Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong addresses the crowd outside Hong Kong's Legislative Council on Monday, during a demonstration demanding that Hong Kong's leaders step down and permanently withdraw an extradition bill.
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Newly released from prison, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong immediately called for Chief Executive Carrie Lam to resign from office. His remarks came as thousands of Hong Kong residents demand that the government permanently shelve a controversial extradition bill.
Wong, 22, had been serving a two-month prison term for contempt of court, related to the 2014 Umbrella Movement street demonstrations. But he was released after serving only one month of that sentence.
The leader of the political group Demosisto, Wong said he isn't satisfied with Lam's plan to suspend the extradition measure.
"Hello world and hello freedom," Wong said on Twitter. "I have just been released from prison. GO HONG KONG!! Withdraw the extradition bill. Carrie Lam step down. Drop all political prosecutions!"
Hello world and hello freedom. I have just been released from prison. GO HONG KONG!! Withdraw the extradition bill. Carrie Lam step down. Drop all political prosecutions!
Speaking after his release, Wong also said, "I will join the fight with Hong Kong people against the bill until the government backs down," according to the South China Morning Post.
Wong was only 17 when he became the face of Hong Kong's protest in 2014, as thousands of demonstrators disrupted the central government district in a call for direct democracy.
Wong was released after protesters mounted a huge march for the second Sunday in a row, with people filling the streets from Victoria Park to Admiralty, where the government's offices are based. Estimates of the crowd's size ranged from the police figure of 338,000 to organizers' estimate of nearly 2 million, the Morning Post reports. Those protest marches continued on Monday, albeit at a smaller scale.
The demonstrations are a very public response to a proposed law that would allow people who are accused of crimes in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China, where the laws and judicial system are more restrictive and less transparent.
On Sunday, Lam issued a rare apology for the way she has managed the extradition bill. That move came one day after Lam said she would put the bill on hold — a step that demonstrators immediately rejected as a half-measure.
Demonstrators see the extradition proposal as another erosion of freedoms and rights in Hong Kong following its 1997 handover from British rule to China's central government.
The protests are the largest since 2014, when Beijing angered democracy advocates by requiring any candidate for Hong Kong's top job to be approved by a committee that's loyal to China's central government.
Hong Kong's Legislative Council has 70 lawmakers — but only 35 of them are directly elected by geographic area, according to its website. And if legislators go too far in advocating for Hong Kong's independence, they're subject to being banned from office.
Charles Mok, a pro-democracy member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, says that despite the repeated public demonstrations against the extradition bill, the measure will be adopted if the government insists on pushing it through.
"Because of the design of the system, we are always in the minority," Mok tells NPR's Morning Edition. "So that's why people want universal suffrage — real democracy — in Hong Kong. But we didn't get that."
As leaders in Hong Kong try to navigate the storm over the bill, NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports for our Newscast unit that "China's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, blamed Western media for inciting foreign governments to meddle in China's internal affairs."
Conservative leadership contenders have faced further questions about Brexit and their personal beliefs ahead of Tuesday's second ballot of MPs.
Boris Johnson skipped the hustings of Westminster journalists, having also missed Sunday's Channel 4 TV debate.
Rory Stewart would not say how he would vote if there was another referendum, but having one would be a "failure".
Dominic Raab suggested the current "paralysing uncertainty" was worse than a no-deal exit from the EU.
Mr Johnson, former foreign secretary, is the clear frontrunner in the race after topping the first ballot with 114 votes.
On Monday, he got a fresh boost after he was endorsed by Health Secretary Matt Hancock - who pulled out after coming sixth in last week's vote.
But Mr Johnson's low visibility in the campaign so far continues to attract criticism from his rivals and their supporters.
Justice Secretary David Gauke, who is supporting Mr Stewart, said the public was "entitled" to expect every candidate to subject themselves to rigorous scrutiny.
"At the moment Boris Johnson is not doing that," he told BBC News.
He also accused Mr Johnson of making a series of pledges to cut tax or spend more - via his newspaper column - without answering the question "where is the money coming from?"
Mr Johnson has agreed to take part in a BBC TV debate after Tuesday's ballot while he is also expected to attend a hustings organised by the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers later.
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The five remaining candidates - also including Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove and Sajid Javid - were grilled by lobby journalists on Monday morning in a closed-door session.
Ahead of the hustings, Mr Hunt urged Mr Johnson to show "Churchillian spirit" and turn up. Mr Raab started his hustings slot by describing the event as an "essential gauntlet" in an apparent dig at his erstwhile rival.
Mr Gove, who famously fell out with Mr Johnson after the 2016 referendum, said "Boris could be a good prime minister, but I think I could be a better one."
'Unlock' support
Mr Raab defended his backing for the UK to leave the EU on 31 October with or without a deal - saying the "biggest risk is the paralysing uncertainty" currently afflicting the UK.
Mr Stewart said he believed Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement could be the basis of a "moderate, pragmatic" Brexit despite being rejected by MPs three times.
He said his new approach to explaining and promoting the deal agreed with the EU could "unlock" up to a dozen Tory MPs, after which he would seek Labour backing.
If the parliamentary deadlock could not be broken, he said his plan B was to get 500 or so members of the public to decide how to proceed in a citizens' assembly.
Compare candidates' policies
Select a topic and a candidate to find out more
BREXIT
- Has said he would consider a further delay to Brexit to achieve a better deal.
- Plans to negotiate a "fullstop" to the Irish border backstop plan. He wants a free trade agreement, similar to the deal between Canada and the EU.
- Would support a no-deal Brexit if he couldn't get a better deal from Brussels.
- Would leave the EU with no deal, but it's not his preferred option.
- Wants changes to the Irish backstop and proposes sending a new negotiating team to Brussels.
- Wants to make changes to the Withdrawal Agreement and thinks it's possible to get them done by 31 October, but has not ruled out an extension.
- Would focus on making changes to the backstop. Would commission UK border force to work on solving the Northern Ireland border problem, paid for by the UK.
- Says he cannot envisage circumstances in which he would want to have another extension to the UK's exit date and the country must be prepared for a no-deal Brexit.
- Wants to leave on 31 October, the deadline for Brexit set by the EU, with or without a deal. He admits a no-deal exit will cause "some disruption" but says the "way to get a good deal is to prepare for no deal".
- Wants to remove the backstop from any deal and replace it with "alternative arrangements".
- Says he would withhold the £39bn "divorce" payment the UK is due to give the EU as part of the negotiated deal. He says the money will be retained until there is "greater clarity about the way forward".
- Wants to re-open the withdrawal agreement for renegotiation in order to "overhaul the backstop".
- Says a new deal would include "the vast majority" of the deal Theresa May negotiated, but would replace the Irish backstop with "alternative arrangements" involving "advanced customs and trade measures" and checks away from the border.
- Willing to leave on WTO rules, claiming it is "far better than leaving with a fatally flawed deal", and will not rule out proroguing Parliament (essentially shutting it down) ahead of the 31 October deadline to prevent it blocking a no-deal Brexit
- Believes a no-deal Brexit would be "catastrophic" for the UK and is "undeliverable" and "unnecessary".
- He said it was unrealistic to believe the UK could get a new Brexit deal agreed by the EU and Parliament by the 31 October deadline.
- Prefers trying to push through the current deal, agreed by Theresa May. However he says, if that failed, he would set up a jury of citizens to thrash out a compromise.
TAX AND SPENDING
- Says he wants to replace VAT after Brexit with a lower, simpler sales tax.
- Wants to create the "most pro-business" tax regime in the world and put business at the heart of the revival of Britain.
- Says he would not use the tax and benefits system to give the already wealthy another tax cut.
- Says he would scrap the High Speed rail 2 project.
- As an entrepreneur, he wants to turn Britain into the next Silicon Valley, a "hub of innovation".
- Pledged to slash business taxes to the lowest in Europe to attract firms to Britain after Brexit and reduce corporation tax.
- Has promised to break from the austerity of the past nine years by slowing the pace of debt reduction.
- Says this would free up about £25bn a year for spending priorities, including education.
- Other money would be spent on local government and efforts to tackle crime, including an increase in the number of police officers by 20,000.
- Pledges to cut income tax for people earning more than £50,000 by raising the 40% tax threshold to £80,000.
- Says it will benefit three million people and would cost £9.6bn a year.
- Plans to pay for the cut partly from a pot set aside by the Treasury for a possible no-deal Brexit, and partly by increasing employee National Insurance payments.
- Wants to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 15%. He suggests the basic rate falling by a penny a year.
- Would equal a tax cut for the majority of UK workers. HMRC says there are currently 26.3m basic rate tax payers, but IFS says it costs about £5bn for every 1p cut in the rate of income tax.
- Wants to raise the point that people start to pay national insurance to be the same as income tax, £12,501 a year. He says it would save the lowest paid workers £460 a year.
- Criticises other candidates for offering "cheap electoral bribes" to win support.
- Says rather than being "straight" with people, his opponents have pledged "eye-watering" tax cuts worth £84bn.
HEALTH AND EDUCATION
- Says he wants to ensure the NHS is "fully-funded, properly funded" and that funding is protected under law.
- Says he will spend £1bn extra on schools if he becomes prime minister.
- Mental health support in every school and a crackdown on social media companies that fail to regulate their content.
- A cut in interest rate paid on tuition fees.
- Long term plan to provide more funding for the teaching profession in return for a guarantee that no one leaves the education system without a "rigorous qualification" sufficient to work up to at least the average salary.
- Has suggested slowing down the rate of debt reduction, to release money for education.
- Wants to see a "multi-year, multi-billion-pound boost" to spending on schools to "change the life chances of so many young people".
- Promises to raise spending on secondary school pupils to £5,000 each.
- Called the funding gap between some schools in cities compared to those in rural areas a “disturbing reality”.
- Has previously said money spent on the EU could be put into the NHS.
- Says he is in favour of bringing back young apprenticeships for 14-16 year-olds.
- Wants review of spending in Whitehall, with a “special commission” to look at public sector procurement, especially in the NHS.
- Says he would “recycle roughly half” of the savings made by the spending review into frontline services, such as teachers and nurses.
- Pledges to invest more into education, especially for those in “mid-life”.
- Vows to put a long-term plan in place to tackle the issue of social care in the UK.
- Says people should not have to pay hospital car parking charges to visit a sick relative or wait four weeks for a GP appointment.
He said he did not believe the assembly would come out in favour of another Brexit referendum, which he said would be "catastrophic".
Mr Javid warned against his rivals turning on each other, saying that the only winners of a "vicious" debate would be Labour.
Asked whether he trusted Boris Johnson, he replied yes but joked that he might not appoint him as foreign secretary in his cabinet if he won power - a reference to Mr Johnson's much-criticised tenure in the Foreign Office.
The home secretary conceded he was not the most confident orator in the field.
"I didn't go to the debating societies at Oxford or other places. But I am trying to communicate in the best way I can."
Mr Hunt said the central question about delivering Brexit was "who" was going to be doing the negotiating.
The BBC's political correspondent Chris Mason said Mr Hunt talked about different variations of the UK leaving the EU without a legal agreement.
He characterised these as a "hostile no deal", where there was little or no co-operation of any kind, or one more accommodating between the two sides.
Among the more unusual questions fielded, Mr Stewart - a former solider and diplomat - was asked whether he ever worked for MI6, to which he replied no.
And Mr Hunt was asked whether he believed in God, to which he said yes.
Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Behrouz Kamalvandi, seen at a July 2018 news conference in Tehran.
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Within days Iran will exceed the limit on its stockpile of uranium under a 2015 nuclear deal, according to a spokesman for the country's atomic energy agency, who also said Tehran would increase uranium enrichment levels in violation of the agreement, "based on the country's needs."
The remarks come amid increased tension between the U.S. and Iran, particularly after last week's attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman that Washington has blamed on Tehran. Iran has denied any involvement.
Under the multilateral Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that the U.S. withdrew from a year ago, Iran can keep no more than 300 kilograms (661 pounds) of uranium enriched no higher than 3.67% — far below the 90% level considered suitable for building nuclear weapons.
At a news conference at the Arak Nuclear Complex that was carried live Monday on Iranian television, Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said that stockpile limit could be exceeded within 10 days.
"We have quadrupled the rate of enrichment and even increased it more recently, so that in 10 days it will bypass the 300 kg limit," Kamalvandi said.
He added that his country needs uranium enriched to 5% for its Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, built in the 1990s with Russian help and uranium of 20% purity to be used as fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR), which the the U.S. supplied to Iran in 1967.
Although not weapons-grade, 20% purity is generally considered "highly enriched" uranium and as The Associated Press notes, "... going from 20% to 90% is a relatively quicker process, something that worries nuclear nonproliferation experts."
Even so, Kamalvandi held out the possibility that "There is still time ... if European countries act."
"Iran's reserves are every day increasing at a more rapid rate. And if it is important for them (Europe) to safeguard the accord, they should make their best efforts... As soon as they carry out their commitments, things will naturally go back to their original state," he said, according to AP.
That sentiment was echoed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday. "It's a crucial moment, and France can still work with other signatories of the deal and play an historic role to save the deal in this very short time," he was quoted by the Fars News Agency as saying during a meeting with France's new ambassador in Iran.
Reuters reports that Rouhani said the collapse of the nuclear deal would not be in the interests of the region and the world.
Following last week's alleged attack on the tankers Front Altair and Kokuka Courageous near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said "there's no doubt" that Iran was responsible for disabling the vessels.
"The intelligence community has lots of data, lots of evidence," Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday. "The world will come to see much of it, but the American people should rest assured we have high confidence with respect to who conducted these attacks as well as half a dozen other attacks throughout the world."
On CBS' Face the Nation, Pompeo said the U.S. was "considering a full range of options."
"We are confident that we can take a set of actions that can restore deterrence, which is our mission set," he said.
On Monday, Iran's Armed Forces Chief of Staff again denied the country's involvement in the attacks.
"Regarding the new incidents in the Persian Gulf... if the Islamic Republic of Iran decides to block exports of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, it is militarily strong enough to do that fully and publicly," Major General Mohammad Bagheri said, according to Fars News Agency.
During a news conference at the Arak heavy water reactor facility, Behrouz Kamalvandi said that Iran had increased low enriched uranium production fourfold and would exceed the limit of 300 kilograms by June 27, in the latest blow to the nuclear deal agreed between Tehran and world powers in 2015.
"If Iran feels that the sanctions have been reinstated or not lifted, Iran has the right to partly or on the whole suspend its commitments," Kamalvandi said, referring to sanctions that were lifted as part of the nuclear deal but have since been reinstated by the US. The Trump administration withdrew from the pact in May 2018.
However, he said there was still time for European countries to save the nuclear deal if they "abide by their commitments."
After exceeding the limit, Iran will accelerate uranium enrichment to 3.7%, Kamalvandi said -- above the 3.67% mandated by the nuclear deal. Enrichment at this percentage is enough to continue powering parts of the country's energy needs, but not enough to ever build a nuclear bomb.
Under the nuclear deal, Iran was permitted to stockpile limited amounts of enriched uranium and heavy water produced in that process, exporting any excess. Doing so has become extremely difficult after the US revoked waivers that allowed Iran to export those excess stockpiles, effectively forcing Iran to halt enrichment or ignore the limits, which it is now doing.
Monday's announcement came after President Hassan Rouhani declared in May that Iran was reducing its "commitments to the deal" but not fully withdrawing from it.
Rouhani said at the time that Iran would keep its excess enriched uranium and heavy water, instead of selling it to other countries.
Iran's important message to Europe
Iran has reiterated that it could reverse the new measures should the remaining European signatories in the nuclear deal (France, Germany and the United Kingdom) step in and make more of an effort to circumvent US sanctions.
Tehran has repeatedly criticized Europe's delay in establishing their own trade channel to Iran, and Monday's announcement is yet another sign that the nation is growing increasingly impatient.
"I think til now the Europeans have not done their part and they've wasted a lot of time," Kamalvandi said during the press conference. "They have given us a lot of good words but not deeds."
The development comes after two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday. The US and Saudi Arabia have blamed Iran for the attack, with Riyadh calling on the international community to take a "firm stand towards an exponential regime that supports terrorism and spreads killing and destruction."
Iran has vehemently denied any involvement in the tanker incident. The country's parliament speaker Ali Larijani accused the US of carrying out "acts of sabotage" against the two tankers in an effort to pressure Tehran, according to Iranian state-funded Press TV.
Netanyahu unveiled a sign at the proposed site of the settlement on Sunday bearing the name "Trump Heights," and thanked the US President for breaking with the international community to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the region.
"We are proud that we have the opportunity to establish a new settlement and to give thanks to a great friend," Netanyahu told a celebratory cabinet meeting at the site. "We will continue to grow and develop the Golan for all of our citizens -- Jews and non-Jews together."
The Golan Heights, which was seized by Israel from Syria during the Six-Day War in 1967 and annexed in 1981, is regarded as illegally occupied territory by the global community. The UN Security Council has deemed Israel's administration of the area "null and void and without legal effect," and the UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, recently reiterated that position.
But Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty in the region in March, two weeks before that country's elections, in what was seen as a major political gift to Netanyahu. The US is the only country in the world to recognize Israeli sovereignty in the occupied territory.
At Sunday's unveiling, the Israeli leader went on to thank Trump for a number of pro-Israel decisions -- while also joining the US in blaming Iran for the attack on tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week.
"President Trump did it [with the Golan], he also did it with Jerusalem, he did it with the transfer of the embassy, he did it with the exit from the Iran nuclear deal, he does it now with the strong stand against the aggression of Iran in the Gulf of Oman, in the Persian Gulf, and in the entire region," he said.
"I want to thank you for holding the cabinet meeting and for the extraordinary gesture that you and the State of Israel are making to the President of the United States," Friedman said. "It's well-deserved, but it's much appreciated."
But opposition lawmakers in Israeli criticized Netanyahu's announcement as a public relations exercise.
"Whoever reads the fine print in this 'historic' decision understands that it is a phantom decision," Zvi Hauser, an advocate of international recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan, said on Twitter. "There is no budget, there is no planning, there is no place, and there is really no binding decision," he added.
Foreign affairs reporter focusing on Europe and international security
June 17 at 6:16 AM
Iran has threatened to increase its uranium stockpile above the limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal in the next 10 days, amid escalating tensions with the United States and so far unsuccessful European efforts to salvage the deal. Iran said it had already sped up its production of the low-enriched uranium used in nuclear power plants.
Iran has denied claims by the Trump administration and others that it is seeking to build a nuclear bomb. But on Monday, Iran also announced enrichment targets that would put it in the proximity of the levels needed to build a weapon. It was unclear how long Iran would need to reach those targets.
The announcement comes days after the United States accused Iran of attacking tankers in a key waterway, the Gulf of Oman. News of the suspected attacks last Thursday came as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — who had offered to mediate between Tehran and Washington — was wrapping up a visit to Iran that yielded no resolution of the tensions.
The backers of the Iran nuclear deal long argued that the agreement was best-positioned to prevent the scenario threatened on Monday. Despite this, President Trump announced his withdrawal from the Obama-era agreement last year. China, Russia and three European nations — Germany, France and Britain — have stuck to it, arguing that while the deal may not be perfect it is the best-possible solution to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb.
Iran initially appeared willing to stick to its commitments, despite the U.S. withdrawal from the deal, but has more recently put pressure on the remaining backers of the agreement.
In early May, Iran gave Europe 60 days to comply with a number of conditions to save the deal without U.S. backing. Tehran threatened it would otherwise resume uranium enrichment above the limits agreed in 2015.
Monday’s comments to reporters by the spokesman for Iran’s nuclear agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, indicates that efforts to resume the enrichment could begin even sooner than initially threatened.
The move would constitute a blow to E.U. efforts to uphold the 2015 deal. Earlier this year, the E.U. created a payment channel — INSTEX — which was supposed to facilitate trade with Iran. In creating the mechanism, the E.U. risked a spat with the United States, where officials fear such efforts to bypass the U.S. dollar in international trade could weaken U.S. influence to impose sanctions abroad in the long run. But INSTEX has been mired by problems and most European companies have withdrawn from Iran.
After talks with his Iranian counterpart last Monday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas acknowledged that the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran deal had annulled some of the biggest economic benefits Iran had been granted in 2015. “We won’t achieve a miracle, but we try as best as we can to prevent failure,” Maas told reporters.
Monday’s announcement by Iran’s nuclear agency clarified how long Europe may still have to prevent such a failure: just 10 days.
