And it does appear that only cron spreads very rapidly and can be spread between people who had double vaccinated. There is also a very extensive mutation, which means it diverges quite significantly from previous configurations of the virus. And as a result, it might at least import, reduce the protection of our vaccines. Over time, south africa has condemned the border closures. It says its being punished for detecting the strain when it should be applauded. A Foreign Ministry says its being treated differently from other countries that have discovered variance, and that the Global Community needs collaboration and partnerships to manage the pandemic, felice and book an affair. So her fine tear gas during an Anti Government demonstration. But as, as a calling for the resignation of president , ha, cowboy, theyre angry at failures to stop a wave of violence by armed groups including an attack on wednesday. But some Civil Society groups of distance themselves saying they dont want country pushed into chaos. President has promised to end what he called dysfunction within the military. Sedans, reinstated Prime Minister abdullah ham dock has dismissed the chief of police and his Deputy Attorney general hollard Medea Abraham had defended. His Security Forces after accusation as they used lie, fire on civilians following last months qu, it says police only used legal means to contain demonstrations. Doctors at least 15 people were shot dead last wednesday. Those are top stores do stay with us air out there. If you can, the listening post is up. Next, ill be back with more news straight after that. Thanks for much need for watching fi for now. Ah ah. Hello richard gets bird of your watching a special edition of the listening post. This week we are focusing on hong kong, the city, and its transformation. July 1st marked 24 years since the United Kingdom handed its colony back to china. With that hand over came a set of promises. Bay jang would stay out of hong kong. Internal affairs keep its hands off its freedoms, including its free press. But for many hong kong, the question was not if, but when Chinas Communist Party leaders would break that promise. And the answer appears to be. Now, over the past 2 years, bay ging has intensified the stamping out of political descent in hong kong through new laws drawn up in the name of security, the jailing of critics and the reigning in of the news media. In the 2nd half of this program, we speak to 3 hong Congress Whose work and lives have been severely affected by the cities, loss of autonomy. But 1st, johanna whos on how hong kong got here from a city of liberties to one thats under a songs ah. 2 dont, dont always enjoyed the most open, liberal press in the region. Oh, well what were seeing over the last year or 2 has been more like a death by a 1000 cuts. Again. Why ye guy cheris hog attack paul . Oh yeah. Wake at joy. Hi gay, i would love to yall now. Even the most optimistic jo, this found it difficult to have reason for optimism. Now, journalist may have to pay a price for the effort to seek the truth. Home cone, a place once known for its openness in civil liberties. Now a place of political persecution in a correct im free speech is city that in the last 2 years alone has seen more than 10000 protesters and rested and dozens of disciplines killed. The result of the transformation thats been 24 years in the making since july, the 1st 1997. Ah, since did aid United Kingdom, which had ruled him come from 150 years, returned its colony to china. Handing hong kong back to china was weird. Construct. You had this kind of free open capitalist city this enclave. And so youre handing it back to a country thats controlled by a authoritarian communist party. And the way that the 2 sides, the british in the chinese side were able to make it work as they came up with this amazing formula, said, well have one country, but it will be 2 systems. Got by the way, why co op o thinking something but been im case a hung gotten her weights. I could a policy alongside got up. He had one choice aint going, is it for him . On 8 and somebody john got yelled the being far all year. I believe from hong kong, tom dollar them case that i got a gang hole. Yes, its a merced my, its a happened. So you why your legal that guy we are the man from china did not become like hong kong. If anything in the 24 year since the hand over its hong kong thats become more like mainland china. Under british rule, the city didnt have a democracy, but it did have robust civil liberties. A well functioning justice system. And one of the free is media environments in the region. The one country to systems agreement was supposed to safeguard this, at least until 2047. And in the initial years after the handover, beijing held up its end of the bargain. That was at least partly because china was unwilling to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs. As the british colony on comb had grown into a Global Financial hub and its thriving port, air links, an access to Foreign Investment enabled china to generate about 20 percent of its g d p through the city. It made economic sense for beijing to be relatively hands off. However, as china grew into an economic superpower in the early 2 thousands, beijing started to rethink. Its hong kong strategy. Beginning perhaps from 20 all 3. When theres mock change of tactic. Im up aging to us to was hong kong mall control. More innovations and more presence in the way we govern the media is not immune to those change of strategy. So beginning from that, weve seen that media and gumble the read in direct of pressure or the hi fi we got through that pi like you dont see, we hate to hang on stop phones, i am light a little was i will enjoy all holmes in cbl and conway won summers. I think they, jody, a topical goldman high up lay while you go homemaking allege. Oh, my god, the high ed said the way my, my, like in the ohio, the me, me good being bama. Chinas tougher approach to hong kong was solidified in 2012. When siege in ping was appointed general secretary of the communist party in 2014 c, radically changed the election process for the cities. My senior political representative, the chief executive jungle, you will get out to what a 5 all great, youre gunshot guy the sure. Sure. Sure. We shank on the push it enable. Sure, sure. Dont good. And they dont that change infuriated home commerce and for 79 days, mass protests called the Umbrella Movement paralyzed to city. Beijing responded by ratcheting up its correct down on descent. Why more than a 1000 people were arrested for their ruined demonstrations and at least 127. 00 were convicted . China also intensified it to suit on hong kong media. Since 2014, at least 5 major Mainstream Media outlets got new pro beijing owners, including hong kong, dominant broadcaster t v b. And its leading english newspaper, the south china, more post for those outlets, the minutes to hold out against a pressure, beijing wielded it considerable commercial muscle boycotting advertisements and pro democracy tabloids like apple daily. Regardless, hold and chow, the vice chairman of the largest pro beijing party in Hong Kong Government denies any crack down on the cities, media freedoms. Iving is time for me to weve brought these. Im cool and unwarranted accusations the media enjoy all the freedom of press. Nothing less than before is all vibrant and very diverse. People with smear are on gone by saying that while all the past few years is seems that there are some sort of crack down on the sand and stuff like that. Of course they smearing. I think those us confluence of events here that made this crack down kind of inevitable here in hong kong. She didnt think came into power with a very hard line attitude. And then you have people here start pushing for more democracy that really kind of shook them up in beijing and they realized that hong kong suddenly was a problem. And then along come the 2019 protests and thats where i think china lost its patience. Those 2019 protests were the biggest in hong kong history. More than 2000000 people about a quarter of the population took to the streets risking arrest for 10 consecutive months. Honecliff police tried hard to quell the protests at times with brutal force. Beijing seized on the year long unrest to introduce legislation as strict new National Security law. Designed to curb dissent in hong kong once and for all implemented in june 2020. The law outlaws, secession, subversion, and collusion with foreign forces. Vaguely to find offences that carried maximum sentences of life imprisonment. A new law has proven effective at silence and critics. So for 54. 00 people have been charged including jimmy ly, the owner of the apple daily newspaper. The paper has been repeatedly targeted by the authorities. The final straw came on june 17th when its officers were raided. The editor in chief was arrested and the companys assets are frozen. Within a week of that rate, apple daily published its last and final edition. All right, so youll see a little moby all got. You boy, call to me a lot for money. Got thing. How can i call you when we want a thing . Ill go and then come via for me that you believe thomas . Im going to have more. Fetal game will be made. You both made both eager go ahead and double click on the account number they feel like well, i think as long as you are beta law, you dont coco against National Security. I see nothing that they need to feel very let me take an example. Apple daily is not only a pap lloyd, but is also a prop, again, the done against the central government. So if you are running a media with an agenda to sort of thing during our countries National Security, theres something wrong, isnt it . The social alterations or the to top odl on. Youll want to see how old or her to be on your conference. You come in here on her phone. I want to go home. See him. How legal haunts, ideal you see, dont see. All they can hold all on paper and youre saying im she was such all your dial . Agatha got im gone. Yeah, yeah. Hold on the way tom some to go with john charm with bow chewy speaks from experience. As a freelance producer for hong kong public broadcast, her radio television, hong kong or r t h k. Shes become a target for her reporting footage. Last year she was arrested for her investigation into white police didnt intervene in a violent mob attack on pro democracy protest. Her is in 201916. She looked through publicly available vehicle registration databases to track down the attackers. A practice that the prosecution seized on alleging that by failing to declare that her search was for journalistic purposes, join knowingly made a false statement. She was find nearly 800 u. S. Dollars and coy of august, ohio d not e get obligation lies on much sions. Hot air supplement on gay eldons at ease a hike opens up a bit more and i my some see her po john bowl was always a high gay and they towel was alcohol. A hard edge on both alkaline gum and the whats your thought of her . Hi deutsch. Him were gay congressmans he out. Its no longer just beijing thats coming for hong kong media. The citys chief executive carry lamp and will many of called her pro china rubber stem governments, are cracking down to take bow choice employer, artie hage. K, the public broadcaster that used to have a reputation for its critical journalism. Following its coverage of the 2019 protests including police violence, the Hong Kong Government conducted a far reaching review of r t h. Case management, and editorial direction. It has since replaced its director with a pro beijing bureaucrats and ext various of its programs. While they saw the gall, that i love to be seen. Yeah. When they come down he said things will option high things like homes. I see her home, you know the thing we got to ingle. Hi hope. Full. Moving full height. Height on the jack on the heck of a simple to be gumball 2nd go for we go to me on the scenes. The royal back in 2019 o. D h k. Have told you some Program Reporting for suits being very much bias. The government, if they see something wrong done by all j h k, they, theyre simply crossing the red line going against the charge of they must have been is their responsibility to regulate and make sure that our k will be back on the right track. Ah, going by, its new as political show, a program hosted by the chief executive herself. So there is little doubt as to which direction r t h k is headed in but even with so much of home comes media and a stranglehold in the political opposition silenced beijing was done in march this year, the communist party rewrote the rules of Hong Kong Electoral system, ensuring only patriots can now run for government. I could well through the final nail in the coffin of the one country to systems agreement. Trial what im and im going to take one last thing not to see how you got hung on the hey leo on to compensate. Go on. Im so you know, we gotta get see how you tickle by her. So shell come by honda. How old is your highest goal . Say whole megan coffee, awesome, and cl day phone height would be half full function. Which direction was . Hes among java, 60 white phone have a mix. All on capital with joe, youre report documents the way chinas crack down on hong kong effects journalism there. But the impact these changes have on freedom of expression. They go way beyond news organizations will absolutely take, for example, hong kong publishing industry. And the Chinese Government owns nearly as 30 publishing houses in the city, and it also controls the majority of the booksellers. There. They only print and sell books that so the official line, theyve also made changes to school books, which now teach that at Hong Kong Legislature and this year, every ultimately answer to beijing. Then theres of course, the new National Security law, which could be used to target anyone that expresses undesirable views. For example, filmmakers in june this year, the Hong Kong Government announced that it was going to block the distribution of any movie that is deemed to undermine National Security. Theyre also going to vet art exhibitions and galleries and to really cement their control over hong kong narrative. China is reportedly setting up what they call propaganda departments in the city tasked with controlling media organizations, but also public opinion. So well keep an eye on these attempts to control what people read, right . Say what they teach, how are citizens, people who have opinions dealing with that . Are they going silent . Finance. 3 on congress. That exact question, and none of them turn list in the traditional sense, but all people who fallen victim to these new restrictions on freedom of speech, the 1st is li joe young. He is the founder of the june 4th museum, which is an exhibition in hong kong, which is dedicated entirely to telling the truth about the 19809. 00 chinaman square massacre. A topic that is completely off limits in china has become a target for his work. Just weeks after we interviewed him, he was arrested and sentenced to 20 months in prison for what the authorities call organizing an authorized protest. Then there is a one chi kwan better known under his pen name, lindsey he is a long time political cartoonist who has been forced to navigate these new editorial red lines in his drawings. And then theyll say, i also spoke to nathan law, a former protest leader and democracy activist who was forced to flee hong kong going tax out in london because the authorities back home were going out of their way to silence in all i thought to the idea of this for museum, during the 20th anniversary of the 10 square mascot. Because in china, everyone is being told a lie about 989. 00 is a complete blackout of 89. 00 history. So we want the truth to come out. The april 15th 1989. The previous general secretary of the communist party, we outbound di and he was a very popular reformers. And so i problem a lot of food in my to go and more has them. And then the morning begins to turn into the mind for anti corruption, particularly for democracy, and soon began to come out on march to occupy the attendance way on the audio regime. Con, them demonstrates the student as and to revolutionary. And then on june form, they decide standing on me and frank donald to today no official rec, calling off. How many people are 9089. It was moms. No one knows me. And the Congress Money is, of course, trying to suppress all information about what happened. So the idea was since there, so many Chinese People coming to hong kong, it would be very, very important to have a physical museum. The future full, the museum is pipe, uncertain, and reach because the, the congress body use in the nation sees the law. They are using it in a very arbitrary way. The red line can always ship and they can always strangled sol before. And the nation signal was enacted. We started the process of trying to plan for 9 use the 1st we have been july after think that we have and so that you know, that ill be in the way. If anything happened to this museum in a way, what happened in 89 photo after thing, after 32 years is the same regime and they wont tolerate descent and democracy. And so this is very much relevant today because the fight is due on me. Me has been trying for content for almost 40 years trying for such a long time. I could see what has been life a phone call before hand over and afterwards. So i think to some extent, my, my cartoon has recorded the history of transition. Ah, this one is drawn and nearly 40 years ago, but it transition about the hong kong moving back to china actually is just like from one case going back to the other case. Is a colony of china. From colony, a few came back cartoon has always been very powerful that been given the Chinese Government knows that to some extent theyre quite afraid of. It was quite a little bit of lucky for me. Im currently working from daddy and danny. I think this is the only 2 newspaper that allowed me to throw a cartoon. But there are a lot of farther young cotton where its not the job and they were quite afraid of the new National Security law. They dont want to draw the National Flags or the hong kong stack and they wont play with the national anthem. They used to make fun of seeing things so right right now they are afraid of doing as trying to cotton, their red lines everywhere. And then we wont know where the red line moved on one side from rock direction. And its actually the casing right now in hong kong. So its important for us to, to keep on touring a cartoon and to one day this is a, b, e. If the thing that theyre not going to to do something im asked, but to me as a content is because we have to use this opportunity to, to, to continue to express ourselves. Instead of laying down our pen and surrender in 2020 june sites to leave the hong kong. Now secondly, worried about my personal safety. I had been lift one of the Largest National enemy by the state media for very long time with when you go, i couldnt have imagined doing interviewing the ok to be wanted under the National Security law and to become an ex out activist knew if you know that either in shes going to vancouver, you the funds, all be weve our funds, if youre around we have come to friends agenda. We 25 people. So a p hope to vote country on the phone. We big good. If you question keep and runs your way by you the junk build on that far in hong kong, you just cant talk genuinely about your thoughts towards the beijing government. What the state has a phone call of human rights activist. Not only themselves being intimidated. Cultured out their loved ones, including the wife, tutor, and not be intimidated valence or even also jobs. So for me, when i realized that i would be leaving hong kong issue complex statement about differing my type with my families. So i think i did a very difficult choice, but that choice was for the safety and well being of my family of all allow me to say that mr. Nathan lau in front of you is most appro democracy activist is a fugitive from the law of hong kong that beijing government has always been trying to miami as troublemaker fall. And in fact, or anything that they could tonisha my reputation of course being your individual. But theyre also trying to describe movement, whos even in london, i still do read the cautious about my safety. We all understand how extensive china reach could be so ive been living its chris live and tried to be protecting myself. But official phone costs like the shops, my fisher is definitely great, but in long term future, as im not titled to lose hope, my duties too, and how a people and it contains all of our fellows not to give up. Ah. After almost 25 years of chipping and then hacking away at hong kong freedoms and autonomy, beijing has left the hands off approach behind the pandemic proved a useful pretext to clear demonstrators from the streets. The new National Security law has made it much harder for them to return. But the fight for hong kong is not over as lee truck yacht from the june 4th museum, put it to the court before getting locked up to live in the truth. Thats the path of democracy i choose. Youve been watching a special edition of our program on hong kong. How its changed, and where to go. With the next time. Here at the list. Ah ah. Ah, investigating the use and abuse of power across the globe on al jazeera. Ah hello, a learned taylor in london, the top stories on how does era more countries have closed off travel to Southern African nations over concerns about the new current of ours variant . Only krohn cases have been detected in several nations including israel, germany and the u. K. Who brandon thought its fast becoming the nightmare before christmas with much of the planet still battling a resurgence is a delta variance occurred with 19. The new army crone variant is spreading countries of scrambling to close their borders to travelers from the south of