Over 1 million in Japan urged to evacuate as heavy rains threaten landslides, floods - NBC News

TOKYO — Japanese authorities on Wednesday directed more than 1 million residents in parts of the southern main island of Kyushu to evacuate to designated shelters as heavy rains batter the region, prompting fears of landslides and widespread flooding.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said the directive was issued in three southern prefectures. Directives are stronger than advisories, but there are no penalties if people do not comply.

Heavy rain has continued in southern Japan since Friday, killing an elderly woman in a mudslide in Kagoshima. The rain also has flooded dozens of homes.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kotaro Nogami said 14,000 ground troops were standing by for emergency rescue and search operations if needed.

He urged residents to use caution and try to evacuate early "to protect your lives" rather than waiting until the last minute.

The agency said landslide warnings have been issued for parts of the three prefectures because rain is expected to intensify over the next few days.

The Meteorological Agency says up to 13 inches more rain is expected through Thursday.

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2019-07-03 10:47:00Z
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Hong Kong Protesters Take Stock After Arrests and China’s Condemnation - The New York Times

Hong Kong’s protesters were working on Wednesday to maintain a united front and take stock of the movement’s gains and losses, as the police said they had arrested eight people for disclosing police officers’ personal data online without their consent.

On Tuesday, a core group of younger demonstrators drew condemnation from Beijing and the local government for storming the city’s legislature a day earlier.

The Chinese government has urged the city’s officials and the police to restore social order and bring to justice those responsible for Monday’s destructive protest, in which dozens of mostly young activists armed with metal bars and makeshift battering rams charged and briefly occupied Hong Kong’s legislative office building. The city’s leader, Carrie Lam, and the police have promised to pursue those responsible for the damage.

The forcible occupation of the legislature sent shock waves through this slick financial hub, known for its efficiency and orderliness. The question now is whether the largely leaderless protest movement can maintain enough unity — and public support — to push its demands, or whether Monday’s vandalism will irreparably splinter the movement or damage its credibility.

The arrests appeared to deal a blow to the protesters’ efforts to retain the moral high ground in their dispute with the authorities.

Image

As a small group of protesters bashed their way into the city’s legislature, hundreds of thousands of others marched peacefully in a separate demonstration on Monday.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

A police spokesman, Mohammed Swalikh of the police force’s Technology Crime Division, told reporters Wednesday evening that members of the police force had reported more than 800 incidents of harassment of themselves or family members in the wake of the release of their data, a practice known as “doxxing.”

His announcement came a few weeks after critics of police conduct began creating open-source databases in which users shared officers’ phone numbers and the names of their spouses and high schools, among other details, with some lists referring to the police as dogs.

The protest movement is divided to some degree over how best to push its demands as some have started engaging in more militant action. Many in the movement agree on what those demands should be — a full withdrawal of a bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China; the resignation of the city’s chief executive; and the opening of an independent inquiry into reports of police brutality against protesters at an earlier demonstration — but differ on whether destructive acts would help or hurt the cause.

The protests on Monday started out with a march that was intended to disrupt the Hong Kong government’s celebration of the anniversary of the territory’s return to China from Britain.

But the police beat back those protesters and doused them with pepper spray, and a core group of demonstrators later turned to target the Legislative Council. The police later said that during the confrontations, some protesters threw a toxic substance at officers that could cause itchiness and difficulty breathing, and that 13 officers sought medical treatment.

Video

We saw scenes of violence, as well as hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators. There is still some unity in the face of mainland China’s encroaching influence, but it is less clear how this leaderless protest movement will advance.CreditCreditOrlando De Guzman

As the protesters bashed their way into the legislature, hundreds of thousands of other demonstrators joined a peaceful afternoon march calling for Mrs. Lam to resign.

Several protesters said they did not take part in storming the legislature but defended it as an act of desperation by demonstrators who felt that peaceful tactics had failed to persuade the government to meet the demands of the broader movement.

The demonstrators were also saddened and outraged by the recent deaths of three people in what they described as protest suicides, and have held them up as martyrs in the face of repression.

Some were increasingly worried that there would be more deaths, and people began sharing their concerns and suicide hotline numbers on message groups. A few dozen people on Wednesday morning went out looking for people who had posted despairing messages on social media accounts.

Billy Li, head of the Progressive Lawyers Group, an association of pro-democracy lawyers and students, said that while the use of unlawful force against property could legally be considered violence, the government’s emphasis on the protesters’ vandalism was politically motivated.

Image

Protesters clashed with the police before the flag-raising ceremony to mark the 22nd anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

“They are using the protesters’ violence to shift the public’s attention away from their demands,” Mr. Li said. “The government’s indifference is an even greater violence. Three young people have already given their lives in protest.”

Katherine Lam, a 39-year-old data analyst who joined recent marches, said she supported the younger protesters because they were exposing themselves to the risk of arrest.

“Nobody supports violent demonstration per se,” Ms. Lam said. “But these guys earned my sympathy and I don’t want to leave them alone as they put their life on the line and were fighting for us all.”

The Civil Human Rights Front, a pro-democracy group that organized several well-attended marches and rallies against the extradition bill, expressed qualified support for the siege.

“Although we hope certain actions that were aroused by tyranny would not need to take place, we fully understand that it was the protesters’ decisions,” the group said in the statement. “Some chose to escalate their actions without calculating their own personal costs. In fact, these protesters have taken a step that none of us were brave enough to take.”

Image

A defaced portrait of Andrew Leung, the president of the Legislative Council, inside the Legislature on Monday.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

But as the protesters debated their next steps on social media, some raised concerns that a destructive approach — in contrast with demonstrators who had earlier been praised for cleaning up trash after huge rallies — would alienate the public.

Reporters invited Wednesday to tour the scene of destruction by the public officials saw brightly lit rooms strewn with snacks, trailing wires, defaced portraits and graffitied walls. A few binders of confidential documents spilled from shelves.

“I think that this type of action will gradually drain the momentum built by two million protesters, because it clearly creates a riot-like impact,” said Candice Lee, 38, a social worker who had participated in previous marches against the extradition bill with her children. She said she believed Monday’s occupation would “cause peaceful protesters who have always been supporting them to part ways with them in disappointment.”

The discussions within the protest movement were occurring as pressure against it was building from the city’s pro-establishment camp and its patrons in Beijing.

China’s leadership on Tuesday accused the protesters of being “extreme radicals” who had committed an illegal act “that tramples on the rule of law and jeopardizes social order.” The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, said the protesters had acted “out of blind arrogance and rage.”

Among those who pushed back against the condemnation was Anson Chan, a democracy advocate who was Hong Kong’s second-highest official until her retirement in 2001.

“Violence does not solve anything, but I think the chief executive and the governing team should ask themselves what has led to this degree of violence,” Mrs. Chan said. She said the cause was pent-up outrage over years of not being heard by an establishment that is more concerned with pleasing its backers in Beijing than with the interests of the city’s residents.

The young, she said, are “feeling an increasing sense of anger, futility and frustration. The government needs to address this.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/world/asia/hong-kong-protests.html

2019-07-03 10:45:56Z
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Hong Kong Protesters Take Stock After Arrests and China’s Condemnation - The New York Times

Hong Kong’s protesters were working on Wednesday to maintain a united front and take stock of the movement’s gains and losses, as the police said they had arrested eight people for disclosing police officers’ personal data online without their consent.

On Tuesday, a core group of younger demonstrators drew condemnation from Beijing and the local government for storming the city’s legislature a day earlier.

The Chinese government has urged the city’s officials and the police to restore social order and bring to justice those responsible for Monday’s destructive protest, in which dozens of mostly young activists armed with metal bars and makeshift battering rams charged and briefly occupied Hong Kong’s legislative office building. The city’s leader, Carrie Lam, and the police have promised to pursue those responsible for the damage.

The forcible occupation of the legislature sent shock waves through this slick financial hub, known for its efficiency and orderliness. The question now is whether the largely leaderless protest movement can maintain enough unity — and public support — to push its demands, or whether Monday’s vandalism will irreparably splinter the movement or damage its credibility.

The arrests appeared to deal a blow to the protesters’ efforts to retain the moral high ground in their dispute with the authorities.

Image

As a small group of protesters bashed their way into the city’s legislature, hundreds of thousands of others marched peacefully in a separate demonstration on Monday.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

A police spokesman, Mohammed Swalikh of the police force’s Technology Crime Division, told reporters Wednesday evening that members of the police force had reported more than 800 incidents of harassment of themselves or family members in the wake of the release of their data, a practice known as “doxxing.”

His announcement came a few weeks after critics of police conduct began creating open-source databases in which users shared officers’ phone numbers and the names of their spouses and high schools, among other details, with some lists referring to the police as dogs.

The protest movement is divided to some degree over how best to push its demands as some have started engaging in more militant action. Many in the movement agree on what those demands should be — a full withdrawal of a bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China; the resignation of the city’s chief executive; and the opening of an independent inquiry into reports of police brutality against protesters at an earlier demonstration — but differ on whether destructive acts would help or hurt the cause.

The protests on Monday started out with a march that was intended to disrupt the Hong Kong government’s celebration of the anniversary of the territory’s return to China from Britain.

But the police beat back those protesters and doused them with pepper spray, and a core group of demonstrators later turned to target the Legislative Council. The police later said that during the confrontations, some protesters threw a toxic substance at officers that could cause itchiness and difficulty breathing, and that 13 officers sought medical treatment.

Video

We saw scenes of violence, as well as hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators. There is still some unity in the face of mainland China’s encroaching influence, but it is less clear how this leaderless protest movement will advance.CreditCreditOrlando De Guzman

As the protesters bashed their way into the legislature, hundreds of thousands of other demonstrators joined a peaceful afternoon march calling for Mrs. Lam to resign.

Several protesters said they did not take part in storming the legislature but defended it as an act of desperation by demonstrators who felt that peaceful tactics had failed to persuade the government to meet the demands of the broader movement.

The demonstrators were also saddened and outraged by the recent deaths of three people in what they described as protest suicides, and have held them up as martyrs in the face of repression.

Some were increasingly worried that there would be more deaths, and people began sharing their concerns and suicide hotline numbers on message groups. A few dozen people on Wednesday morning went out looking for people who had posted despairing messages on social media accounts.

Billy Li, head of the Progressive Lawyers Group, an association of pro-democracy lawyers and students, said that while the use of unlawful force against property could legally be considered violence, the government’s emphasis on the protesters’ vandalism was politically motivated.

Image

Protesters clashed with the police before the flag-raising ceremony to mark the 22nd anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

“They are using the protesters’ violence to shift the public’s attention away from their demands,” Mr. Li said. “The government’s indifference is an even greater violence. Three young people have already given their lives in protest.”

Katherine Lam, a 39-year-old data analyst who joined recent marches, said she supported the younger protesters because they were exposing themselves to the risk of arrest.

“Nobody supports violent demonstration per se,” Ms. Lam said. “But these guys earned my sympathy and I don’t want to leave them alone as they put their life on the line and were fighting for us all.”

The Civil Human Rights Front, a pro-democracy group that organized several well-attended marches and rallies against the extradition bill, expressed qualified support for the siege.

“Although we hope certain actions that were aroused by tyranny would not need to take place, we fully understand that it was the protesters’ decisions,” the group said in the statement. “Some chose to escalate their actions without calculating their own personal costs. In fact, these protesters have taken a step that none of us were brave enough to take.”

Image

A defaced portrait of Andrew Leung, the president of the Legislative Council, inside the Legislature on Monday.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

But as the protesters debated their next steps on social media, some raised concerns that a destructive approach — in contrast with demonstrators who had earlier been praised for cleaning up trash after huge rallies — would alienate the public.

“I think that this type of action will gradually drain the momentum built by two million protesters, because it clearly creates a riot-like impact,” said Candice Lee, 38, a social worker who had participated in previous marches against the extradition bill with her children. She said she believed Monday’s occupation would “cause peaceful protesters who have always been supporting them to part ways with them in disappointment.”

The discussions within the protest movement were occurring as pressure against it was building from the city’s pro-establishment camp and its patrons in Beijing.

China’s leadership on Tuesday accused the protesters of being “extreme radicals” who had committed an illegal act “that tramples on the rule of law and jeopardizes social order.” The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, said the protesters had acted “out of blind arrogance and rage.”

Among those who pushed back against the condemnation was Anson Chan, a democracy advocate who was Hong Kong’s second-highest official until her retirement in 2001.

“Violence does not solve anything, but I think the chief executive and the governing team should ask themselves what has led to this degree of violence,” Mrs. Chan said. She said the cause was pent-up outrage over years of not being heard by an establishment that is more concerned with pleasing its backers in Beijing than with the interests of the city’s residents.

The young, she said, are “feeling an increasing sense of anger, futility and frustration. The government needs to address this.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/world/asia/hong-kong-protests.html

2019-07-03 10:41:15Z
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'Any amount we want': Iran poised to increase uranium enrichment at higher levels - USA TODAY

Kim Hjelmgaard USA TODAY

Published 6:29 AM EDT Jul 3, 2019

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani issued a fresh ultimatum Wednesday over its civilian-use nuclear program, saying the country would on Sunday "take the next step" toward increasing its enrichment of uranium unless European powers are able to find a way to offset the impact of the Trump administration's sanctions on its economy. 

Earlier this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, confirmed Iran passed the limit on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by exceeding the 300kg (661 pounds) that was set in a landmark 2015 nuclear deal made with world powers. President Donald Trump has pulled the U.S. out of that agreement.

The higher-level enrichment Rouhani said will commence July 7 is still far off the levels Iran would need to produce weapons-grade nuclear materials, but it narrows the time it would take to make a nuclear bomb – something Iran says it does not want to do. 

Speaking during a Cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Rouhani warned that because of the faltering nuclear deal Iran was entitled to increase its enrichment of uranium to "any amount that we want, any amount that is required." 

Under the current terms of the nuclear deal negotiated by President Barack Obama, Iran is not allowed to enrich uranium above 3.67%, a level that is sufficient to operate its nuclear power plants, but falls below weapons-grade levels of about 90%.

"What does it mean that Iran has technically breached one of the limits of the historic anti-nuclear deal? It is not a sprint to a bomb. They are a long way away," Joseph Cirincione, president of Ploughshares Fund, a San Francisco-headquartered global security foundation, wrote on Twitter on Monday as part of a lengthy thread that explains how much enriched uranium is required to produce a nuclear bomb. 

Cirincione forecast Iran, if it wanted to, would be about a year away. Other analysts and former officials have said it could take two years or as little as six months. 

Iran wants European signatories to the deal – Britain, France and Germany – to come up with a plan to stave off the impact of U.S. sanctions targeting its oil industry and top officials, including Iran's supreme leader, and caused large currency fluctuations.

"They have now breached their stockpile limit. Not good!," Trump tweeted late Tuesday. He did not say if further punitive measures are being planned.  

Trump has previously warned that Iran will be met with "great and overwhelming force" if it attacks U.S. interests. His comments followed the apparent sabotage of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and the shooting down, by Iran, of a U.S. drone off its coast.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday that his country remains committed to the nuclear deal as long as European nations keep honoring it.

But he warned that European parties needed to fully operationalize a U.S.-sanctions-circumventing financial mechanism to allow Iran to its trade good and services internationally or Iran would further modify its relationship with the accord. 

"Iran's violation of one its consequential commitments under the deal should be seen for what it is: a calibrated response to compel the remaining signatories (Europe, Russia, and China) to counter the U.S. 'maximum pressure through sanctions' campaign, just as was its downing of an unmanned drone," write Gérard Araud, a former Ambassador of France to the United States, and Ali Vaez, a leading Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank, in an opinion piece in Foreign Policy magazine this week.   

"But it also should be seen as a warning shot, a signal that should economic pressure remain, Tehran is likely to up the ante and accelerate its nuclear program," they write. 

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2019-07-03 08:54:00Z
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Iranian president warns Tehran will take ‘next step’ and increase uranium enrichment on Sunday - The Washington Post

DUBAI — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday warned that Iran would this weekend increase its enrichment of uranium to whatever level was needed beyond the cap set by the nuclear agreement. 

Iran has repeatedly threatened to increase enrichment beyond the 3.67 percent level allowed under the nuclear deal by July 7 unless it receives some relief from U.S. sanctions. European countries are struggling to meet Tehran’s demands to keep the 2015 nuclear deal alive. 

Rouhani’s comments, carried by the state broadcaster, came after Iran breached the 300 kilogram (660 pound) limit for low-enriched uranium allowed under the deal on Monday. That move did not put Iran significantly closer to holding enough high-enriched uranium to produce a nuclear weapon, whereas increasing uranium enrichment levels could. 

Read more

U.N. watchdog confirms Iran has breached nuclear deal stockpile limit

The future of the Iranian nuclear deal could hinge on one key detail

Iran announces it will stop complying with parts of landmark nuclear deal

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

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2019-07-03 08:48:01Z
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At least 40 killed after airstrike targets migrant center in Libya - CNN

Images from the ground showed piles of rubble left where the buildings had been, while emergency crews worked to remove both the wounded and the dead.

The UN Refugee Agency posted to its official Twitter page that it was "extremely concerned" about the news of the airstrikes targeting the Tajoura detention center.

In a statement, the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli condemned the "horrific crime," blaming the leader of the opposition Libyan National Army (LNA) who are currently assaulting Tripoli.

There is currently no independent confirmation on who was responsible for the attack.

In their statement following the attack, the GNA said the airstrike on the center had been intentional and constituted a "war crime."

"We ask the international community through the African Union, European Union and (other) organizations to take a firm and clear stance against these continued violations," the statement said.

There has been no response from the opposition LNA yet. CNN has reached out to the LNA for comment.

Armed conflict in and around Tripoli escalated on April 4, when General Khalifa Hafter and his LNA launched an offensive to capture the Libyan capital from the UN-recognized government.

Defending the capital are disparate Islamist militia that prop up the UN-recognized transitional government.

Human rights organizations said that they have seen both sides potentially committing war crimes, including indiscriminate attacks on residential areas and migrant detention centers.

"The drastic impact of the battle for Tripoli is even visible from space, with satellite imagery showing large swathes of the city now cloaked in darkness," said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International, in a statement Wednesday.

The United Nations Security Council has voted to impose an arms embargo against Libya until June 2020, saying that there is "no military solution" to the ongoing conflict.

But Amnesty International said that the embargo is not being properly enforced and has accused Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey of flouting the ban.

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2019-07-03 07:15:00Z
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Here's what Chinese state media are saying about the Hong Kong protests - CNBC

A protester defaces the Hong Kong emblem after protesters broke into the government headquarters in Hong Kong on July 1, 2019.

Philip Fong | AFP | Getty Images

Protests in Hong Kong started gaining momentum since early June and have drawn tens of thousands, but there was no mention of it in any Chinese state media until Tuesday — a day after a group of protesters turned violent and broke into the territory's legislative council building.

China's state broadcaster CCTV said on Tuesday evening that "some extremists" stormed the Hong Kong legislative building and vandalized it.

CCTV, a mouthpiece for the Chinese government, said the "rare scene" was "condemned by people from all walks of life in Hong Kong," according to a CNBC translation.

For nearly three weeks now, political tensions in Hong Kong have risen amid on-and-off protests over an extradition bill that would have allowed anyone arrested in the city to be sent for trial in mainland China. The bill has since been suspended but citizens want it to be withdrawn completely.

"If such atrocities are encouraged and condoned, it will violate the rule of law in Hong Kong and challenge all law-abiding citizens," CCTV reported. The broadcaster cited business and religious communities as speaking against the violence, but there was no mention of the extradition bill and why the protesters were demonstrating.

Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997, when it became a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China under a "one country, two systems" framework with the territory's legal system independent from the rest of China. Citizens of the Asian financial hub are concerned that their civil rights are slowly being eroded under Beijing.

The protests have been largely peaceful. Half a million people were estimated to have marched the streets for democracy on Monday, but Chinese state media reported that 5,000 people gathered at Victoria Park in downtown Hong Kong that morning to celebrate the "return to motherland."

After protests turned violent, the People's Daily, the official newspaper for China's Communist Party, called the violence an "undisguised challenge" to the country's authority.

China Daily, the official English state-owned newspaper, deflected its coverage of the incidents from politics to economics, reminding readers that Hong Kong's prosperity and China's fast pace growth over the last two decades go hand-in-hand.

In a Tuesday editorial, it said the best way to deal with Hong Kong was to push for further economic integration with the mainland.

"The only way for (Hong Kong) to sustain economic growth and maintain stability is for it to further integrate its own development into the nation's overall development," it said.

– Reuters contributed to this report.

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2019-07-03 04:58:32Z
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