International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Amid growing international criticism over the wildfires raging through the Amazon, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday admitted farmers could be illegally setting the rainforest ablaze but told foreign powers not to interfere. French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary General António Guterres both took to Twitter to express concern
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Thousands of chanting Hong Kong protesters joined peaceful “Baltic Chain” links of hands on Friday, with almost three months of anti-government demonstrations showing no sign of let-up across the Chinese-ruled territory. Demonstrators, some masked, some using hand wipes to stay clean, linked hands across different districts as others held up banners
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A major bank warned on Wednesday that weeks of protests in Hong Kong could hit the economies of the Chinese-ruled city and mainland China itself as demonstrators prepared a sit-in at a subway and site of a mid-summer mob attack. Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia Ltd (BEA) posted a 75%
BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese national working at Britain’s Hong Kong consulate has been detained in China’s border city of Shenzhen for violating the law, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday, likely worsening already strained ties between Beijing and London. Britain has said it is “extremely concerned” by reports that the staff member at
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday she hoped a peaceful weekend anti-government protest was the start of an effort to restore peace and that the government would talk to peaceful protesters and tackle complaints against police. Hundreds of thousands of protesters rallied peacefully in the Chinese-ruled city in torrential
“Get those foreign agents outta town”, roars a music video by a patriotic Chinese rap group, one of a slew of creative efforts by Beijing attacking Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement as violent and spurred on by overseas governments. The rap video, overlaid with clips of protesters clashing with police and breaking into Hong Kong’s legislative
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong is gearing up for more protests this week after hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators braved heavy rain to rally peacefully on Sunday, marking a change to what have often been violent clashes. Sunday’s turnout of an estimated 1.7 million, according to the rally’s organizer, showed that the movement
HONG KONG (Reuters) – At least 100,000 anti-government protesters joined a mass rally in Hong Kong on Sunday, filling major thoroughfares in heavy rain in the eleventh week of what have been often violent demonstrations in the Asian financial hub. Sunday’s turnout showed that the movement still has broad-based support despite the ugly scenes witnessed
Hong Kong democracy activists are hoping to get out a huge crowd later Sunday in a bid to show the city’s leaders that their protest movement remains defiant despite increasingly stark warnings from Beijing. Ten weeks of demonstrations have plunged the international finance hub into crisis and communist-ruled mainland China has taken an increasingly hardline
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Thousands of Hong Kongers including many teachers took part in more anti-government rallies on Saturday, braving thunderstorms to march past shops shuttered due to growing concern that police could adopt tougher tactics to drive activists from the streets. Following an escalation in violence over the past few days, the rallies this
HONG KONG (Reuters) – French “spiderman” climber Alain Robert scaled a 68-storey skyscraper in Hong Kong on Friday to hoist a flag symbolizing reconciliation between China and the territory as weeks of escalating pro-democracy protests show no signs of abating. Using his bare hands and without a harness, Robert clambered up Cheung Kong Center located
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong braced for more mass protests over the weekend, even as China warned it could use its power to quell demonstrations and U.S. President Donald Trump urged his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to meet with the protesters to defuse weeks of tensions. Hundreds of China’s People’s Armed Police (PAP) on
