'Anthropocene Project' Artfully Captures How Humans Change Earth's Landscape : Goats and Soda - NPR

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In Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, oil bunkering — the practice of siphoning oil from pipelines — has transformed parts of the once-thriving delta ecosystem into an ecological dead zone, according to the U.N. Environment Programme. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto hide caption

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Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

Humans have made an indelible mark on the planet. Since the mid-20th century, we've accelerated the digging of mines, construction of dams, expansion of cities and clearing of forests for agriculture — activity that will be visible in the geological record for eons to come.

Some scientists are calling it the Anthropocene era, or the age of the humans ("anthropos" is Greek for human).

Photographer Edward Burtynsky and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier were inspired by this ongoing discussion of the debate over this new geological era. These three Canadian artists traveled to 22 countries to research and document "places of obvious, physical human incursions on the landscape," says filmmaker de Pencier.

They created over 50 images capturing the impact of humans on the Earth, like a sprawling, 30-acre garbage dump in Kenya, large swaths of deforestation in Borneo and waterways damaged by oil siphoning in Nigeria.

Their expansive, multidisciplinary body of work is called The Anthropocene Project.

The project, which includes photography, film, virtual reality and augmented reality, took four years to complete and launched in September 2018. The exhibition is currently on display at the Fondazione MAST Museum in Bologna, Italy. And their film will be shown in the U.S. this fall.

"[The Anthropocene Project] is almost looking back from a projected future, from the future geologist investigating what will remain in the rock record long after we're gone," de Pencier adds.

Here is a selection of photographs from the project.

This aerial photo depicts the sawmills of Lagos, Nigeria. The timber from the country's rainforests, some of the most heavily deforested in the world, are processed in this coastal city, polluting the lagoons. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto hide caption

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Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

A 3,400-acre Exxon Petrochemical plant in Baytown, Texas, produces materials for tires, car bumpers and over 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day, according to the company. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto hide caption

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Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

The Dandora Landfill in Nairobi, Kenya is a sprawling 30-acre dump that grows by an average of 850 tons of solid waste a day, according to the U.N. Environment Programme. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto hide caption

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Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

An underground potash mine in the Ural mountains of Russia. The potassium-rich salt is mined to produce fertilizer. The team says that the mine shows the impact of modernized agricultural practices that help feed Earth's 7.5 billion people. The spiraled pattern seen here is caused by the machines used to extract the salts. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto hide caption

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Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

A tetrapod factory in Dongying, China. These concrete blocks are dropped into the ocean to create a barrier that protects low-lying oil refineries from rising sea levels. According to a recent scientific review, human beings have now produced enough concrete to cover the entire globe in a 2mm- thick layer. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto hide caption

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Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

An aerial view of a palm plantation on the island of Borneo. Enormous tracts of tropical rainforest have been cleared to grow the lucrative crop, which is used to create palm oil, a vegetable oil that is also used in food processing. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto hide caption

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Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

Jonathan Lambert is a freelance science journalist based in Washington, D.C. You can follow him on Twitter: @evolambert. Rebecca Ellis is a Kroc Fellow with NPR.

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https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/06/15/727583729/the-anthropocene-project-captures-humanitys-indelible-mark-on-the-planet

2019-06-15 11:00:00Z
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Hong Kong extradition law: What happens next? - CNN

While she fell short of fully withdrawing the bill -- or resigning -- as some protesters had demand, the move is nevertheless a major win for the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets on June 9, as well as the tens of thousands of mostly young protesters who shut down parts of the city on Wednesday and prevented lawmakers from beginning a second reading.

Pro-democracy figures said that the bill would lead to the erosion of civil rights in Hong Kong, including freedom of speech and rule of law, and could see residents sent to China to face prosecution in a country with an opaque legal system.

Beijing has yet to officially react to Lam's announcement that she was suspending the bill, though the Chief Executive has emphasized that she had the central government's support.

From all available accounts, it appears that the bill was an initiative of Lam's government -- as she has claimed all along -- rather than an order from on high.

Lam and her ministers appear to have seen in a gruesome Taiwan murder case a way to win an easy public relations victory by extraditing a wanted killer to face justice, and a way to close loopholes and extend the central government's powers to go after fugitives, especially former Chinese officials, in Hong Kong.

They do not, however, seem to have expected the overwhelmingly negative response to the bill and the deep, widespread distrust for the Chinese legal system. Pro-democracy activists, NGOs and business groups came together in calling for the bill's withdrawal, and it also served to unify the previously fractured political opposition.

Protests this month -- with the June 9 march the largest since Hong Kong was handed over to Chinese control, and Wednesday's protests among some of the most violent scenes ever seen in the city -- left Lam unwilling to push forward with a bill so clearly unpopular and potentially dangerous.

However, while the climbdown is certainly embarrassing to both the Hong Kong and Beijing governments, it only maintains the status quo, as did a mass movement against an anti-sedition law in 2003, previously the largest protests Hong Kong had seen under Chinese rule.

Hong Kong residents have proven more willing to come to the streets to fight back against a loss of political freedoms than to push for extra ones, and both the local and central governments appear to have a greater degree of flexibility or patience on these issues as well.

The situation in 2014, when demands for the direct election of the chief executive spiraled into the Umbrella Movement, was very different. Those protests did not attract such a broad swath of society, and they were also greeted with a much more forceful reaction by Beijing, and a subsequent crackdown and numerous prosecutions and disqualifications of lawmakers.

Does the bill have a future?

While Lam emphasized that the bill has been suspended rather than completely withdrawn, it is likely that the effect will be the same, at least in the near term.

As opposition to the bill grew, Taipei said it would not request the murder suspect's extradition from Hong Kong, as it said the bill would put Taiwanese citizens in danger. With this off the table, Lam admitted there was "less urgency to pass the bill this year."

Going forward, she said she wanted to focus on "economic and livelihood" issues, particularly those such as housing, a consistent major issue in Hong Kong, particularly for young people of the sort out protesting Wednesday.

That language is similar to what she has used in the past when discussing whether her government would seek to introduce Article 23, the anti-sedition law which was shelved after mass protests against it in 2003. Lam has said she would only do so were the conditions in society correct, and on Saturday she said she regretted that controversies over the extradition bill had spoiled the "period of calm" Hong Kong had enjoyed since she took office in 2017.

While the government could reintroduce the bill next year, it is unlikely as 2020 is an election year for the legislative council.

The newly reinvigorated and unified pro-democratic camp will be targeting marginal seats in an attempt to wrest back veto power in the legislature, and pro-Beijing lawmakers have already warned that the controversies over the bill could cost them seats.

So though some protesters and opposition figures may complain that Lam has only suspended rather than withdrawn the bill, the effect may end up being the same.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/15/asia/hong-kong-extradition-law-china-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-06-15 10:24:00Z
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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 major 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 on Sunday.

The climb down followed formal warnings from U.S. and European officials, with international business and human rights groups saying 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 worries over Chinese security forces contriving charges.

Lam has maintained the legislation was needed and would have safeguards to ensure human rights were 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, organized riot, and in no way an act of loving Hong Kong," Lam said earlier in the week.

Lam condemned the protests again on Saturday, but said the bill was no longer necessary.

"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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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hong-kong-extradition-bill-sparked-massive-protests-may-be-suspended-n1017861

2019-06-15 09:17:00Z
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Hong Kong suspends extradition bill after huge protests - NBC News

HONG KONG — Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday announced the government will suspend debate on an 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 Hong Kong. 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, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory, enjoys greater freedoms than mainland China under a "one country, two systems" framework put in place in 1997. Residents can freely surf the internet and participate in public protests, unlike in the mainland.

The bill was not definitively cancelled, Lam said, although she did not say when the debate might 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 was 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 the bill 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.

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 for the controversial bill, 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.

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 06:55:20Z
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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 06:40:17Z
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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.

190612074625753

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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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/hong-kong-suspend-divisive-extradition-bill-reports-190615055601745.html

2019-06-15 06:32:00Z
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