Biodun.BBC: U.S. State Department

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Tuesday, February 11, 2020

ANALYSIS: U.S. evacuees freed from coronavirus quarantine, officials fear discrimination

February 12, 2020 01H:22 GMT/ZULU

by Kathy DiNuzzo and Biodun Iginla, BBC and Reuters News Analysts, Los Angeles

Nearly 200 people evacuated from the China coronavirus outbreak were released from quarantine in California on Tuesday with officials urging Americans not to shun them, or workers who helped them, after both groups faced discrimination.

FILE PHOTO: The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China, is seen in an illustration released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. January 29, 2020. Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM/CDC/Handout via REUTERS.

The 195 U.S. citizens, mostly U.S. State Department employees and their families, underwent the United States’ first mandatory quarantine since 1963 after they were evacuated from the coronavirus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan.

They were flown by government-chartered cargo jet on Jan. 29 to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County about 60 miles (97 km) east of Los Angeles where they were in quarantine for 14-days - the outer limit of the virus’ possible incubation period.

None tested positive for coronavirus, but their arrival stoked unfounded fears in the local community that they or base personnel would spread the disease, Riverside County public health officer Cameron Kaiser told a press conference.

“They don’t need additional tests, they don’t need to be shunned, they don’t have novel coronavirus,” Kaiser told reporters after his department published a photo of the former patients throwing away their masks in a quarantine graduation ceremony.

The fast-spreading virus has killed more than 1,000 people in China, where there have been nearly 43,000 cases. There have been another 319 confirmed cases in 24 other countries, including 13 in the United States.

Over 800 people have been evacuated from Wuhan on six U.S. evacuation flights since Jan. 28. Hundreds have been quarantined on air bases in California, Texas and Nebraska, according to the U.S. State Department.

The March air base group was limited to a fenced quarantine area where only official medical staff were allowed to enter.

Rear Admiral Nancy Knight, who is running the quarantine operation, said base personnel had been refused housing in the local community due to fears they would spread coronavirus and their children had suffered discrimination at school.

She said neither her staff nor evacuees posed a health risk to the public.

“They have been watched more closely than anyone in the United States at this time,” Knight said of the evacuees.

The base has held three commercial airline passengers taken into mandatory quarantine after screening at Los Angeles International Airport, Knight said. One of these three travelers has been released after completing a 14-day quarantine period, she said.

The United States has also authorized the voluntary departure of U.S. government employees and their relatives from Hong Kong, the State Department said on Tuesday.

The authorization was made “out of an abundance of caution related to uncertainties associated” with the disease, according to a department representative.

Thursday, August 8, 2019

ANALYSIS: Hong Kong is facing its worst crisis since the Handover

August 8, 2019 11H:10 GMT/ZULU

by Xian Wan and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters News Analysts, Hong Kong

HONG KONG - Hong Kong is facing its worst crisis since it returned to China from British rule in 1997, the head of China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office said on Wednesday amid more anti-government protests in the Asian financial hub.

People aim laser pointers at the facade of the Hong Kong Space Museum during a flash mob staged to denounce the authorities' claim that laser pointers were offensive weapons in Hong Kong, China, August 7, 2019. Picture taken with a slow shutter speed. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

“Hong Kong’s crisis ... has continued for 60 days, and is getting worse and worse,” Zhang Xiaoming, one of the most senior Chinese officials overseeing Hong Kong affairs, said during a meeting in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

“Violent activities are intensifying and the impact on society is spreading wider. It can be said that Hong Kong is now facing the most severe situation since its handover,” he said.

Hong Kong has seen months of sometimes violent protests that began with opposition to a now-suspended extradition law and which have evolved into a direct challenge to the government of embattled leader Carrie Lam and calls for full democracy.

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Hong Kong’s protests pose a major challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping who is grappling with a trade war with the United States and a slowing economy.

Zhang held a forum on Wednesday to discuss the political crisis in Hong Kong which included Hong Kong delegates to China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress and China’s main consultative body, the CPPCC. No opposition democratic figures or protest representatives were invited.

Speaking after the meeting, several attendees said Zhang cited speeches by former Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in 1984 and 1987 in which he said if “turmoil” occurs in Hong Kong, “the central government must intervene”.

No specific mention, however, was made of deploying the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which has a garrison in Hong Kong, to quell the unrest, with Zhang cited as saying Beijing remained confident in the Hong Kong government and local police.

“We note with concern the Chinese government’s statements,” a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said, without citing which of the comments Washington considered problematic.

“We urge Beijing to adhere to its commitments in the Sino-British Joint Declaration to allow Hong Kong to exercise a high degree of autonomy,” the spokeswoman said.” We urge all sides to exercise restraint and refrain from violence.”

Elsie Leung, a former justice secretary, said she felt that even if the PLA were deployed it would not conflict with Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” by which it has been governed since 1997. “One country, two systems would continue,” she said.

In China’s sharpest rebuke yet of the protesters, the government warned them on Tuesday not to “play with fire” and called on Hong Kong citizens to protect their homeland.

The Global Times, a Chinese tabloid published by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily, showed a video on its official Twitter feed of thousands of police officers taking part in an anti-riot training drill in Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong.

The protests have drawn millions onto the streets in opposition to an extradition bill that would see suspects tried in mainland courts controlled by the Communist Party. Many feared it would undermine Hong Kong’s independent judiciary and was another step towards full mainland control of Hong Kong.

Several thousand Hong Kong lawyers dressed in black, marched in silence on Wednesday to call on the government to safeguard the independence of the city’s department of justice.

The city’s lawyers fear the justice department’s prosecutions of arrested protesters are taking on an increasingly political slant with over 500 arrests, many charged with rioting, an offence that carries a 10-year jail term.

A female lawyer who declined to be named said she was marching “to make sure the government knows that within the legal sector, we will not allow judicial independence to be compromised by politics or pressure from the Chinese government”.

A group of unidentified government prosecutors published an open letter last week accusing Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng of putting politics above legal principles.

Slideshow (10 Images)

“All we want is justice and all we want is consistency,” said prominent lawyer Kevin Yam, who also protested. “We don’t want to see thugs get away while the best of our youth get prosecuted. We uphold the rule of law and we ask for justice.”

Protesters are demanding a complete withdrawal of the extradition bill, an independent inquiry into the crisis, an investigation into what they say is excessive use of force by police, and for Hong Kong leader Lam to step down.

A brazen attack by an armed mob on protesters at a train station in Yuen Long on the night of July 21 that left 45 people injured, has so far seen 23 people arrested for the relatively light charge of unlawful assembly. Protesters say police were slow to protect them.

Police fired tear gas in Sham Shui Po late on Tuesday, as protesters gathered outside a police station to demand the release of Keith Fong, a student union leader from Baptist University, who they say was unlawfully arrested by several plain-clothes police for buying laser pointers on the grounds that he possessed offensive weapons.

Protesters have sometimes aimed lasers, which are widely available in shops, at police during recent clashes.

BREAKING AND UPDATE: US upgrades Hong Kong travel warning as airport protest planned

Date created : 08/08/2019 - 09:03 GMT/ZULU

The demonstrations have evolved into a wider movement for democratic reform that has seriously disrupted the city with sometimes violent protests — AFP/File

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by Xian Wan and Biodun Iginla, France24

Washington on Thursday warned US citizens to "exercise increased caution" when travelling to Hong Kong, as protesters announced three days of new demonstrations at the city's airport.

The financial hub has been rocked by two months of unrest, initially triggered by opposition to a planned law that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.

The demonstrations have evolved into a wider movement for democratic reform that has seriously disrupted the city with sometimes violent protests.

On Thursday, the US State Department warned citizens to "exercise increased caution," upgrading its previous advice to "exercise normal precautions".

The warning notes that demonstrations in the city have been mostly peaceful "but some have turned confrontational or resulted in violent clashes."

"These demonstrations, which can take place with little or no notice, are likely to continue," the advice adds.

The US warning comes after countries including Australia, Britain, Ireland, Singapore and Japan issued heightened travel warnings for Hong Kong.

Images of clashes between masked protesters and police firing tear gas in Hong Kong's streets have made global headlines, and on Tuesday China gave its sternest warning yet to the pro-democracy demonstrators.

But the protests are expected to continue, with demonstrators planning three days of rallies at the city's airport from Friday afternoon.

On Monday, a general strike called by protesters saw more than 160 flights cancelled and transport in the city paralysed.

Hong Kong's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the planned airport rallies.

On July 26, protesters gathered at the airport for a demonstration, sharing their message with tourists arriving at the busy transport hub. The protest was peaceful and did not interrupt flights.

But Cathay Pacific has seen bookings drop as the crisis continues in Hong Kong, chairman John Slosar warned Wednesday.

"The protests in Hong Kong reduced inbound passenger traffic in July and are adversely impacting forward bookings," he said.

Sunday, July 14, 2019

BREAKING: New leak claims Trump scrapped Iran nuclear deal 'to spite Obama'

by Rachel Rubin and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Washington

Donald Trump abandoned the Iran nuclear deal to spite Barack Obama, according to a leaked memo written by the UK's former ambassador in the US.

Sir Kim Darroch described the move as an act of "diplomatic vandalism", according to the Mail on Sunday.

The paper says the memo was written after the then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appealed to the US in 2018 to stick with the nuclear deal.

The latest leak came despite the Met Police warning against publication.

The first memos criticising President Trump's administration, which emerged a week ago, prompted a furious reaction from the US president and resulted in Sir Kim resigning from his role.

What have we learnt from the latest leak?

The Mail on Sunday reports that Sir Kim wrote to Mr Johnson informing him Republican President Trump appeared to be abandoning the nuclear deal for "personality reasons" - because the pact had been agreed by his Democrat predecessor, Barack Obama.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear activities in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.

However, President Trump said he did not think that the deal went far enough in curtailing Iran's nuclear ambitions and reinstated US sanctions after withdrawing from the deal in May 2018.

The British ambassador's memo is said to have highlighted splits amongst US presidential advisors; he wrote that the White House did not have a "day-to-day" strategy of how to proceed following withdrawal from the deal.

President Donald Trump and Sir Kim Darroch — Image captionMr Trump had said we would "no longer deal with" Sir Kim Darroch

According to the paper, in his memo to Mr Johnson, Sir Kim wrote: "The outcome illustrated the paradox of this White House: you got exceptional access, seeing everyone short of the president; but on the substance, the administration is set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism, seemingly for ideological and personality reasons - it was Obama's deal.

"Moreover, they can't articulate any 'day-after' strategy; and contacts with State Department this morning suggest no sort of plan for reaching out to partners and allies, whether in Europe or the region."

Why did the police warn the media?

Scotland Yard's Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu warned media organisations against publishing leaked government documents, saying it "could be a criminal matter".

His comments came as a criminal investigation was launched into the initial leak of Sir Kim's emails.

The warning prompted a backlash from newspaper editors and MPs on Saturday, defending the freedom of the press.

The Met Police then released a second statement making clear journalists who released further details of the former ambassador's communications could be in breach of the Official Secrets Act, in which case there is no public interest defence in law.

Media captionTrump: 'I wish the British ambassador well'

What is the Mail on Sunday's defence?

The newspaper said it was in the public interest to publish the memos, arguing it revealed "important information" on the UK's attempts to stop President Trump abandoning the Iran nuclear deal.

A spokesman for the paper said: "What could be more in the public interest than a better understanding of how this position was reached, which may have serious consequences for world peace?"

In response, a Foreign Office spokesman called it a "totally unacceptable leak" of "sensitive material" and called for the source of the leak to "face the consequences of their actions".

He added that it was "not news" that the UK and US differ in their approach to preventing Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.