Hong Kong suspends extradition bill after huge protests - NBC News

HONG KONG — Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday announced the government would suspend debate on a controversial extradition bill that had prompted massive protests in the former British colony.

"We decided that it was important to return society to peace," Lam told reporters, referring to the huge demonstrations.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks on Saturday.Kin Cheung / AP

The announcement represented a huge victory for protesters in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. Organizers have said they would not back down until the bill was withdrawn altogether, and on Saturday renewed calls for a planned march for Sunday.

The climb down followed formal warnings from U.S. and European officials, with international business and human rights groups saying that the changes would hurt the rule of law in Hong Kong, which was handed back to Chinese rule in 1997 amid guarantees of autonomy.

Hong Kong enjoys greater freedoms than mainland China under a "one country, two systems" framework. Residents can freely surf the internet and participate in public protests, unlike in the mainland.

The measure was not definitively cancelled, however, and Lam did not say when debate would resume.

"The council will halt its work in relation to the bill until our work in communication, explanation and listening to opinions is completed," she said, adding that the government also had other priorities, including an expected economic downturn.

The controversial bill had been introduced in response to a murder case in Taiwan where the suspect fled back to Hong Kong, revealing what Lam described as a "loophole in our regime with respect to mutual legal assistance on criminal matters."

Lawmakers said it was designed to simplify case-by-case arrangements to allow extradition of wanted suspects to jurisdictions including mainland China, Macau and Taiwan.

But opponents said the bill would severely compromise their freedoms and erode Hong Kong's legal independence, with fears over the fairness and transparency of the Chinese court system and worry about Chinese security forces contriving charges.

Lam maintained the legislation was necessary and would have safeguards to ensure human rights are protected.

Organizers say over a million people marched through the streets of Hong Kong last Sunday, amid a series of protests that turned violent and saw both police and demonstrators injured.

"Clearly, this is no longer a peaceful assembly but a blatant, organised riot, and in no way an act of loving Hong Kong," Lam said earlier in the week.

On Saturday, Lam again condemned the protests, but said the bill was no longer necessary for the moment.

"The original urgency to pass this bill in the current legislative year is perhaps no longer there," she said.

Lam did not apologize, and dodged reporters' questions about whether she planned to resign as demonstrators have demanded. Instead, she said she had been acting in Hong Kong's best interests.

Laurel Chor reported from Hong Kong, Linda Givetash from London.

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2019-06-15 07:44:00Z
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Hong Kong’s Leader, Yielding to Protests, Suspends Extradition Bill - The New York Times

HONG KONG — Backing down after days of huge street protests, Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, said on Saturday that she would indefinitely suspend a bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China.

It was a remarkable reversal for Mrs. Lam, the leader installed by Beijing in 2017, who had vowed to ensure the bill’s approval and tried to get it passed on an unusually short timetable, even as hundreds of thousands demonstrated against it this week. But she made it clear that the bill was being delayed, not withdrawn outright, as protesters have demanded.

“I believe that we cannot withdraw this bill, or else society will say that this bill was groundless,” Mrs. Lam said at a news conference. She said she felt “sorrow and regret” that she had failed to convince the public that it was needed.

City leaders hope that delaying the legislation will cool public anger and avoid more violence in the streets, said people with detailed knowledge of the government’s plans, including advisers to Mrs. Lam.

Image

Mothers of young protesters gathered in Hong Kong on Friday night to oppose the proposed extradition law. Some of the signs read, “If we lose the young generation, what’s left of Hong Kong?”CreditVincent Yu/Associated Press

But before Mrs. Lam’s announcement, leading opposition figures said a mere postponement of the bill would not satisfy the protesters, who had been planning another large demonstration for Sunday. As reports emerged Saturday that the bill would be delayed, not withdrawn, organizers of the Sunday protest confirmed that it was still on.

“We can’t accept it will just be suspended,” Minnie Li, a lecturer with the Education University of Hong Kong who joined a hunger strike this week, said on Saturday morning, as word of Mrs. Lam’s plan to suspend the bill was emerging. “We demand it to be withdrawn. The amendment itself is unreasonable. Suspension just means having a break and will continue later. What we want is for it to be withdrawn. We can’t accept it.”

Mrs. Lam and her superiors in Beijing were reluctant to kill the bill outright, said the people familiar with city officials’ thinking. They insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the government.

A full withdrawal of the legislation would recall the Hong Kong government’s reversals in the face of public objections to other contentious bills that were seen as infringing on the city’s liberties — national security legislation, in 2003, and compulsory patriotic education legislation, in 2012.

A team of senior Chinese officials and experts met on Friday with Mrs. Lam in Shenzhen, a mainland Chinese city bordering Hong Kong, to review the situation, one of the people with knowledge of the government’s policymaking said.

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The police used tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators on Wednesday.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

The bill would make it easier for Hong Kong to send people suspected of crimes to jurisdictions with which it has no extradition treaty, including mainland China. Many people in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous territory with far more civil liberties than the mainland has, fear that the legislation would put anyone in the city at risk of being detained and sent to China for trial by the country’s Communist Party-controlled courts.

The bill had been moving through the legislative process with unusual speed, and legal experts who raised concerns about that said it would have to be withdrawn in order to address those worries. Otherwise, voting on the bill could restart at any time, at the discretion of the head of the legislature, which is controlled by pro-Beijing lawmakers, these experts said.

More than a million people marched against the bill last Sunday, according to protest leaders, the vast majority of them peacefully. That was followed by street clashes on Wednesday, as the police used tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators.

[See photos from Hong Kong’s biggest display of dissent in years.]

Officials believe that delaying the bill will reduce the risk of a young protester being seriously hurt or even killed in clashes with police, then becoming a martyr in the eyes of the public. Dozens of protesters have already been injured, and video footage of riot police apparently using excessive force against unarmed demonstrators has deepened public anger in the city.

The government has been dismayed by early signs that mothers of young protesters, who held a candlelight vigil on Friday night, were starting to organize themselves. It is strongly averse to seeing the emergence of a group like the mothers of victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing in 1989, who have been active for decades.

Image

Protesters’ messages near the Hong Kong Legislative Council building this week.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

City officials hope that delaying the bill will weaken the opposition by draining it of its momentum, without giving the appearance that the government was backing down entirely, according to the people familiar with leaders’ thinking.

Asked several times by reporters at the Saturday news conference whether she would resign, as protesters have demanded, Mrs. Lam indicated that she had no plans to do so, saying she would continue her work and improve efforts to communicate with the public. The people familiar with the government’s thinking said officials in both Beijing and Hong Kong had dismissed the calls for Mrs. Lam’s resignation.

Underlying opposition to the extradition bill is a growing fear that the freedoms that people in Hong Kong enjoy under the “one country, two systems” policy, put in place when the former British colony was returned to China in 1997, are rapidly shrinking.

Responding to local media reports on Saturday about a possible delay of the bill, Emily Lau, a former lawmaker and chairwoman of the city’s Democratic Party, said that she doubted the public would be quelled by such a move.

“People are asking for the bill to be withdrawn, if you just delay it that means they can just resume the second reading whenever they like,” Ms. Lau said. She added that a delay would simply result in another big turnout for the march on Sunday.

“There is always a sword hanging over our heads and I don’t think the public will accept it,” she said.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/world/asia/hong-kong-protests-extradition-law.html

2019-06-15 07:00:22Z
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Hong Kong’s Leader, Yielding to Protests, Suspends Extradition Bill - The New York Times

HONG KONG — Backing down after days of huge street protests, Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, said on Saturday that she would indefinitely suspend a bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China.

It was a remarkable reversal for Mrs. Lam, the leader installed by Beijing in 2017, who had vowed to ensure the bill’s approval and tried to get it passed on an unusually short timetable, even as hundreds of thousands demonstrated against it this week. But she made it clear that the bill was being delayed, not withdrawn outright, as protesters have demanded.

“I believe that we cannot withdraw this bill, or else society will say that this bill was groundless,” Mrs. Lam said at a news conference. She said she felt “sorrow and regret” that she had failed to convince the public that it was needed.

City leaders hope that delaying the legislation will cool public anger and avoid more violence in the streets, said people with detailed knowledge of the government’s plans, including advisers to Mrs. Lam.

Image

Mothers of young protesters gathered in Hong Kong on Friday night to oppose the proposed extradition law. Some of the signs read, “If we lose the young generation, what’s left of Hong Kong?”CreditVincent Yu/Associated Press

But before Mrs. Lam’s announcement, leading opposition figures said a mere postponement of the bill would not satisfy the protesters, who had been planning another large demonstration for Sunday. As reports emerged Saturday that the bill would be delayed, not withdrawn, organizers of the Sunday protest confirmed that it was still on.

“We can’t accept it will just be suspended,” Minnie Li, a lecturer with the Education University of Hong Kong who joined a hunger strike this week, said on Saturday morning, as word of Mrs. Lam’s plan to suspend the bill was emerging. “We demand it to be withdrawn. The amendment itself is unreasonable. Suspension just means having a break and will continue later. What we want is for it to be withdrawn. We can’t accept it.”

Mrs. Lam and her superiors in Beijing were reluctant to kill the bill outright, said the people familiar with city officials’ thinking. They insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the government.

A full withdrawal of the legislation would recall the Hong Kong government’s reversals in the face of public objections to other contentious bills that were seen as infringing on the city’s liberties — national security legislation, in 2003, and compulsory patriotic education legislation, in 2012.

A team of senior Chinese officials and experts met on Friday with Mrs. Lam in Shenzhen, a mainland Chinese city bordering Hong Kong, to review the situation, one of the people with knowledge of the government’s policymaking said.

Image

The police used tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators on Wednesday.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

The bill would make it easier for Hong Kong to send people suspected of crimes to jurisdictions with which it has no extradition treaty, including mainland China. Many people in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous territory with far more civil liberties than the mainland has, fear that the legislation would put anyone in the city at risk of being detained and sent to China for trial by the country’s Communist Party-controlled courts.

The bill had been moving through the legislative process with unusual speed, and legal experts who raised concerns about that said it would have to be withdrawn in order to address those worries. Otherwise, voting on the bill could restart at any time, at the discretion of the head of the legislature, which is controlled by pro-Beijing lawmakers, these experts said.

More than a million people marched against the bill last Sunday, according to protest leaders, the vast majority of them peacefully. That was followed by street clashes on Wednesday, as the police used tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators.

[See photos from Hong Kong’s biggest display of dissent in years.]

Officials believe that delaying the bill will reduce the risk of a young protester being seriously hurt or even killed in clashes with police, then becoming a martyr in the eyes of the public. Dozens of protesters have already been injured, and video footage of riot police apparently using excessive force against unarmed demonstrators has deepened public anger in the city.

The government has been dismayed by early signs that mothers of young protesters, who held a candlelight vigil on Friday night, were starting to organize themselves. It is strongly averse to seeing the emergence of a group like the mothers of victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing in 1989, who have been active for decades.

Image

Protesters’ messages near the Hong Kong Legislative Council building this week.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

City officials hope that delaying the bill will weaken the opposition by draining it of its momentum, without giving the appearance that the government was backing down entirely, according to the people familiar with leaders’ thinking.

Asked several times by reporters at the Saturday news conference whether she would resign, as protesters have demanded, Mrs. Lam indicated that she had no plans to do so, saying she would continue her work and improve efforts to communicate with the public. The people familiar with the government’s thinking said officials in both Beijing and Hong Kong had dismissed the calls for Mrs. Lam’s resignation.

Underlying opposition to the extradition bill is a growing fear that the freedoms that people in Hong Kong enjoy under the “one country, two systems” policy, put in place when the former British colony was returned to China in 1997, are rapidly shrinking.

Responding to local media reports on Saturday about a possible delay of the bill, Emily Lau, a former lawmaker and chairwoman of the city’s Democratic Party, said that she doubted the public would be quelled by such a move.

“People are asking for the bill to be withdrawn, if you just delay it that means they can just resume the second reading whenever they like,” Ms. Lau said. She added that a delay would simply result in another big turnout for the march on Sunday.

“There is always a sword hanging over our heads and I don’t think the public will accept it,” she said.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/world/asia/hong-kong-protests-extradition-law.html

2019-06-15 06:45:18Z
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Hong Kong to suspend divisive extradition bill, say reports - Aljazeera.com

Hong Kong's embattled government looks set to suspend a proposed law on extradition to mainland China that sparked widespread anger and violent protests, with leader Carrie Lam planning to address the press on Saturday, local media has reported.

Support for the swift passage of the controversial extradition bill began to crumble on Friday with several pro-Beijing politicians and a senior adviser to Lam saying discussion on the bill should be shelved for the time being.

Around a million people, according to protest organisers, marched through Hong Kong last Sunday to oppose the bill. The international finance hub was further rocked by political violence on Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters were dispersed by anti-riot police firing tear gas and rubber-coated bullets. A second reading of the bill was postponed.

Another round of protests is planned for this Sunday.

The extradition bill would allow Hong Kong's chief executive to send suspected offenders to places with which the territory has no formal extradition agreement for trial. 

It would apply to Hong Kong residents and foreign and Chinese nationals living or travelling in the city to be sent to mainland China and has many concerned it may threaten the rule of law that underpins Hong Kong's international financial status.

As criticism mounted - and signs emerged of a growing discomfort among party leaders in Beijing - local media in Hong Kong reported on Saturday that Lam's administration was planning to announce some sort of climbdown as it tries to find its way out of the political crisis.

Hong Kong's iCable, the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Sing Tao newspaper, Now TV, TVB and RTHK reported that the bill would be suspended or postponed. TVB and iCable said Lam would hold a news conference on Saturday afternoon.

Lam defiant

Lam, who is appointed by a committee stacked with Beijing loyalists, has so far refused to abandon the bill despite months of criticism from business and legal bodies and in the face of the huge demonstrations.

Calls to Lam's office have also gone unanswered outside of business hours. Lam has not appeared in public or commented since Wednesday. Hong Kong media reported Lam would meet pro-Beijing legislators to explain her pending announcement.

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Backing down from efforts to drive the bill through the city's legislature by July would have been unthinkable last week when the law's passage seemed inevitable as Lam was adamant.

But on Friday she found herself facing growing calls from within her own political camp to reverse course and tamp down spiralling public anger.

Yet Michael Tien, a member of Hong Kong's legislature and a deputy to China's national parliament, said a total withdrawal of the bill was unlikely.

"The amendment is supported by the central government, so I think a withdrawal would send a political message that the central government is wrong. This would not happen under 'one country, two systems'," he told Reuters news agency, referring to the model under which Hong Kong enjoys semi-autonomy.

Tien, a member of the pro-Beijing camp, said he supported a suspension of the bill without a timetable.

Another march

Despite chatter that the government would hit pause on the bill, organisers of last Sunday's protest march stood by plans for another march this Sunday. In addition to opposing the bill, they said they would also be calling for accountability of the police for the way protests have been handled.

Lam has said the extradition law is necessary to prevent criminals using Hong Kong as a place to hide and that human rights will be protected by the city's court which will decide on case-by-case basis extraditions.

Critics, including leading lawyers and rights groups, note that China's justice system is controlled by the Communist Party, and marked by torture and forced confessions, arbitrary detention and poor access to lawyers.

Last Sunday's protest in the former British colony was the biggest political demonstration since its return to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" deal. The agreement guarantees Hong Kong's special autonomy, including freedom of assembly, free press and independent judiciary.

Many accuse China of extensive meddling since then, including obstruction of democratic reforms, interference with elections and of being behind the disappearance of five Hong Kong-based booksellers, starting in 2015, who specialised in works critical of Chinese leaders.

Beijing has denied that it has overreached in Hong Kong.

The extradition bill has spooked some of Hong Kong's tycoons into starting to move their personal wealth offshore, according to financial advisers, bankers and lawyers familiar with the details.

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2019-06-15 06:32:00Z
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Hong Kong suspends debate on controversial extradition policy - CBS News

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2019-06-14 14:34:11Z
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US donors have been footing Notre Dame work bills instead of French tycoons - Fox News

The billionaire French donors who publicly promised flashy donations totaling hundreds of millions to rebuild Notre Dame have not yet paid a penny toward the restoration of the French national monument, according to church and business officials.

Instead, it's been mainly American citizens, via the charitable foundation Friends of Notre Dame, that have footed the bills and paid salaries for the up to 150 workers employed by the cathedral since the April 15 fire that devastated the cathedral's roof and caused its masterpiece spire to collapse. This month it is handing over the first ever payment for the cathedral's reconstruction of 3.6 million euros ($4 million).

"The big donors haven't paid. Not a cent," said Andre Finot, a senior press official at Notre Dame. "They want to know what exactly their money is being spent on and if they agree to it before they hand it over, and not just to pay employees' salaries."

NOTRE DAME'S GOLDEN ALTAR CROSS SEEN GLOWING AS IMAGES EMERGE FROM INSIDE SHOWING FIRE-RAVAGED CATHEDRAL

Almost $1 billion was promised by some of France's richest and most powerful families and companies, some of whom sought to outbid each other, in the hours and days after the inferno. It prompted criticism that the donations were as much about the vanity of the donors wishing to be immortalized in the edifice's fabled stones than the preservation of church heritage.

Francois Pinault of Artemis, the parent company of Kering that owns Gucci and Saint Laurent, promised 100 million euros, while Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of French energy company Total, said his firm would match that figure. Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury giant LVMH that owns Louis Vuitton and Dior, pledged 200 million euros, as did the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation of the L'Oreal fortune.

No money has been seen, according to Finot, as the donors wait to see how the reconstruction plans progress and fight it out over contracts.

The reality on the ground is that work has been continuing around the clock for weeks and, with no legal financial mechanism in place to pay the workers, the cathedral has been reliant on the charity foundation to fund the first phase of reconstruction.

HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS PLEDGED FOR NOTRE DAME REBUILD NOT YET COLLECTED, ARCHBISHOP SAYS

The Friends of Notre Dame de Paris was founded in 2017, and its president, Michel Picaud, estimates that 90% of the donations it has received have come from American donors. Indeed, Picaud has just returned from a fund-raising trip in New York.

"Americans are very generous toward Notre Dame and the monument is very loved in America. Six out of our 11 board members are residents in the U.S.," Picaud said.

The first check toward the rebuilding, accounting for the "first stage of restorations" according to Picaud, is currently being transferred by the foundation for a sum of 3.6 million euros ($4.1 million).

While the billionaire donors delay signing their checks, the workers at the cathedral can afford no such luxury as the risk of lead poisoning has become an issue for the Parisian island on which Notre Dame is located.

NOTRE DAME'S DESTRUCTION WAS 'BOUND TO HAPPEN' AFTER YEARS OF NEGLECT AND LACK OF UPKEEP, EXPERT CLAIMS

The estimated 300 tons of lead that made up the roof melted or was released into the atmosphere during the blaze, and sent toxic dust around the island with high levels present in the soils and in administrative buildings, according to Paris' regional health agency. It has recommended that all pregnant women and children under 7 take a blood test for lead levels.

Two dedicated workers have been cleaning the toxic lead dust from the forecourt for weeks, and up to 148 more have been cleaning inside and outside the edifice as well as restoring it, according to Finot.

Workers are currently creating a wooden walkway to give them access to remove the 250 tons of burnt-out scaffolding that had been installed for the ill-fated restoration of the spire. They will then replace the existing plastic protection with a bigger, more robust "umbrella" roof. After that, they will begin the reconstruction of the roof and vaulting. The middle vault will be the first stage of the reconstruction.

Finot said this process will take a number of months and will all be paid for by the Friends of Notre Dame and other foundations.

This comes as the French parliament is slowly passing back and forth amendments to a new law that would create a "public body" to expedite the restoration of the cathedral and circumvent some of the country's famously complex labor laws.

MACRON'S VOW TO REBUILD NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL WITHIN 5 YEARS UNREALISTIC, SOME EXPERTS SAY

French President Emmanuel Macron has said the work should be completed within a five-year deadline. Macron has appointed former army chief Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin to oversee the reconstruction and crack the whip. But critics have said the timeline is overly ambitious.

A spokesman for the Pinault Collection acknowledged that the Pinault family hadn't yet handed over any money despite the progress of works, blaming that on a delay in contracts.

"In short, we are willing to pay, provided it is requested in a contractual framework," said Jean-Jacques Aillagon, adding that the Pinault family plans to pay via the Friends of Notre Dame.

The LVMH Group and the Arnault family said in a statement that it would also be working with the Friends of Notre Dame, that it was signing an agreement and that "the payments will be made as the work progresses."

Total has pledged to pay its 100 million euros via the Heritage Foundation, whose Director General Celia Verot, confirmed the multinational company has not paid a penny yet and is waiting to see what the plans are and if they are in line with each company's particular vision before they agree to transfer the money.

"How the funds will be used by the state is the big question," Verot said.

"It's not as brutal as it sounds, but it's a voluntary donation so the companies are waiting for the government's vision to see what precisely they want to fund. It's our function as the intermediary to know that the money is directed in line with the donor's wishes," she added.

NOTRE DAM CATHEDRAL'S 7 MOST ICONIC MOMENTS IN FILM

While the clean-up and consolidation work currently underway is hugely important, it does not fit that description, said another foundation official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It suggests the wealthy donors want their money to go toward long-lasting, immortalizing structures and not on ephemeral, but equally vital, cleaning and securing of the site that also still poses a real health risk for Parisians.

The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation said it, too, hasn't handed over the money because it wants to ensure it's spent on causes that fit the foundation's specific ethos — which supports craftsmanship in art.

Olivier de Challus, one of the cathedral's chief guides and architecture experts, said that one of the reasons the rich French donors haven't yet paid up is that there are still so many uncertainties about the direction of the construction work.

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De Challus said that architectural experts are using digital models to try to establish how much damage the fire did to the 13th-century stone, and whether the structures are fundamentally sound.

"It doesn't matter that the big donors haven't yet paid because the choices about the spire and the major architectural decisions will happen probably late in 2020," he said.

"That's when the large sums of money will be required."

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2019-06-14 13:54:52Z
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Japanese tanker owner contradicts U.S. officials over explosives used in Gulf of Oman attack - NBC News

The Japanese owner of a tanker attacked in the Gulf of Oman claimed Friday that it was struck by a flying projectile, contradicting reports by U.S. officials and the military on the source of the blast.

U.S. Central Command said the two vessels were hit Thursday by a limpet mine, which is attached to boats below the waterline using magnets. U.S. Central Command released video it claimed showed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps patrol boat removing an unexploded mine from one of the tankers, the Kokuka Courageous.

But on Friday morning, the owner of the 560-foot Courageous, said that sailors saw something flying toward the vessel just before the explosion and that the impact was well above the waterline.

"We received reports that something flew towards the ship," said Yutaka Katada, president of Kokaku Sangyo Co. at a press conference. "The place where the projectile landed was significantly higher than the water level, so we are absolutely sure that this wasn’t a torpedo.

"I do not think there was a time bomb or an object attached to the side of the ship."

U.S. officials have not yet responded to the claims. But President Donald Trump reiterated U.S. allegations that Iran was behind the attack, telling the Fox News Channel that the incident had "Iran written all over it."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the weapons used and the level of expertise behind the attack suggested Tehran is the culprit.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif angrily dismissed the claims and said they were without "a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence."

The attack came on the heels of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's two-day trip to Iran, aimed at improving relations between Washington and Tehran, which have deteriorated markedly in the last 48 hours.

The USS Bainbridge was dispatched to help the damaged vessels in the gulf. A spokesman for Central Command said in a statement Thursday that the U.S. and the international community "stand ready to defend our interests, including the freedom of navigation.”

“The United States has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East. However, we will defend our interests,” said the spokesman, Capt. Bill Urban.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks in a statement Friday and vowed to work with the related countries to secure the safety of the region, but did not mention Iran or other possible assailants.

Linda Givetash

Linda Givetash is a reporter based in London. She previously worked for The Canadian Press in Vancouver and Nation Media in Uganda. 

Arata Yamamoto

Arata Yamamoto has been a NBC News producer in Tokyo, Japan, since 1993.  He has worked on an array of stories, including the 2004 Asian tsunami, the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, and Haiyan typhoon that struck The Philippines in 2013.

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2019-06-14 13:30:00Z
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