Hong Kong Bars Pro-Democracy Icon Joshua Wong From Election - The Wall Street Journal

Joshua Wong was informed that his candidacy in District Council elections had been declared invalid. Photo: susana vera/Reuters

By

Natasha Khan

Natasha Khan
The Wall Street Journal
• Biography
• @natashakhanhk
• natasha.khan@wsj.com

Updated Oct. 29, 2019 4:08 am ET

HONG KONG—Authorities barred democracy activist Joshua Wong from running in local elections scheduled for next month, a move that risks inflaming an opposition protest movement that has seen momentum in the streets wane in recent weeks.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Mr. Wong was informed that his candidacy in District Council elections had been declared invalid in accordance with the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution. In a separate statement, which didn’t name Mr. Wong, officials said support for Hong Kong self-determination was inconsistent with the law.

In recent years, Hong Kong has increasingly barred candidates from taking part in polls. Authorities often cite concerns that candidates support separatism or don’t support China’s sovereignty over the city through the “one country, two systems” policy.

What Hong Kong Protesters Want

What started off as a demonstration against a controversial extradition bill has become a series of massive protests with broad political demands. Here is why so many Hong Kongers keep taking to the streets in a leaderless movement and whether their goals can be achieved. Photo: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Mr. Wong, who has publicly stated that he doesn’t support Hong Kong’s independence, was the only candidate to be blocked from next month’s election. There are many other pro-democracy campaigners among those contesting the 452 seats up for election.

The disqualifying of candidates, many of them young, has exacerbated fears of shrinking freedoms at the root of recent unrest in the city. Young people on the front lines of monthslong protests have complained that they have been driven to violence in part because their representative voices have been shut out of public office.

Banning Mr. Wong—a student leader of protests in 2014 who has visited Washington to press Congress to support Hong Kong’s democracy movement—runs another risk. Any backlash could derail the Nov. 24 elections, as the government has threatened to call off the vote if there is violence.

In the decision detailing the reasons for invalidating Mr. Wong’s candidacy, electoral officer Laura Aron said she had considered Mr. Wong’s public statements since 2016 and his replies to electoral officer’s questions. She said she found that his stance on independence and self-determination has been consistent and that he and the youth political group he co-founded takes the position that Hong Kong independence is an option.

Mr. Wong, speaking to reporters after the decision, said he had clearly stated that he doesn’t support independence. He added that the officer was listening to the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper and its accusations about his positions. He urged voters to support Kelvin Lam, a pro-democracy candidate who entered the race in his constituency. He also said the decision would encourage more Hong Kongers to take to the streets.

“The decision to ban me from running for office is clearly politically driven,” he added later. “Everyone would know that the true reason is my identity, Joshua Wong, is the crime in their mind.”

The District Council seats up for election make up almost all of the city’s 18 local councils. Pro-democracy candidates are challenging establishment members for a large number of them, hoping that widespread antigovernment sentiment will deliver big gains.

District councilors act as representatives for their constituencies on matters such as government programs and public facilities. Unlike the legislature, which is due to hold elections next year, district councils don’t make laws or hold any kind of veto power over government legislation.

District councilors have close to 10% of the seats on the 1,200-member election committee that chooses Hong Kong’s leader.

Write to Natasha Khan at natasha.khan@wsj.com

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2019-10-29 09:08:00Z
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Trump Officials Had No Clue Where He Got 'Whimpering' Detail in His Baghdadi Raid Account - The Daily Beast

The killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi marked a significant win for the United States in the war against the terror group and a major achievement for Donald Trump’s national security policy. But within 24 hours of the raid being announced, the president’s penchant for embellishment had complicated the victory lap he was hoping to take. 

Announcing Baghdadi’s death, Trump claimed that the ISIS leader was “whimpering” and likened him to a “dog” in his attempt to escape U.S. forces. Five senior Trump administration officials who watched in real time as the president spoke on Sunday morning each told The Daily Beast that they had no idea where the president got the “whimpering and crying and screaming” detail. Two officials recounted how after they heard that on Sunday, they immediately began messaging each other questions and comments like, “uh where is he getting that?”

The comments confused officials in the Pentagon as well, some of who told The Daily Beast that there was no way Trump could have heard Baghdadi’s voice on the Situation Room live stream Saturday night because it did not have audio. Two senior officials said while President Trump could have spoken to commandos on the ground who carried out the raid but said that has not often been the case in past operations.

And on Monday, questions about where the president got his information continued to make its way to administration officials. At a press briefing Monday afternoon reporter peppered acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley with questions about Trump’s remarks about Baghdadi “whimpering” and “crying”. Asked whether he too had heard the whimpering and crying from Bagdadi, Esper said: “I don’t have those details.” Milley said the president had planned to talk to unit members involved in the raid but that he didn’t know the source of the Baghdadi description Trump used.

Baghdadi had commanded forces from hideouts in both Syria and Iraq and was responsible for the killing of thousands of individuals in both those countries. He also inspired the kidnapping and killing of American aid workers and journalists as well as spectacular attacks overseas. His death was celebrated as a major breakthrough in a years-long effort to limit ISIS’ reach and operational capacity; and, as such, questions over the validity of Trump’s account of the raid mounted were dismissed by his supporters and Republican operatives as the gripings of a press corps determined to find superficial ways to ding him. 

But if history is any guide, those questions could pose real headaches in the weeks and months ahead. In 2011 then-Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan told reporters Osama bin Laden was armed during a U.S. special operations raid. When White House press secretary Jay Carney later had to reverse that account the Obama administration was criticized with trying to embellish the specifics of that similarly historic raid.

Trump has made similar overstatements before. Two people close to the president say that when they heard about his comments on the “crying” late ISIS leader, it reminded them of how Trump privately, as well as publicly, enjoys reflexively insulting his enemies in situations much less weighty than an anti-Islamic State raid. “Whether they’re actually crying or not, [Trump] will very often accuse some person he’s in a fight with, like a celebrity or a politician, of being weak and just crying all over the place,” one of the sources said. “It’s a favorite insult of his.”

When it came to Baghdadi’s death, the president wasn’t the only one who seemed to get over his skis. On Sunday, President Barack Obama’s White House photographer Pete Souza suggested that a picture from the situation room featuring Trump had been staged after the attack had concluded based on an erroneous belief of when the raid took place. Souza wasn’t alone either. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) retweeted a tweet declaring that the picture was taken 95 minutes after the raid. 

But Trump wasn’t hampered on Monday by a fondness for hyperbole alone. He also seemed incapable of stopping himself from quickly veering back into the familiar territories of personal and cultural grievance. In his first visit to Chicago since he was sworn in as president, Trump delivered a speech on Monday blasting the city as a national embarrassment for its gang violence, crime stats, and immigration policies.

“It’s embarrassing to us as a nation,” Trump said at a convention for police chiefs. “All over the world they’re talking about Chicago. Afghanistan is a safe place by comparison.”

During the speech, the president took a shot at Jussie Smollett, the Empire actor who Chicago police said faked a violent hate crime on himself and then tried to pin it on nameless Trump supporters.

Eddie Johnson, the city’s police superintendent, made a point of boycotting Trump’s speech, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot posted to Twitter on Monday: “Rather than belittle Chicago’s communities with hateful and dishonest rhetoric, he needs to go back to D.C. and face his fate” during the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

Right after trashing Chicago within its city limits, President Trump headed back to D.C. to attend a Halloween event for trick-or-treaters at the White House. He also resumed a preferred pastime: hate-posting on Twitter.

“Can you believe that Shifty Adam Schiff, the biggest leaker in D.C., and a corrupt politician, is upset that we didn’t inform him before we raided and killed the #1 terrorist in the WORLD!? Wouldn’t be surprised if the Do Nothing Democrats Impeach me over that! DRAIN THE SWAMP!!” he tweeted on Monday evening.

That was sent minutes after he retweeted a December 2015 post by “Steph,” detailing why she called herself a devoted Trump follower: “I'm an American citizen, sick of being pillaged & endangered by my government for every faction, race, religion and cause other than my own.”

—With additional reporting by Sam Stein

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2019-10-29 08:32:00Z
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Deadly earthquake hits southern Philippine island of Mindanao - Al Jazeera English

At least four people were killed after a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Tuesday, just over a week since a strong tremor jolted the same area and left seven people dead.

The quake's epicentre was located inland northeast of Tulunan town in Cotabato province, 972km (604 miles) south of Manila, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

Seismology experts said there were no threats of a tsunami.

A 15-year-old high-school student from Davao del Sur province was confirmed dead after being hit by a hollow blocks during the quake, the public information office of Magsaysay town in the province was quoted by news reports as saying.

CNN Philippines is also reporting that a 66-year-old man died in Koronadal City, South Cotabato after sustaining head injuries during the incident.

A father and his child was also killed in the town of Arakan, Cotabato, according to ABS-CBN News.

A Manila-based radio station also reported that several children in Tulunan were injured when their school collapsed. 

The quake was initially reported as magnitude 6.8 but was later downgraded to 6.6.

More:

The quake struck at 9:04am (0104 GMT), rattling buildings and forcing people to rush out of offices, schools and hospitals in the affected areas, according to initial information from the institute and videos shared on social media.

Photos posted on social media also showed a collapsed school building in Tulunan and several injured students.

In an interview with Manila-based radio station DZMM, Renato Solidum, head of the country's earthquake monitoring agency, warned of more aftershocks.

Tulunan Mayor Reuel Limbungan said he had ordered classes and work to be suspended to allow engineers to check buildings.

"All patients in hospitals should also be moved outdoors for now," he told Manila radio station DZMM. "This was a stronger earthquake from last time."

Dibu Tuan, mayor of the neighbouring town of T'boli, South Cotabato described the earthquake on Tuesday as "stronger" than the tremor that hit earlier this month.

On October 16, a 6.3-magnitude quake struck almost the same area, with the epicentre located southwest of Makilala town in nearby North Cotabato province.

Seven people were killed in that quake, which also left 215 people injured, disaster relief officials said.

The Philippines is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where about 90 per cent of the world's earthquakes strike.

PANOORIN: Mga empleyado ng mall na nasa ika-5 palapag sa GenSan, nagsigawan at nag-iyakan kasunod ng naramdamang intensity 5 na lindol | via @JayDayupay / Kuha ni Jaime Rogelio Espina #MindanaoQuake pic.twitter.com/QhYx2CBgqf

— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) October 29, 2019

The last major quake to hit the country was a 7.1-magnitude tremor that killed more than 220 people in the central Philippines in October 2013.

In July 1990, more than 2,400 people were killed in the northern island of Luzon in a magnitude-7.8 quake, one of the strongest ever to hit the country.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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2019-10-29 08:05:00Z
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Baghdadi's death: More details emerge from US raid: Live updates - CNN International

An aerial view taken on October 27, 2019 shows the site that was hit by helicopter gunfire which reportedly killed nine people near the northwestern Syrian village of Barisha. Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images

The covert operation started around 5 p.m. on Saturday evening as eight helicopters carrying teams of elite US troops, including Delta Force operators, flew exactly one hour and ten minutes over "very, very dangerous territory" towards the compound, according to President Donald Trump on Sunday.

"We flew very, very low and very, very fast. It was a very dangerous part of the mission. Getting in and getting out, too. Equal. We wanted an identical -- we took an identical route," Trump told reporters on Sunday while providing a detailed account of the secret mission.

While in transit, the helicopters were met with local gunfire. US aircraft returned fire and eliminated the threat, Trump said speaking to the media.

After arriving at the compound, US troops breached a wall to avoid a booby trapped entrance and that's when "all hell broke loose," the President added.

While clearing the compound, US forces killed a "large number" of ISIS fighters during a gun battle without suffering casualties, according to Trump.

At least two ISIS fighters were captured and 11 children were taken into custody. Two of Baghdadi's wives were killed during the operation and their suicide vests remained unexploded.

Ultimately Baghdadi, who was also wearing a suicide vest, took refuge in a "dead end" tunnel with three children.

He reached the end of the tunnel, as our dogs chased him down. He ignited his vest, killing himself and the three children. His body was mutilated by the blast. The tunnel had caved in on it in addition," Trump said.

DNA tests that positively confirmed Baghdadi's identity began "about 15 minutes after he was killed" and US teams on the ground "brought body parts back," sources told CNN.

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2019-10-28 12:38:01Z
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Brexit extension announced as Boris Johnson pushes for December election: live updates - CNN

Boris Johnson arrives at Downing Street on Monday. Leon Neal/Getty Images

For the past few days, leaders in Europe and Westminster have been locked in a standoff -- the EU wanting to hear the UK's next steps before granting an extension, and British politicians awaiting a verdict from Brussels before deciding on an early election.

But now one part of the equation has fallen into place -- European leaders have granted a Brexit delay until the end of January.

In theory, that should make an election more likely; the UK now has time to have a campaign period and hold a vote, with several weeks to spare before the new Brexit deadline.

But as Prime Minister Boris Johnson has learned, getting an election is easier said than done. He needs two-thirds of MPs to back the plan, which requires support from the opposition Labour Party.

And Labour have been steadfast in opposing a vote until a no-deal Brexit is "off the table." They've been less clear about what exactly "off the table" means -- so much will depend on whether the party deems this extension satisfactory for them to back a poll.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could still argue that the threat remains of a no-deal in January 2020, as well as at the end of the transition period in Johnson's Brexit deal.

Johnson's Plan B: If Labour do continue to block an election, they'll be isolated. The SNP and the Liberal Democrats have now warmed to the idea of a contest, after previously supporting Corbyn in stonewalling the Prime Minister.

And those two opposition parties have handed Johnson an unlikely lifeline -- they've indicated that they will support a bill overruling the Fixed Term Parliaments Act. This would call for an election but would only need a simple majority of MPs to pass.

In return, they would want the January 31 extension secured, meaning Johnson would have to put his efforts to pass his Brexit deal on hold for now.

This plan could still be an appealing path for the Prime Minister, should he lose the vote on his election request later today.

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2019-10-28 11:07:46Z
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How al-Baghdadi's death is a big victory for Trump; Freshman lawmaker resigns amid sex scandal - Fox News

Good morning and welcome to Fox News First. Here's what you need to know as you start your Monday and the new work week ...

Al-Baghdadi takedown a big victory for Trump, blunts criticism of Syria pullback as Dems avoid congratulating president
President Trump's successful operation to take out Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sent Democrats scrambling on Sunday, as several top party leaders who had charged that the White House had no "real plan" to combat the terror group following the U.S. pullout in Syria were proven wrong. In a dramatic sign of how Democrats' messaging apparently backfired, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" ran an ill-timed sketch suggesting that Trump had created "jobs" for ISIS -- just hours before the president held a news conference announcing al-Baghdadi's demise. The sketch aired around the time the two-hour late-night raid in northwest Syria was underway.

Through the day on Sunday, the Democrats -- including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Bob Menendez and former Vice President Joe Biden -- seemingly settled on a new strategy. They praised the troops who executed the historic raid, while pointedly avoiding complimenting the president in any way. It was a stark contrast to the way they specifically praised President Obama after he announced Usama bin Laden's death in May 2011.

In this photo provided by the White House, President Donald Trump is joined by from left, national security adviser Robert O'Brien, Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary mark Esper, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Brig. Gen. Marcus Evans, Deputy Director for Special Operations on the Joint Staff, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, in the Situation Room of the White House. (Shealah Craighead/The White House via AP)

Congressional Democrats also lamented that they were not informed in advance of the operation, while the Russian military was told so that their airspace could be used.

The president suggested Sunday that Democrats in Congress, who have been conducting an impeachment inquiry against him that has been fraught with leaked information to the media, were not notified before the raid because of concerns they might compromise the operation with leaks. Click here for more on our top story.

Hannity blasts 'sick and repulsive' Washington Post headline that called al-Baghdadi a 'religious scholar'
The Washington Post on Sunday published an eyebrow-raising headline that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an "austere religious scholar." The obituary, written by The Post’s national security reporter Joby Warrick, detailed al-Baghdadi’s rise to power in ISIS from what the paper described as his origins as a "religious scholar with wireframe glasses."

The headline was changed a few times. Washington Post Vice President of Communications Kristine Coratti Kelly told Fox News, "Regarding our al-Baghdadi obituary, the headline should never have read that way and we changed it quickly." Still, Fox News' Sean Hannity called the initial Post headline "sick and repulsive" and said the newspaper needs to be educated on the "evil SOB's" true legacy. Click here for more.

FILE - Katie Hill. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Freshman Democratic Rep. Katie Hill resigns amid ethics probe into reported affair with staffer
Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif., announced her resignation Sunday after a string of reports shining a negative light on her personal life, including a reported affair with her legislative director that sparked a House Ethics Committee investigation. Hill tweeted on Sunday evening, “It is with a broken heart that today I announce my resignation from Congress. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I believe it is the best thing for my constituents, my community, and our country.” She is expected to step down by the end of this week.

The congresswoman last week had fought back against reports of an affair with the congressional staffer, as well as reports she was in a so-called “throuple” relationship with husband Kenny Heslep and a campaign staffer. The scandal escalated last as compromising photos of Hill surfaced.

Northern California wildfire rages, aided by hurricane-force winds
The massive Kincade Fire in California’s famed Wine Country burned at least 84 square miles and forced the evacuations of about 180,000 as firefighters reported a drop in containment from 10 percent to 5 percent by Sunday night. The entire towns of Healdsburg and Windsor in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, were under mandatory evacuation as the evacuation zone stretched from Healdsburg west through the Russian River Valley to Bodega Bay, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department. Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a statewide emergency.

Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., takes a selfie with President Donald Trump during the seventh inning of Game 5 of the baseball World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Trump booed by World Series crowd as fans yell 'lock him up'
The partisan Washington Nationals crowd was not pleased when President Trump was shown on the ballpark’s video screen during Game 5 of the World Series between the hometown Nationals and visiting Houston Astros, as fans greeted him with a crescendo of boos in the third inning of the ballgame. In addition, fans mockingly yelled “lock him up,” a chant Trump supporters began in 2016 against his opponent, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The Astros beat the Nationals 7-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the series. Game 6 will be played on Tuesday night.

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TODAY'S MUST-READS
Adam Schiff: John Bolton is 'key witness' in impeachment inquiry.
John Conyers, longtime Michigan congressman and Congressional Black Caucus founder, dead at 90.
Military dog in al-Baghdadi raid wounded by explosive blast.
NASA shares image of the sun resembling a jack-o’-lantern.

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#TheFlashback: CLICK HERE to find out what happened on "This Day in History."
 
SOME PARTING WORDS

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said "the best of America confronted the worst of mankind, and the good guys won" with the death of al-Baghdadi but warned that the war is far from over.

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Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for choosing us to start your day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing on Tuesday morning.

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2019-10-28 08:41:42Z
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Baghdadi is gone, but ISIS isn't dead yet -- and could be poised for a resurgence - CNN

ISIS established a horrifying standard of brutality, re-establishing slavery, practicing what amounted to genocide against the Yazidis, carrying out mass executions and beheadings -- all caught on camera -- and demolishing religious sites and antiquities.

The United States, with the help of its coalition allies, Iraq and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), destroyed the Islamic State and killed Baghdadi.

ISIS, however, is far from finished. It operates in West Africa, Libya, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and the Philippines, and has followers in Europe and elsewhere. That, in addition to as many as 18,000 fighters still on the loose between Syria and Iraq, according to a report issued by the Pentagon's Inspector General in August.

There is no reason to conclude that the threat from ISIS' far-flung network of affiliates and sympathizers has disappeared with the passing of Baghdadi. He may have excelled in his evil mission, but he was at the top of a pyramid of power and others will come forward to claim his mantle of leadership and perhaps learn from his demise.

Unlike Osama bin Laden or Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who led al Qaeda in Iraq, Baghdadi maintained a low profile.

He appeared only once in public, in July 2014, when he delivered a sermon in Mosul's Grand Mosque.

After that, ISIS' al-Furqan media wing and social media accounts released sporadic audio messages purported to be from the ISIS leader. Then, earlier this year, another video resurfaced apparently showing Baghdadi sitting in casual clothes on the floor. He declared the "battle for Baghouz is over."

Among the dozens of ISIS fighters and their wives and children CNN interviewed this spring during the battle of Baghouz, the group's last stronghold, in eastern Syria, few mentioned the name of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The diehards, the ones who still remained loyal to the ideology of ISIS, stressed their allegiance to ad-Dawla al-Islamiya -- the Islamic State, not to its leader.

Baghdadi never had a cult of personality. He did stress that he was a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad to burnish his Islamic credentials, but he never rose to the level of al Qaeda's Osama bin Laden, who was recognizable the world over.

Bin Laden first came to fame during the 1980s, when he led the so-called Arab mujahideen in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In the 1990s, from Sudan and then Afghanistan, he gave interviews to the Western media, including CNN, and even after the 9/11 attacks on the United States he issued statements and put out videos.

As khalifa, or caliph, of the Islamic State, Baghdadi never granted an interview to anyone. Yet in the end the Americans found him, and killed him, "whimpering, screaming and crying," according to US President Donald Trump.

ISIS is not going to disappear. It may morph into something else, just as Osama bin Laden's Arab mujahideen morphed into al Qaeda, which gave birth to al Qaeda in Iraq, which transformed into ISIS.

Regardless of what comes of ISIS, the terrain for extremist groups in the Middle East remains fertile. Authoritarian regimes here have developed a predictable template. They crush the political center by terrifying it into silence, by jailing anyone who calls for change, by killing or torturing opponents real or imagined, by co-opting others and driving the rest into exile.

What real opposition left is dominated by the most extreme and violent elements, their ranks often replenished by those who are able to emerge from the prisons and torture chambers in places like Damascus, Cairo, Baghdad and Riyadh.

As a result, the populace is faced with a stark choice: subdued, quiet acceptance of the authoritarian state and its inherent corruption, or siding with the extremists. In the end, the former usually happens.

The West, particularly the United States, still pays lip service to democracy and human rights, but it too for decades has fallen into the same trap. As distasteful as some of its Middle Eastern allies are, the thinking goes, they're preferable to the extremists.

And unless and until the dictator's template is smashed, new Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis will emerge.

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2019-10-28 07:56:18Z
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