When hundreds of thousands of my fellow Hong Kongers took to the streets to demonstrate last month, most of the world saw people protesting provocative legislation that would allow extraditions to mainland China.But the Chinese government, which supported the extradition measure, had a much broader view of the protests. It recognized them as the first salvo in a new cold war, one in which the otherwise unarmed Hong Kong people wield the most powerful weapon in the fight against the Chinese Communist Party: moral force.In much of the West, moral force is underestimated. Communists never make that mistake. There is a reason Beijing will never invite the pope or the Dalai Lama for a visit to China. The government knows that whenever its leaders must stand beside anyone with even the slightest moral legitimacy, they suffer by the comparison. Moral force makes Communists insecure.And for good reason. As China was reminded this week, as riot police officers used pepper spray and batons on demonstrators in Hong Kong, the protests have been holding a mirror up to China. What rattles Beijing is that it sees in that mirror what the rest of the world sees: a monster.Since his ascendancy to power in 2012, President Xi Jinping has made no secret of his goal to purge the Western influences that he believes are contaminating China. In Hong Kong, he has been working to erode the limited political freedoms and rule of law that make Hong Kong the special region of China that it is — and that have long made Hong Kong economically valuable to China, ironically enough.Nearly all us in Hong Kong who are Chinese are refugees or the descendants of refugees from China. We have no illusions about what happens to people when they come up short in the eyes of the Communist Party. Everyone in Hong Kong knows that introducing the possibility of imprisoning us in China, as the extradition treaty does, would signal the end of life in Hong Kong as we know it.In Beijing’s view, of course, Hong Kong’s colonial past undermines its legitimacy as a Chinese society. Never mind that the system of limited freedoms that the British introduced to Hong Kong existed long before Communism was established on the mainland. (Communism is itself a Western import to China, by the way.)The inconvenient truth is that Chinese people in Hong Kong (and in Taiwan) live better than any Chinese in Chinese history. This gives moral force to our way of life. It also shows the extraordinary things Chinese people can accomplish when given the freedom to do so.Hong Kong’s moral force has also been economically good for China, since the moral force of our free society cannot be separated from its prosperity. It is not likely that Beijing agreed to have the government of Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, suspend consideration of the extradition bill just because a lot of people marched against it. No doubt President Xi learned much about capital flight and jittery investors during those protests and saw how badly China still needs a prosperous and functioning Hong Kong.This is Mr. Xi’s great weakness: If he crushes the soul of Hong Kong, he will lose the Hong Kong he needs to make China the global power he envisions.So it is not trade with China that the West should aim to stop. China is also simply too big now as a market for and producer of goods and services. We all need to trade with China, just as we all need to trade among ourselves. It should be possible for the West and China to trade freely, while at the same time competing as opposing value systems.The values war is the real war. For the West to prevail, it must support the tiny little corner of China where its virtues now operate: Hong Kong. These values may be a legacy of Western rule, but for Hong Kongers who have grown up with them, they feel as natural as any part of our Chinese heritage.Our struggle with Beijing, if successful, can help China’s leaders begin to accept the need for authority earned through the moral admiration of the world, not through the barrel of a gun. But if Beijing’s approach prevails, when China becomes the world’s biggest economy — which it inevitably will — the West will face a far greater monster.The West’s moral authority is its most powerful weapon. Moral authority is where China is most vulnerable to humiliation, at home and abroad. Beijing has no weapons save for force, which gets harder to rely on, the more the world can see that for itself.Jimmy Lai is the founder and majority owner of Next Media, which publishes the Apple Daily newspaper and Next Magazine in Hong Kong and Taiwan.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: [email protected] The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

Facebook hired a PR firm that attempted to discredit the company’s critics by claiming they were agents of the billionaire George Soros, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.Soros is a Jewish philanthropist who is the frequent subject of antisemitic conspiracy theories. At the same time, the social media company urged the Anti-Defamation League to object to a cartoon used by anti-Facebook protesters over its resemblance to antisemitic tropes.News of Facebook’s aggressive attempts to undermine critics came in a damning report by the New York Times, detailing how Facebook executives have struggled to manage the numerous and severe challenges confronting the company, all while lashing out at critics and perceived enemies.Rashad Robinson, the executive director of one of the groups targeted by the PR campaign, Color of Change, called the antisemitic smear “outrageous and concerning”.Amid growing pressure from lawmakers over its role in Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, Facebook increasingly turned to Definers Public Affairs, a Washington DC based political consultancy founded by Republican operatives and specializing in opposition research, according to the report.One of Definers’ tactics was to publish dozens of negative articles about other tech companies, including Google and Apple, in order to try to distract attention from Facebook’s public relations woes. Definers published the content on NTKNetwork.com, a website that looks like a news site but is actually run by the PR firm. The narratives pushed on NTK Network were often picked up by conservative sites such as Breitbart.Another tactic was to cast Soros as the driving force behind groups critical of Facebook. The firm circulated a research document connecting Soros to “a broad anti-Facebook movement”, the Times reported, and pressed reporters to look into financial links between Soros and groups such as Freedom from Facebook and Color of Change.Soros, who was born in Hungary in 1930 and made a vast fortune as an investor, is a major funder of liberal and pro-democratic causes. He has long been the target of antisemitic attacks from the rightwing fringes, but such conspiracy mongering has been increasingly adopted by mainstream Republicans.The anti-Soros drumbeat reached something of a fever pitch in the weeks before the midterm elections, as conservative politicians and news outlets advanced baseless allegations that he was behind a caravan of Central American migrants traveling through Mexico. Soros was one of the targets of a rash of mail bombs that were sent to critics of Donald Trump in October.Joe Gabriel Simonson, a reporter for the rightwing news site the Daily Caller, tweeted on Wednesday that he had been urged to include “bring up Soros/‘Soros tactics’” in an article about Facebook earlier this year.“The PR guy did keep bringing up Soros,” Simonson wrote. “This was like 6 months ago too so it was even odder.”Robinson, whose organization has run online campaigns criticizing Facebook over racial discrimination in housing ads, privacy and surveillance, racist hate speech, and other issues, said he was deeply troubled by the report.“This narrative has really dangerous antisemitic undertones about Jewish people controlling the world,” Robinson told the Guardian by phone. “It’s also deeply anti-black – the idea that our strategies, our ideas, our vision are somehow built off some puppet master … That Facebook would employ a rightwing firm to say that is deeply troubling.”Color of Change is a not-for-profit civil rights organization. It receives some money from Soros, Robinson said, in addition to many other funders, including Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz’s foundation, the Open Philanthropy Project. Robinson also said that over the past year, he has been asked numerous times by journalists about funding from Soros.“No one at the end of a call says, ‘Are you funded by the Ford Foundation?’” Robinson said.Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.Soros has been openly critical of Facebook and Google. “The internet monopolies have neither the will nor the inclination to protect society against the consequences of their actions,” he said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. “That turns them into a menace and it falls to the regulatory authorities to protect society against them.” Topics Facebook Social networking George Soros Mark Zuckerberg Antisemitism news

A woman holds a picture of Chief Executive Carrie Lam during a gathering of Hong Kong mothers to show their support for the city's young pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, China July 5, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hong Kong’s embattled leader is beating a belated retreat. Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that a controversial bill allowing extraditions to the mainland was dead, calling the government’s work to amend the law a total failure. The humiliating climbdown aims to defuse street protests; but she’ll need more to regain the confidence of corporate bosses, investors and citizens. The proposal, which would have allowed suspects to be sent to China for trial, prompted outrage in the city, where it was seen as an attack on Hong Kong’s independent legal system. Lam scrambled to put the plan on hold but failed to soothe fears, and protesters stormed the legislature last week anyway. Tuesday’s painful admission of defeat was both welcome and inevitable. Beijing needed an end to civil disobedience, not least after the latest demonstrations began targeting mainland visitors arriving on trains from over the border. But Lam’s speech, characteristically wooden and buttoned-up, comes too late to silence the wider concerns that pushed Hong Kongers onto the streets. She emphasised the bill would not come back, yet sidestepped demands for her departure. She acknowledged lingering doubts about the government’s sincerity too, but it will require far more to rebuild confidence and fix broken trust. Hong Kong’s many stakeholders have openly worried the city’s leaders are tone deaf, and simply not up to the task. The administration is not democratically elected and so will have to find other ways to tune in to a population, especially younger generations, squeezed in an increasingly unaffordable city. Efforts to widen public consultation forums, as alluded to by Lam, would help. Electoral reforms to give citizens a greater say might too, despite Beijing’s restrictions. Corporate bosses and bankers need to be convinced too. The demonstrations have already shuttered offices and triggered strikes. After protests in 2014, companies ranging from a local hotel operator to the sprawling Swire conglomerate blamed lacklustre results and weak consumption on the Occupy Central movement. Angry citizens can be expensive.BreakingviewsReuters Breakingviews is the world's leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time. Sign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.

Apple’s newest iPhone game—only the second the company has ever developed for its own App Store—appears to be targeted at a very small and specific demographic: Omaha-area billionaires aged 85 and up.“Warren Buffett’s Paper Wizard” was announced earlier this month with a short video ad played just before the start of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha on May 5. Berkshire chairman Warren Buffett doesn’t use an iPhone, but Apple has good reason to keep him a happy customer. Berkshire now owns nearly 250 million Apple shares worth nearly $50 billion, making it the company’s third-largest institutional investor.During the six-hour Berkshire meeting’s lunch break, Apple CEO Tim Cook was mobbed by cell phone camera-wielding fans outside a kiosk selling Kraft Heinz products—another Berkshire holding that’s performed considerably worse than Apple in the last year.Berkshire’s investment validates Apple’s contention that it’s more than just a tech company, Cook told CNBC at the meeting.“[Buffett] has been very clear, he didn’t invest in technology companies and companies he didn’t understand. He’s been totally clear with that. And so he obviously views Apple as a consumer company,” Cook said.Apple’s Paper Wizard is a free game that will feel very familiar to fans of the 1980s Atari game “Paperboy.” Players earn points by flinging papers at targets on houses and office buildings in digital Omaha; they lose points by striking birds and passing cars. Buffett himself had a paper delivery route in the mid-1940s, like many teenagers at the time. Unlike most teenagers, by the age of 15 he’d put $1,200 of his earnings in a profit-sharing investment on a 40-acre Nebraska farm.Barely a week after the game’s debut, MacRumors is reporting that it’s no longer available in the App Store outside the US. Suspiciously, given his lack of familiarity with the iPhone, Buffett currently tops the leaderboard with a score of 15,350. It’s possible Apple designed the game not for its core customers, but for a specific and deep-pocketed one.

Mia Fineman, the curator in the department of photographs at the Met, organized “Apollo’s Muse” with Beth Saunders, curator and head of special collections at the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and they wrote essays for its informative catalog. (Apollo, god of the sun, never had a muse; he was leader of the nine muses. NASA, of course, wasn’t going to the sun. The moon landing project might have been named after Diana, goddess of the moon.) After 1608, when the telescope was invented, the moon seemed approachable. In 1609, Galileo drew its first closely observed portraits: maps of a portion of the surface. The English mathematician and astronomer Thomas Harriot made telescopic observations a bit earlier than Galileo, but his were not published until later, and he could not explain the “strange spottedness” he saw. Galileo, expertly trained in perspective and art, realized that the “spottedness” was actually the shadows of mountains. His published drawings, two of which are included in the exhibition, represent the dawn of modern astronomy.The 17th century brought to human vision both extremely distant and extremely tiny objects, as telescopes rapidly improved and the power of microscopes, invented at the end of the previous century, vastly increased. Accomplished artists collaborated to provide scientists and the public ever more detailed and delectable illustrations of information obtained au clair de la lune. Johannes Hevelius’s highly successful Selenography — a lunar atlas published in 1647 and named for Selene, the moon goddess in Greek mythology — is thought to be the first book entirely dedicated to the moon. Hevelius surrounded one lunar map with baroque flourishes: cherubs brandishing pronouncements, looking through telescopes or studiously drawing.

If the commonplace umbrella was the defining image of Hong Kong’s massive protest movement in 2014—hence the aptly named the Umbrella Movement—then the sturdy hardhat is fast becoming the symbol of the ongoing wave of protests.For the past seven weeks and counting, protesters have taken to the streets en masse in what began as opposition against a hated extradition bill that would have allowed the city to send suspects to China to face charges. Though the government has declared the bill “dead” after an unprecedented upsurge of popular anger, it has refused to completely withdraw it. Meanwhile, the popular movement has since grown to encompass broader calls for greater democracy and an investigation into police brutality, among other demands.While helmets and hardhats were also used during the Umbrella Movement, they have taken on a much more central role this time around. Just like umbrellas, the hardhats serve both functional and symbolic purposes: they protect protesters’ heads in potentially violent situations, but also send a message of steely resolve as protesters buckle in for the long haul.Across the city, people have even begun wearing hardhats to go about their everyday activities as a form of silent protest. Medical students have donned helmets to go to class, an H&M employee was seen wearing one while working at the cashier, and others have put them on for their commute to work. Some have affixed messages onto their hardhats, transforming them into personal mobile signboards. A hardhat was even put on the head of the Goddess of Democracy statue at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.Hardhats have also featured front and center across a multitude of colourful protest posters in recent days, and especially so in the aftermath of a vicious attack by armed mobsters on civilians at the suburban train station of Yuen Long on Sunday (July 21). At local sporting goods stores, racks have been cleared of helmets and there have been reports of retailers being completely out of stock.While many protesters have relied on neighborhood hardware stores to procure their hardhats and other protest supplies, other grassroots efforts have sprung up in an effort to meet the upsurge in demand and to provide higher-quality products. One such initiative is HKProtect, a site established by five volunteers who wanted to better protect demonstrators from police tear gas, rubber bullets, and batons. Another is an app designed to serve as a one-stop-shop of information for protesters, including what kind of gear to buy, and where from.Earlier this month, local media reported (link in Chinese) that numerous freight forwarding companies had received orders from Chinese customs officials to cease sending goods including yellow hardhats, yellow umbrellas, and black T-shirts to Hong Kong. Over 20 sellers on Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao were also reportedly banned from sending (link in Chinese) “sensitive materials” including helmets to Hong Kong. In response, there are now efforts in Taiwan to collect donations of second-hand helmets (link in Chinese) for delivery to Hong Kong.It also doesn’t look like the demand for hardhats will ebb anytime soon. After a march planned for tomorrow (July 27) in Yuen Long to protest against the violent mob attack and alleged police complicity was banned by the police over safety concerns, protesters have called for a day of running, shopping, cycling, and basketballing in “full gear”—hardhat included.Just as protests have become woven into everyday life over the past two months, hardhats appear to be finding their way into everyday attire. Beyond their immediate protective and symbolic purposes, the push for “hardhats for the people” reflects a broader sentiment of the need for self-preservation. If the government and the police can’t be trusted to protect the people, they seem to be saying, then the people will simply have to look out for themselves—starting with putting on a hardhat.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The police commander who oversaw pro-democracy demonstrations that roiled Hong Kong in 2014 has been recalled from retirement to help deal with the violent protests convulsing the Chinese-ruled city, two sources with knowledge of the move told Reuters. People watch the dots of laser pointers move across the facade of the Hong Kong Space Museum during a flashmob staged to denounce the authorities' claim that laser pointers were offensive weapons in Hong Kong, China August 7, 2019. Picture taken with a slow shutter. REUTERS/Thomas PeterThe sources, both senior government security officials, said former deputy police commissioner Alan Lau Yip-shing, planned to meet top-level ground commanders on Friday. The move comes ahead of yet another weekend of protests across the former British colony, including a three-day rally at the international airport, that have prompted travel warnings from countries including the United States and Australia. “The protests and confrontations have spilled over into neighborhoods other than those where the police have permitted marches or rallies,” said an advisory posted on the website of the U.S. State Department on Wednesday. What began as protests against a bill that would have allowed people in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China for trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party have evolved into a broader backlash against the city’s government, with flash mob-style demonstrations on an almost daily basis. Lau’s recall suggests the government lacks confidence in the capacity of the current police leadership to manage the response, the security officials said. Hong Kong police and the government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The police have been increasingly targeted by protesters, who have hurled abuse at officers on the front lines and attacked them in online forums. Activists accuse the police, who have fired rubber bullets and nearly 2,000 rounds of tear gas to disperse demonstrators, of using excessive force and have called on the government to launch an independent inquiry into their actions. The violence has escalated rapidly in the past few weeks, with many protests degenerating into running battles between demonstrators and police, who have arrested nearly 600 people since June, the youngest aged 13. The Hong Kong government and authorities in Beijing have condemned the violence and said they stand by the police and the city’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam. Lau, who retired in November, has been appointed deputy commissioner for special duties, which would give him responsibility for handling the protests, the sources said. Officers who served with Lau during the pro-democracy protests in 2014 that paralyzed parts of Hong Kong for 79 days but failed to wrest concessions from Beijing said he was respected by senior commanders for his leadership at that time. He is widely seen as a decisive officer, according to senior security officials. The protests pose the biggest popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. Xi is also grappling with a debilitating trade war with the United States and a slowing economy. China’s Foreign Ministry lodged stern representations with the United States, urging U.S. officials to stop sending wrong signals to the “violent separatists” in Hong Kong. Local media have reported that a U.S. diplomat met democracy activist Joshua Wong in the city. Hong Kong is facing its worst crisis since it returned to China from British rule in 1997, the head of China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office said. Protesters who plan more action this weekend want Lam to categorically withdraw the extradition bill, and an independent inquiry into the government’s handling of the controversy, among other demands. Lam, who says the bill is dead but has not withdrawn it, visited some districts on Wednesday to speak with residents and inspect a police station recently targeted by protesters. The government would put forward measures to improve people’s livelihoods, she said after the visit. Young people are at the forefront of the protests, worried about China encroaching on Hong Kong’s freedoms and problems such as sky-high living costs and what many see as an unfair housing policy favoring the wealthy. The normally efficient and orderly city has seen its transport network besieged and closed down by demonstrators and big-brand stores and popular shopping malls have been shut. Three masked activists, who did not give their names, held a news conference on Thursday, their second this week and broadcast on domestic television channels, to criticize what they called arbitrary arrests and police use of tear gas. “The continuation of such attempts at spreading fear and suppressing the freedom of press will eventually backfire on the government itself,” one activist told the Citizens’ Press Conference, a platform used by protesters. “The ultimate victim of these tactics will be the police force’s crumbling public image,” the activist said in English. The comments came after plainclothes police arrested a student leader from Baptist University, Keith Fong, on the grounds that laser pointers he bought were offensive weapons. Several thousand black-clad Hong Kong lawyers marched in silence on Wednesday to call on the government to safeguard the independence of the city’s justice department. Related CoverageMore Hong Kong companies say business impacted by mass protestsBubble tea brawl: Taiwan brands face mainland boycott over Hong Kong gestureThey fear prosecutions of arrested protesters are taking on an increasingly political slant. Many of those arrested have been charged with rioting, which carries a 10-year jail term. Ahead of the airport rally, protesters circulated brightly-colored pamphlets online to help tourists understand events. “Dear travelers, please forgive us for the ‘unexpected Hong Kong’. You’re arrived in a broken, torn-apart city, not the one you have once pictured. Yet the city you imagined is exactly what we are fighting for,” the pamphlets said. Reporting by David Lague, Farah Master, Felix Tam, Anne Marie Roantree and Twinnie Siu; Editing by Paul Tait and Darren Schuettler and Catherine EvansOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Growing protests in the Asian financial center of Hong Kong are weighing on the neighboring Chinese territory of Macau as some visitors steer clear of the world’s biggest gambling hub, worried over transport disruptions and safety concerns. FILE PHOTO: Visitors take a selfie in front of a replica of Eiffel Tower at Parisian Macao, part of the Las Vegas Sands development, in Macau, China September 13, 2016. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/File PhotoHong Kong, a former British colony, has suffered a wave of sometimes violent protests since June as initial opposition to a now-suspended extradition law evolved into a direct challenge to the government and calls for full democracy. “When you have hundreds of flights canceled out of Hong Kong and some reluctance to travel, I do think that’s impacting the premium end of the business,” Matt Maddox, chief executive of Wynn Resorts, which runs two Macau casinos, said this week.Macau is an hour away by ferry from Hong Kong or a 30-minute drive from its international airport. Nearly a third of Macau’s visitors arrive by sea or a recently-built bridge. The protests are hitting Macau’s gaming revenues just as it grapples with slowing economic growth in mainland China, which contributes the bulk of its gamblers, an escalating trade war between China and United States that is deterring VIP spenders and tighter government regulations. Australia and the United States are among the nations that have raised travel advisories as Hong Kong reels from almost daily demonstrations that have spread across the city and occasionally hit a normally efficient transport network. Casino executives and analysts said the protests were likely to affect gaming revenue for the next few weeks at least, in what is typically a busy period in the former Portuguese colony. July’s fall of 3.5% in gaming revenues was sharper than analysts had anticipated. Vitaly Umansky, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said not much could be done to deflect headwinds for gaming revenues, as Chinese visitors have canceled trips. Macau’s Government Tourism Office told Reuters it was closely monitoring the situation and had told representatives to report on any plans and change of trips to Macau. The government is urging tour groups to choose Macau as the first stop of their itinerary, paired with the coastal Chinese city of Zhuhai, rather than Hong Kong. At Hong Kong’s Shun Tak Center, where travelers board ferries for Macau, tour groups said the protests had caused their business to drop 30 percent or more from previous months. The area around Shun Tak in the district of Sheung Wan near Beijing’s representative office, has been a hotspot for protests with police firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators and forcing the center to close for safety reasons. “We are worried about the social problems in Hong Kong, both the customers and us hope it can end soon,” said a worker at one ferry company, Cotai Jet. She gave only her surname, Lau. Additional reporting by Kevin Liu and Vimvam Tong; Editing by Clarence FernandezOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

BEIJING — When protesters in Hong Kong became more forceful on Monday, the People’s Daily reprised a recent speech of China’s leader, Xi Jinping, calling on party cadres to carry forward the struggle of the Communist revolution fought 70 years ago.“We must overcome all kinds of difficulties, risks and challenges,” he said.It was the latest signal that Mr. Xi has no intention of bowing to the protesters’ demands for greater rights. On the contrary, the storming of Hong Kong’s legislature on Monday night seems to have given ammunition to hard-liners and prompted the sharpest denunciations in Beijing so far, suggesting the ruling Communist Party’s patience was wearing thin.“I think they have realized it is time to take measures” to restore order, Song Xiaozhuang, a professor in the Center for Basic Laws of Hong Kong and Macau at Shenzhen University, said in a telephone interview, referring to the authorities in Beijing.“This does not mean there is no patience, or that they want to get it done promptly, but it does mean that they cannot wait for long.”Mr. Xi has not publicly addressed the political tumult in Hong Kong. Nor have officials disclosed any options they might be considering. But there is little doubt about Mr. Xi’s convictions, which are shaped by history and a deeply felt sense of the perils of popular uprisings.“I have heard him talk at length, and passionately, about the challenges of governing China, and the need to maintain order in order to keep the country together,” said Ryan L. Hass, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who served as the director for China at the National Security Council during the Obama administration.He noted that the mass protests that toppled authoritarian governments in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011 coincided with Mr. Xi’s ascent to the presidency and were “seared into his brain.”Mr. Xi’s stance is not without risks, but he has governed with a millenarian sense of destiny, regularly exhorting the Communist Party to return to its original mission to transform a once-humiliated nation into the global power it is meant to be.While the events in Hong Kong have generated considerable sympathy for the protesters, forcing the city’s leader to back down and suspend a deeply unpopular bill that would allow extradition to China, Mr. Xi still has most of the advantages of power on his side.Those include time and influence. The central government can still mobilize a vast network of supporters in Hong Kong, including civil servants and business people beholden to the central government, economically or politically.In a last resort, there is also the Chinese military. Few analysts expect that Mr. Xi intends to use force, but few doubt that he would if security significantly deteriorated in the city.The People’s Liberation Army disclosed on Tuesday — certainly not by coincidence — that troops from its Hong Kong garrison had conducted training exercises last week. One photograph accompanying an article in the official military newspaper showed soldiers aboard a gunboat in Victoria Harbor, weapons drawn, with the city’s skyline in the background.After weeks of relative restraint, officials in Beijing have also begun to warn of grave repercussions. A spokesman for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, warned that the defacing of the legislature was “a blatant challenge” to Beijing’s red line: its sovereignty over the territory.The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid controlled by the Communist Party, called for “a zero-tolerance policy,” warning that more violence could open a Pandora’s box.That the protests in Hong Kong took place shortly following the 30th anniversary of the bloody suppression of the protests in Tiananmen Square and other cities in China has only hardened official views. This year is also the anniversary of the popular movements that swept Eastern Europe in 1989, toppling not only the Berlin Wall but also, ultimately, the Soviet Union itself two years later.“There has also been a tendency to present these struggles — and Tiananmen was presented this way — as not being spontaneous expressions of the popular will,” Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, wrote in an email, “even in cases when that is clearly what they are.” Rather, he wrote, Beijing describes such protests as “illegitimate efforts by small sets of malcontents spurred on by mysterious foreign forces.”Mr. Xi, who has steadily amassed greater power than any Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, is acutely aware of that history.“Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate?” he asked in a secret speech in 2013 that later leaked. “Why did the Soviet Communist Party collapse? An important reason was that their ideals and convictions wavered.”He belittled the Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, for allowing it to happen on his watch. “In the end, nobody was a real man,” he said then.Weeks before the bloody crackdown protests in Tiananmen in 1989, Mr. Xi delivered a warning about the folly of popular mass movements, according to research by Joseph Torigian, an assistant professor at American University in Washington who is currently writing a book about Mr. Xi’s father.“This kind of ‘big democracy’,” Mr. Torigian quoted Mr. Xi as saying then, “‘is not in accord with science, not in accord with the rule of law, but is instead in accord with superstition, in accord with stupidity, and the result is chaos.’” Mr. Xi, a city official at the time, was speaking of the Cultural Revolution, but the message carries resonance today.“Without stability and unity, nothing is possible!”As the party’s leader, he has sought to extend its grip over virtually every corner of Chinese society, underscoring his view that stability can only be by eliminating threats to the party’s rule.Hong Kong has become such a symbol of China’s success in reclaiming “lost” territory, Julian G. Ku, a law professor at Hofstra University, said, that the government today would be “loath to admit any kind of limits to its sovereignty of this territory, lest it tarnish its success in recovering.”When Britain’s foreign minister this week called on China to honor its commitments under the treaty that ceded British control of the city in 1997, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointedly replied that Britain no longer had any say in the matter.Mr. Ku, who has written on China’s adherence to the treaty, said the spokesman’s bluntness was striking. “They might have always had this legal position but they never, as far as I recall, said this sort of thing out loud.”Allowing Hong Kong a greater degree of autonomy over its own affairs, as even some pro-Beijing lawmakers suggested, could open the Pandora’s box, the Global Times warned. Hard-liners would argue that it would be seen as rewarding civil disobedience, which security officials on the mainland act quickly to snuff out, at times ruthlessly.To be sure, Mr. Xi’s record of increasingly authoritarian rule — not least the detention of more than 1 million Muslims in Xinjiang — has raised alarms internationally about the direction he is taking China.In Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing also considers part of China, the unrest in Hong Kong has further undermined the appeal that Mr. Xi made in January to unify under the same “one country, two systems” arrangement.President Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election next January, has styled herself as a defender of Taiwan’s sovereignty. Her standing in the polls rose following the Hong Kong police’s heavy-handed response to protesters on June 12.The protesters’ brief siege of the city’s Legislative Council had echoes of the much longer occupation of Taiwan’s Parliament in 2014, which helped catapult Ms. Tsai to the presidency.Mr. Wasserstrom said that the Communist Party’s old saying, “Today, Hong Kong; Tomorrow, Taiwan,” now “has a very ominous meaning.”

On Sunday afternoon, Alex Mann was an ordinary teenage rap fan from England’s smallest city, enjoying himself at his first Glastonbury festival. By Monday morning, he had been plucked from the crowd at the Other Stage to perform flawlessly in front of thousands – and turned into a social media star.The 15-year-old in a bucket hat from Wells, Somerset, set social media alight with his barnstorming appearance alongside Dave as the pair performed the rapper’s track with AJ Tracey, Thiago Silva – named in honour of the Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain football player. It was, Alex told the Guardian, “the best time of his life”.In a widely shared BBC video, Dave – full name David Orobosa Omoregie – asked the crowd: “Who is sober enough to sing these lyrics with me?”Alex, sitting on the shoulders of a friend, was wearing a PSG shirt with Silva’s name on the back, and pulled at the club’s emblem as his companions pointed at him, trying to get Dave’s attention.Dave, who spotted Alex gesticulating, said: “I see a PSG shirt over there, but do you know the lyrics?” After Alex responded with a few confident lines, Dave concluded: “He looks like he knows the lyrics … Yeah, let’s take a chance.”As Alex took to the stage, Dave briefly reassured him he would only need to cover AJ Tracey’s part – but instead, Alex rattled through every single word of the complex, quickfire tune without hesitation, drawing an admiring pat on the back from the slightly upstaged Dave, and the adulation of the crowd.On Monday, the Guardian contacted Alex via his mother, who said that he would be able to speak after he had had a sleep. When fully rested, the teenager said he had no hesitation about heading to the stage after Dave called on him. “I thought he might be joking so I thought I’d better get up as quickly as possible,” he said.He added: “I’m not sure what was going through my head. I was so nervous. I thought: ‘What if I mess up?’ But then I went on stage and performed and it felt so good.”By Monday Alex had received a message from Thiago Silva. The footballer, currently preparing for Brazil’s Copa America semi-final against Argentina on Wednesday, congratulated Alex on his performance, and asked for his number to speak over the phone.“I haven’t spoken to him yet, but we’re in different time zones,” Alex said. “I’m not really sure what I will say to him. I really like him as a player, so I’ll probably just say that.”Dave, a rapper, singer, musician and songwriter from south London, whose rich, personal lyrics have won him a string of hits and an Ivor Novello award, has also been in touch.“He was supportive and said that I would get a lot of messages today and if I needed anything to let him know. He said if it got overwhelming he would be there,” Alex said.He added: “When I was on stage, he [Dave] looked at me and said that if I got stuck and didn’t know the lyrics I could look him in the eyes and he would help.”“I’ve listened to the song plenty of times, to be fair, but I was worried when I went on stage. I didn’t think I would know all the lyrics but I did … I pick up lyrics quite fast,” he said.After the performance, Alex was stunned by the reaction. “I walked off stage and the security guards took me back down and it was just amazing,” he said. “The way security brought me back down was in front of everyone and I was walking past people who were screaming my name. I had the best time of my life.”He admits the attention has been a lot to take in – but so far Alex is taking it in his stride. “Lots of people have started following me on Twitter and Instagram and liking all my posts … I am not going to let it get to my head too much.”It was the teenager’s first time at the festival and he was there with about 20 friends. “I’ve not been before but my mates said it was one of the best Glastonburys so far. It was so hot and there was a really good atmosphere, no one being aggressive. It was just overall good vibes.”Some sceptics online have dismissed the video as a stunt, believing that no amateur teenager fan could have performed so precisely. But Alex insisted that there was no such set-up. “It was 100% real,” he said. “Completely just happened … I have only ever seen him once before at a show in Bristol.”He also sought to correct social media claims that he had not been completely sober for the performance. “It’s funny reading the comments,” he said. “If I was drunk I wouldn’t have been able to remember the lyrics like that.”As for the future, Alex said he had never considered trying to turn his performance skills into a career. Instead, he said, he was “just focused on getting it right” on the day. Still, the reaction from the crowd made him realise he had some talent. “I’d be up for performing with him again,” he said. “And being in a video.” Topics Glastonbury 2019 Glastonbury festival Festivals Music festivals Dave news

(This April 17 story corrects the tenth paragraph to show DeVere Kutscher is no longer executive director of the Census Business Coalition.) FILE PHOTO: An informational pamphlet is displayed at an event for community activists and local government leaders to mark the one-year-out launch of the 2020 Census efforts in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoBy Lauren Tara LaCapra NEW YORK (Reuters) - An array of U.S. companies have told the Trump administration that a citizenship question on the 2020 Census would harm business if it leads to an undercount of immigrants, undermining the data they use to place stores, plan inventory and plot ad campaigns. Corporate executives, lobbyists and representatives from major industry groups like the Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation and the International Council of Shopping Centers have raised the issue in meetings with government officials, according to more than a dozen sources familiar with the matter. Some meetings date back to 2017, when the administration was first mulling adding the question. Industry officials continue to seek assurances from the Census Bureau and the Commerce Department that the question’s impact on the quality of Census data will be minimized, according to the sources, who described the meetings on condition of anonymity. The pressure reflects the economic importance of the decennial count of America’s inhabitants. The Census is used to draw voting districts and divide some $800 billion in federal programs. For companies, it provides the most detailed picture available of consumer and labor markets. Under the administration’s proposal, the Census would ask whether respondents are citizens of the United States for the first time in 70 years. Corporate America finds itself in an unlikely alliance with immigrant advocacy groups that have sued to block the question on the basis it could scare immigrants out of participating, and therefore cost their communities funds and political representation. The Supreme Court plans to hear arguments on the case next week. Clothes-maker Levi Strauss & Co, transport companies Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc and media group Univision Communications Inc are among a handful of companies supporting that lawsuit. In court documents, they said the citizenship question “threatens to undermine (the) reliability of Census data and therefore substantially reduce its value to businesses.” Few other companies or trade groups, however, have been willing to discuss their opposition to the citizenship question publicly. In interviews, sources said they are only voicing opinions in private meetings, out of concern about a White House backlash. Spokespeople for several major trade groups along with big name companies like Walmart Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google, Amazon.com Inc and many others either declined to offer a statement for this story or did not respond to requests for comment. “While corporations and business groups are reluctant to enter the political turmoil surrounding the citizenship question on the 2020 Census, they nonetheless depend heavily on accurate Census data for their operations,” said DeVere Kutscher, who was until recently executive director of the Census Business Coalition, one of the main groups advocating on behalf of industry. “As a result, they are focusing their efforts on what they can do to support a complete, secure, and accurate count, and are understandably concerned about the impact of any factor which could jeopardize that,” he added. Underscoring the political stakes, earlier this month President Donald Trump ripped “radical” Democrats opposed to the citizenship question on Twitter, saying a Census without such a question would be “meaningless.” The Census Bureau has taken pains to ensure everyone is counted, Burton Reist, a longtime Census official who oversees decennial communications and stakeholder relations, said in an interview. In response to questions about the business community’s view on the citizenship question, a spokesman pointed Reuters to the Census Bureau’s official responses to stakeholders. The Commerce Department, which houses the Census Bureau, provided a statement detailing the planned communications and outreach spending that will encourage people to respond. The budget is $500 million, up from the $376 million spent in 2010. “The Census Bureau has long been planning the most robust marketing and outreach effort in Census history for the 2020 Census,” a spokesman said in a statement. Documents released through litigation confirm that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met with dozens of interested parties, including business groups, to get their views before announcing his decision to add the citizenship question last year. While many expressed concerns that the question would hurt response rates, Ross was not convinced, according to a March 2018 memo he wrote explaining his decision. He said data from the question would help the Department of Justice enforce provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The stakes are high in getting an accurate count. Retailers like Walmart and Target Corp use Census data to decide where to open stores or distribution hubs, and what to stock on shelves. Big banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co use the information similarly for branch strategy, and real-estate firms scrutinize the statistics to determine where to build homes and shopping centers. TV networks like Univision, meanwhile, rely on the numbers to plan programming in local markets. And the Census is an important input for tech giants like Google when they create myriad data-based products, such as maps. “You get households, number of people, number of bedrooms, income, gender, age, race, marital status — it’s almost like an MRI,” said Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist for the National Retail Federation. “And it all goes into assessing where and how to provide goods and services.” Underscoring how the survey can drive major business decisions, Amazon’s 20-city search for a new headquarters location also had Census data at its core. Having failed to convince the administration to drop the question, companies are now focused on programs to encourage people to participate in the Census to bolster data quality, sources said. Efforts could include company-wide email messages to employees, prominently displaying a link to the Census on corporate web sites or setting up physical stations where customers can fill out the survey inside of stores or malls, the sources said. Slideshow (3 Images)Ahead of the 2010 Census, McDonald’s Corp featured information on restaurant placemats, Walmart greeters handed out flyers, big retailers featured reminders on receipts and utility companies stuck inserts into electric, gas and water bills. Such programs have been helpful in the past, said John Thompson, who spent nearly 30 years at the Census Bureau before leaving as director in 2017. But whether they can overcome the negative impact of the citizenship question is an open question. “They’ve got a tougher row to hoe,” he said. Reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York; Additional reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Kenneth Li, Herb Lash and Caroline Humer in New York; and Katie Paul and Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Paul ThomaschOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A top cyber-security official has said Huawei's "shoddy" engineering practices mean its mobile network equipment could be banned from Westminster and other sensitive parts of the UK.GCHQ's Dr Ian Levy told BBC Panorama the Chinese telecom giant also faced being barred from what he described as the "brains" of the 5G networks.The UK government is expected to reveal in May whether it will restrict or even ban the company's 5G technology.Huawei said it would address concerns.Last month, a GCHQ-backed security review of the company said it would be difficult to risk-manage Huawei's future products until defects in its cyber-security processes were fixed.It added that technical issues with the company's approach to software development had resulted in vulnerabilities in existing products, which in some cases had not been fixed, despite having being identified in previous versions.In his first broadcast interview, the executive in charge of the firm's telecoms equipment division said he planned to spend more than the $2bn (£1.5bn) already committed to a "transformation programme" to tackle the problems identified."We hope to turn this challenge into an opportunity moving forward," said Ryan Ding, chief executive of Huawei's carrier business group."I believe that if we can carry out this programme as planned, Huawei will become the strongest player in the telecom industry in terms of security and reliability."However, Dr Levy - the technical director of GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre - said he had yet to be convinced."The security in Huawei is like nothing else - it's engineering like it's back in the year 2000 - it's very, very shoddy."We've seen nothing to give us any confidence that the transformation programme is going to do what they say it's going to do."He added that "geographic restrictions - maybe there's no Huawei radio [equipment] in Westminster" was now one option for ministers to consider.Mobile UK - an industry group representing Vodafone, BT, O2 and Three - has warned that preventing Huawei from being involved in the UK's 5G rollout could cost the country's economy up to £6.8bn and delay the launch of its next-generation networks by up to two years. Huawei kit pulled from Pakistan CCTV system Huawei sales top $100bn despite backlash Huawei: The story of a controversial company Those already using Huawei's equipment have opted to keep it out of what is known as the core of their networks, where tasks such as checking device IDs and deciding how to route voice and data take place. EE used to make use of Huawei's gear in its 3G and 4G core, but BT is currently stripping it out after buying the business.The industry does, however, want to use Huawei's radio access network (Ran) equipment - including its antennae and base stations. These allow individual devices to wirelessly connect to their mobile data networks via radio signals transmitted over the airwaves.The US has concerns about any deployment of Huawei's products."You would never know when the Chinese government decide to force Huawei... to do things that would be in the best interests of the Communist party, to eavesdrop on the US," claimed Mike Conaway, a member of the House Intelligence Committee. The Republican drafted a bill last year to ban the US government from doing business with firms that use the company's equipment. It was later adapted to become part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law by President Trump. The effect has been to deter the country's major telecoms networks from working with Huawei. The Chinese company is now suing the US government claiming the move is unconstitutional.The congressman now has his sights on the UK."Obviously, the terrific relationship between the UK and the United States - English-speaking countries - is important to maintain," Mr Conaway told Panorama."But as a part of that we will have to assess what kind of risks we would have in sharing... secrets that would go across Huawei equipment, Huawei networks."We can always share things old-school ways by, you know, paper back and forth. But, in terms of being able to electronically communicate, across Huawei gear, Huawei networks, would be risky at best."This is a matter that crosses political divides.Mark Warner, a Democrat and vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also cautioned against allowing Huawei to be part of the UK's 5G networks."I think that the consequences could be dramatic," he said."I think there could be a real concern about the ability to fully share information because of the fear that the network that would undergird 5G in the UK, that there might be a vulnerability."GCHQ's Dr Levy, however, played down such fears saying that efforts to digitally scramble communications meant that even if someone was able to intercept them, they would only get "gobbledygook"."Anything sensitive from a company or government or defence is independently encrypted of the network," he explained. "You don't trust the network to protect you, you protect yourself."He added that despite finding vulnerabilities in some of Huawei's kit "we don't believe the things we are reporting on is the result of Chinese state malfeasance".For its part, Huawei says the Chinese government would never ask it to install backdoors or other vulnerabilities into its foreign clients' systems, and even if such a request were made it would refuse.And Mr Ding dismissed suggestions that this commitment would fall by the wayside if the US and China were to go to war."We have a country here that virtually uses no Huawei equipment and doesn't even know whether our 5G equipment is square or round, and yet it has been incessantly expressing security concerns over Huawei," he said."I don't want to speculate on whether they have other purposes with this kind of talk. I would rather focus the limited time that I have on making better products."Panorama: Can We Trust Huawei? will be broadcast on BBC One at 20.30 BST this Monday.

Rapper Kanye West is already under fire after his recent return to Twitter for tweeting his support for US President Donald Trump. West, 40, posted a series of pro-Trump tweets, including a photo of himself wearing one of the president's red "Make American Great Again" hats. "You don't have to agree with Trump but the mob can't make me not love him," he tweeted.The president responded on Twitter: "Thank you Kanye, very cool!" West's wife, Kim Kardashian-West, quickly came to his defence after his tweets sparked online backlash. A philosopher rates Kanye West's tweets Kim Kardashian defends Kanye's tweets "To the media trying to demonise my husband let me just say this... your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary. So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair," she tweeted. West, who met Mr Trump in December 2016 after he won the presidential election, tweeted earlier on Wednesday that he shares "dragon energy" with the president, adding that Mr Trump was his "brother". He shared a photo of one of the president's signature campaign "Make America Great Again" hats, which was signed by Mr Trump. West also criticised Mr Trump's predecessor Barack Obama - a fellow Chicagoan - saying he was "in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed".The comments angered some Twitter users, who quoted one of West's songs from his 2016 album, The Life of Pablo, saying "I miss the old Kanye"."Kanye doesn't care about black people," tweeted comedian Akilah Hughes.But Kardashian-West dismissed her husband's critics, pointing out that he has always been someone who speaks his mind. "Kanye will never run in the race of popular opinion and we know that and that's why I love him and respect him and in a few years when someone else says the same exact thing but they aren't labelled the way he is and you will all praise them! Kanye is years ahead of his time", she said. Chance The Rapper also came to West's defence, tweeting that he was "in a great space and not affected by folks tryna question his mental or physical health". Mr West also posted a clarification per his wife's advice, saying the only person he completely agrees with is himself.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police fired tear gas early on Tuesday to disperse hundreds of defiant protesters, some of whom had stormed and ransacked the city’s legislature hours earlier on the anniversary of the city’s 1997 return to Chinese rule. Police arrived in a convoy of buses near midnight as about 1,000 protesters, furious at a proposed law that would allow extraditions to China, were gathered around the council building in the former British colony’s financial district in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing. Earlier, protesters wearing hard hats, masks and black shirts had used a metal trolley, poles and scaffolding to charge again and again at the compound’s reinforced glass doors, which eventually gave. Scores of them poured into the building. Police fired several rounds of tear gas as protesters held up umbrellas to protect themselves, trying to block their advance. Plumes of smoke billowed across major thoroughfares and between some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. The extraordinary violence marked an escalation in the weeks-long movement against the extradition law, which the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, had argued was necessary but suspended in mid-June after protest marches that drew hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets. Lam called a news conference at 4 a.m. (2000 GMT) to condemn what were some of the most violent protests to rock the city in decades. It was not clear if any arrests were made. Umbrellas, metal barriers, hard hats, water bottles and other debris lay strewn across major roads near the legislative council, known as Legco. Police and work crews removed metal barriers and other blockades from some thoroughfares in a bid to clear them ahead of businesses reopening on Tuesday. Inside Legco, protesters smashed computers and spray-painted “anti-extradition” and slurs against the police and the government on chamber walls. Other graffiti called for Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, to step down, while pictures of some lawmakers were defaced. “HK Is Not China” was painted in black on a white pillar. The government called for an immediate end to the violence, saying it had stopped work on amendments to the suspended extradition bill and that the legislation would automatically lapse in July next year. “This kind of violent behavior affects the core value of the rule of law, and I felt angry and upset about this, and need to seriously condemn it,” Lam later told the media. “I believe the citizens feel the same.” On Monday - a public holiday - the protesters, some with cling film wrapped around their arms to protect them from pepper spray and tear gas, again paralyzed parts of the Asian financial hub as they occupied roads near the government. Riot police in helmets and carrying batons earlier fired pepper spray. Banners hanging over flyovers at the protest site read: “Free Hong Kong.” Lam has stopped short of protesters’ demands to scrap the extradition bill, although she has said the suspension would effectively kill the proposal because of the lawmaking schedule. The Beijing-backed leader is now clinging to her job at a time of an unprecedented backlash against the government that poses the greatest popular challenge to Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. News of the protests in Hong Kong has been heavily censored in the mainland. “The kind of deafness that I see in the government this time around despite these protests is really worrying. The complete disregard for the will of the people is what alarms me,” said Steve, a British lawyer who has worked in Hong Kong for 30 years and declined to give his last name. People are seen inside a chamber, after protesters broke into the Legislative Council building during the anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China in Hong Kong, China July 1, 2019. The banner reads "There are no thugs, only tyranny". REUTERS/Tyrone Siu“If this bill is not completely scrapped, I will have no choice but to leave my home, Hong Kong.” Opponents of the extradition bill, which would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party, fear it is a threat to Hong Kong’s much-cherished rule of law. The Legislative Council Secretariat released a statement cancelling business for Tuesday. The central government offices, which are adjacent to Legco, said they would close on Tuesday “owing to security consideration”, while all guided tours to the Legislative Council complex were suspended until further notice. Hong Kong returned to China under a “one country, two systems” formula that allows freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, including freedom to protest and an independent judiciary. Beijing denies interfering, but for many Hong Kong residents, the extradition bill is the latest step in a relentless march toward mainland control. China has been angered by criticism from Western capitals, including Washington and London, about the legislation. Beijing said on Monday that Britain had no responsibility for Hong Kong any more and was opposed to its “gesticulating” about the territory. The European Union on Monday called for restraint and dialogue to find a way forward. A U.S. State Department spokeswoman urged all sides to refrain from violence. “Hong Kong’s success is predicated on its rule of law and respect for fundamental freedoms, including freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly,” she said. While thousands of demonstrators laid siege to the legislature, tens of thousands marched through the center of town in an annual handover anniversary rally. Many clapped as protesters held up a poster of Lam inside a bamboo cage. Organizers said 550,000 turned out. Police said there were 190,000 at their peak. More than a million people have taken to the streets at times over the past three weeks to vent their anger. A tired-looking Lam appeared in public for the first time in nearly two weeks, before the storming of the legislature, flanked by her husband and former Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa. “The incident that happened in recent months has led to controversies and disputes between the public and the government,” she said. “This has made me fully realize that I, as a politician, have to remind myself all the time of the need to grasp public sentiment accurately.” Pro-democracy lawmakers and the protest march organizers said Lam had ignored the demands of the people and pushed youngsters toward desperation, despite pledging to listen to people’s demands. Beijing’s grip over Hong Kong has tightened markedly since Xi took power and after pro-democracy street protests in 2014 that ultimately failed to wrestle concessions from China. Tensions spiraled on June 12 when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters near the heart of the city. The uproar has reignited a protest movement that had lost steam after the failed 2014 demonstrations that led to the arrests of hundreds. Slideshow (25 Images)The turmoil comes at a delicate time for Beijing, which is grappling with a trade dispute with the United States, a faltering economy and tensions in the South China Sea. The extradition bill has also spooked some Hong Kong tycoons into starting to move their personal wealth offshore, according to financial advisers familiar with the details. Additional reporting by Reuters TV, David Lague, Sumeet Chatterjee, Alun John, Vimvam Tong, Thomas Peter, Jessie Pang, Felix Tam, Sharon Lam, Donny Kwok, Joyce Zhou and Twinnie Siu in HONG KONG, Ben Blanchard in BEIJING, David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON and Foo Yun Chee in BRUSSELS; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Nick Macfie and Peter CooneyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Even if the Western apps and sites make it into China, they may face apathy from young people.Two economists from Peking University and Stanford University concluded this year, after an 18-month survey, that Chinese college students were indifferent about having access to uncensored, politically sensitive information. They had given nearly 1,000 students at two Beijing universities free tools to bypass censorship, but found that nearly half the students did not use them. Among those who did, almost none spent time browsing foreign news websites that were blocked.“Our findings suggest that censorship in China is effective not only because the regime makes it difficult to access sensitive information, but also because it fosters an environment in which citizens do not demand such information in the first place,” the scholars wrote.Zhang Yeqiong, 23, a customer service representative at an e-commerce company in Xinji, a small city a few hours’ drive from Beijing, echoed that sentiment. “I grew up with Baidu, so I’m used to it,” she said.The attitude is a departure even from those born in China in the 1980s. When that generation was coming of age a decade or so ago, some were rebels. One of the most famous was Han Han, a blogger who questioned the Chinese political system and traditional values. He sold millions of copies of books and has more than 40 million followers on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.Now there are no Chinese like Mr. Han who are in their teens or 20s. Even Mr. Han, now 35, is no longer his former self. He mainly posts about his businesses on Weibo, which include making films and racecars.Many young people in China instead consume apps and services like Baidu, the social media service WeChat and the short-video platform Tik Tok. Often, they spout consumerism and nationalism.

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, fought back Monday against the government’s portrait of their client as a hardened criminal, suggesting that he was facing the prospect of dying in prison only because he had been unfairly caught in the scandal over Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential race.In a sentencing memorandum to the federal judge who will decide his punishment next month for two felonies to which Mr. Manafort pleaded guilty last year, his legal team said his crimes did not warrant a substantial prison term, especially given his age. Mr. Manafort will turn 70 in early April.Disputing the prosecutors’ damning characterization of Mr. Manafort in a court filing last week, his lawyers insisted that Mr. Manafort was not only deeply remorseful, but “has suffered almost unprecedented public shame” for what they called garden-variety offenses. The memos are previews of the oral arguments that both sides will make before Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, who will sentence Mr. Manafort for the two conspiracy charges on March 13.Judge Jackson’s sentence will come five days after Mr. Manafort is sentenced for eight more felonies he was found guilty of last year in a related financial fraud case before Judge T.S. Ellis III of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. A key question for both sides is whether Mr. Manafort will be allowed to serve the prison terms simultaneously, or whether they will be stacked atop each other.Mr. Manafort’s lawyers asked that Judge Jackson’s sentence be “significantly below” the 10-year maximum prison term she could impose. But whatever punishment she decides upon, they asked that Mr. Manafort be allowed to serve it concurrently with his sentence in the Virginia case. Under advisory sentencing guidelines, Mr. Manafort could be sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for the financial fraud scheme.The defense team argued that had the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, never been appointed to investigate Russian interference in the election, “Mr. Manafort might never have been indicted in the District of Columbia.”Even though Mr. Manafort has admitted his guilt in the conspiracy crimes, they said, Mr. Mueller’s team had pursued him with unusual vigor because he led Mr. Trump’s campaign during a critical period in 2016. He is one of the few defendants, they noted, to have ever been charged with a crime for failing to register as a foreign lobbyist with the Justice Department.In their sentencing memo, unsealed on Saturday, Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors asked for no specific sentence. But they said that Mr. Manafort had “repeatedly and brazenly” violated a host of laws for more than a decade, that he had admitted to leading a conspiracy that encompassed serious crimes including money-laundering and obstruction of justice, and that he should be sentenced to a substantial prison term.The defense lawyers dismissed the prosecutors’ argument that Mr. Manafort was likely to commit new crimes unless he received a lengthy sentence. “The special counsel’s attempt to portray him as a lifelong and irredeemable felon is beyond the pale and grossly overstates the facts,” they said. Mr. Manafort has been “vilified in a manner that this country has not experienced in decades,” they said.They also suggested that Mr. Manafort should not be punished more harshly than Michael D. Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and longtime fixer. Mr. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, five counts of tax evasion, one count of false submissions to a bank and two campaign finance violations.

The Democratic-led US House judiciary committee is filing an application to seek access to grand jury evidence from the Mueller investigation, which lawmakers say they need to determine whether to begin impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.A second pending legal move by Democrats, a federal lawsuit to compel testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn about the Republican president’s efforts to impede the Mueller investigation, is expected early next week.The grand jury evidence, which is protected from outside scrutiny by federal law, was compiled by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s 22-month investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and the Trump campaign’s links with Moscow.The House judiciary committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, told a news conference that since justice department policy prohibits the prosecution of a sitting president, the House of Representatives was the only institution of government capable of holding Trump accountable for actions outlined in the Mueller report.“The House must have access to all the relevant facts and consider whether to exercise its full … powers, including a constitutional power of the utmost gravity: recommendation of articles of impeachment,” Nadler said, reading from the court petition.He also said Mueller’s grand jury information “is critically important for our ability to examine witnesses, including former White House counsel Don McGahn, and to investigate the president’s misconduct”.The committee’s Democrats, who flanked Nadler at the news conference, said the pending court petition was a new step toward impeachment and described their ongoing obstruction of justice investigation against Trump as an “impeachment investigation”, though the panel has not officially launched an impeachment inquiry.Many reports have indicated that Nadler has privately voiced support for launching an impeachment inquiry, but he has declined to do so publicly.When asked by a CNN reporter why he has chosen not to do so, Nadler notably paused before dodging the question. One of the panel’s other members, the Pennsylvania representative Mary Gay Scanlon, then took the microphone to argue that impeachment “isn’t a binary thing”.The top Republican on the judiciary committee, the Georgia representative Doug Collins, criticized Nadler’s move.“Judiciary Democrats are suing for grand jury material to which they have no right,” Collins said in a statement. “Chairman Nadler’s legal action here is sure to fail, weakening Congress’s ability to conduct oversight now and into the future.“Nadler described the pending legal actions, including the McGahn lawsuit, as a potential watershed that could dismantle recent White House efforts to stonewall congressional investigators by directing current and former Trump aides to defy subpoenas and refrain from providing testimony.Mueller testified on Wednesday in back-to-back hearings that Democrats hoped would focus public attention on Trump’s alleged misconduct and boost support for an impeachment inquiry. But his halting and reticent performance changed few opinions, leaving House Democrats to accelerate a congressional inquiry that could take months to bear fruit.The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who opposes impeachment for now as a politically risky move for Democrats, told reporters that she favored litigation to obtain “the best, strongest possible case” against Trump.But with the 2020 election campaign season fast approaching, she also made it clear that the impeachment issue would not be allowed to linger.“The decision will be made in a timely fashion. This isn’t endless,” said Pelosi, who denied suggestions that she was trying to “run out the clock” on impeachment.Mueller found insufficient evidence to allege that the Trump campaign conspired with Moscow in its effort to help Trump get elected in 2016, although campaign officials met with Russians.He also reached no conclusions on whether Trump tried to obstruct Mueller’s inquiry.But he has also said the report does not exonerate the president. The 448-page document outlines 10 incidents of potential obstruction.Democrats say that testimony from McGahn could give them the evidence they need for an impeachment inquiry. McGahn told special counsel investigators that Trump directed him to seek Mueller’s removal and then to deny that he had been instructed to do so.Democrats view the alleged episode as an act of obstruction of justice.McGahn declined to testify earlier this year after the White House directed him not to cooperate with the committee.Reuters contributed to this report Topics House of Representatives Robert Mueller Trump-Russia investigation Democrats US politics news

LeBron James has praised his former teammate Kyle Korver for an essay he published on the subject of white privilege.Korver, who is white, said he was “embarrassed” by his reaction to both incidents. He initially wondered why Sefolosha was at a nightclub during the season, and partly attributed the abuse of Westbrook to the player’s fiery nature.The 38-year-old said that, unlike Westbrook and Sefolosha, he does not need to worry he will be the victim of discrimination.“What I’m realizing is, no matter how passionately I commit to being an ally, and no matter how unwavering my support is for NBA and WNBA players of color ... I’m still in this conversation from the privileged perspective of opting in to it,” he wrote. “Which of course means that on the flip side, I could just as easily opt out of it. Every day, I’m given that choice – I’m granted that privilege – based on the color of my skin.”Korver said that in a league that is 75% black, he is often seen as a symbol for some white fans – and suggests he is uncomfortable with that tag. “I know I’m in a strange position, as one of the more recognized white players in the NBA. It’s a position that comes with a lot of … interesting undertones,” he wrote. “This feels like a moment to draw a line in the sand. I believe that what’s happening to people of color in this country – right now, in 2019 – is wrong.“The fact that black Americans are more than five times as likely to be incarcerated as white Americans is wrong. The fact that black Americans are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as white Americans is wrong. The fact that black unemployment rates nationally are double that of overall unemployment rates is wrong. The fact that black imprisonment rates for drug charges are almost six times higher nationally than white imprisonment rates for drug charges is wrong. The fact that black Americans own approximately one-tenth of the wealth that white Americans own is wrong.“And I believe it’s the responsibility of anyone on the privileged end of those inequalities to help make things right. So if you don’t want to know anything about me, outside of basketball, then listen — I get it. But if you do want to know something? Know I believe that.”James welcomed the article on Twitter. “Salute my brother!! Means a lot,” he wrote. “And like you said I hope people listen, just open your ears and listen.” Korver’s Utah teammate, Donovan Mitchell, also gave his thoughts. “This is amazing!! I’m honored to have you as my teammate and my brother!! Folks please read and inform yourselves,” wrote Mitchell on Twitter. Topics NBA Utah Jazz Basketball US sports LeBron James news

HONG KONG — Black-clad demonstrators rallied in Hong Kong’s airport on Friday, filling the arrivals hall of one of the world’s busiest terminals as the city braced for another weekend of potentially combustible protests.Activists also signaled that despite objections from the police, they would continue with plans for a Saturday rally against mob violence in Yuen Long, a district near the mainland Chinese border where last weekend a group of men attacked people in a train station and on nearby streets.That attack on Sunday, which left at least 45 people injured, was apparently meant to intimidate the protesters who have been holding demonstrations in the city for weeks. But the men, many of whom were masked and dressed in white T-shirts, also lashed out at train passengers who had no apparent connection to the demonstrations.The police — who failed to stop the mob, and initially made no arrests — have since detained 12 people in connection with the train station attacks, including some accused of having connections to the criminal gangs known as triads. The authorities have said they object to the Yuen Long rally on Saturday because of the risk of clashes, with tensions running high between pro-democracy protesters and residents of the district’s villages, who are more conservative and supportive of the establishment.[Here is a look at the history of Triads and their suspected connections to political violence in Hong Kong.]The prospect of more violence this weekend poses another challenge for Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive, who is under pressure from Beijing to restore order in the semiautonomous Chinese city. On Sunday, hours before the mob attack, protesters defaced the Chinese government’s main offices in the city, in a direct rebuke of the Communist leadership in China.Mrs. Lam is also facing growing calls from civil servants sympathetic to the protesters, who have urged her to heed the demonstrators’ calls to set up an independent commission to investigate police conduct during the unrest. Several police unions released a letter Friday urging Mrs. Lam to oppose such a move.The protests in Hong Kong began weeks ago, over a now-suspended government proposal that would allow extraditions to mainland China. They have since expanded to include other issues, like accusations that the police have used excessive force, as well as demands that direct elections be held for chief executive and for more seats in the local legislature.During the rally at the airport on Friday, protesters, including some airline employees, chanted slogans and distributed leaflets listing demands, including a full withdrawal of the extradition bill. They also set up another of the many so-called Lennon Walls that have gone up around the city (named after one that sprung up in Prague under Communist rule), consisting of slogans and messages of support for the protest movement, most on Post-It notes.To promote the airport rally, protesters created a video modeled on in-flight safety instructions telling visitors to beware of mob attacks in Hong Kong. It referred to the police’s failure to protect the train passengers in Yuen Long on Sunday: “It is a safety requirement that you remain alert and vigilant at all times, because the police will no longer answer your calls,” it said.Jeremy Tam, a lawmaker and former pilot, posted on Facebook an unsigned letter attributed to a group of air traffic controllers that warned of a “noncooperation movement” unless the government responded to the protesters’ demands.“As we hear the people cry and witness the city descend into chaos, we feel that it is not right to continue to perform our duties silently as if nothing has happened and let the abusers get away with their evil deeds,” it said.Concerns about Saturday’s protest were running high.Matthew Cheung, the second-ranking official in Hong Kong, warned that a rally held in spite of the police’s formal objection would be unlawful. But in a news conference on Friday, he acknowledged that people were still likely to attend, and he called on them to be “peaceful and rational” and not enter villages in Yuen Long where clashes might occur.Mr. Cheung also apologized for the government’s handling of the violence in Yuen Long, where many have accused the police of being slow to respond.“If it’s for this event, the method of how we handled it, and how the police force said they fell short of the citizens’ expectations, I am absolutely willing to apologize to the citizens,” he said.Police officials said they received calls about the Yuen Long attacks at 10:41 p.m. on Sunday, and that two officers arrived at 10:52 p.m. But they retreated because they were outnumbered, and 40 riot police officers arrived at 11:20 p.m., officials said.The men in white had been seen gathering hours earlier, and warnings about an attack on protesters had circulated in the area as early as a day before the attacks.“We understand that the outcome of our actions might have slightly fallen short to the citizens’ expectations,” Tsang Ching-fo, a police official in New Territories North, where Yuen Long is located, said on Thursday. “We are also very saddened that civilians got hurt because we were not able to stop the event.”A week before the attack at the train station, a representative of the Chinese government’s office in Hong Kong, known as the liaison office, had urged Yuen Long residents to drive activists away, Reuters reported on Friday, citing a recording of his remarks.“We won’t allow them to come to Yuen Long to cause trouble,” Li Jiyi, the director of the liaison office’s local district office, said at a community banquet, according to the report.The liaison office dismissed any reports linking it to the Yuen Long violence as “malicious rumors,” according to a report carried on the liaison office’s website.This week, Chinese state media outlets, which previously ignored the Hong Kong demonstrations, have begun running coverage that is sharply critical of them. Chinese officials have also denounced the demonstrators, particularly since the liaison office was vandalized on Sunday, with protesters painting graffiti on the exterior and splashing ink on the national crest.A spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense hinted on Wednesday that the Chinese military could be called in to restore order. But Hong Kong officials have repeatedly denied they have any plans to request assistance from the People’s Liberation Army.

Prosecutors also said that Mr. Manafort had deceived them about his discussions with Mr. Kilimnik and a plan to resolve a conflict over Russia’s incursions into Ukraine that some foreign policy experts say would have served the Kremlin’s ends. Like the sharing of the polling data, they said, those talks went “to the heart” of the special counsel’s investigation, Andrew Weissmann, one of Mr. Mueller’s top deputies, told Judge Jackson.Mr. Kilimnik was crucial to the special counsel’s investigation, regardless of whether he was on the Russian government’s payroll or even was “an active spy,” she said. “We have now been over Kilimnik, Kilimnik and Kilimnik,” the judge noted, saying that Mr. Manafort’s communications with him were “at the undisputed core” of Mr. Mueller’s inquiry.Mr. Manafort had told prosecutors that he discussed the plan only once with Mr. Kilimnik — on Aug. 2, 2016, at the Grand Havana Room in Manhattan. That meeting took place a few weeks before Mr. Manafort was fired from the Trump campaign because of a burgeoning scandal involving his work in Ukraine with Mr. Kilimnik.Mr. Weissmann stressed that the meeting with someone the F.B.I. had assessed had “a relationship with Russian intelligence” took place “at an unusual time for somebody who is the campaign chairman.” Judge Jackson noted that Mr. Manafort eventually acknowledged that after Mr. Trump was elected, he and Mr. Kilimnik discussed the so-called peace plan for Ukraine at least three more times — but only after prosecutors had confronted Mr. Manafort with evidence of other encounters.According to the transcript released Friday, Judge Jackson found that Mr. Manafort had not simply omitted or forgotten facts, but had created “an alternative narrative” that was untrue. In general, she said that Mr. Manafort forced the prosecutor to “pull teeth,” adding that concessions came in “dribs and drabs, only after it’s clear that the Office of Special Counsel already knew the answer.”The judge has also found that Mr. Manafort had lied about information related to another undisclosed Justice Department inquiry. She ruled that he had deceived prosecutors about the use of donations raised by a pro-Trump political action committee to cover $125,000 worth of his legal bills. While leading the Trump campaign, Mr. Manafort staffed the committee with two friends.Judge Jackson found that in answering questions about the $125,000 payment, Mr. Manafort appeared to “be making a concerted effort to avoid saying what really took place.”