HONG Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has announced the government will formally withdraw an extradition bill that sparked months of demonstrations.
The move bows to one of the protesters’ demands in the hope of ending the increasingly violent unrest.
But a pro-government politician warned that the bill’s withdrawal was not enough to end the protests, which have increasingly focused on greater democracy and demands for Lam’s resignation.
The bill would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China for trials.
Lam said it was clear that public frustration has gone far beyond the bill and that her government will seek a dialogue with aggrieved groups to “address the discontent in society and to look for solutions”.
“Let’s replace conflicts with conversations,” she said.
MEANWHILE, US defence secretary Mark Esper has approved the use of $3.6 billion in funding from military construction projects to build 175 miles of President Donald Trump’s wall along the Mexican border.
Pentagon officials would not say which 127 projects would be affected, but said details would be available after members of Congress were notified.
The decision fuels what has been a persistent controversy between Trump and Congress. It sets up a difficult debate for politicians who refused earlier this year to approve nearly $6bn for the wall, but must now decide if they will refund the projects that are being used to provide the money.
ELSEWHERE, the owner of the British-flagged Stena Impero oil tanker held in the Persian Gulf by Iran has said he was told by Iranian authorities that seven of the 23-member crew will be released.
Erik Hanell, chief executive of the Swedish shipping group Stena Bulk that owns the ship, said it was not immediately clear when they would be freed.
His confirmation came shortly after Iran’s foreign ministry said yesterday that seven crew members would be freed.
FINALLY, Spanish police have found a woman’s body in a mountainous area near Madrid where officers have been searching for former alpine ski racer and Olympic medallist Blanca Fernandez Ochoa.
Fernandez won a bronze skiing for Spain at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, becoming the country’s first female Winter Olympic medallist.
The 56-year-old was last spotted on surveillance video at a shopping centre on August 24.
A Civil Guard spokesman said tracking dogs located the body yesterday and authorities will now work to identify it.
More than 200 police officers on foot and horseback, firefighters, forest rangers and hundreds of volunteers aided the search.
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