Tens of thousands of people dressed in black call for complete withdrawal of suspended bill
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Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam defiant in face of extradition climbdown
Chief executive adopts unapologetic, defensive tone and refuses to resign
Carrie Lam’s announcement that a controversial extradition bill had been suspended reinforced the Hong Kong chief executive’s reputation as a hard-nosed leader who can “put up a good fight”.
Throughout her press conference on Saturday, Lam adopted a resolute, unapologetic and defensive tone that her critics labelled arrogant and insincere.
Continue reading...Ice cream and cake: Vladimir Putin hosts birthday party for Xi Jinping – video
Russian president helps Chinese counterpart celebrate 66th birthday in style on Sunday, giving him Russian ice cream and sharing champagne before a summit in Tajikistan. The two leaders reportedly consider each other to be close friends.
Discussion of senior leaders' private lives is extremely rare in China and their exact birth dates are considered a state secret.
Continue reading...Indefinite delay to Hong Kong extradition bill announced – video
Efforts to pass a controversial law in Hong Kong which would have allowed suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial have been indefinitely suspended, Carrie Lam announced on Saturday. The move followed a week of mass protests and street violence over the bill
Hong Kong leader suspends extradition bill amid protest pressure
Carrie Lam says legislation that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China ‘caused a lot of division’
Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has been forced into a humiliating concession after a week of mass protests, promising to indefinitely suspend efforts to pass a controversial new extradition law ahead of another demonstration that has been called for Sunday.
Lam’s announcement represented perhaps the most serious government climbdown in the face of public pressure since a security law was dropped in 2003, an important democratic moment for a city where people are free to demonstrate but not able to choose their leaders.
Continue reading...The US must stand with the people of Hong Kong
But for policies to be effective we must keep in mind how US actions affect the debate within China, where there is vigorous struggle over the country’s future
As the United States engages in an increasingly heated debate over policy towards China – the fight against Huawei, the trade war, talk of a new cold war – the protests in Hong Kong serve as a reminder that there are people in China who are concerned about the same things we are – basic rights, jobs, families.
In Hong Kong this week hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets to protest a proposed law that would enable the government to extradite Hong Kong citizens to the mainland – legislation perceived as legal cover for the Chinese Communist party (CCP) to jail those in Hong Kong advocating for their democratic rights.
Continue reading...‘Deep concerns’: US objects to UN counterterrorism chief’s visit to Xinjiang
Other countries joined the US in objecting to the trip in a region where China detains 1 million Uighurs and muslims
The United States and other western countries have objected to a visit by the United Nations counterterrorism chief to China’s remote Xinjiang, where UN experts say some 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims are held in detention centres.
Vladimir Voronkov, a veteran Russian diplomat who heads the UN Counterterrorism Office, is in China at the invitation of Beijing and is due to visit Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, according to an email sent by his office to countries that raised concerns.
Continue reading...Russia is not alone in exploiting Africa | Letters
Tracey Lindner says the scramble for Africa is largely about securing resources that are crucial for military and civilian digital technology. Terry McGinn shines a spotlight on the US
Foreign involvement in Africa is far from unique to Russia (Leaked documents reveal Russia’s efforts to exert influence in Africa, 12 June). The new scramble for Africa involves more powers than the first round over a century ago. This time it’s in part about securing resources such as oil, gas and rare earth metals crucial for military and civilian digital technology, and denying these resources to rival powers.
The United States Africa Command (Africom) now has 7,500 American troops active in all but one African country, up from 6,000 in 2017. Apart from its huge base in Djibouti, controlling the narrow strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a vital chokepoint through which all shipping using the Suez Canal has to pass – most importantly (for the Americans) Chinese shipping – the US has constructed small “lily pad” bases, whose presence gives the US a strong military capability.
Continue reading...Britain has a duty to help Hong Kong out of this dark moment | Chris Patten
China’s power grab via a new extradition bill must be opposed by governments around the world, especially Britain’s
It took something out of the ordinary to provoke a million people in Hong Kong to take to the streets to demonstrate against proposed new extradition rules. Roughly one-sixth of the population demonstrated peacefully: families, young and old, lawyers, academics, students, professionals and manual workers.
What caused such an outpouring against a piece of legislation? Quite simply, the people of Hong Kong – not British, but Hong Kong Chinese – have seen their government connive with the Communist regime in Beijing to undermine their way of life and freedoms.
Continue reading...Adviser to Hong Kong leader calls for extradition bill delay
Pro-Beijing politician also urges pause and diplomat distances China from law
The pressure of Hong Kong public opinion against a proposed extradition law appears to be causing cracks in the unity of pro-Beijing leaders after two senior figures called for the legislation to be delayed or dropped.
Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has staked her authority on pushing through the legislation, vowing not to back down during a week in which protests have convulsed the city. She has compared demonstrators who were pelted with rubber bullets and teargas to spoilt children.
Continue reading...UN counter-terror tsar visits Xinjiang where Uighurs held in huge numbers
Activists say official visit risks affirming China’s narrative that camps thought to hold a million people are not an abuse of human rights
The UN’s counter-terrorism tsar is on a visit this week to China’s Xinjiang region, where Beijing insists the estimated 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims it is detaining constitute a potential terrorist threat.
Vladimir Voronkov, the under-secretary general for counter-terrorism, is the highest level UN official to visit Xinjiang, which activists have described as an open-air prison where people are deprived of religious freedom.
Continue reading...Canadian minister dismisses suggestion to block Huawei CFO’s extradition
Chrystia Freeland said move would set a dangerous precedent while Meng Wanzhou will challenge extradition request
Canada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, has dismissed a suggestion that Ottawa block the extradition of a top executive from China’s Huawei to the US, saying it would set a dangerous precedent.
Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested on US fraud charges in Vancouver last December, will challenge Washington’s extradition request at hearings that are set to begin next January.
Continue reading...Taking to the streets: how protests have shaped Hong Kong’s history
Demonstrations against the extradition bill follow a 50-year tradition of publicly challenging authority
In Hong Kong, people have most of the freedoms of a democracy except the right to choose their leaders. The city’s last British governor, Chris Patten, described it as a place that enjoyed “liberty without democracy”.
That has made protests particularly important as a political tool and an expression of Hong Kong identity. For more than half a century, the people of Hong Kong have been taking to the streets to force distant authorities – first in Britain and later in Beijing – to reconsider how they govern the city.
Continue reading...As a former lawyer, I’m protesting to save the rule of law in Hong Kong | Anonymous
The extradition bill would bulldoze our legal system and hurt our economy. I’ve lost faith in China’s promise of democracy
The ninth of June 2019 was a Sunday. Any other Sunday in summer at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, old men and women would do their usual walkabouts and maids would gather, spread out groundsheets, cover them with spicy delicacies and listen to Filipino pop songs. But it was not like any other Sunday, at least not for me. Filled with anxiety, hope and anger, I joined the protest against Hong Kong’s proposed extradition law, alongside three classmates from my evening Spanish class. We were hopeful because perhaps there was a slim chance that our government would listen to us, for once. We were angry because our government had repeatedly lied to us.
Related: What are the Hong Kong protests about?
Continue reading...Hong Kong protests: activists call for further action
People urged to continue protests after day of violent clashes with police
Activists in Hong Kong have called for a march on Sunday and a boycott of work and classes on Monday in protest against an extradition bill that could result in suspects being sent to mainland China.
On Thursday, a day after a demonstration by thousands of people was violently cleared, a group of pro-democracy politicians and activists tried to march on the residence of Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, but were stopped by police.
Continue reading...Earliest known signs of cannabis smoking unearthed in China
Incense burners found at 2,500-year-old cemetery suggest intentional use of to get high
Scorched wooden incense burners unearthed at an ancient burial ground in the mountains of western China contain the oldest clear evidence of cannabis smoking yet found, archaeologists say.
Residues of high potency cannabis found in the burners, and on charred pebbles placed inside them, suggest that funeral rites at the 2,500-year-old Jirzankal cemetery in the Pamir mountains may have been rather hazy affairs.
Continue reading...Street protesters dig in for Hong Kong’s ‘last battle’
The demonstrators are less idealistic than in 2014, and the police respond more forcefully
At the end of pro-democracy protests that paralysed central Hong Kong for 79 days in 2014, demonstrators left behind glitter bombs and stickers with the outline of an umbrella and the message: “We’ll be back.”
More than four years later, they have made good on that promise. Since Tuesday evening, thousands of protesters have poured into the streets, surrounding their government. They blocked roads, built barricades, and occupied many of the same areas that were under siege during the Occupy protests, also known as the “umbrella movement”, a campaign for “genuine democracy” in elections. Like in 2014, they have clashed with riot police and suffered rounds of teargas.
Continue reading...Hong Kong protesters shut down city centre over extraditions bill – in pictures
Debate on bill temporarily abandoned after tens of thousands surround Legislative Council building
Continue reading...Hong Kong: tens of thousands of protesters gather as extradition debate looms
Major roads blocked and citywide shutdown expected on Wednesday as hundreds of businesses call for a boycott
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Hong Kong, blocking major roads and sporadically clashing with police as politicians prepared to debate extradition legislation that critics fear would let China spirit its critics across the border.
Protesters gathered around the legislative council building, dismantling and pushing down barricades set up by police and chanting “retract, retract!” Large numbers of riot police have been deployed, using pepper spray on protesters and holding up signs warning they were prepared to use force on the crowds.
Continue reading...Energy industry’s carbon emissions rise at fastest rate in nearly a decade
BP report reveals that swings in global temperatures are increasing the use of fossil fuels
Carbon emissions from the global energy industry rose by the fastest rate in almost a decade in 2018 after surprise swings in global temperatures stoked extra demand for fossil fuels.
BP’s annual global energy report revealed for the first time that fluctuating temperatures are increasing the world’s use of fossil fuels in spite of efforts to tackle the climate crisis.
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