Jangan Permisi

Sabtu, 31 Agustus 2019

Hong Kong protesters defy ban to clash with police, hit with tear gas, water cannon - Fox News

A large fire blazed across a main street in Hong Kong on Saturday night, as protesters made a wall out of barricades and set it afire. Hundreds of protesters gathered behind the fire, many pointing laser beams that streaked the night sky above them.

Earlier, the protesters threw objects and gasoline bombs over barriers set up at government headquarters. Police on the other side responded with tear gas and blue-colored water fired from a water cannon.

The protesters retreated when police arrived on the street to clear them from the area, but reassembled and built the wall and set the fire on Hennessey Road in the city's Wan Chai district. Police had yet to confront them while the fire blazed.

A march to mark the fifth anniversary of China's decision against fully democratic elections in Hong Kong was not permitted by police, but protesters took to the streets anyway in the 13th straight weekend of demonstrations.

HONG KONG POLICE ARREST AT LEAST 3 PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS

Protestors run for cover from tear gas shells in Hong Kong, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019. Many of the protesters outside Hong Kong government headquarters have retreated as large contingents of police arrive on the streets in what looks like preparation for a clearing operation. Police were using tear gas Saturday to drive back remaining protesters. (AP)

The mostly young, black-shirted protesters took over roads and major intersections in shopping districts as they rallied and marched. Police erected additional barriers and brought out two water cannon trucks near the Chinese government office and deployed at various locations in riot gear.

While others marched back and forth elsewhere in the city, a large crowd wearing helmets and gas masks gathered outside the city government building. Some approached barriers that had been set up to keep protesters away and appeared to throw objects at the police on the other side. Others shone laser lights at the officers.

Police fired tear gas from the other side of the barriers, then brought out a water cannon truck that fired regular water and then colored water at the protesters, staining them and nearby journalists and leaving blue puddles in the street.

HONG KONG PROTEST ESCALATION: TEAR GAS, WATER CANNONS AND A POLICE OFFICER FIRING A WARNING SHOT

Protestors carry an injured to safety in Hong Kong, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019. Many of the protesters outside Hong Kong government headquarters have retreated as large contingents of police arrive on the streets in what looks like preparation for a clearing operation. Police were using tear gas Saturday to drive back remaining protesters. (AP)

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

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

The protests were sparked by a now-shelved extradition bill. Protesters are demanding its full withdrawal, democratic elections and an investigation into alleged police brutality in what have been pitched battles with hard-line demonstrators.

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

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

BRITISH HONG KONG CONSULATE EMPLOYEE RELEASED FROM DETENTION AS PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTS TURN VIOLENT

Protestors travel in a train en route to Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. (AP)

Authorities rejected an application from the Civil Human Rights Front, the organizer of pro-democracy marches that have drawn upward of a million people this summer, for a march to the Chinese government office. Police said that while previous marches have started peacefully, they have increasingly degenerated into violence in the end.

The standing committee of China's legislature ruled on Aug. 31, 2014, that Hong Kong residents could elect their leader directly, but that the candidates would have to be approved by a nominating committee.

The decision failed to satisfy democracy advocates in the city and led to the 79-day long Occupy Central protests that fall, in which demonstrators camped out on major streets in the financial district and other parts of Hong Kong.

The participants in the religious march Saturday were peaceful and mostly older than the younger protesters who have led this summer's movement and, in some cases, blocked streets and battled police with bricks, sticks and gasoline bombs

Religious meetings do not require police approval, though authorities said late Friday that organizers of a procession with more than 30 people must notify police.

The government shut down streets and subway service near the Chinese government's office, about 3 miles west of the religious march.

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"A public event is expected on Hong Kong Island this afternoon which may cause severe disruptions," police said. "Text messages have been sent to alert members of the public to mind their personal safety."

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https://www.foxnews.com/world/hong-kong-protesters-defy-ban-police-clash

2019-08-31 12:22:31Z
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The National Hurricane Center provides an update on Hurricane Dorian (LIVE) | USA TODAY - USA TODAY

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR_i9xk2vdY

2019-08-31 13:09:34Z
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Florida braces for Hurricane Dorian: "Time is running out" - CBS This Morning

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxlNvJ7JGpU

2019-08-31 11:44:01Z
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Hong Kong protests enter 13th straight weekend: Live updates - CNN

Unwilling to continue west towards where a large police presence has gathered outside the Chinese government's offices, protesters in central Hong Kong are currently marching in a loop.

By banning a planned march, police have left the protesters without a clear direction or destination, resulting in many people setting out by themselves -- and disrupting more roads in the process.

A group of three young protesters said they started in Southern Playground in Wan Chai, then marched to Central, and now are walking back.

“Sai Ying Pun is blocked and we heard police are blocking all the roads, and some protesters are occupying Causeway Bay but we just follow others," one told CNN. "We see that some are going back to Wan Chai and Causeway Bay. Heard protesters are even in North Point and Fortress Hill but we are not sure."

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2019-08-31 10:29:00Z
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Assam NRC: What next for 1.9 million 'stateless' Indians? - BBC News

India has published the final version of a list which effectively strips about 1.9 million people in the north-eastern state of Assam of their citizenship.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a list of people who can prove they came to the state by 24 March 1971, a day before neighbouring Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan.

People left off the list will have 120 days to appeal against their exclusion.

It is unclear what happens next.

India says the process is needed to identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

It has already detained thousands of people suspected of being foreigners in temporary camps which are housed in the state's prisons, but deportation is currently not an option for the country.

The process has also sparked criticism of "witch hunts" against Assam's ethnic minorities.

A draft version of the list published last year had four million people excluded.

What is the registry of citizens?

The NRC was created in 1951 to determine who was born in Assam and is therefore Indian, and who might be a migrant from neighbouring Bangladesh.

The register has been updated for the first time.

Families in the state have been required to provide documentation to show their lineage, with those who cannot prove their citizenship deemed illegal foreigners.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has long railed against illegal immigration in India but has made the NRC a priority in recent years.

Why is the registry happening in Assam?

Assam is one India's most multi-ethnic states. Questions of identity and citizenship have long vexed a vast number of people living there.

Among its residents are Bengali and Assamese-speaking Hindus, as well as a medley of tribespeople.

A third of the state's 32 million residents are Muslims, the second-highest number after Indian-administered Kashmir. Many of them are descendants of immigrants who settled there under British rule.

But illegal migration from neighbouring Bangladesh, which shares a 4,000-km-long border with India, has been a concern there for decades now. The government said in 2016 that an estimated 20 million illegal immigrants were living in India.

So have 1.9 million people effectively become stateless?

Not quite. Residents excluded from the list can appeal to the specially-formed courts called Foreigners Tribunals, as well as the high court and Supreme Court.

However, a potentially long and exhaustive appeals process will mean that India's already overburdened courts will be further clogged, and poor people left out of the list will struggle to raise money to fight their cases.

If people lose their appeals in higher courts, they could be detained indefinitely.

Some 1,000 people declared as foreigners earlier are already lodged in six detention centres located in prisons. Mr Modi's government is also building an exclusive detention centre, which can hold 3,000 detainees.

"People whose names are not on the final list are really anxious about what lies ahead. One of the reasons is that the Foreigners Tribunal does not have a good reputation, and many people are worried that they will have to go through this process," Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty, author of Assam: The Accord, The Discord, told the BBC.

Why have been the courts so controversial?

The special courts were first set up in 1964, and since then they have declared more than 100,000 people foreigners. They regularly identify "doubtful voters" or "illegal infiltrators" as foreigners to be deported.

But the workings of the specially formed Foreigners Tribunals, which have been hearing the contested cases, have been mired in controversy.

There are more than 200 such courts in Assam today, and their numbers are expected to go up to 1,000 by October. (The majority of these tribunals have been set up after the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP came to power in 2014.)

The courts have been accused of bias and their workings have often been opaque and riddled with inconsistencies.

For one, the burden of proof is on the accused or the alleged foreigner.

Second, many families are unable to produce documents due to poor record-keeping, illiteracy or because they lack the money to file a legal claim.

People have been declared as foreigners by the courts because of differences in spellings of names or ages in voters rolls, and problems in getting identity documents certified by authorities. Amnesty International has described the work by the special courts as "shoddy and lackadaisical".

Journalist Rohini Mohan analysed more than 500 judgements by these courts in one district and found 82% of the people on trial had been declared foreigners. She also found more Muslims had been declared foreigners, and 78% of the orders were delivered without the accused being ever heard - the police said they were "absconding", but Ms Mohan found many of them living in their villages and unaware they were declared foreigners.

"The Foreigners Tribunal," she says, "must be made more transparent and accountable."

A decorated Indian army veteran, Mohammed Sanaullah spent 11 days in a detention camp in June after being declared a "foreigner", prompting national outrage.

Both the citizen's register and the tribunals have also sparked fears of a witch hunt against Assam's ethnic minorities.

Have the minorities been targeted?

Many say the list has nothing to do with religion, but activists see it as targeting the state's Bengali community, a large portion of whom are Muslims.

They also point to the plight of Rohingya Muslims in neighbouring Bangladesh.

However significant numbers of Bengali-speaking Hindus have also been left off the citizenship list, underscoring the communal and ethnic tensions in the state

"One of the communities worst affected by the list are the Bengali Hindus. There are as many of them in detention camps as Muslims. This is also the reason just days before NRC is to be published the BJP has changed tack, from taking credit for it to calling it error-ridden. That is because the Bengali Hindus are a strong voter base of the BJP," says Ms Barooah Pisharoty.

The human tragedy

Fearing possible loss of citizenship and detention after exclusion from the list, scores of Bengali Hindus and Muslims have killed themselves since the process to update the citizen register started in 2015, activists say.

And in an echo of US President Donald Trump's policy to separate undocumented parents and children, families have been similarly broken up in Assam.

Detainees have complained of poor living conditions and overcrowding in the detention centres.

One detainee told a rights group after his release that he was taken to a room which had a capacity of 40 people, but was filled with around 120 people. People who have been declared foreigners as well as many inmates have been suffering from depression. Children have also been detained with their parents.

Human rights activist Harsh Mander who has visited two detention centres has spoken about a situation of "grave and extensive human distress and suffering".

What happens to people who are declared foreigners?

The BJP which rules the state, has insisted in the past that illegal Muslim immigrants will be deported. But neighbouring Bangladesh will definitely not accede to such a request.

Many believe that India will end up creating the newest cohort of stateless people, raising the spectre of a homegrown crisis that will echo that of the Rohingya people who fled Myanmar for Bangladesh.

It is not clear whether the people stripped of their Indian citizenship will be able to access welfare or own property.

One possibility is that once they are released, they will be given work permits with some basic rights, but will not be allowed to vote.

Jumat, 30 Agustus 2019

Hurricane Dorian is days away from striking Florida and could be a monster storm by landfall - CNN

"If you're anywhere on that east coast of Florida, you want to have food, water, medicine for up to seven days," Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday.

FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES

Dorian, now a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 mph, is due to slow in the coming days, gaining intensity over warm Caribbean waters to fuel the heavy rains, damaging wind and storm surge it's expected to deliver, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.

Hurricane watches have been issued for the northwestern Bahamas, where Dorian is expected to hit Sunday as a Category 3 storm, the National Hurricane Center said.

TRACK THE STORM

It is then forecast to roar toward the US mainland Monday evening into Tuesday morning at major-hurricane strength, though experts warn that forecasts are subject to change.

"There is a wide cone of uncertainty of the storm, especially since it is still days from landfall on Florida," CNN meteorologist Rob Shackelford said. The cone extends from Key West up to around Jacksonville, a distance of 500 miles, he added.

Big storm, big response

Dorian warrants a multibillion dollar price tag, FEMA associate administrator Jeffrey Byard told reporters Thursday.

"This is going to be a big storm. We're prepared for a big response," he said.

Since Dorian had minimal impact on Puerto Rico, the agency is shifting staff from the island to Florida in preparation.

Dorian already has claimed the title of strongest storm so far of this year's Atlantic hurricane season.

If it reaches Florida, this will be the fourth year in a row a hurricane of any strength has hit the state. That would be the most years in a row since the 1940s.

And if it reaches Florida as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of around 130 mph, it would be the strongest hurricane to strike Florida's east coast since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, CNN Meteorologist Brandon Miller said.

Florida residents are stocking up

DeSantis declared a state of emergency for all 67 Florida counties. The state has 819,000 gallons of water and 1.8 million meals ready for distribution, he said.

Florida residents have been stocking up on gas and food for a stormy weekend, and officials are urging those in the state to be prepared.

"Get water, get gas, get cash out of the ATMs," West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James said. "The more we hear about this storm, it sounds like a serious one."

With Dorian scheduled to arrive in time for Labor Day weekend, major airlines have offered waivers for flights to Florida, Georgia and the Caribbean. And tourist areas were emptying out Thursday, CNN affiliate WFLA reported.

"We usually get hundreds of visitors every day, and it's just been one of those days that drives everyone away. It's a gorgeous day but the hurricane is just going to kill it all," Jason Pun, owner of a Cocoa Beach restaurant, told the station.

"it is taking a little bit of a hindrance, especially when we're supposed to be preparing for one of our busiest weekends of the year," Frank Figueroa, owner of the neighboring Sandbar, said.

Military and NASA are making adjustments

To avoid damage from Dorian, the US Navy is moving more than 40 planes from Jacksonville to bases in Michigan, Ohio and Texas.

The US Air Force is evacuating 16 aircraft from MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa to McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kansas, an Air Force official said.

Florida is keeping an eye on nursing homes' generators after Hurricane Irma fatalities

Florida State University had been scheduled to play its season-opening game off campus, in Jacksonville near the Atlantic coast. But because Dorian will be approaching, the game has been moved farther inland to FSU's normal home field in Tallahassee.

Because Dorian could impact Florida's Kennedy Space Center, NASA has said it will have a crawler-transporter move NASA's mobile launcher Friday from launch pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building about 3.5 miles away. The launcher was being tested on the pad in anticipation of future Space Launch System missions.

CNN's Paul P. Murphy, Omar Jimenez, Jason Hanna, LaRell Reynolds, Meg Wagner, Tina Burnside and Daniel Shepherd contributed to this report.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/30/us/dorian-forecast-friday-wxc/index.html

2019-08-30 11:46:00Z
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Hurricane Dorian is days away from striking Florida and could be a monster storm by landfall - CNN

"If you're anywhere on that east coast of Florida, you want to have food, water, medicine for up to seven days," Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday.

FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES

Hurricane watches have been issued for the northwestern Bahamas, where Dorian is expected to hit Sunday as a Category 3 storm, the National Hurricane Center said.

TRACK THE STORM

It is then forecast to roar toward the US mainland Monday evening into Tuesday morning at major-hurricane strength, though experts warn that forecasts are subject to change.

Big storm, big response

Dorian warrants a multibillion dollar price tag, FEMA associate administrator Jeffrey Byard told reporters Thursday.

"This is going to be a big storm. We're prepared for a big response," he said.

Since Dorian had minimal impact on Puerto Rico, the agency is shifting staff from the island to Florida in preparation.

Dorian already has claimed the title of strongest storm so far of this year's Atlantic hurricane season.

If it reaches Florida, this will be the fourth year in a row a hurricane of any strength has hit the state. That would be the most years in a row since the 1940s.

Florida residents are stocking up

DeSantis declared a state of emergency for all 67 Florida counties. The state has 819,000 gallons of water and 1.8 million meals ready for distribution, he said.

Florida residents have been stocking up on gas and food for a stormy weekend, and officials are urging those in the state to be prepared.

"Get water, get gas, get cash out of the ATMs," West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James said. "The more we hear about this storm, it sounds like a serious one."

"it is taking a little bit of a hindrance, especially when we're supposed to be preparing for one of our busiest weekends of the year," Frank Figueroa, owner of the neighboring Sandbar, said.

Military and NASA are making adjustments

To avoid damage from Dorian, the US Navy is moving more than 40 planes from Jacksonville to bases in Michigan, Ohio and Texas.

The US Air Force is evacuating 16 aircraft from MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa to McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kansas, an Air Force official said.

CNN's Paul P. Murphy, Omar Jimenez, LaRell Reynolds, Meg Wagner, Tina Burnside and Daniel Shepherd contributed to this report.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/30/us/dorian-forecast-friday-wxc/index.html

2019-08-30 10:48:00Z
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Sabtu, 31 Agustus 2019

What is the registry of citizens?

Why is the registry happening in Assam?

So have 1.9 million people effectively become stateless?

Why have been the courts so controversial?

Have the minorities been targeted?

The human tragedy

What happens to people who are declared foreigners?

Read more on the NRC:

Jumat, 30 Agustus 2019

Big storm, big response

Florida residents are stocking up

Military and NASA are making adjustments

Big storm, big response

Florida residents are stocking up

Military and NASA are making adjustments