germans don't want their own monarchy abolished in 1900 back a 2020 poll showed that 85 percent were opposed to having

a monarch as head of state but germans are nonetheless very interested in the glitz and glamour of other royal hoses around europe. prince philip's death also touched the hearts of many germans the newspapers around emotional front page coverage the day after he died chancellor angela merkel praised his integrity his dedication to duty and his friendship with germany. prince philip had a special connection to germany his parents were german nobility and he spent part of his childhood in southern germany to marry elizabeth he became british and adopted the son in one button prince philip had an infamous sense of humor that often cross the bone disease of political correctness. but he always understood that his role was secondary to the queen's with loyalty diligence and wit prince philip and respect during his 73 years of marriage to queen elizabeth the 2nd from

subjects in the united kingdom and from royal funds in germany. next stop is our environment show eco africa stay tuned for that and don't forget you can always get the latest headlines on our web site it's t w dot com i'm michael look at really joining. me.

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