Not surprisingly, this is a view also held by senior officials in both Hong Kong and Beijing.
Donald Tsang, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s newly reappointed – and Beijing-backed – chief executive certainly says so.
On the Hong Kong government’s website he declares: “Hong Kong people are running Hong Kong with the high degree of autonomy that was promised.”
And Beijing is even more emphatic on that point.
When Britain and China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, laying out handover terms, Beijing promised that Hong Kong’s society and economy would remain unchanged.
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Blog： Protests
Blog： Hong Kong’s new activists march on
Within the past year, she has chained herself to a railing, directed angry sit-ins and sat through all-night candlelit vigils.
She is part of a new generation of protesters and marchers appearing in Hong Kong.
While people living here do not have much of a vote, they have certainly found a voice and are challenging the government at every opportunity.
This was not always the case.
“Hong Kong people had a burden from Chinese culture. We found it very difficult to express ourselves,” said Ho.
“But I feel a change now. People are more confident about speaking out and we are more willing to fight for our place
Blog：HK ‘to elect its leader by 2017′
Donald Tsang said the announcement was a “most important step” for the future of the former British colony, which became part of China in 1997.
The move comes after Mr Tsang submitted a report requesting elections by 2012.
Hong Kong’s leader is chosen currently by an 800-member committee. Half the 60-seat Legislative Council is elected.
The region is governed under the principle of “one country, two systems”, under which China has agreed to give it a high degree of autonomy and to preserve its economic and social systems for 50 years from the date of the handover.
Its constitution provides for the development of universal suffrage as the “ultimate aim”, but is vague about the date
‘ Blog：Scary moments’
An official told the BBC while the hijacking was taking place that President Calderon had been on his way to the airport.
Mexican media broadcast live images of the drama unfolding as the plane sat at the end of the runway and passengers were seen disembarking and being led away.
Passenger Rocio Garcia told the Televisa TV network that the crew announced the plane was being hijacked when it landed in Mexico City.
“These were scary moments,” she said.
“My whole life flashed before me,” said another passenger, Maria Fernanda Vega.
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Blog: Barriers breached
Mr Griffin accused the protesters of “attacking the rights of millions of people to listen to what I’ve got to say and listen to me being called to account by other politicians”.
But Weyman Bennett from Unite Against Fascism accused the BBC of “rolling out the red carpet” to Mr Griffin and said his appearance on the flagship discussion programme “will lead to the growth of a fascist party” and promote violence against ethnic minorities.
About 25 people managed to get through the gates and run towards the BBC building when security guards opened them to let in a car. A few minutes later they were led, dragged or carried back outside.
There were also protests outside BBC buildings in Bristol, Liverpool, Nottingham, Glasgow and Belfast.
Earlier on Thursday, BBC director general Mark Thompson said it was up to the government to ban the BNP from the airwaves if it felt Mr Griffin should not be allowed to take part in Question Time.
Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, who had tried to stop the broadcast, said: “The BBC should be ashamed of single-handedly doing a racist, fascist party the biggest favour in its grubby history.”
But Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was a matter for the corporation and he did not want to interfere with it, while Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw said that most of the cabinet did not share Mr Hain’s view.
BBC Deputy Director General Mark Byford said it had been “appropriate” to invite Mr Griffin to appear given the support the BNP received in the last European elections when it gained its first Euro MPs.
He said: “He was scrutinised and challenged along with the other panellists heavily by the audience, that was right in our view.
“It would have been quite wrong for the BBC to have said ‘yes, you are allowed to stand in elections, yes you have a level of support that now meets the threshold but the BBC doesn’t think that you should be on’.
“We have no views on the politics or the political leaders what we do hold absolutely dear is that due impartiality is a value we uphold and that’s why Mr Griffin was on tonight.”
Blog: World leaders hail Obama triumph
World leaders have hailed the election of Senator Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown called Tuesday’s poll historic and said he and Mr Obama “share many values”.
Chinese President Hu Jintao said he looked forward to strengthening dialogue. France’s Nicolas Sarkozy said the poll had raised “enormous hope”.
Outgoing US President George W Bush said Mr Obama could count on “complete co-operation” during the transition.
The president-elect will take over the presidency in January.
Democratic officials quoted by the Associated Press news agency say Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel has been offered the job of Mr Obama’s White House chief-of-staff.
It is not known whether Mr Emanuel – a former aide in President Bill Clinton’s administration – has accepted.
Besides winning the presidency, the Democrats tightened their grip on Congress.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed both Mr Obama’s victory and her party’s gains, saying the American people had spoken out “loudly and clearly” for change.
Blog: Executive privilege
But at the same time, he and his fellow executives profited hugely.
According to the New York Times, Mr Winnick sold shares in Global Crossing worth $734m over the past couple of years, and took annual salary and bonus payments worth close to $2m.
Mr Winnick’s prosperity was mirrored – albeit on a less opulent scale – by generous pay, share and options packages for other top staff, including a $10m joining bonus for Robert Annunziata, a chief executive who joined in 1999 and lasted just a year.
Again, an echo of Enron, where senior executives were paid well and sold huge parcels of shares, while employees were left with shrivelled or vanished pension plans
The company’s fate now seems to lie with Hutchison Whampoa and Singapore Technologies Telemedia, which are still in talks over the terms of their $750m rescue package.
The two firms are owed a combined $12.4bn by Global Crossing, and so have an incentive to keep it going in some cash-generating form.
Whether that means leaving it broadly untouched, merging it into their own telecoms holdings, or breaking it up and selling the assets – worth more than $25bn – remains to be seen.
Even less certain is the outcome of the various probes into the firm, which could in theory result in criminal sanctions.
Compared with the abyss facing large parts of Enron, Global Crossing’s prospects seem bright.
But for the firm’s shareholders and staff – many of whom stand to lose their jobs as restructuring proceeds – that is slim compensation.
Blog: Enron fraud charge for British bankers
The US Department of Justice has charged three British bankers with involvement in a fraudulent investment scheme involving failed energy giant Enron. The three men worked for National Westminster Bank and allegedly made secret investments in an Enron front company, diverting proceeds amounting to $7.3m.
Enron filed for bankruptcy last December, after a collapse which has led to a series of investigations and a guilty verdict against Andersen, the company’s auditor, for obstructing justice by shredding evidence relating to Enron’s accounts.
These charges are the first which directly involve Enron, and sources close to the investigation speculate that the government hopes the three bankers might provide vital evidence against senior Enron officials, in return for clemency in their own case.
“As these charges demonstrate, our investigation into the collapse of Enron Corporation is active and ongoing,” said Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson.
Greenwich NatWest is now part of Royal Bank of Scotland and a spokesman said: “Naturally, we will monitor the criminal proceedings carefully and will continue to co-operate with the with the appropriate authorities involved in the Enron investigation.”
