Beijing backs Hong Kong over amendments to extradition laws - Aljazeera.com

Beijing has backed Hong Kong's government over its controversial plan to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland, saying it opposes "any outside interference" in the semi-autonomous territory.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Monday that Beijing would "continue to firmly support" Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, who earlier vowed to push ahead with the new laws despite massive protests against them.

"Second, we firmly oppose any outside interference in the legislative affairs [of Hong Kong]," Shuang told a regular press briefing, adding "some countries have made some irresponsible remarks about the amendment".

Chinese state-run media on Monday slammed the territory's protest organisers for "collusion with the West" and pointed to meetings between Hong Kong opposition figures and senior US officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"It is very noteworthy that some international forces have significantly strengthened their interaction with the Hong Kong opposition in recent months," an editorial in the Chinese-language edition of the Global Times said.

Lam earlier on Monday defended the proposed amendments - which would allow for case-by-case extraditions to jurisdictions, including mainland China, beyond the 20 states with which Hong Kong already has treaties - as necessary to ensure the territory meets its "international obligations in terms of cross-boundary and transnational crimes".

'Clear conscience'

Critics fear the changes could make Hong Kong residents vulnerable to politically motivated charges in China's notoriously opaque court system, however, and are part of a wider move by Beijing to scale back the city's freedoms enshrined under the so-called "one country, two systems" principle.

But Lam, who was elected chief executive in 2017 by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing Hong Kong elites, denied taking orders from the Chinese government.

"I have not received any instruction or mandate from Beijing to do this bill," she told reporters. "We were doing it - and we are still doing it - out of our clear conscience and our commitment to Hong Kong."

'Freedom will disappear'

On Sunday, more than one million people took to the financial hub's streets to demonstrate against the bill and call for it to be scrapped, according to protest organisers. Police put the figure at 240,000 at the march's peak.

Al Jazeera's Sarah Clarke, reporting from Hong Kong, said the rally marked the city's largest protest since 1997, when it was handed over to China by the British amid guarantees that its autonomy and freedoms, including an independent justice system, would be protected.

The law's opponents have called for another demonstration on Wednesday when a second reading of the bill is scheduled to take place in Hong Kong's pro-Beijing majority 70-seat Legislative Council.

Emily Lau, a political activist and former Democratic Party Legislative Council member, said critics of the proposal were "all united by their fear of the Chinese Communist Party".

"There are many who are terrified of the Chinese legal system coming into Hong Kong," Lau told Al Jazeera.

"It will be like a truck driving through and making a big hole in one country, two systems. We will be crushed, we will have one country, one system, and Hong Kong's freedom and the rule of law will disappear," she added.

"We are a lovely, vibrant, free city and nobody wants to see us crushed by evil forces, so I hope the international community will continue to keep an eye on Hong Kong."

US and European officials have issued formal warnings over the proposed changes, matching international business and human rights groups who fear the amendments will dent Hong Kong's rule of law.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/beijing-backs-hong-kong-amendments-extradition-laws-190610084831337.html

2019-06-10 11:34:00Z
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Trump raises specter of imposing 'very profitable' new tariffs on Mexico despite deal breakthrough - Fox News

Even as he again hailed his administration's last-minute, much-heralded deal on Friday with Mexico as a "successful agreement" to address illegal immigration at the southern border, President Trump on Sunday bluntly suggested he might again seek to impose punishing tariffs on Mexico if its cooperation falls short in the future.

The president and other key administration officials also sharply disputed a New York Times report claiming the Friday deal "largely" had been negotiated months ago, and hinted that not all major details of the new arrangement have yet been made public.

In its report, the Times acknowledged that Mexico's pledge to deploy up to 6,000 national guard troops to its southern border with Guatemala "was larger than their previous pledge," and that Mexico's "agreement to accelerate the Migrant Protection Protocols could help reduce what Mr. Trump calls 'catch and release' of migrants in the United States by giving the country a greater ability to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico."

U.S. officials had been working to expand the migrant program, which already has led to the return of about 10,000 people, and said Friday's agreement was a major push in that direction. Nevertheless, the Times, citing unnamed officials from Mexico and the U.S., reported that the concessions already had been hashed out in a more limited form.

WATCH: ACTING DHS SECRETARY DISPUTES NEW YORK TIMES REPORT, SAYS 'ALL OF' THE DEAL IS 'NEW'

"Another false report in the Failing @nytimes," Trump wrote. "We have been trying to get some of these Border Actions for a long time, as have other administrations, but were not able to get them, or get them in full, until our signed agreement with Mexico. Additionally, and for many years Mexico was not being cooperative on the Border in things we had, or didn’t have, and now I have full confidence, especially after speaking to their President yesterday, that they will be very cooperative and want to get the job properly done."

That might have been a reference to discussions about Mexico becoming a "safe third country," which would make it harder for asylum-seekers who pass through the country to claim refuge in the U.S. The idea, which Mexico has long opposed, was discussed during negotiations, but Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard has said his country did not agree to it, even as Mexican diplomats said negotiations on the topic will continue.

And, acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," insisted "all of it is new," including the agreement to dispatch around 6,000 National Guard troops — a move Mexico has described as an "acceleration."

A Mexican Army soldier near an immigration checkpoint in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, this past Saturday. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

"This is the first time we've heard anything like this kind of number of law enforcement being deployed in Mexico to address migration, not just at the southern border but also on the transportation routes to the northern border and in coordinated patrols in key areas along our southwest border," he said, adding that "people can disagree with the tactics" but that "Mexico came to the table with real proposals" that he said will be effective, if implemented.

The agreement between the U.S. and Mexico headed off a 5 percent tax on all Mexican goods that Trump had threatened to impose starting Monday. The tariffs were set to rise to 15 percent on August 1, 2019, to 20 percent on September 1, 2019, and to 25 percent on October 1, 2019.

But, Trump suggested Sunday, the threat of tariffs is not completely removed.

"Importantly, some things not mentioned in [yesterday's] press release, one in particular, were agreed upon," Trump continued. "That will be announced at the appropriate time. There is now going to be great cooperation between Mexico & the USA, something that didn’t exist for decades. However, if for some unknown reason there is not, we can always go back to our previous, very profitable, position of Tariffs - But I don’t believe that will be necessary. The Failing @nytimes, & ratings challenged @CNN, will do anything possible to see our Country fail! They are truly The Enemy of the People!"

Democrats seeking to unseat President Trump in 2020, meanwhile, said the Times report was evidence that the administration merely was trying to save face, after Trump suddenly announced his plan for the tariffs less than two weeks ago, on May 30.

Bernie Sanders, for example, derided Trump on Sunday for purportedly picking unnecessary and economically costly fights with a variety of countries.

"I think what the world is tired of and what I am tired of is a president who consistently goes to war, verbal war with our allies, whether it is Mexico, whether it is Canada," Sanders said.

But, in a tense moment on CNN's "State of the Union," Sanders struggled when asked by host Dana Bash why he had called the situation at the southern border a "fake crisis" engineered by the White House.

"Immigration officials have arrested or encountered more than 144,000 migrants at the southern border in May, the highest monthly total in 13 years," Bash began. "Border facilities are dangerously overcrowded; migrants are actually standing on toilets to get space to breathe. How is that not a crisis?"

Sanders responded that the president has been "demonizing" immigrants.

Beto O'Rourke, in a separate interview, conceded only that Trump may have helped accelerate the implementation of a previously existing arrangement.

"I think the president has completely overblown what he purports to have achieved. These are agreements that Mexico had already made and, in some case, months ago," O'Rourke said on ABC News’ "This Week." "They might have accelerated the timetable, but by and large the president achieved nothing except to jeopardize the most important trading relationship that the United States of America has."

Mexican officials, meanwhile, insisted that they would remain engaged in active negotiations with the Trump administration.

"We want to continue to work with the U.S. very closely on the different challenges that we have together, and one urgent one at this moment is immigration," Mexican diplomat Martha Barcena said Sunday.

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She told CBS News' "Face the Nation" that the countries' "joint declaration of principles... gives us the base for the road map that we have to follow in the incoming months on immigration and cooperation on asylum issues and development in Central America."

Barcena added that the U.S. wanted to see the number of migrants crossing the border to return to levels seen in 2018.

Fox News' Bret Baier, Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-06-10 12:55:00Z
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Russian newspapers show solidarity with detained journalist - ABC News

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2019-06-10 11:20:00Z
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India child rape: Six convicted in gang rape, murder of eight-year-old girl in India - CBS News

A police bus carrying the men accused of rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, near Jammu, arrives at a court in Pathankot, in the northern state of Punjab, India on June 10, 2019 MUKESH GUPTA / REUTERS

Six men were convicted Monday in the notorious 2018 gang rape and murder in India of an eight-year-old girl from a Muslim nomadic tribe. The crime provoked horror and stoked inter-religious tensions.

Sexual violence, including against children, is rife in India and outrage over the so-called Kathua case contributed to the government introducing the death penalty for child rapists.

According to the charge sheet, the girl was abducted while she was out grazing horses and taken to a village in the Kathua district of the northern Indian region of Jammu on January 10 last year.

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In an ordeal lasting five days, she was sedated and held in a Hindu temple, repeatedly raped and then strangled and bludgeoned to death.

Investigations suggested that the girl was targeted in order to strike fear in her nomad community and drive them out of the area.

The six Hindu men were due to be sentenced later Monday, prosecution lawyer Mubeen Farooqui told reporters outside a special court in Pathankot, in Punjab state.

Three face the death penalty with a minimum of life imprisonment. A seventh man was acquitted while an eighth person, who claims to be underage, faces a separate trial.

"We will appeal against the convictions in a higher court," defense lawyer H.S. Pathania said.

The girl's father, Mohammed Akhtar, told The Associated Press by phone that the men should be "punished speedily, not just convicted."

"Our family has gone through hell," he said. "Our hearts are bleeding. These beasts should be hanged." 

Among the three convicted of rape and murder were village head Sanjhi Ram and special police officer Deepak Khajuria. Three others were found guilty of taking bribes and destroying evidence, but still face life imprisonment under strict conspiracy laws.

India has the death penalty for the most brutal murders and terror attacks. The last execution happened in 2015 over bombings in Mumbai in 1993.

The Kathua case sparked two days of violent protests in Jammu and demonstrations in several other places across India, including in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

The ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party also drew flak after two of its members participated in rallies in support of the accused.

The protests were reminiscent of those that followed the fatal gang rape of a Delhi student on a bus in 2012 that made headlines around the world.

The Supreme Court had shifted the Kathua trial to Punjab after the girl's family and their lawyer complained of death threats.

Sexual violence, including against children, remains unabated in India. Nearly 20,000 child rape cases were reported in 2016, according to official data, while a 2014 U.N. report said one in three rape victims was a minor.

Jammu and Kashmir is India's only Muslim-majority state, but the southern Jammu region -- where the rape and murder took place -- is Hindu-dominated.

On Monday, hundreds of police were on duty in Pathankot for the trial. Wary of new protests, security was also heavy in Kathua town and surrounding Muslim areas.

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2019-06-10 09:40:00Z
52780311779215

Trump threatens more tariffs on Mexico over part of immigration deal - Reuters

FILE PHOTO: Trucks cross the borderline into the U.S. and into Mexico at the World Trade Bridge, as seen from Laredo, Texas U.S., June 3, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States had signed another portion of an immigration and security deal with Mexico that would need to be ratified by Mexican lawmakers.

He did not provide details but threatened tariffs if Mexico’s Congress did not approve the plan.

“We have fully signed and documented another very important part of the Immigration and Security deal with Mexico, one that the U.S. has been asking about getting for many years. It will be revealed in the not too distant future and will need a vote by Mexico’s legislative body,” Trump tweeted.

“We do not anticipate a problem with the vote but, if for any reason the approval is not forthcoming, tariffs will be reinstated.”

Last month, Trump threatened 5% tariffs on Mexican goods. The duties would increase every month until they reached 25% in October, unless Mexico stopped illegal immigration across its border with Mexico.

On Friday, the tariffs were called off, after the United States and Mexico announced an agreement on immigration. The joint communique issued by the two countries provided few details.

Critics have said there have been no new major commitments to slow Central American migrants crossing into the United States.

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reporting by Makini Brice; editing by Larry King

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-06-10 10:51:00Z
52780309231204

Hong Kong protests: Leader Carrie Lam defiant on extradition plan - BBC News - BBC News

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2019-06-10 09:31:59Z
52780310542261

Trump raises specter of imposing 'very profitable' new tariffs on Mexico despite deal breakthrough - Fox News

Even as he again hailed his administration's last-minute, much-heralded deal on Friday with Mexico as a "successful agreement" to address illegal immigration at the southern border, President Trump on Sunday bluntly suggested he might again seek to impose punishing tariffs on Mexico if its cooperation falls short in the future.

The president and other key administration officials also sharply disputed a New York Times report claiming the Friday deal "largely" had been negotiated months ago, and hinted that not all major details of the new arrangement have yet been made public.

In its report, the Times acknowledged that Mexico's pledge to deploy up to 6,000 national guard troops to its southern border with Guatemala "was larger than their previous pledge," and that Mexico's "agreement to accelerate the Migrant Protection Protocols could help reduce what Mr. Trump calls 'catch and release' of migrants in the United States by giving the country a greater ability to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico."

U.S. officials had been working to expand the migrant program, which already has led to the return of about 10,000 people, and said Friday's agreement was a major push in that direction. Nevertheless, the Times, citing unnamed officials from Mexico and the U.S., reported that the concessions already had been hashed out in a more limited form.

WATCH: ACTING DHS SECRETARY DISPUTES NEW YORK TIMES REPORT, SAYS 'ALL OF' THE DEAL IS 'NEW'

"Another false report in the Failing @nytimes," Trump wrote. "We have been trying to get some of these Border Actions for a long time, as have other administrations, but were not able to get them, or get them in full, until our signed agreement with Mexico. Additionally, and for many years Mexico was not being cooperative on the Border in things we had, or didn’t have, and now I have full confidence, especially after speaking to their President yesterday, that they will be very cooperative and want to get the job properly done."

That might have been a reference to discussions about Mexico becoming a "safe third country," which would make it harder for asylum-seekers who pass through the country to claim refuge in the U.S. The idea, which Mexico has long opposed, was discussed during negotiations, but Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard has said his country did not agree to it, even as Mexican diplomats said negotiations on the topic will continue.

And, acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," insisted "all of it is new," including the agreement to dispatch around 6,000 National Guard troops — a move Mexico has described as an "acceleration."

A Mexican Army soldier near an immigration checkpoint in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, this past Saturday. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

"This is the first time we've heard anything like this kind of number of law enforcement being deployed in Mexico to address migration, not just at the southern border but also on the transportation routes to the northern border and in coordinated patrols in key areas along our southwest border," he said, adding that "people can disagree with the tactics" but that "Mexico came to the table with real proposals" that he said will be effective, if implemented.

The agreement between the U.S. and Mexico headed off a 5 percent tax on all Mexican goods that Trump had threatened to impose starting Monday. The tariffs were set to rise to 15 percent on August 1, 2019, to 20 percent on September 1, 2019, and to 25 percent on October 1, 2019.

But, Trump suggested Sunday, the threat of tariffs is not completely removed.

"Importantly, some things not mentioned in [yesterday's] press release, one in particular, were agreed upon," Trump continued. "That will be announced at the appropriate time. There is now going to be great cooperation between Mexico & the USA, something that didn’t exist for decades. However, if for some unknown reason there is not, we can always go back to our previous, very profitable, position of Tariffs - But I don’t believe that will be necessary. The Failing @nytimes, & ratings challenged @CNN, will do anything possible to see our Country fail! They are truly The Enemy of the People!"

Democrats seeking to unseat President Trump in 2020, meanwhile, said the Times report was evidence that the administration merely was trying to save face, after Trump suddenly announced his plan for the tariffs less than two weeks ago, on May 30.

Bernie Sanders, for example, derided Trump on Sunday for purportedly picking unnecessary and economically costly fights with a variety of countries.

"I think what the world is tired of and what I am tired of is a president who consistently goes to war, verbal war with our allies, whether it is Mexico, whether it is Canada," Sanders said.

But, in a tense moment on CNN's "State of the Union," Sanders struggled when asked by host Dana Bash why he had called the situation at the southern border a "fake crisis" engineered by the White House.

"Immigration officials have arrested or encountered more than 144,000 migrants at the southern border in May, the highest monthly total in 13 years," Bash began. "Border facilities are dangerously overcrowded; migrants are actually standing on toilets to get space to breathe. How is that not a crisis?"

Sanders responded that the president has been "demonizing" immigrants.

Beto O'Rourke, in a separate interview, conceded only that Trump may have helped accelerate the implementation of a previously existing arrangement.

"I think the president has completely overblown what he purports to have achieved. These are agreements that Mexico had already made and, in some case, months ago," O'Rourke said on ABC News’ "This Week." "They might have accelerated the timetable, but by and large the president achieved nothing except to jeopardize the most important trading relationship that the United States of America has."

Mexican officials, meanwhile, insisted that they would remain engaged in active negotiations with the Trump administration.

"We want to continue to work with the U.S. very closely on the different challenges that we have together, and one urgent one at this moment is immigration," Mexican diplomat Martha Barcena said Sunday.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

She told CBS News' "Face the Nation" that the countries' "joint declaration of principles... gives us the base for the road map that we have to follow in the incoming months on immigration and cooperation on asylum issues and development in Central America."

Barcena added that the U.S. wanted to see the number of migrants crossing the border to return to levels seen in 2018.

Fox News' Bret Baier, Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-06-10 08:44:29Z
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