TAIPEI — Taiwan on Thursday promised to settle Hong Kongers who flee the Chinese-ruled city due to political reasons, offering help from employment to counselling as China pushes new security legislation that has triggered fresh protests.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen this week became the first world leader to pledge specific measures to help people from Hong Kong who may leave the former British colony due to the new legislation, a move that is certain to sour already poor ties between Taipei and Beijing.
Chen Ming-tong, head of Taiwan's top China-policy maker, the Mainland Affairs Council, told parliament the government will establish an organization to deliver "humanitarian relief" that includes settlement and employment in a joint effort with activists groups.
He said counselling services will also be available for Hong Kongers, some of whom may take part in increasingly violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
"Many Hong Kongers want to come to Taiwan. Our goal is to give them settlement and care," Chen said, urging the public not use the word "refugee" as it could be "emotionally harmful" for people from the city.
Chen, however, did not give details such as scale, timing and qualification of the relief program when pressed by lawmakers, saying the government is still working on the details.
Hong Kong's demonstrators have won widespread sympathy in democratic Taiwan, which China considers as its territory to be taken by force, if necessary. Taiwan has shown no interest in being ruled by autocratic China.
Help for Hong Kong has won rare bipartisan support in politically polarized Taiwan and 3 opposition parties have introduced bills to make it easier for Hong Kongers to live in Taiwan if they have to leave the city due to political reasons.
Taiwan has no law on refugees that could be applied to protesters seeking asylum, but its laws promise to help Hong Kongers whose safety and liberty are threatened for political reasons.
Some say Tsai's government is not moving fast enough.
"Please come up with details of the humanitarian relief at the soonest. Don't wait until people shed blood like water," said Chen Yu-jen, a lawmaker from main opposition Kuomintang party.
Ivan Tang, a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, welcomed Tsai's support but cautioned a sense of urgency among protesters in the city, some of whom had been barred from entering Taiwan due to travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"They have nowhere to go... but the security law could be implemented soon," he said.
Taiwan has become a popular destination for Hong Kongers leaving the city, with the number of Hong Kong citizens granted Taiwan residency jumping 150 percent to 2,383 in the first 4 months of 2020 compared with a year ago, official data shows.
University applications to Taiwan from Hong Kong also rose 62 percent in 2020 from a year ago, and island's education ministry said this week it was planning to raise the quota for Hong Kong students.
-reuters-
NEW DELHI—At least 2 people are dead after police opened fire at a demonstration, an official said Thursday, as fresh protests erupted across India against a contentious citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim.
The men -- Abdul Jalil, 49, and Samshir Kudroli, 23 -- "died in police firing during the protests," Qadir Shah, a spokesman for the deputy commissioner of the southern city of Mangalore, told AFP, adding that a curfew had been imposed in the city with schools, restaurants and bars shut.
Another man taken to the King George's Medical University Trauma Centetr in Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with a gunshot injury died soon after, a hospital source told AFP.
His death has not been confirmed by local police, but his father told the Times of India newspaper his son was shot after getting caught in a crowd of protesters while he was out to buy groceries.
Four others were being treated at a hospital in Mangalore "with bullet injuries following the clashes," a district medical officer told AFP.
Shah said police fired their weapons after some 200 demonstrators refused to stop their march.
"They marched towards the busiest area of Mangalaru. This led to lathi (big, wooden sticks) charge. Then the tear gas was fired. When the protestors still didn't stop, the police had to open fire after that," he said, using an alternate name for the city.
Security forces and protesters had clashed in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka states, while elsewhere police bundled demonstrators onto buses, shuttered Delhi metro stations and cut cellphone access in some areas.
The protests were sparked by a new law easing citizenship rules for people fleeing persecution from 3 neighboring countries but not Muslims, stoking accusations at home and abroad that Modi wants to reshape India as a Hindu nation, which he denies.
Seven months after Modi swept to a second term, the past week has seen 6 other people killed in the northeastern state of Assam and dozens injured, while on Thursday, authorities banned gatherings across swathes of the world's biggest democracy that together are home to hundreds of millions of people.
DEMONSTRATORS DRAGGED
Fresh violence erupted in Samhbal, Uttar Pradesh, where hundreds of protesters set fire to vehicles and threw stones at security forces who responded with tear gas, local police chief Yamuna Prasad told AFP.
In Modi's home state of Gujarat, police said they baton-charged demonstrators and arrested 50 people.
As others ignored the assembly bans in Delhi and elsewhere, authorities ordered telecom firms to cut calls, text messages and data in parts of the city.
India is already the world leader in cutting the internet, activists say, and access was also restricted in parts of the northeast and in Uttar Pradesh, home to a large Muslim minority.
In Delhi, prominent rights activist Harsh Mander was detained, while in Bangalore globally renowned historian Ramachandra Guha was among those dragged onto a police bus.
Around 20,000 people took to the streets in the northeast, where the protests began last week—albeit for different reasons.
The day's biggest demonstration took place in Malegaon district of Maharashtra state with as many as 60,000 people, police said.
'SOMETHING HAS CHANGED'
In Mumbai, a crowd of thousands including tattooed students and older Muslim men wearing skullcaps brandished Indian flags, posters of Mahatma Gandhi and handed out copies of the constitution.
"Something has changed. This is the first time in a long time that people in Mumbai have come out in such large numbers to register dissent," said consultant Karishma V.
A crowd of around 40,000 people in eastern West Bengal's Kolkata city was led by the state's chief minister Mamata Banerjee, a strong Modi critic.
The protests have been fuelled by anger about alleged police brutality including at a university in Delhi on Sunday night.
Security forces in the capital have fired some 450 tear gas shells in the past 5 days, the Hindustan Times daily reported. One student reportedly lost an eye.
The demonstrations in the city have at times turned violent with vehicles set on fire and protestors hurling stones at police in heavily Muslim areas on Wednesday.
"If they show us the lathi (police baton), we will show them roses," a student in Delhi, Shivanji, told AFP as she handed flowers to police on Thursday.
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HONG KONG - Hong Kong is set to record its first budget deficit in 15 years, the city's finance chief warned Monday, as the business hub reels from the twin shocks of the trade war and seething democracy protests.
In the latest grim assessment for the city, financial secretary Paul Chan told lawmakers that the economy was set to contract 1.3 percent in 2019 hitting the city's usually bulging coffers.
Chan blamed the 2019-2020 deficit on decreased tax revenues, a slowdown in land sales and recent economic sweeteners he unveiled in a bid to win over the public during a tumultuous year of unrest.
"At the end of the financial year, the SAR government will be in the red," Chan said, using an abbreviation for the Hong Kong government.
"Hong Kong's economy is now in extremely difficult times," he added, as he called for political violence to cease.
The city has been battered by nearly six months of protests triggered by rising public anger over China's rule and the police's response to protests.
Crowds are pushing for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability but the city's pro-Beijing leadership has refused any major political concessions.
The increasingly violent rallies have hammered the retail and tourism sectors, with mainland Chinese visitors abandoning the city in droves.
Figures released last week showed mainland arrivals fell a record 46 percent in October, a usually crucial holiday period in China known as "Golden Week".
But the economy has also taken a pumelling from the US-China trade war in a city that serves as a crucial link between the authoritarian mainland and the global markets.
The last time Hong Kong recorded a budget deficit was in the aftermath of a deadly 2003 outbreak of the Sars virus that killed some 300 people.
The city's budget usually ends the year in an enviable position and successive fat years have built up an impressive cushion.
In March the government said its reserves stood at HK$1,170 trillion ($150 billion) with some critics saying successive leaders have not done enough to alleviate endemic inequality.
Confirmation of a deficit will do little to restore business faith in the hub given Beijing is offering no political solution to the crisis.
On Monday, the city's aviation regulator gave Hong Kong Airlines five days to find fresh revenue streams or risk seeing its license suspended.
The carrier, which is owned by the struggling mainland conglomerate HNA Group, has been one of the most high profile casualties of plunging visitor numbers and announced last week it was delaying salaries to some staff.
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BAGHDAD - Iraq's embattled premier announced Friday he will resign in keeping with the wishes of the country's top Shiite cleric, after nearly two months of anti-government protests that have cost more than 400 lives.
Adel Abdel Mahdi's written statement was greeted with cheers and blaring music across Baghdad's iconic Tahrir (Liberation) Square, where crowds have amassed since early October against a ruling class deemed corrupt and inefficient.
"I will submit to the esteemed parliament a formal letter requesting my resignation from the premiership," Abdel Mahdi wrote, just hours after Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani called in his weekly sermon on parliament to replace the cabinet.
The sermon set off an avalanche of statements from political figures in support of a no-confidence vote on the government, before the prime minister's announcement.
Celebrations broke out in Tahrir, where young protesters dropped the stones they were preparing to throw at riot police and began dancing, an AFP photographer said.
"It's our first victory, and we're hoping for many more," shouted one demonstrator as the three-wheeled tuk-tuk vehicles used to ferry casualties pumped patriotic music into the square.
"It's also a victory for the martyrs who fell," he said.
The grassroots movement is the largest Iraq has seen in decades but also the deadliest, with more than 400 people dead and 15,000 wounded in the capital and Shiite-majority south, according to an AFP tally.
For weeks, Sistani had called for restraint in dealing with demonstrators and urged political parties to get "serious" about reform, but he ramped up demands on Friday.
"The parliament, from which this current government is drawn, is asked to reconsider its choice in this regard," he said in Friday's sermon delivered by a representative.
Within minutes, MP and former premier Haider al-Abadi called on lawmakers to convene Saturday for a "special session for a vote of no-confidence and to form a new independent government".
And the powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network, which had backed the government, also appeared to change course.
Its parliamentary bloc, Fatah, called for "the necessary changes in the interests of Iraq".
Bloodshed resumes
The sudden turnaround came after one of the bloodiest days of protests yet, with 44 demonstrators killed and nearly 1,000 wounded on Thursday in Baghdad and across the south.
The bloodshed resumed on Friday, with two protesters shot dead in the flashpoint city of Nasiriyah and another killed in the shrine city of Najaf.
"The increasing numbers of deaths and injuries cannot be tolerated," said the UN's top official in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
The majority of Thursday's dead fell in Nasiriyah, which counted 26 dead, including two who died Friday from injuries suffered the previous day.
In renewed rallies Friday in Nasiriyah, demonstrators encircled a police station and set ablaze five police cars.
And in Najaf, a massive funeral procession snaked through the streets carrying coffins of some of the 16 people killed there the previous day.
Clashes erupted there between protesters and armed men dressed in civilian clothes, with volleys of gunfire heard outside political party offices, according to witnesses.
Demonstrators felt emboldened by Sistani's sermon, which was "different than the previous ones", said Ali al-Sunbuli, an activist in Najaf.
The sermon began with a prayer for the protesters who died and then addressed parliament directly, not the cabinet or political parties.
"It's a sign that he doesn't recognise their legitimacy," said Sunbuli.
In Diwaniyah, another hotspot, protester Ahmad al-Badr said that Sistani's speech "was a big push for us".
Turning tides
The unrest in Iraq's south was unleashed after protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in Najaf late Wednesday, accusing the neighbouring country of propping up Iraq's government.
Tehran demanded Iraq take decisive action against the protesters, saying it was "disgusted" by developments.
In response, Abdel Mahdi ordered military chiefs to deploy in several provinces to "impose security and restore order" -- but chaos reigned instead.
Men in civilian clothes opened fire at demonstrators and tribal fighters deployed in the streets in their defence.
As the death toll climbed late Thursday, the premier sacked the commander he had dispatched to Nasiriyah and the provincial governor based in the city resigned.
Police officers speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP they had received orders Thursday to "finish off" the rallies.
Baghdad and the south have been rocked by the most widespread street unrest since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Protesters are seeking an overhaul of the ruling elite, accused of corruption and embezzling state funds in a country scarred by decades of conflict and where infrastructure is failing.
Iraq is OPEC's second-largest crude producer but one in five Iraqis lives in poverty and youth unemployment stands at 25 percent, according to the World Bank.
Demonstrators have also called out Iraq's large eastern neighbour Iran, accusing it of political, economic and military overreach.
Top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani last month convinced political factions to back the government, including firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr, who had called on the premier to resign.
But as the tide appeared to turn again, Sadr resurfaced Thursday, saying it would "be the beginning of the end for Iraq" if the government did not step down.
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PARIS - Tens of thousands have rallied across the world to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as France unveiled new measures to combat domestic violence.
Demonstrators on Monday gathered in countries as diverse as Guatemala, Russia, Sudan and Turkey, where riot police in Istanbul blocked the path of roughly 2,000 protesters before firing tear gas and plastic bullets to disperse them.
The French government announced it would make it easier for doctors to share information on vulnerable women and write into law the concept of psychological "entrapment", following massive rallies in France over the weekend.
Roughly 87,000 women and girls were murdered across the world in 2017, according to the United Nations.
Monday's rallies -- animated by growing anger over the failure of justice systems to punish offenders -- follow a weekend of protests against what is being termed femicide.
Crowds marched through the streets of Moscow to highlight the government's failure to pass laws protecting women, and hundreds of Sudanese women chanted "freedom, peace and justice" as they gathered in Khartoum in the first such protest in decades.
In Mexico City, masked demonstrators with sledgehammers smashed glass panes of bus stops, spray-painted monuments and clashed with riot police Monday to protest authorities' failure to halt soaring rates of femicide and rape in the country.
'Sexist, patriarchal attitudes'
Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched in Madrid on Monday evening following a weekend of protests. Spain's long-standing laws against gender violence have not halted the problem -- 52 women have been killed by their partners or ex-partners since the start of 2019.
South Africa has one of the worst records of any country on gender violence and the government has faced several rounds of mass protests on the issue.
President Cyril Ramaphosa used Monday's events to launch a campaign to improve victims' access to justice and urge men to drop their "sexist and patriarchal attitudes".
The UN warned that more action was needed around the world, singling out Afghanistan as a country where too little is done to counter sexual violence and rape.
And in a rare move, global police cooperation agency Interpol launched an international appeal to find eight men suspected of murdering or committing violence against women.
'Electric shock'
The French government is among those to face sustained pressure for reform -- at least 117 women have been killed by their partner or former partner since the start of the year, according to a count by AFP, compared with 121 women last year.
Also, 213,000 women have suffered physical or sexual violence carried out by their partner or ex-partner, according to the latest official figures.
The lights of the Eiffel Tower were switched off for one minute at midnight to mark the day.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said he hoped his new measures would deliver an "electric shock" by focusing on ending "absurdities" and "dysfunctional aspects" in the law.
He said the measures, to be put to parliament in January, would be backed by 360 million euros ($400 million) of additional funding.
Advocates for women's rights broadly welcomed Philippe's announcement but called for more concrete help.
"What is needed is to bolster special measures such as offering sanctuary and then supporting the victims," said Francoise Brie, who heads the National Federation of Women's Solidarity.
Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa promised that the new measures would be funded, but also stressed in a newspaper interview that the "fight against marital violence is not just a question of money".
An AFP examination this month of every case of femicide in France showed how the justice system had failed to act in the face of warning signs of the potential for violence.
But in an open letter Monday, more than a dozen top French judges urged women to keep faith in a system that is "improving and adapting itself."
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LONDON - Luxury British fashion house Burberry on Thursday logged rising interim profits despite the impact of ongoing protests in Hong Kong.
Profits after taxation rose 14 percent to £150.3 million ($193 million, 175 million euros) in the first half of Burberry's financial year, or 26 weeks to September 28, it said in a results statement.
Burberry, famed for its designer handbags and trademark check pattern, added however that sales in Hong Kong suffered a "double digit" percentage decline due to the protests.
The fashion house also took a £14-million impairment on the value of its stores in Hong Kong.
However, total group sales grew 5 percent to £1.28 billion, aided by new collections from chief creative officer Riccardo Tisci.
"We are pleased with our performance in the half, as we remain on track to deliver the first phase of our strategy," said Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti.
He added: "We also continued to strengthen momentum around our brand and transform our distribution.
"We delivered financial results in line with guidance despite the decline in Hong Kong and we confirm our outlook for 2020."
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A supporter of former President Evo Morales holds a Bolivian flag during clashes with police in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday. Bolivia's new interim president Jeanine Anez faces the challenge of stabilizing the nation and organizing national elections within three months at a time of political disputes that pushed Morales to fly off to self-exile in Mexico after 14 years in power.
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BAGHDAD - Thousands of Iraqis thronged central Baghdad on Friday demanding the root-and-branch downfall of the political elite, in what was expected to become the biggest day of mass anti-government demonstrations since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Protests in which 250 people have died over the past month have accelerated dramatically in recent days, drawing huge crowds from across Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divides to reject the political parties in power since 2003.
Thousands have been camped out in Baghdad's central Tahrir Square, with many thousands more joining them by day. Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, was expected to draw the biggest crowds yet, with many taking to the streets after worship.
More than 50 people were wounded overnight and early Friday morning, police and hospital sources said. By late morning hundreds were marching to the square from side streets, condemning elites they see as deeply corrupt, beholden to foreign powers and responsible for daily privations.
In recent days protests have been comparatively peaceful by day, joined by elderly people and young families, becoming more violent after dark as police use tear gas and live ammunition to battle self-proclaimed "revolutionary" youths in the street.
Amnesty International said on Thursday security forces were using "previously unseen" tear gas canisters modeled on military grenades that are 10 times as heavy as standard ones.
In Baghdad, protesters had set up checkpoints in the streets leading into and surrounding Tahrir Square, redirecting traffic.
New arrivals joined and assisted those who had camped overnight. A group of young people was sweeping the streets in to "make things comfortable" for fellow protesters.
Mohammed Najm, an engineering graduate with no job, said the square had become a model for the country he and his comrades hope to build: "We are cleaning streets, others bring us water, they bring us electricity, they wired it up.
"A mini-state. Health for free, tuk-tuks transporting for free," he said. "The state has been around for 16 years and what it failed to do we did in seven days in Tahrir. If they can't do it, leave."
Many were singing about the sit in. Helmets and gas masks were now a common sight. A group of middle-aged women sat making falafel sandwiches.
"We are making food for the protesters. They are our sons and brothers," said Umm Idrees, mother to three university graduates who have all failed to find jobs. "We are here until the regime falls, every day."
'NOT ENOUGH'
In his weekly sermon, top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani warned of "civil conflict, chaos and destruction" if the security forces or paramilitary groups crack down on the protests. And he gave an apparent nod to protesters who say the government is being manipulated from abroad, above all by Iran.
"No one person or group or side with an agenda, or any regional or international party, can infringe upon the will of Iraqis or force an opinion upon them," Sistani's representative said during a sermon in the holy city of Kerbala.
Despite OPEC member Iraq's vast oil wealth, many Iraqis live in poverty or have limited access to clean water, electricity, basic health care and education. The protests are driven by young people who above all want jobs.
The government of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, in office for a year, has failed to find a response to the protests. A crackdown that saw police fire into crowds from rooftops has only inflamed the anger of the crowds.
Many see the political class as subservient to one or another of Baghdad's main allies, the United States and Iran, who use Iraq as a proxy for a struggle for regional influence.
"The leadership is controlled by Iran," said barber Amir, 26. "When we make demands we shouldn't even talk to the government, we should talk to Iran. We don't have a government."
Reuters reported this week that a powerful Iran-backed faction had considered abandoning Abdul Mahdi, but decided to keep him in office after a secret meeting attended by a general from Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
An Iranian security official confirmed General Qassem Soleimani had attended Wednesday's meeting, saying he was there to "give advice."
President Barham Salih said on Thursday that Abdul Mahdi was willing to resign if parliament's main blocs could agree on a replacement.
Protesters say that wouldn't be enough; they want to undo the entire post-Saddam political system, which distributes power among sectarian parties, giving them little incentive to reform.
"We don't want to oust just Adel Abdul Mahdi, we want all the corrupt ones. So what if he resigns? What will happen? They will get someone worse," said Amir. "It is not enough. What about the rest of them? We don't want the parties."
There were protests in other provinces, with the unrest having spread across much of the southern Shi'ite heartland.
Some protesters in oil-rich Basra tried to block the road leading to Majnoon oilfield and pitched a tent on Friday in support of the Baghdad protests but oil sources said operations were not interrupted.
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HONG KONG - Hundreds of Hong Kong medical workers and other anti-government protesters rallied in the Chinese-ruled city's financial center on Saturday, angry at perceived police brutality during more than four months of sometimes violent unrest.
Pro-democracy activists have attacked police with petrol bombs and rocks and shone lasers in their eyes. One officer was slashed in the neck with a knife.
Police have responded with tear gas, water cannon, rubber bullets and occasional live rounds, wounding several protesters, many of whom received treatment from volunteer first aiders at the roadside.
A 26-year-old nurse, who gave his name only as Stephen, said police would often come into the hospital where he works on the Kowloon peninsula and stand outside the wards or search for protesters in the accident and emergency department.
"Sometimes they bring their guns and weapons. The patients may be scared. This is not good practice," he said. "The protesters have injuries. This searching must be done after they are healed."
He said he worked as a first aider at protest sites in his spare time.
"I didn't tell any of my supervisors - only some colleagues with the same values," he said. "...But when I see people injured, I have to provide first aid."
Police deny accusations of brutality, saying they have shown utmost restraint in life-threatening situations and issue warnings to protesters with color-coded signs before they respond with tear gas or baton charges.
Protesters are angry about what they see as creeping Chinese interference in Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula intended to guarantee freedoms that are not enjoyed on the mainland.
China denies meddling. It has accused foreign governments, including the United States and Britain, of inciting the unrest.
The demonstrators gathered peacefully on Saturday, occasionally chanting "Hong Kong people, resist."
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Hong Kong might be heading for recession after months of violent protests but that hasn't stopped one businessman from forking out almost $1 million for a parking spot.
The mind-boggling sum paid by Johnny Cheung Shun-yee highlights the gaping inequality that has helped fuel nearly 5 months of demonstrations in the financial hub, where one in five people live below the poverty line.
The HK$7.6 million ($970,000) price tag is more than 30 times the average annual wage in Hong Kong and about the same as a one-bed apartment in London's plush Chelsea area.
It is situated in The Center, the city's fifth-highest skyscraper, which hit the headlines in October 2017 when it became the world's most expensive office building after Hong Kong's richest man sold it for more than $5 billion.
The purchase comes even though there are growing concerns about the impact of the pro-democracy demonstrations on the city's real estate market with property firms' share prices plunging in recent months, as they are forced to offer discounts on new projects and cut office rents.
The economy has been tipped to grow just 0-1.0 percent this year, the worst rate since 2009 during the global financial crisis.
"A lot of those owners in The Center are in finance or in other high-growth businesses," Stanley Poon, a managing director at Centaline Commercial, said. "To these tycoons, it’s not a significant purchase if you compare it to the value of the office floors they own."
Hong Kong's white-hot property market has become a political issue as costs continue to soar, forcing some small businesses to close owing to sky-high rents while many residents cannot afford to buy or lease decent homes.
Commercial and residential property prices have been fueled by an influx of money from wealthy mainland Chinese investors and developers.
While the long-running protests in the city are fired mostly by anger at a now-dead extradition bill and hatred towards the government and police, they are also fanned by anger at the huge disparity between rich and poor.
Bloomberg News contributed to this story
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WASHINGTON - Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday attacked the rapidly growing Chinese short-video app, saying it censored political protest, including in the United States.
While delivering an address on free speech at Georgetown University in Washington, Zuckerberg said Facebook social media platforms like WhatsApp were used by protesters and activists everywhere because of its encryption and privacy protection.
But "on TikTok, the Chinese app growing quickly around the world, mentions of these same protests are censored, even here in the US," he said.
TikTok denied China censors its content, saying it is "not influenced by any foreign government."
Facebook competes directly with TikTok, especially among younger audiences. The app enable users to create and share short singing and dancing videos that are set to well-known songs, with numerous special effect filters.
Zuckerberg, in a recently leaked recording of him speaking with company employees, noted that TikTok was the first successful Chinese internet product worldwide. "It's starting to do well in the US, especially with young folks."
Zuckerberg's Thursday comments came just 2 weeks after Senator Marco Rubio asked a US national security panel to review TikTok owner Beijing ByteDance Technology Co Ltd's acquisition of Musical.ly Inc, arguing TikTok is used by the Chinese government to censor politically sensitive content.
In a letter requesting the review, Rubio noted that despite Hong Kong protests dominating international headlines for months, "the app only had a few videos" of the protests.
Rubio said Chinese-owned apps "are increasingly being used to censor content and silence open discussion on topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese Government and Communist Party."
ByteDance is one of China's fastest growing startups. It owns the country's leading news aggregator, Jinri Toutiao, as well as TikTok, which has attracted celebrities like Ariana Grande and Katy Perry along with legions of US teenagers.
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OSLO, Norway - A Norwegian politician has nominated the "people of Hong Kong" for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, in a move which risks drawing China's ire.
"I have nominated the people of Hong Kong, who risk their lives and security every day to stand up for freedom of speech and basic democracy, to the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020," Guri Melby, a member of Norway's parliament for the liberal party, said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.
In an interview published by newspaper Aftenposten on Wednesday Melby explained that "what they do has an impact far beyond Hong Kong, both in the region and in the rest of the world".
The former British colony is going through its worst political crisis since its return to China in 1997.
Millions have taken to the streets of Hong Kong, initially against a now-dropped bid by its leaders to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland.
But after Beijing and Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam took a hard line, the movement snowballed into a broader push for democracy and police accountability.
Activists say freedoms are being eroded by Beijing, contrary to a deal that outlined Hong Kong's 1997 return to China from British colonial rule.
Melby's initiative is likely to displease China, which was already angered by the Nobel Committee's 2010 decision to give the award to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who has since died.
Although the Nobel Committee is independent from the government in Norway, Beijing froze its relations with the Scandinavian country, suspended negotiations for a free trade agreement and blocked imports of Norwegian salmon.
Relations between the countries did not normalize until December 2016, after Oslo committed to not "support actions that undermine" Chinese interests.
Nominations are however common and this year the Nobel Committee had to pick from 301 candidates.
In the end, the prize was awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for his work in resolving the conflict with bitter foe Eritrea.
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SAN FRANCISCO — Google on Thursday removed from its online marketplace a mobile game that let people play as a Hong Kong protester, saying it violated a policy against cashing in on conflicts.
The move came after Apple removed an app criticized by China for allowing protesters in Hong Kong to track police, and as Beijing steps up pressure on foreign companies deemed to be providing support to the pro-democracy movement.
Google said its decision to yank "The Revolution of Our Times" game from its Play Store did not result from any takedown requests by police or any other party outside the California-based company.
"We have a longstanding policy prohibiting developers from capitalizing on sensitive events such as attempting to make money from serious ongoing conflicts or tragedies through a game," Google said in response to an AFP inquiry.
"After careful review, we found this app to be violating that particular policy and suspended it, as we have done with similar attempts to profit from other high-profile events such as earthquakes, crises, suicides and conflicts."
Apple, meanwhile, pulled HKmap.live in a move blasted as another case of companies outside of China bowing to the will of that country's regime.
Chinese state media this week tore into the app, which collates information on police locations submitted by users, charging that it was helping "rioters."
Communist Party mouthpiece The People's Daily said by stocking the app, Apple was "mixing business with politics, and even illegal acts."
On Thursday the app was no longer available on Apple's Hong Kong App Store.
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BEIJING -- The creators of "South Park" have issued a mock apology to China after censors scrubbed their popular animation from the Chinese web.
The tongue-in-cheek statement, skewering Beijing's demands that western brands conform to its world view, came with officials apparently annoyed about an episode that crossed several of the Communist Party's red lines.
The episode -- called "Band in China" -- depicted forced labor at a Chinese prison, and parodied companies that cave in to censorship for commercial gain.
"I can't sell my soul like this," says one character, who was under pressure from Chinese censors to rewrite his music.
"It's not worth living in a world where China controls my country's art," he added.
The incident comes as the NBA and its Houston Rockets franchise are facing fierce criticism and financial punishment in China over a tweet supporting Hong Kong's democracy protesters.
Both the league and the team have scrambled to apologize over the tweet by Rockets' general manager Daryl Morey, as calls for a boycott gather steam in one of the NBA's most lucrative markets.
But the apologies have sparked derision in the United States, where critics said the league was sacrificing morals for money.
Writing on Twitter, "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone offered spoof contrition over any offense they had caused in China with their satirical show.
"Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts," they wrote.
"We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look just like Winnie the Pooh at all," the statement added, a reference to banned memes comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping with AA Milne's portly bear.
"Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn's sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?" the statement read.
On Tuesday, searches for "South Park" on China's Twitter-like social media platform Weibo and popular film review site Douban did not return any results.
And while information on South Park was still available on a few video streaming sites, episodes could not be played.
Parker and Stone's response to China stands in stark contrast to that of major Western brands who have quickly beaten a retreat when faced with potential losses in China's huge -- and fiercely nationalistic -- consumer market.
Companies ranging from airlines to fashion houses have issued fulsome apologies, often after being charged with "hurting the feelings of the Chinese people."
As well as any indication of support for protests in Hong Kong, common crimes include labelling Taiwan as a separate country -- China believes it is a renegade province -- or discussing Xinjiang, where rights groups say a million mostly Muslim minorities are being held in prison camps.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BAGHDAD - At least 8 people were killed and 25 wounded in new clashes between protesters and police in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, police and medical sources said.
The clashes were in Sadr city, a sprawling residential district of the Iraqi capital, and added to a death toll of more than 100 people killed in less than a week of protests over corruption and unemployment.
Police, backed by the army, used live rounds and tear gas to disperse the crowds at two separate locations in Sadr City, police said.
The protests pose the biggest security and political challenge for Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's government since it took power a year ago, and have revived fears of a new spiral of violence that could suck in influential militia groups.
Two years after oil-producing Iraq declared the defeat of Islamic State, security has improved but corruption is rampant, wrecked infrastructure has not been rebuilt and jobs are scarce.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG - Hong Kong police shot a pro-democracy protestor in the chest on Tuesday as violent clashes erupted across the city hours after China held a massive military parade in Beijing to celebrate 70 years of Communist Party rule.
It was the first such injury from a live round in nearly four months of increasingly violent protests and threatened to strip the spotlight from China’s carefully-choreographed birthday party, designed to underscore its status as a global superpower.
While President Xi Jinping took salutes from some 15,000 troops in the capital, pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong threw eggs at his portrait, with tens of thousands of people defying police orders to disperse.
Running battles raged for hours across multiple locations, with some hardcore protesters hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails, while police responded for the most part with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon.
But in one area north of the skyscraper district, a police officer unloaded his weapon at close range into a young man, video footage showed.
"An officer discharged his firearm after coming under attack and a protester was struck in the chest in Tsuen Wan district today," a police source said, requesting anonymity.
The wounded protester received initial first aid from officers before paramedics arrived and took him to hospital, the source added.
Many of the fights in the city were especially fierce with police in one district having corrosive liquid thrown at them and officers in another area retreating into a town hall from projectile-throwing crowds.
Burning barricades sent a pall of black smoke over the city, a regional hub for some of the world's biggest banks.
The violence cast a shadow over the lavish parade in Beijing where tanks, new nuclear missiles and a supersonic drone paraded down the Avenue of Eternal Peace as Xi and other Communist Party leaders watched from a rostrum overlooking Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
The event was meant to showcase China's journey from a poor nation broken by war to the world's second-largest economy.
New weapons
Xi, who wore the distinctive "Mao suit", delivered a speech invoking the "Chinese dream" of national rejuvenation -- his grand vision of restoring the country to perceived past glory.
"There is no force that can shake the foundation of this great nation," Xi said from the Tiananmen rostrum where Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.
Helicopters flew in a "70" formation over the city as troops goose-stepped across Tiananmen Square in what state media described as the country's biggest-ever military parade, featuring 580 pieces of armament and 160 aircraft.
The People's Liberation Army brought out its newest hardware, including the DF-41, a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile with range enough to reach the entire United States, and the DF-17, a launcher for a hypersonic glider.
Warplanes including the J-20 stealth fighter soared through the smog-choked skies, and state media said a high-altitude, high-speed reconnaissance drone made a public appearance for the first time.
"The party hopes that this occasion will add to its legitimacy and rally support at a time of internal and external challenges," Adam Ni, China researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney, told AFP.
US trade war negotiations have dragged on, and African swine fever has raced through the country's pig supply, sending pork prices soaring.
But a major headache remains Hong Kong.
Despite increasing levels of violence, there is still huge public support for a movement that presents the most serious threat to Beijing's rule since Britain returned it to China in 1997.
In his speech, Xi said China "must adhere" to the one country, two systems policy governing Hong Kong and "maintain the long-term prosperity and stability" of the city.
He also called for the "peaceful development" of relations with self-governed Taiwan but also reiterated his determination to seize the island, by force if necessary.
Mao portrait
The Beijing festivities continued with a pageant involving 100,000 civilians and 70 floats depicting China's greatest achievements.
A giant portrait of Mao, followed by those of past leaders and Xi, streamed across the avenue as the president and other officials waved.
Replicas of a space rocket, a homegrown passenger plane and high-speed trains were followed by smiling ethnic minorities -- imagery that glosses over accusations of human rights abuses in the frontier regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.
Party survives
The Communist Party has repeatedly defied the odds to remain in power for seven decades.
Under Mao, tens of millions of people died during the disastrous Great Leap Forward, and the country was plunged into violent chaos during the decade-long Cultural Revolution.
After Mao's death in 1976, the party launched the reform and opening-up policy under paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, starting decades of breakneck growth and development.
But the party retained a stranglehold on power, sending troops to end the biggest challenge to its rule in 1989 when pro-democracy protesters occupied Tiananmen Square.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG - Just before midnight in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district, a slight man in his seventies peels away from a crowd of protesters jeering at police. Behind him, a young woman calls out, "Be safe!"
They make an improbable pair: she a smartly dressed 24-year-old; he an elderly activist who has for decades been sleeping on the streets of one of the wealthiest – and most unequal – cities on earth.
Bringing the two together is a movement that began in June with protests against a bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China. The proposed legislation has since been withdrawn.
The demonstrations have since spiraled into a struggle over the future of the Chinese-ruled city that has drawn people from a broad cross-section of society. Some live on the breadline, but they have set aside their grievances to support a movement they hope will secure a better future for all.
"Even though we are poor, we still support the 5 demands," said the 73-year-old, Lou Tit-Man, referring to a 5-point agenda that includes calls for universal suffrage and for hundreds of arrested protesters to be pardoned.
While others organize on encrypted apps like Telegram, Lou Tit-Man follows news of the demonstrations on his shortwave radio, one of the few possessions he has managed to keep from thieves, along with a mask picked up after one scuffle.
Known locally as "Iron Man", a play on his Chinese name and reputation for resilience, he spent 4 months in jail during the 2014 "Umbrella Movement" that paralyzed the city but failed to win major concessions from Beijing.
In his shirt pocket he carries a crumpled copy of an article about him in a local newspaper, relating how he spent his government subsidies to buy food and water for the mostly young protesters.
"I want the next generation to have a better life," he said, "I put all my heart and soul into the social movement."
This year's rallies have brought thousands of people onto the streets weekend after weekend, shouting slogans like "stand with Hong Kong" and "revolution of our time" that express a growing discontent with what is seen as creeping Chinese interference in the city.
The government has called for dialogue and said it is willing to "take forward constitutional development" in accordance with the law.
Recent demonstrations have often erupted into violence, with black-clad protesters setting fires and vandalizing metro stations as police fired tear gas, pepper spray, and water cannon.
More turmoil is expected ahead of Oct 1., when Beijing plans lavish celebrations to mark 70 years of the People's Republic.
Authorities describe the participants as "rioters" controlled by external instigators. A recent police tally of the hundreds arrested showed the youngest was 13, the eldest in their eighties.
Many taking to the streets are students, but others are teachers, pilots, nurses, chefs and cleaners and workers from the poorest districts of the city. They include rough sleepers and residents of the crowded subdivided flats that stand in the shadows of skyscrapers.
ECONOMIC WOES
While much of the anger driving the protests stems from political grievances – especially over the implementation of the "one country, 2 systems" agreement under which Hong Kong was handed back to China, promising a high degree of autonomy – analysts say it also has roots in economic woes.
A survey by a local university found 84 per cent of protesters said they were angry about class inequality and 92 per cent thought the wealth gap was unreasonable.
Graffiti laments the prohibitive cost of housing – the most expensive in the world – and the issue was raised in a community dialogue with Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Thursday night.
The city of 7.4 million, built up from a fishing village by British colonizers in the pursuit of wealth, is now home to more billionaires than any other in the world barring New York, but one in 5 of its people live in poverty.
Income inequality recently reached its highest level in more than four decades, according to government data.
In Sham Shui Po, the poorest of Hong Kong's districts, parks are crowded with men sleeping on mattresses or benches. Many are elderly and in poor health, with rashes and bone-thin limbs. Nearby, women push fluffy dogs in prams.
"The affluent people just take everything from poor people," said Lou Tit-Man, who sleeps in a rough neighborhood where he said he has been beaten up by members of Chinese triads, or gangs.
"In the long-term I want Hong Kong to become an equal society," he said.
Ng Wai Tung, a social worker, said the city's "sky-rocketing rent" was fueling homelessness and a housing crisis the government was failing to tackle.
An acute housing shortage means people wait, on average, at least five years for public housing. Most young people live with their parents and more than 200,000 are packed into subdivided units, known as "coffin cubicles" and "cage homes", for which they pay the equivalent of more than $500 per month.
Authorities vowed to build 280,000 public flats by 2027 but have said they will fall short of that goal.
Lam said on Friday she would focus on solutions to the crisis in her Oct 1. policy address.
PILLAR OF OUR SOCIETY
"If the government really wanted to help me, I wouldn't have to work two jobs and live in a subdivided area," said 60-year-old Ip, a cleaner at a university, who moved to Hong Kong from mainland China in her thirties.
She pays $5,000 ($637) a month for a dark room in Sham Shui Po which barely fits the bed she shares with her husband, who is ill and cannot work. The roof leaks.
She formed tight bonds with students after taking part in the 2014 demonstrations, to the chagrin of her husband and family.
"There were some protesters that I didn't know who treated me so well. They chatted with me and were very peaceful," she said.
"These young people were beaten by the police ... They were willing to sacrifice themselves to safeguard a better future for Hong Kong."
Her parents in the mainland tell her she has been brainwashed by foreign forces. But when she visits them in Guangdong province, and sees them glued to state TV coverage of the protests, she thinks it is they who are misinformed.
"I keep arguing with people who don't support the students," she said. "They are the most important pillar of our society. I must help them."
Outside the police station in Mong Kok, the crowd watches as Lou Tit-Man scrawls slogans like, "Stop police brutality" and "Step down, Carrie Lam". He writes the messages on scraps of paper he finds on the street and puts them up near the station.
Every night, the police clear the area. "Afterwards I will make new ones," he said with a grin. (Reporting by Poppy Elena McPherson; Additional reporting by Angie Teo; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
HONG KONG - Starbucks has emerged as the latest brand to fall foul of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters after a family member of the local restaurant chain that owns the local franchise spoke out against demonstrators.
Multiple branches were covered with graffiti over the weekend as the city convulsed with some of the most intense clashes between hardcore protesters and riot police in weeks.
One cafe in the district of Wanchai was daubed with slogans saying "boycott" as well as insults to the police and Maxim's Caterers, a major Hong Kong restaurant chain that runs Starbucks outlets in the city.
The vandalism illustrates the huge pressures on international brands as Hong Kong is shaken by its worst political unrest in decades.
Beijing is piling pressure on businesses to publicly condemn the protests.
Those that do risk a protester backlash, but staying silent risks financial punishment on the mainland, a far more lucrative market.
The boycott campaign against Maxim's snowballed after Annie Wu, the daughter of Maxim's wealthy founder, delivered a speech earlier this month in which she condemned the protests and said Beijing's hardline stance against democracy advocates should be supported.
She was speaking at the UN's human rights council in Geneva alongside Pansy Ho, a billionaire casino magnate who made similar calls.
Their comments were seized on by protesters and portrayed as an example of how Hong Kong's wealthy elite are out of touch with public sentiment and in the pockets of Beijing.
Prominent democracy campaigner Joshua Wong was among those calling for a boycott of Starbucks since Wu's speech and more than 50,000 people have signed a petition asking the Seattle-headquartered company to sever ties with Maxim's.
"We herein urge the Board of Directors to consider whether Maxim's truly represents the social values of Starbucks and terminate the franchise to Maxim's immediately," Wong wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Maxim's did not respond to requests for comment on Monday but it has previously issued statements distancing itself from Wu's comments and saying she is not employed by the company.
Other major brands have been rounded on by protesters, either for pro-Beijing comments made by owners or because the owners themselves are linked to the Communist Party in China.
Yoshinoya, a popular noodle chain, and Genki Sushi -- also owned by Maxim's -- have been repeatedly tagged with graffiti along with Bank of China branches.
Brands deemed to be sympathetic to protesters have also had a torrid time and faced boycotts on the mainland.
Authorities in China tore into Cathay Pacific after staff joined protests, forcing the company to go through stricter regulatory checks.
The moves led to major staff changes on Cathay's board, including the resignation of its CEO, as well as multiple staff being fired for expressing pro-democracy sentiments, something some employees have described as a "purge".
source: news.abs-cbn.com
