Hong Kong government suspends divisive extradition bill
Hong Kong: Hong Kong's embattled leader on Saturday said a divisive bill that would allow extraditions to China would be "suspended" in a major climbdown from her government after a week of unprecedented protests.
The city's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam has come under huge pressure to abandon the controversial legislation, including from her own political allies and advisers.
"The government has decided to suspend the legislative amendment exercise, restart our communication with all sectors of society, do more... work and listen to different views of society," Lam told reporters Saturday.
"We have no intention to set a deadline for this work and promise to report to and consult members of the legislative council panel on security before we decide on the next step forward." The international finance hub was rocked by the worst political violence since its 1997 handover to China on Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters were dispersed by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
As criticism mounted, signs also emerged of a growing discomfort among Communist Party leaders in Beijing, and Lam held her press conference Saturday at the same government complex that was besieged by protesters earlier in the week.
The South China Morning Post said Lam held an emergency meeting on Friday night with her advisers while Chinese officials were also meeting in the nearby city of Shenzhen to map a way out of the impasse.
Tensions were running high with protest organisers planning another mass rally on Sunday.
Lam, who is appointed by a committee stacked with Beijing loyalists, had previously refused to consider abandoning the bill, despite months of criticism from business and legal bodies -- and a record breaking rally on Sunday where organisers said more than one million protesters hit the streets.
"I feel deep sorrow and regret that the deficiencies in our work and various other factors have stirred up substantial controversies and disputes in society following the relatively calm periods of the past two years," Lam said.
On Friday she found herself facing growing calls from within her own political camp to reverse course and tamp down spiralling public anger -- including from hardline pro-Beijing lawmakers.
"Shouldn't (we) cool the citizens down? I think to postpone it for a little bit is not a bad thing. At this moment, the government should self-examine," Ann Chiang, a hardcore pro-Beijing lawmaker, told i-Cable News.
But others have warned against Lam bending to the protesters.
"If the government caves in to violence and external influences, in the long run that would also make Hong Kong ungovernable," pro-Beijing lawmaker Regina Ip told reporters.
Opposition to the extradition bill has united an unusually wide cross section of Hong Kong. Protest organisers had been calling for a full withdrawal of the bill, not a postponement. James To, a lawmaker from the city's pan-democrat camp, called on Lam to step down.
"The credibility of our chief executive has already been written off, it's a kind of government that cannot have any credibility to rule anymore," he told reporters Friday.
Beijing has vocally supported the bill and earlier this week threw its full support behind the Lam administration, calling protesters "rioters".
But it has since sought to distance itself as public anger spiralled.
"The central government gave no instruction, no order about the... amendment," Lu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to Britain, told the BBC.
"This amendment was initiated by the Hong Kong government." On Friday night, thousands of parents gathered in a park in the heart of the city's commercial district to condemn the use of rubber bullets and tear gas against predominantly young protesters on Wednesday.
Y Chan, a 50-year-old mother of two, said she was outraged watching the scenes unfold.
"It's calling for all mothers who had enough already of what happened the other day," she told AFP. "My kids were out there also that day. And although I want them to be safe, want them to be at home, but this is their home. They are defending it."
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Kerala to receive heavy rains; IMD issues red alert in some districts for May 19, 20
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday predicted extremely heavy rainfall in Kerala in the coming days and issued a red alert in some districts of the state for May 19 and 20.
The IMD issued the red alert in Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Idukki districts of the state for May 19 and 20.
Additionally, an orange alert was issued for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, and Ernakulam for those two days.
The weather department further issued an orange alert in nine districts for May 21 and said some of them were likely to receive rains similar to that of a red alert.
It also predicted that thunderstorms with lightning, accompanied by gusty winds, were very likely to occur at one or two places in Kerala between May 19 and 22.
For Saturday, it issued an orange alert in Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Malappuram districts.
A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rain of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while an orange alert means very heavy rain (6 cm to 20 cm). A yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 to 11 cm.
The IMD on Thursday had predicted very heavy rainfall in the state between May 18 and 20 due to the likely prevalence of strong westerly and south westerly winds in the region.
