Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters block airport - BBC News

Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have blocked roads to the territory's airport, disrupting the operation of the major Asian transport hub.

Trains to the airport were halted and roads blocked. Passengers had to walk to the terminal. Most flights operated as normal, but delays were reported.

Thousands of black-clad protesters then tried to enter the terminal building but were stopped by riot police.

On Saturday, police and protesters clashed during a banned rally.

Live warning shots were fired into the air and tear gas and water cannon used to disperse tens of thousands of protesters.

Images later showed riot police hitting people with batons and using pepper spray on a train in Hong Kong's metro.

Police say they were called to the scene amid violence against citizens by "radical protesters".

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People took to the streets on Saturday to mark the fifth anniversary of the Beijing government banning fully democratic elections in China's special administrative region.

The political crisis in Hong Kong - a former British colony - is now in its third month with no end in sight, the BBC China correspondent Stephen McDonnell says.

What happened at Hong Kong's airport?

Thousands of protesters gathered at the main bus station near Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport on Sunday morning.

Airport staff reinforced by police officers stopped their advance.

The demonstrators then moved to other parts of the complex, blocking roads and other transport links.

The airport is built on a tiny outlying island and can only be reached via a series of bridges.

"If we disrupt the airport, more foreigners will read the news about Hong Kong," one protester was quoted as saying by Reuters.

At one point the airport express train service was suspended. Officials said this was because of debris thrown onto the line.

Following the arrival of riot police, demonstrators first built barricades to slow their advance, then left the airport on foot.

In August, protesters paralysed the airport for several days. Hundreds of flights had to be cancelled.

A guide to the Hong Kong protests

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49544219

2019-09-01 13:49:20Z
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‘Catastrophic’ Hurricane Dorian unleashing devastating blow in northern Bahamas, takes aim at Southeast U.S. - The Washington Post

Hurricane Dorian on Sunday morning. (NOAA)

Andrew Freedman

Editor focusing on extreme weather, climate change, science and the environment.

September 1 at 8:55 AM

With peak winds of 160 mph, Hurricane Dorian is about as powerful as an Atlantic hurricane can get as the core of its strongest winds and most dangerous storm surge moves over the northwestern Bahamas.

Dorian is the first time since the start of the satellite era that Category 5 storms have developed in the tropical Atlantic in four straight years, according to Capital Weather Gang’s tropical weather expert Brian McNoldy.

The storm is moving slowly toward Florida and the Southeast United States, but its exact track remains somewhat uncertain, with computer models shifting the storm slightly closer to the coast early Sunday compared with Saturday.

Florida may miss the full fury of this severe hurricane, but dangerous storm hazards are still possible. Coastal Georgia and the Carolinas also are at risk.

Even while the majority of computer models predict Dorian will remain just off the Florida coast, the National Hurricane Center is urging residents not to let their guard down and to continue preparing for an “extremely dangerous” hurricane.

As of 8 a.m. Saturday, the storm was centered 35 miles east of Great Abaco in the Bahamas and was headed west at 7 mph. The storm’s peak winds are now at 160 mph, and Dorian has maintained Category 4 and now Category 5 intensity for an unusually long period.

Storms this powerful typically tend to undergo cycles that weaken their high-end winds for a time.

A disastrous scenario is unfolding in the northern Bahamas, where the storm’s eyewall may sit for at least 24 hours as steering currents in the atmosphere collapse, causing Dorian to meander slowly, if not stall outright, for a time. This is the region that contains the storm’s fiercest winds and heaviest rains.

This forecast scenario could bring catastrophic wind damage, dump more than two feet of rain, and cause a storm surge, which is the storm-driven rise in water above normally dry land at the coast of at least 10 to 15 feet above normal tide levels.

In short, this is a storm that, depending on its exact track over the northern Bahamas, particularly Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands, could reshape these locations for decades.

It’s also extremely likely to be only the second Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the Bahamas since 1983, according to Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University. The only other is Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The international hurricane database goes back continuously only to 1983.

After models run early Saturday shifted the storm track offshore Florida, some that were run late Saturday into early Sunday shifted it back closer to the Florida coast.

Because it would take just a small shift in Dorian’s track for hazardous winds to reach Florida’s east coast, a tropical storm warning was issued for the zone from Deerfield Beach, just north of Fort Lauderdale, to Sebastian Inlet, just south of Melbourne.

While most models keep Dorian offshore Florida, the Hurricane Center wrote in its 5 a.m. Sunday advisory that a track near the coast or even landfall in Florida remain possibilities.

If the storm makes a close pass to Florida, tropical-storm-force winds could arrive as soon as Sunday night or early Monday morning. Because the storm is predicted to be a slow mover, effects from wind, rain and storm surge could be prolonged, lingering through the middle of next week.

The threat to Florida and the Southeast

Irrespective of the storm’s ultimate course near Florida’s east coast to the North Carolina Outer Banks — or even inland — significant coastal flooding is likely because of the force of Dorian’s winds and astronomically high or king tides.

The risk of a direct strike on Florida is less than it was a few days ago but has not been eliminated. Much depends on the strength of the high-pressure area that has been pushing Dorian west toward the northern Bahamas and Florida.

Most models show steering currents collapsing as Dorian nears Florida because of a weakening of the high, before it gets scooped up by a dip in the jet stream approaching the East Coast and starts turning north.

However, this collapse in steering currents is so close to Florida that some models continue to track the storm close enough for damaging impacts in parts of the state. One trend in the models overnight on Saturday and Sunday morning has been to show a slightly stronger high that brings the center of Dorian farther west, closer to the Florida coast and the Southeast coast, before making the northward turn.

However, a few models do bring it inland or come perilously close. And there is time for the models to shift further — either closer to Florida and the Carolinas or farther out to sea.

Farther north into coastal Georgia and the Carolinas, the forecast is also a nail-biter. Just small differences in where the storm starts to turn north and, eventually, northeast and the shape of the turn will determine where and whether Dorian makes landfall.

Scenarios involving a direct hit, a graze and a near miss appear equally likely based on available forecasts. As the Hurricane Center writes: “Residents in these areas should continue to monitor the progress of Dorian.”

The shape of the coastline from northern Florida through the Carolinas means there is a risk of significant storm-surge flooding there even if the storm’s center remains just offshore.

However, unlike with notorious recent storms such as Matthew and Florence, it’s unlikely that the Carolinas will experience devastating rainfall amounts from Hurricane Dorian, as the storm will pick up forward speed on nearing the Carolinas.

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2019-09-01 12:34:11Z
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Taliban attacks second Afghan city as talks with US wrap up - Aljazeera.com

The Taliban has launched an attack on the capital of northern Afghanistan's Baghlan province and gun battles with government forces are ongoing, according to an official, overshadowing increasing expectations over a peace deal between the group and the United States aimed at ending 18 years of war.

There was no immediate word on any casualties but Jawed Basharat, spokesman for the provincial police chief, said on Sunday that fighting continued on the outskirts of Puli Khumri.

The early-morning attack came a day after hundreds of Taliban fighters overran parts of Kunduz, one of Afghanistan's largest cities, in a major show of strength as the group wrapped up another round of peace talks with the US in Qatar.

The assault on Kunduz set off a day of gun battles, with the Afghan military deploying reinforcements and using air power to repel the fighters. On Sunday, the interior ministry said the Taliban had been cleared from Kunduz but some fighters had fled to Baghlan.

"We hear the sound of blasts. The people [Puli Khumri] are so worried," Safdar Mohsini, chief of the Baghlan provincial council, told The Associated Press news agency.

"The Taliban are in residential areas fighting with Afghan security forces. We need reinforcements to arrive as soon as possible, otherwise the situation will go from bad to worse."

If the Taliban enter the city they will be very difficult to repel, Mohsini added, saying security forces at some checkpoints had run away without resistance. The city, which is home to more than 200,000 people, is located 230km north of the capital, Kabul.

The attack in Baghlan came hours after Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy heading the negotiations with the Taliban, said he raised the Kunduz attack in his talks with the group in Doha and told its representatives "violence like this must stop".

The Taliban, which was overthrown in 2001 by a US-led military coalition, has long demanded a complete withdrawal of foreign troops to "end the occupation" in Afghanistan.

The US accused the Taliban of sheltering fighters from al-Qaeda, the group blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The attacks on Saturday and Sunday are seen as strengthening the Taliban's negotiating position in the talks with Khalilzad, who, for nearly a year, has sought a deal on a US troop withdrawal in exchange for Taliban guarantees that Afghanistan will not be used as a launchpad for attacks outside the country.

Intizar Khadim, a political analyst in Kabul, told Al Jazeera, that the Taliban was taking "calculative steps".

"The Taliban is trying to play their own brand of peace diplomacy, which means they are holding a rock in their left hand and shaking hands on the right," he said.

"They don't want to hold off all their power in the country and call for a ceasefire yet while the talks are ongoing."

An agreement between the US and Taliban would not on its own end the fighting between the group and Afghan security forces, but it would set the stage for intra-Afghan peace talks.

However, it was not clear whether the Taliban would agree to talk directly with the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani, which they consider an illegitimate foreign-imposed regime.

Some Taliban officials have said they would only agree to talk to Afghan officials in a private capacity, not as representatives of the state, and they remain opposed to presidential elections scheduled for September 28.

It was also unclear whether the agreement would cover the full withdrawal of all 14,500 U.S. troops from Afghanistan or how long a pullout would take.

"Peace is the only option right now on the table. There is no winner or loser in this war. If fight continues in Afghanistan, all sides will lose. If peace happens, it is a win-win situation," Khadim said.

Afghanistan election: Taliban violence may stop vote (2:38)

'Success'

After the end of the ninth round of talks in the early hours of Sunday, Khalilzad said he was headed to Kabul to brief the Afghan government.

He said the US and the Taliban are "at the threshold of an agreement".

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban's political spokesman in Doha, said the talks between the two sides were a "success".

"At 2pm today (Sunday), we will be talking with a small group of US officials on technical issues of the deal."

There are some 14,000 remaining US troops in Afghanistan, where they train and support Afghan forces but also come to their aid with air raids and counterterror operations.

The approaching agreement with the Taliban "will reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to sit together to negotiate an honourable and sustainable peace and a unified, sovereign Afghanistan that does not threaten the United States, its allies, or any other country," the Afghan-born Khalilzad said on Twitter.

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2019-09-01 09:43:00Z
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Hong Kong Protesters Squeeze Access to the Airport - The New York Times

HONG KONG — Prodemocracy demonstrators in Hong Kong began a new campaign on Sunday to squeeze access to the airport, hours after one of the most tumultuous days since protests in the city began in June.

Tens of thousands of people marched through parts of the city center on Saturday despite a ban on the protest by the police. Some protesters gathered around the local government’s headquarters, where they threw bricks and firebombs as the police responded with tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons.

On Sunday, demonstrators began congregating at Hong Kong International Airport in a new effort to obstruct access to the critical Asian travel hub. The airport has been off limits to protesters since mid-August, when days of sit-ins lead to assaults on two men from mainland China and hundreds of canceled flights.

With classes set begin on Monday for many Hong Kong students, schools could become the next front in the protest movement, which began over widespread anger over an extradition bill that would allow criminal suspects to be taken to mainland China. Since then, demonstrators’ demands have grown to include a call for universal suffrage and an inquiry into accusations of police brutality.

[How the protests in Hong Kong have evolved, with changing tactics and more violence.]

Hundreds of protesters began to converge on the airport Sunday afternoon, traveling by bus, by car and on foot from a nearby subway station. A court injunction obtained after the airport protests last month allows only ticketed passengers and airport employees to enter the main terminals. But demonstrators gathered outside near the entrances, chanting “Fight for freedom! Stand with Hong Kong.” Some used their cars to block lanes of traffic.

“We have been protesting and occupying for months,” said Daniel Chan, 18, a college student who took a bus to the airport protest. “Still, what we have done seems futile.”

Mr. Chan said he did not intend to do anything illegal, but he was not concerned about the court injunction. “There’s almost nothing left for me to be scared of,” he said. “One document cannot deter me.”

MTR, the Hong Kong subway operator, announced on Sunday afternoon that the Airport Express rail service between the airport and the city center was canceled, and trains to the city were later suspended after protesters threw debris on the tracks. Tung Chung Station, the subway stop closest to the airport, was also closed on Sunday evening because protesters had damaged the facilities, MTR said.

The protests forced many travelers to find alternative routes to the airport. Nicole Zhao, 38, was one of many who had to wend, dodge and hopscotch their way through barriers that had been set up on the roads.

Ms. Zhao, who is from mainland China and works in education, had just landed in Hong Kong from Beijing when she received a notice from the airline suggesting that she postpone her trip.

“What the protesters are doing is crazy,” she said. “This just shows how different the Hong Kong and mainland systems are.”

Other travelers were more supportive of the protests.

Eric Jabal, 47, an education consultant, walked with his roller suitcase and suit jacket on a debris-strewn road, dodging protesters and barricades. He said he had left his home at 12:30 p.m. for an 8:50 p.m. flight to Bangalore and had been walking for 25 minutes after he had been dropped off by an Uber.

But Mr. Jabal, a Canadian who has been living in Hong Kong for 25 years, said he didn’t mind the inconvenience.

“I’m really sad,” he said. “That the failure of leadership has led to such profound unrest among such a broad cross section of people — it’s clearly gone beyond the tipping point.”

Image

A firebomb in the Causeway Bay district on Saturday. The Hong Kong police said on Sunday that they had arrested 40 people involved in the protests.CreditLaurel Chor for The New York Times

Students have been a major part of the protests all summer, and the beginning of classes on Monday raised questions about whether the start of school would mean a lessening of the movement or whether activism would shift to campuses.

Students have planned two mass assemblies, one in the central business district in the morning and another after school at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Many high school students have also negotiated with school administrators to participate in sit-ins or to set aside classrooms for self-study sessions or silent protests on the first day of school.

Education authorities said that students would need parent letters to skip class or to participate in strike activities.

A top government official said on Sunday that the administration “steadfastly opposed” the planned class boycotts, calling them extremely irresponsible.

“Schools are places for learning, and are absolutely not places for expressing political views or demands,” Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung wrote in a blog post.

Earlier Sunday, the Hong Kong police said that they had arrested dozens of people in a subway station that was the scene of some of the most intense violence of the weekend, where officers used clubs and pepper spray on a group of protesters inside a train car.

News footage and videos shared on social media showed members of the police Special Tactical Squad, in dark uniforms with their faces covered, charging into a waiting train car at Prince Edward Station and swinging batons at men and women who cowered on the floor, offering no resistance. After a fury of blows, one officer doused the group in pepper spray and then left.

“The police were out of control,” said Crystal Yip, a 20-year-old college student who was in the station when officers arrived. “They were crazy and they were mad. They were trying to express their anger by attacking people randomly.”

Yolanda Yu, police senior superintendent, said 40 people were arrested in the station on suspicion of unlawful assembly, criminal damages and obstructing officers.

“Protesters used sticks and hard objects to attack police. We used the same level of force to respond to the situation,” Ms. Yu said, replying to a reporter asking why the police had used pepper spray on commuters who were kneeling on the ground.

She said that the police had warned civilians to stay away. “Under chaotic situations, it is indeed hard to determine whether someone is a real journalist, a protester or a violent person,” she said.

The violence in Prince Edward Station began during a dispute between protesters and some older men who were insulting them. One of the men swung a hammer at the protesters, who threw water bottles and umbrellas and later appeared to set off fire extinguishers in the car. After the clashes, the subway system suspended service across much of Hong Kong. Three stations remained closed on Sunday.

The subway operator, MTR, has been a target of vandalism since it began suspending service last month to stations in places near where protests are planned. It continued that pattern on Saturday, stopping service at Sai Ying Pun Station, near the Chinese government liaison office, a site of some protests.

In the wake of the clashes, Chinese news outlets run by the Communist Party urged the Hong Kong government to take tough steps against the protesters and cited experts urging Carrie Lam, the chief executive of the city, to invoke emergency powers. An online outlet controlled by the Communist Party’s law-and-order committee said the Hong Kong protesters were using “terrorist methods.”

“The chaos in Hong Kong cannot go on!” a front-page editorial in the overseas edition of People’s Daily, the party’s main newspaper, said on Sunday. “At this crucial moment, the government of the special administrative region must have the courage and adeptness to apply every legal means to halt the violence and chaos, acting resolutely to detain and arrest violent lawbreakers, applying the law strictly to punish criminals, and swiftly restoring social order.”

An online report from China’s main television broadcaster, CCTV, said that Ms. Lam should invoke emergency powers under a colonial-era ordinance to extinguish the violent protests. That step could empower the Hong Kong government to ban demonstrators from wearing masks, speed up arrests and censor “harmful media,” the report said.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/01/world/asia/hong-kong-protests-arrests-airport.html

2019-09-01 09:07:00Z
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Gridlock as protesters gather at Hong Kong airport following violent night - CNN

While most protesters did not get close to the airport terminals -- after a court injunction and heavy police presence was put in place following clashes there last month -- they succeeded in blocking roads and and prompted the city's subway operator to suspend its airport service. Photos also showed extreme traffic congestion on a key bridge leading to the airport, with travelers and airport staff forced to get out and walk.

Riot police appeared at the airport transport terminal on Sunday afternoon, where they faced large crowds of protesters who had gathered there in an attempt to press on towards the terminals.

In a statement, authorities warned protesters gathered at the airport to "leave immediately," and said some had already charged barriers and blocked roads.

The city's transport network had braced for trouble, with local airline Cathay Dragon relocating its check-in counters, and the airport closing some short-term parking. It's the 13th consecutive weekend of protests in Hong Kong, concluding days of escalation in which a number of activist leaders and lawmakers were arrested, and speculation heightened about China's strategy toward the city's pro-democracy movement.

After three months of protest, Hong Kong's political crisis appears increasingly intractable. Chief Executive Carrie Lam has refused to rule out invoking broad emergency powers, and Reuters reported this week that Beijing had quashed Lam's proposal to concede to some of the protest movement's five demands.

The previous day's protests ended bitterly, with hundreds gathered in anger outside Mong Kok police station. At least 51 people were arrested late that night, with dozens rounded up in Kowloon's Prince Edward subway station. Graphic video footage showed police swinging batons in the station, landing some blows on individuals already lying on the ground.

Police said Sunday that the subway clearance operation was a response to citizen reports of disruption and vandalization, and that those arrested had been accused of participating in an unauthorized assembly and "criminal damage" among other charges.

Earlier on Saturday, protesters throwing petrol bombs and setting fires had been quickly met with tear gas, rubber bullets and a water cannon -- a suggestion that Hong Kong police's patience is waning after a long summer of conflict.

Interfering with airport operations has been one of the protesters' most-criticized tactics. An occupation of the main terminal in early August saw flight cancellations, the mobbing of two mainland Chinese citizens, and ultimately a court injunction. Chinese authorities described those chaotic scenes as breaking "the bottom line of the law, morality and humanity," and while some travelers speaking to CNN expressed sympathy for the movement, others gave voice to frustration.

Some protesters later apologized for taking the August airport protest too far.

CNN's Helen Regan, Kenneth Leung, Joshua Berlinger and Tim Schwarz contributed reporting.

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2019-09-01 08:40:00Z
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Hong Kong police storm subway with batons as protests rage - Fox News

How will Hong Kong protests end?

The Hudson Institute’s Chinese strategy Director Mike Pillsbury says President Trump is not directly intervening on Hong Kong protests.

HONG KONG – Protesters in Hong Kong threw gasoline bombs at government headquarters and set fires in the streets, while police stormed a subway car and hit passengers with batons and pepper spray in scenes that seem certain to inflame tensions further in a city riven by nearly three months of pro-democracy demonstrations.

Police had denied permission for a march Saturday to mark the fifth anniversary of a decision by China against fully democratic elections in Hong Kong, but protesters took to the streets anyway, as they have all summer. They provoked and obstructed police repeatedly but generally retreated once riot officers moved in, avoiding some of the direct clashes that characterized earlier protests.

Late at night, though, video from Hong Kong broadcaster TVB showed police on the platform of Prince Edward subway station swinging batons at passengers who backed into one end of a train car behind umbrellas. The video also shows pepper spray being shot through an open door at a group seated on the floor while one man holds up his hands.

HONG KONG PROTESTERS DEFY BAN TO CLASH WITH POLICE, HIT WITH TEAR GAS, WATER CANNON

It wasn't clear whether all the passengers were protesters. Police said they entered the station to make arrests after protesters assaulted others and damaged property inside. The TVB video was widely shared on social media as another example of police brutality during the protests. Angry crowds gathered outside Prince Edward and nearby Mong Kok station, where police said they made arrests after protesters vandalized the customer service center and damaged ticket machines.

Also Saturday, two police officers fired two warning shots into the air "to protect their own safety" after being surrounded by protesters near Victoria Park, the government announced. It was the second time police fired warning shots following an incident the previous weekend.

Protests erupted in early June in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory of 7.4 million people. A now-shelved China extradition bill brought to the fore simmering concerns about what many in the city see as an erosion of the rights and freedoms that residents are supposed to have under a "one country, two systems" framework.

The mostly young, black-shirted protesters took over roads and major intersections in shopping districts on Saturday as they rallied and marched with no obvious destination in mind.

Authorities closed streets and a subway stop near the Chinese government office and parked water cannon trucks and erected additional barriers nearby, fearing protesters might target the building. The office would have been the endpoint of the march that police did not allow.

Instead, a group of hard-line protesters decided to take on police guarding government headquarters from behind large barriers that ring the building to keep demonstrators at bay.

While others marched back and forth nearby, a large crowd wearing helmets and gas masks gathered outside. They pointed laser beams at the officers' heads and threw objects over the barriers and at them. Police responded with tear gas, and protesters threw gasoline bombs into the compound.

Then came the blue water. A water cannon truck fired regular water, followed by repeated bursts of colored water, staining protesters and nearby journalists and leaving blue puddles in the street.

The standoff continued for some time, but protesters started moving back as word spread that police were headed in their direction. A few front-line protesters hurled gasoline bombs at the officers in formation, but there were no major clashes as police cleared the area.

Protesters regrouped and blocked a major commercial street by piling up barricades and setting a large fire. Smoke billowed into the air as hundreds of protesters waited on the other side of the makeshift barrier, many pointing laser beams that streaked the night sky above them.

Firefighters made their way into the congested area on foot to put out the fire. Police in riot gear removed the barricades and moved in quickly. They could be seen detaining a few protesters, but by then, most had already left.

As police advanced east down Hennessey Road, protesters made another stand in the Causeway Bay shopping district. They threw gasoline bombs at police, who fired tear gas and water cannons.

Protesters built another fire, a smaller one, in front of Sogo department store. Police waited behind their riot shields while firefighters put out the smoldering fire with extinguishers. When police moved in, the protesters had again retreated.

Other groups crossed Hong Kong's harbor to the Tsim Sha Tsui district, where police said they set fires and threw gasoline bombs on Nathan Road.

Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting said Hong Kong citizens would keep fighting for their rights and freedoms despite the arrests of several prominent activists and lawmakers in the past two days, including activist Joshua Wong.

Protesters are demanding the full withdrawal of the extradition bill — which would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China to stand trial — as well as democratic elections and an investigation into police use of force.

"I do believe the government deliberately arrested several leaders of the democratic camp to try to threaten Hong Kong people not to come out to fight against the evil law," Lam said at what was advertised as a Christian march earlier Saturday.

"I do believe the government deliberately arrested several leaders of the democratic camp to try to threaten Hong Kong people not to come out to fight against the evil law."

— Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting

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About 1,000 people marched to a Methodist church and police headquarters. They alternated between singing hymns and chanting slogans of the pro-democracy movement. An online flyer for the demonstration called it a "prayer for sinners" and featured images of a Christian cross and embattled Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who had proposed the extradition bill.

The Civil Human Rights Front, the organizer of pro-democracy marches that have drawn upward of a million people this summer, canceled its march after failing to win police approval. Police said that while previous marches have started peacefully, they have increasingly degenerated into violence.

The standing committee of China's legislature ruled on Aug. 31, 2014, that Hong Kong residents could elect their leader directly, but that the candidates would have to be approved by a nominating committee. The decision failed to satisfy democracy advocates in Hong Kong and led to the 79-day long Occupy Central protests that fall, in which demonstrators camped out on major streets in the financial district and other parts of the city.

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2019-09-01 06:33:47Z
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Fierce Category 4 Dorian strengthens en route to Bahamas - AOL

MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Dorian has gained fearsome new muscle as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm, bearing down on the northwestern Bahamas early Saturday en route to the U.S. Southeast coast.

Millions of people in Florida, along with the state's Walt Disney World and President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, are in the potential crosshairs of the hurricane. Forecasters say Dorian, which had top sustained winds of 145 mph (230 kph) Saturday morning, will hover along Florida's east coast Tuesday and Wednesday.

But the National Hurricane Center in Miami cautioned that its meteorologists remain uncertain whether Dorian would make a devastating direct strike on the state's east coast or inflict a glancing blow. Some of the more reliable computer models predicted a late turn northward that would have Dorian skirt the Florida coast.

"There is hope," Weather Underground meteorology director Jeff Masters said.

Forecasters now expect ever-strengthening Dorian to dance up the Southeast coastline, but stay just off shore of Florida. Most of the best hurricane computer models kept recurving Dorian's track and its Category 4 extremely dangerous winds. On Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center changed its forecast.

The new forecast has the storm skirting the coast along Georgia with the possibility of landfall still a threat on Wednesday and continuing up to South Carolina early Thursday.

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Hurricane Dorian

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This Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019 image provided by NASA shows a view of Hurricane Dorian from the International Space Station as it churned over the Atlantic Ocean north of Puerto Rico. Leaving mercifully little damage in its wake in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Hurricane Dorian swirled toward the U.S., with forecasters warning it will draw energy from the warm, open waters as it closes in. (NASA via AP)

Store shelves are empty of bottled water as residents buy supplies in preparation for Hurricane Dorian, in Doral, Fla., Thursday, July 29, 2019. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Dorian could hit the Florida coast over the weekend as a major hurricane. (AP Photo/Marcus Lim)

Shoppers prepare ahead of Hurricane Dorian at The Home Depot on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, in Pembroke Pines, Fla. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Empty shelves are seen with a sign at Costco stating that the retailer is currently sold out of water ahead of Hurricane Dorian on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, in Davie, Fla. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham, left, looks on as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks about Tropical Storm Dorian outside of the the National Hurricane Center, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

This GOES-16 satellite image taken Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, at 14:20 UTC and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shows Hurricane Dorian, right, moving over open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Dorian was expected to grow into a potentially devastating Category 3 hurricane before hitting the U.S. mainland late Sunday or early Monday somewhere between the Florida Keys and southern Georgia. (NOAA via AP)

Shoppers wait in long lines at Costco, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, in Davie, Fla., as they stock up on supplies ahead of Hurricane Dorian. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - AUGUST 30: People walk to their boat through a flooded parking lot at the Haulover Marine Center before the arrival of Hurricane Dorian on August 30, 2019 in Miami Beach, Florida. The high water was due to King tide which may cause additional problems as Hurricane Dorian arrives in the area as a possible Category 4 storm along the Florida coast. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - AUGUST 30: Weston Rice drives through a flooded parking lot as he prepares to drop his jet ski into the water at the Haulover Marine Center before the arrival of Hurricane Dorian on August 30, 2019 in Miami Beach, Florida. The high water was due to King tide which may cause additional problems as Hurricane Dorian arrives in the area as a possible Category 4 storm along the Florida coast. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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The center also stressed that doesn't mean Dorian packing 145 mph winds won't hit Florida, with large portions of the state in its cone of uncertainty forecast. Still, after days of a forecast that put the Sunshine State and President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in the center of expected landfalls, the changes are significant.

The National Hurricane Center's advisory released at 8 a.m. Saturday EDT warned the possibility of "strong winds and life-threatening storm surge" is increasing along Georgia and South Carolina's coasts.

The faint hope of dodging Dorian's fury came Friday, even as the storm ratcheted up from a menacing Category 3 hurricane to an even more dangerous Category 4. That raised fears Dorian could become the most powerful hurricane to hit Florida's east coast in nearly 30 years.

National Hurricane Center projections showed Dorian hitting roughly near Fort Pierce, some 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Mar-a-Lago, then running along the coastline as it moved north. But forecasters cautioned that the storm's track remains still highly uncertain and even a small deviation could put Dorian offshore — or well inland.

Trump has declared a state of emergency in Florida and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster-relief efforts. He told reporters that "Mar-a-Lago can handle itself" and that he is more worried about Florida.

"This is big and is growing, and it still has some time to get worse," Julio Vasquez said at a Miami fast-food joint next to a gas station that had run out of fuel. "No one knows what can really happen. This is serious."

As Dorian closed in, Labor Day weekend plans were upended. Major airlines began allowing travelers to change their reservations without fees. The big cruise lines began rerouting their ships. Disney World and Orlando's other resorts found themselves in the storm's projected path.

Still, with Dorian days away and its track uncertain, Disney and other major resorts held off announcing any closings, and Florida authorities ordered no immediate mass evacuations.

"Sometimes if you evacuate too soon, you may evacuate into the path of the storm if it changes," Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

But some counties announced mandatory evacuations ahead of time on Friday. Brevard County and Martin County officials said residents of barrier islands, mobile homes and low-lying areas would be under a mandatory evacuation order beginning Sunday morning. The Brevard County order includes the Kennedy Space Center. Indian River County officials said they will recommend residents of its barrier island voluntarily evacuate once hurricane warnings are issued.

Homeowners and businesses rushed to cover their windows with plywood. Supermarkets ran out of bottled water, and long lines formed at gas stations, with some fuel shortages reported.

At a Publix supermarket in Cocoa Beach, Ed Ciecirski of the customer service department said the pharmacy was extra busy with people rushing to fill prescriptions. The grocery was rationing bottled water and had run out of dry ice.

"It's hairy," he said.

Early Saturday, Dorian was centered 445 miles (715 kilometers) east of West Palm Beach. It was moving northwest at 12 mph (17 kph). Forecasters warned that its slow movement means Florida could face a prolonged wallop of wind, storm surge and torrential rain.

Coastal areas of the southeastern United States could get 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of rain, with 18 inches (46 centimeters) in some places, triggering life-threatening flash floods, the hurricane center said.

Also imperiled were the Bahamas, where canned food and bottled water were disappearing quickly from shelves and the sound of hammering echoed across the islands as people boarded up their homes. Dorian was expected to hit the northwestern part of the Bahamas by Sunday with the potential for life-threatening storm surge that could raise water levels 15 feet (5 meters) above normal.

"Do not be foolish and try to brave out this hurricane," Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said. "The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life."

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Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein and Michael Balsamo in Washington; Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Freida Frisaro and Marcus Lim in Miami; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; and Bobby Caina Calvan in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed to this report.

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For AP's complete coverage of the hurricane: https://apnews.com/Hurricanes

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https://www.aol.com/article/weather/2019/08/31/fierce-category-4-dorian-strengthens-en-route-to-bahamas/23804518/

2019-08-31 13:54:22Z
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