Selasa, 13 Agustus 2019

Hong Kong International Airport seizure almost certainly means a Chinese military response - Washington Examiner

Beijing will regard protesters as crossing a red line in causing the suspension of flights at Hong Kong International Airport. In a limited but highly public manner, the function and power of the Chinese state has ground to a halt.

President Xi Jinping and his minions believe that the current situation, one in which flights have been suspended for the past two days, cannot continue. That's not so much a result of the damage to Hong Kong's economy or the disruption these protests are causing to passengers. It's because the protests are visibly undercutting the Chinese Communist Party's supreme authority.

For the standing committee in Beijing, that undercutting is utterly intolerable.

This is not to say that China wants to use military force to crush the "Umbrella" protest movement. Beijing knows that the visual of Peoples Liberation Army soldiers bashing young protesters into submission would be disastrous for the regime's international reputation. It would be seen, possibly, as a second Tiananmen Square atrocity.

While vicious authoritarianism is the defining hallmark of the Chinese Communist Party, Beijing needs to provide a credible pretense to the contrary. That pretense is crucial if Xi is to succeed in expanding his Belt and Road economic initiative. Ultimately designed to supplant the U.S.-led democratic international order, Belt and Road involves generous Chinese investments abroad in return for Chinese market dominance and feudal political fealty.

For Chinese communists, no concern matters nearly as much as the well understood supremacy of the state's authority. The principle must be enshrined, Beijing believes, in order to prevent any future resistance against the state.

Hence why Beijing's escalating threats to use force in Hong Kong cannot be discounted. If protesters continue to shut down Hong Kong International Airport, Xi will deploy the military to crush them.

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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/hong-kong-international-airport-seizure-almost-certainly-means-a-chinese-military-response

2019-08-13 14:55:00Z
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U.S. Will Delay Some Tariffs Against China - The Wall Street Journal

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Aug. 2. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that some products will be removed from the tariff lists entirely, based on health, safety, national security and other factors. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Bloomberg News
By
Josh Zumbrun

The Trump administration will delay some tariffs against China on cellphones, laptop computers, toys and some other items until Dec. 15, softening the blow of levies that were scheduled to take effect on Sept. 1 against roughly $300 billion of imports.

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that some products will be removed from the tariff lists entirely, based on health, safety, national security and other factors. The statement didn’t say which items would be removed.

The USTR said it would release precise details of the delayed tariffs later Tuesday, but the items that will be delayed are some of the biggest ticket items facing tariffs. Just cellphones and laptops represent about $80 billion of trade, more than a quarter of the tariffs that were posed to take effect, with a 10% levy, in just a few weeks.

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Do you view the delay of some tariffs as a reprieve? Why or why not? Join the conversation below.

The USTR didn’t provide a reason beyond saying the decision was “part of USTR’s public comment and hearing process.” In June, over the course of seven days of hearings, hundreds of U.S. companies testified that the tariffs would damage their business.

The delay in tariffs also buys a reprieve for negotiators. Talks between the U.S. and Chinese negotiating teams, in Shanghai last month, ended without a breakthrough, and a Chinese delegation was planning to visit Washington in September, shortly after the tariffs were scheduled to take affect. Now, the U.S. and China will have another opportunity to strike a deal and avert the tariffs.

The stock market soared on the news of yet another potential thaw in the tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 400 points, or nearly 1.7%, in morning trade Tuesday.

Apple Inc. surged more than 4.5% on news that smartphones, including its iPhone would be spared until at least December from the proposed tariffs.

The reprieve is the second break the Trump administration has granted Apple. The company last year dodged duties on its smartwatches and wireless earbuds after the U.S. excluded those gadgets from planned tariffs.

Related

Some Chinese manufacturers are dodging U.S. tariffs by rerouting goods to Vietnam and other countries. Here’s a look at why transshipment is on the rise, and how U.S. customs officials are struggling to stamp out the practice. Video and Photo composite: Crystal Tai

The move is the latest seesawing in the talks between Washington and Beijing. The tariffs in question—on roughly $300 billion in goods—were first announced in May following a breakdown in U.S.-China talks. They would have come atop the roughly $250 billion in goods from China already facing tariffs, and would result in nearly every item imported from China facing a duty.

Then, President Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping reached a truce at a summit in Osaka, Japan, in late June and these tariffs were placed on hold.

But by late July, the Trump administration blamed China for not moving quickly enough to purchase agricultural goods, a move that China said it hadn’t agreed to in the first place. It was after those talks in late July that the Trump administration said it would impose this round of tariffs on Sept. 1.

Now a substantial part of those tariffs is delayed.

The USTR also said that it would have an exclusion process for the newest round of tariffs, meaning that individual companies will have the ability to avoid the duties if they successfully make the case that their business would be unduly harmed.

Write to Josh Zumbrun at Josh.Zumbrun@wsj.com

Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-will-delay-some-tariffs-against-china-11565704420

2019-08-13 14:46:00Z
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Flights canceled in more Hong Kong airport chaos - CNN

Check-in boards showing canceled flights at Hong Kong airport on August 13, 2019.
Check-in boards showing canceled flights at Hong Kong airport on August 13, 2019. Joshua Berlinger/CNN

It’s no surprise that passengers are confused.

Despite the airport suspending all check-ins, some flights appear to still be going ahead, albeit with delays.

At the in-town check-in on Hong Kong Island, many passengers are staring at the flight departure boards, where only some of the flights showed up as being canceled. On the airport’s website, there are still outgoing flights that appear to be going ahead Tuesday night. 

Like at the airport, in-town check in is closed — but passengers are still able to travel on the Airport Express.

And different airlines are giving different advice. On its website, HK Express says passengers should check the latest flight information, and advises that flights may even leave earlier than scheduled. 

Hong Kong Airlines said that check-in services at the airport have been suspended until further notice and said it was "monitoring the situation closely and may make adjustments to our flights at short notice."

Air Asia said it was also "closely monitoring the situation in Hong Kong" and "strongly advised" passengers to check your flight status "from time to time."

And China Airlines said that "due to airport operation, partially flights to/from Hong Kong International Airport have been cancelled on 12AUG and 13AUG."

Cathay Pacific, meanwhile, has a message on its website urging customers not to travel to the airport and to postpone non-essential travel on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/hong-kong-protests-airport-chaos-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-08-13 13:13:00Z
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Flights canceled in more Hong Kong airport chaos - CNN

Flight attendants walk past a display board covered with memos and posters at Hong Kong's international airport on Tuesday.
Flight attendants walk past a display board covered with memos and posters at Hong Kong's international airport on Tuesday. Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images

The latest showdown at Hong Kong's international airport is extremely concerning for businesses, says Davide De Rosa, chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

Prior to this week's disruptions, companies were already worried that the protests would tarnish Hong Kong's image as a global financial hub and a favored gateway to China.

Now that demonstrations appear to be blocking operations at the airport, "this particular action is having [an] echo all over the world," said De Rosa.

"It just simply doesn’t look good ... It's a very worrying situation for the businesses, or for the companies doing business in Hong Kong, and then for Hong Kong itself," he told CNN on Tuesday.

It doesn’t look like a situation that can resolved soon. I think it looks like a longer situation than expected.” 

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https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/hong-kong-protests-airport-chaos-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-08-13 12:24:00Z
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Sydney stabbing attack in Australia by suspect with history of mental health issues today - Live updates - CBS News

Sydney -- Australian police and witnesses said a knife-wielding man yelling "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," attempted to stab several people in downtown Sydney on Tuesday before being arrested. At least one woman was brought to a hospital.

Police said later that "all the evidence points to" a man with mental health issues lashing out, but they would not rule out any potential motives as the investigation was still at an early stage. Given the information they had, however, they said the incident was not being classed as terrorism and that the suspect was believed to have acted alone.

Witnesses say the man, wielding a long knife, tried to stab multiple people near a busy intersection. New South Wales state police said in a statement that the man was caught and the woman was in stable condition.

Trending News

Not far away, the body of a woman believed to have been an acquaintance of the detained suspect was found in a home.

A witness told reporters the man was screaming comments about religion before yelling to police that he wanted to be shot. Police said he used the Arabic phrase "Allahu akbar." However, police later said the man also had in his possession a thumbnail USB drive containing information related to white supremacy. 

Asked by a reporter whether the conflicting religious references suggested to him a mental health problem at the root of the crime, New South Wales Police Commissioner Michael Fuller said, "certainly all the evidence points to that" at this stage of the investigation.

The incident brought the central business district of Australia's biggest city to an early afternoon standstill, the Reuters news service reports.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison praised members of the public who helped subdue the suspect during the attack.

Reuters quotes Police Superintendent Gavin Wood as telling reporters in Sydney the woman was stabbed in the back but her wounds weren't life-threatening and that the attack on her seemed to be unprovoked.

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sydney-australia-stabbing-spree-man-yelling-god-is-great-arabic-today-2019-08-13/

2019-08-13 08:27:00Z
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Man arrested after woman stabbed in Sydney CBD: Police - CNA

SYDNEY: A woman was taken to hospital after she was stabbed in downtown Sydney on Tuesday (Aug 13) in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack.

A man has been taken into custody.

The unidentified man had also tried unsuccessfully to stab other people, police said, in an incident that brought the central business district in Australia's largest city to a standstill in the early afternoon.

Images broadcast by Australian media showed a man jumping on the roof of a car brandishing a knife.

The man fell to the ground when the car moved and was confronted by a person holding a chair, a video showed.

Other footage showed the man pinned to the ground by several people holding two chairs and a milk crate on top of him. 

"About 2pm, emergency services responded following reports a man was walking along York Street, Sydney, armed with a knife," New South Wales (NSW) Police Force said in a Facebook post.

"As police made their way to the location, there were multiple reports the man had stabbed someone near the corner of King and Clarence Streets."

It added: "Police and NSW Ambulance paramedics located a woman inside a hotel, who had a stab wound."

Police said the woman was in a stable condition and there were no immediate reports of other injuries, despite "a number of attempted stabbings by the same offender".

Eyewitness Megan Hayley told AFP she saw a man in his 20s or 30s brandishing a large kitchen knife and chasing several people though the busy central business district shortly after lunchtime.

"Five or six others were chasing him behind, trying to stop him, they caught him and restrained him" in front of two popular cafes in the heart of the city, she said.

Edward Wong, 24, who also witnessed the attack, said the man "looked like he had blood on his chin and chest".

Police hailed the bravery of onlookers who stepped in and pinned the man down.

"To approach a person ... with clear evidence of a stabbing previously, these people are heroes," police spokesman superintendent Gavin Wood said.

Police said the suspect was acting alone, but had not yet determined a motive.

"It would appear at this stage it is unprovoked but we are keeping a very open mind as we move forward," the spokesman said.

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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/sydney-police-respond-to-incident-in-cbd-reports-11804550

2019-08-13 06:42:11Z
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Senin, 12 Agustus 2019

Analysis: China sees 'signs of terrorism' in Hong Kong protests - Al Jazeera English

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qax13rfeulY

2019-08-12 14:31:49Z
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