Archives for the unexplained (AFU) preserves a rich world-wide heritage of paper archives, book libraries, recordings, e-files, objects and other materials related to all kinds of unexplained phenomena. Our aim is to continously develop an independent archive foundation for research by generations to come.

Our present system of facilities has a total shelf capacity of more than 2 kilometers. After cataloguing of recent donations the library will include more than 20.000 titles/editions about anomalistic phenomena of all kinds.

The core of our collections has come, and keep coming, from ‘ufologists’ – people who are specialized in the study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). That is why we have built an international reputation (1973-2013) as the Archives for UFO research, under the acronym AFU.

By decision of the AFU board, in April 2013, we took on the new name Archives for the unexplained, but still continue under the old, well known acronym AFU.

http://www.afu.se/afu2/

The Flying Saucers Are Real Donald E Keyhoe 1950

THE CLASSIC THAT STARTED IT ALL

The Flying Saucers Are Real

by Keyhoe, Donald E. (Donald Edward), 1897-1988

Publication date 1950Usage Public Domain Mark 1.0]]Topics UFOs, UFO, Unidentified Flying Objects, Paranormal, Art Bell, Conspiracy TheoryCollection folkscanomy; additional_collectionsLanguage English

Seminal 1950 Ufology text, which documents encounters between UFOs and the U.S. Air Force 1947-1950.

Keyhoe was a Major in the Marine Air Corps.

Mystic Magazine [#7, December 1954] (35¢, 132pp, digest)

https://archive.org/details/mysticmagazinev01n07195412palmerpythagorasfsa/page/n3/mode/2up

Publication date 1954-12

Usage Public Domain Mark 1.0

Topics Pulps, Pulp Magazines, Paranormal, Occult, UFOs, Flying Saucers, Ray Palmer, Fire Walking, Harry Houdini

Collection pulpmagazinearchive; additional_collections

Language English

Mystic Magazine was primarily an occult non-fiction magazine which, in its early issues, was about half fiction and half articles. After the fourth issue the fiction was greatly reduced and appeared only sporadically after the seventh issue. Later issues contain articles by Richard S. Shaver that may be of interest to some collectors. The magazine settled firmly into a non-fiction format about the time that Palmer sold his interest in its chief competitor, Fate, and the title was changed to Search with the October 1956 issue. It was still running at the time of Palmer’s death in 1977.



CONTENTS:Mystic Magazine [#7, December 1954] (35¢, 132pp, digest)
fc. · [photo] · D. C. McGowan · cv
10 · The Exposer Exposed · Dr. W. D. Chesney · ts
20 · Extra-Terrestrial Visitor? · Miriam Teel Clarke · ts
40 · The Phantom Jeep · Bobette Gugliotta · ss
53 · Fire Walking · D. C. McGowan · ts
56 · The Golden Kitten · Charles Lee · ss
74 · God Is In The Mountain [Craig Barnes] · Peter Worth

THE RIGHT WAY TO DO WRONG
WRITINGS OF HARRY HOUDINI 

INTRODUCTION BY TELLER OF PENN AND TELLER
PUBLISHED 2012
https://archive.org/details/TheRightWayToDoWrongByHarryHoudini/page/n7/mode/2up


SPECIAL BONUS FEATURE

https://archive.org/details/MiracleMongersAndTheirMethodsByHarryHoudini/page/n5/mode/2up

Angry US protests for second night over police killing of black man

AFP / kerem yucelPolice fire pepper spray at protesters during a demonstration over the killing of George Floyd by a policeman outside the Third Police Precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 27, 2020

Demonstrators clashed with police, looted stores and set fires as a man was fatally shot during a second night of protests in the US city of Minneapolis Wednesday over the killing of a black man by a police officer.

Police fired tear gas and formed a human barricade to keep protesters from climbing a fence surrounding the Third Precinct, where the officers accused of killing George Floyd worked before they were fired on Tuesday.

They pushed protesters back as the crowd grew, a day after firing rubber bullets and more tear gas on thousands of demonstrators angered by the latest death of an African-American at the hands of US law enforcement.

Minnesota state Governor Tim Walz urged people to leave the area around the precinct where several fires were burning, warning of the "extremely dangerous situation" in a tweet late Wednesday.

Outrage has grown across the country at Floyd's death on Monday, fuelled in part by bystander cellphone video which shows him, handcuffed and in the custody of four white police officers, on the ground while one presses his knee into the victim's neck.

AFP / Kerem YucelProtesters clash with police during a demonstration outside the Third Police Precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 27, 2020 over the killing of George Floyd by a policeman

President Donald Trump in a tweet called Floyd's death "sad and tragic", and all four officers have been fired, as prosecutors said they had called in the FBI to help investigate the case.

Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo cautioned protestors Wednesday to remain peaceful.

But by 10:00 pm (0300 GMT Thursday) an auto parts store across from the precinct had been set alight and a nearby Target was being looted, according to US media.

Police continued to hold the crowds back from scaling a fence into the precinct's parking lot, where their cruisers contain guns.

As the violence escalated, with more businesses looted, a man was shot near the protests and later died, police said. A person has been arrested.

Protesters remained peaceful at two other locations in the city.

At the place where Floyd was first taken into custody, people chanted and carried placards and sent out bouquets were set out as tributes to Floyd.

AFP / Kerem YucelAn injured woman is carried by other protesters during clashes with police at a demonstration outside the Third Police Precinct on May 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota over the killing of George Floyd by a policeman

Calls for justice came from around the country.

"I would like those officers to be charged with murder, because that's exactly what they did," Bridgett Floyd, the victim's sister, said on NBC television.

"They murdered my brother.... They should be in jail for murder."

Protesters marched on downtown Los Angeles and briefly blocked the 101 Freeway.

Some demonstrators smashed the windows of two police highway patrol cruisers, clambering on the hood of one of the vehicles. One of the protesters was injured when they fell off the vehicle as it sped away.

Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said he could not understand why the officer who held his knee to Floyd's neck on a Minneapolis street until the 46-year-old restaurant worker went limp has not been arrested.

"Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail? If you had done it, or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now," Frey said.

- 'I can't breathe' -

Facebook/Darnella Frazier/AFP / Darnella FrazierA Minneapolis police officer holds his knee to the neck of George Floyd, who died in police custody.

The case was seen as the latest example of police brutality against African Americans, which gave rise six years ago to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Floyd had been detained on a minor charge of allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill to make a purchase at a convenience store.

In the video, policemen hold him to the ground while one presses his knee to Floyd's neck.

"Your knee in my neck. I can't breathe.... Mama. Mama," Floyd pleaded.

He grew silent and motionless, unable to move even as the officers told him to "get up and get in the car."

He was taken to hospital where he was later declared dead.

AFP / Kerem YucelA protester wearing a facemask holds up his hands during a demonstration outside the Third Police Precinct on May 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota over the killing of George Floyd by a policeman

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said the FBI needs to thoroughly investigate the case.

"It's a tragic reminder that this was not an isolated incident, but part of an engrained systemic cycle of injustice that still exists in this country," Biden said.

"We have to ensure that the Floyd family receive the justice they are entitled to."

Democratic Senator Kamala Harris called the policeman's using his knee on Floyd's neck "torture."

"This is not new, it has been going on a long time... what our communities have known for generations, which is discriminatory implementation and enforcement of the laws," she said.

"He was begging to be able to breathe," she said. "It was a public execution."

AFP / Kerem YucelTwo police officers stand on the roof of the Third Police Precinct holding a projectile launcher during a demonstration against the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 27, 2020

The protests evoked memories of riots in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 after a policeman shot dead an African American man suspected of robbery, and the case of New Yorker Eric Garner, who was detained by police for illegally selling cigarettes and filmed being held in an illegal chokehold that led to his death.

"How many more of these senseless excessive-force killings from the people who are supposed to protect us can we take in America?" said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who was retained by Floyd's family

Crump pointed out that the arrest involved a minor, non-violent crime, and there was no sign, as police initially claimed, that Floyd resisted arrest.

"There is no reason to apply this excessive fatal force," Crump said.

"That has to be the tipping point. Everybody deserves justice ... We can't have two justice systems, one for blacks and one for whites."

China approves plan to impose Hong Kong security law

AFP / ISAAC LAWRENCEThe latest unrest in Hong Kong comes days after China announced plans to impose a sweeping national security law on the city following last year's huge and often violent pro-democracy rallies

China's parliament approved plans Thursday to impose a security law on Hong Kong that has ratcheted up tensions with the US and sparked new protests over fears the city is losing its special freedoms.

The vote by the rubber-stamp National People's Congress (NPC) came hours after the United States revoked the special status conferred on Hong Kong, paving the way for the territory to be stripped of trading and economic privileges.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the status had been withdrawn because China was no longer honouring its handover agreement with Britain to allow Hong Kong a high level of autonomy.

"No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground," Pompeo said.

AFP / NICOLAS ASFOURIChinese President Xi Jinping votes on the plan to produce a law banning secession in Hong Kong

China made the security law a priority at its annual NPC session, after huge pro-democracy protests rocked the financial hub for seven months last year.

The law would punish secession, subversion of state power, terrorism and acts that endanger national security, as well as allow mainland security agencies to operate openly in Hong Kong.

On Thursday, the final day of the congress, delegates endorsed plans for the law with an almost unanimous vote and enthusiastic applause.

Li Zhanshu -- the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee which will now draft the law -- said the move was "in line with the fundamental interests of all Chinese people, including Hong Kong compatriots".

AFP / ANTHONY WALLACEHong Kong police have arrested thousands of people in demonstrations over the last year

Hong Kong's embattled leader, Carrie Lam, said she welcomed the resolution being passed.

As required in the resolution, Lam said she would submit regular reports to Beijing and "step up law enforcement and public education for safeguarding national security".

But the law has met fierce criticism.

"It's the end of Hong Kong... they are cutting off our souls, taking away the values which we've always embraced, values like human rights, democracy, rule of law," pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo told AFP.

POOL/AFP/File / NICHOLAS KAMMUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that China has clearly trampled on Hong Kong's autonomy

Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist, told AFP the security law "will kill Hong Kong's democratic movements".

NPC Standing Committee Vice Chairman Wang Chen said last week that Hong Kong's delays in implementing its own security law had forced the Chinese leadership to take action.

Hong Kong pro-Beijing politician Maria Tam told AFP this week that the planned law would allow mainland authorities to work with city police to investigate suspects.

- US action -

Under a law passed last year by the US Congress aimed at supporting Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, the US administration must certify that Hong Kong still enjoys the freedoms promised by Beijing when it negotiated with Britain to take back the colony.

AFP /Hong Kong protests

Washington's decision on Wednesday that Hong Kong does not enjoy those freedoms means it could lose trading privileges -- including lower tariffs than the mainland -- with the world's largest economy.

US President Donald Trump will ultimately decide which actions to take, said David Stilwell, the top State Department official for East Asia.

"The steps will be considered and they will be as targeted as possible to change behaviour," Stilwell told reporters.

He said the United States did not want to hurt the people of Hong Kong, adding: "This decision was made by the government in Beijing, and not by the US."

China's foreign ministry office in the financial hub said Thursday that the US revoking Hong Kong's special status was "the most barbaric, the most unreasonable and the most shameless".

- Anthem law -

Washington's move came after fresh protests broke out in Hong Kong on Wednesday over another controversial proposed law that criminalises insults to the national anthem.

Police surrounded fired pepper ball rounds at protesters and arrested more than 300 people, mostly for unlawful assembly.

"It's like a de facto curfew now," Nathan Law, a prominent pro-democracy advocate, told AFP.

"I think the government has to understand why people are really angry."

Under the "one country, two systems" model agreed before the city's return from Britain to China, Hong Kong is supposed to be guaranteed certain liberties until 2047 that are denied to those on the mainland.

The mini-constitution that has governed Hong Kong's affairs since the handover obliges the territory's authorities to enact national security laws.

But an effort to do so in 2003 was shelved after huge protests by Hong Kongers.

China is motivated by fear of a younger Hong Kong generation that "does not agree with the political system of the Communist Party," said Hua Po, an independent political commentator based in Beijing.

"If they lose control over Hong Kong, the impact on the Chinese mainland will be huge," Hua said.

India faces its worst locust swarm in nearly 30 years

The pests have destroyed over 50,000 hectares of cropland, putting further strain on the food supply in India as authorities battle to contain the coronavirus.



On Tuesday, Indian authorities sent out drones and tractors to track desert locusts and spray them with insecticides, in one of the worst locust swarms seen by the country in nearly 30 years. With about 50,000 hectares of cropland destroyed by locusts, India is facing its worst food shortages since 1993.

"Eight to 10 swarms, each measuring around a square kilometer, are active in parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh," K.L. Gurjar, the deputy director of India's Locust Warning Organization, told news agency AFP. The locusts have also made their way to other states of India including Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

On Monday, a swarm of locusts infested the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan, after traveling into India from Pakistan. Gurjar warned that the locusts could move towards the capital city of Delhi if wind speed and direction was favorable.


More than half of the 33 districts in Rajasthan were affected by the locusts

Why a locust swarm is alarming

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) desert locusts typically attack the western part of India and some parts of the state of Gujarat from June to November. However, the Ministry of Agriculture's Locust Warning Organization spotted them in India as early as April this year.

A swarm of 40 million locusts can eat as much food as 35,000 humans, according to FAO estimates. The current swarm has destroyed seasonal crops in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This will lead to lower production than usual and a rise in prices of foodstuff.

An agrarian crisis and subsequent food inflation will severely impede India's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of migrant workers have died from hunger after India suddenly imposed a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, leaving workers penniless. An agrarian crisis because of a locust swarm will further hamper relief efforts of the government.

Heavy rains and cyclones in the Indian Ocean are being cited by experts as reasons for increased breeding of locusts this year. The attack is also spread over a wider geography in India. The FAO has warned that the locust infestation will increase next month, when locusts breeding in East Africa reach India.

Other parts of the world affected by locusts

India isn't the only country attacked by a huge swarm of locusts this year. Pakistan,countries in East Africa, and Yemen have also faced the desert pests and their destruction. In February, Pakistan declared a national emergency because of locust attacks in the eastern part of the country. The pests damaged cotton, wheat, maize and other crops.

Earlier this month, the FAO said that it had made a headway in dealing with the locust invasion by saving 720,000 tons of cereal in 10 countries

Date 27.05.2020

Related Subjects India

Keywords India, locusts, crops, famine

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3coS


Historic swarm of locusts descends upon India, destroying cropsMay 27 (UPI) -- India is experiencing a historic swarm of locusts as the country also deals with the COVID-19 pandemic and sweltering heat.

Swarms of desert locusts have descended upon portions of the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya, Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, while alerts were issued in the capital city of Delhi warning the insects could soon arrive there.

India's Locust Warning Organization has said at least 10 swarms of up to 80 million locusts have made their way through India, destroying crops.

The organization said locust infestation is the worst the country has ever seen, coming before their usual migration from Pakistan between July and October and extending far beyond Rajasthan, where they have historically been centralized

Experts say that extreme heat in the nation, which has reached highs of 122 degrees, has contributed to the uncommonly large swarm.

"The outbreak started after warm waters in the western Indian Ocean in late 2019 fueled heavy amounts of rains over east Africa and the Arabian Peninsula," Dr. Roxy Mathew Koll, a senior scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, said. "These warm waters were caused by the phenomenon called the Indian Ocean Dipole -- with warmer than usual waters to its west and cooler waters to its east. Rising temperatures due to global warming amplified the dipole and made the western Indian Ocean particularly warm."

The swarms have destroyed about 123,500 acres of cropland in the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh state.

States, including Jaipur, have deployed drones to spray locusts in order to clear the areas of locusts.

"It has successfully contained the movement of locusts in an open area and on the foothills where it was not possible for the usual tractors to make it reach. A detailed assessment of its impact is being studied by the field officers," said Om Prakash, commissioner of the Jaipur state agriculture department.

The drones are attached with spray tanks that can disperse chemicals for 10 minutes before being refilled by a handler.

"The biggest advantage of the drone is that it can fly above the flying zone of the locusts giving the flexibility to the officials to carry out combat operation while they are flying. Earlier, the operations were restricted to when they are resting n a tree or on a crop," Prakesh said

SEE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/05/india-wilts-under-heatwave-as.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/05/data-analysis-how-east-africa-is.html


https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/05/covid-19-locusts-and-floods-east.html

Virus, heat wave and locusts form perfect storm in India

By EMILY SCHMALL

1 of 13
An Indian man selling earthen pots beneath a bridge drinks water in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, May 28, 2020. India faced scorching temperatures and the worst locust invasion in decades on Thursday as authorities prepared for the end of a months-long coronavirus lockdown despite recording thousands of new infections every day. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
NEW DELHI (AP) — As if the coronavirus wasn’t enough, India grappled with scorching temperatures and the worst locust invasion in decades as authorities prepared for the end of a monthslong lockdown despite recording thousands of new infections every day.

This triple disaster drew biblical comparisons and forced officials to try to balance the competing demands of simultaneous public health crises: protection from eviscerating heat but also social distancing in newly reopened parks and markets.

The heat wave threatens to compound challenges of containing the virus, which has started spreading more quickly and broadly since the government began easing restrictions of one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns earlier this month.


“The world will not get a chance to breathe anymore. The ferocity of crises are increasing, and they’re not going to be spaced out,” said Sunita Narain of New Delhi’s Center for Science and Environment.

When her 6-year-old son woke up with a parched throat and a fever, housekeeper Kalista Ekka wanted to bring him to the hospital. But facing a deluge of COVID-19 patients, the doctor advised Ekka to keep him at home despite boiling temperatures in the family’s two-room apartment in a low-income neighborhood in South Delhi.

“The fan only makes it hotter but we can’t open the window because it has no screen,” and thus no defense against malaria and dengue-carrying mosquitoes, Ekka said.

In a nearby upmarket enclave crowded with walkers and joggers every morning and at dusk — some with face coverings, some without — neighbors debated the merits of masks in an online forum.

In the heat, “it is very dangerous to work out with a mask. So a Catch-22 situation,” said Asmita Singh.

Temperatures soared to 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47.6 degrees Celsius) in the capital New Delhi this week, marking the warmest May day in 18 years, and 122 F (50 C) in the desert state of Rajasthan, after the world’s hottest April on record.

India suffers from severe water shortages and tens of millions lack running water and air conditioning, leaving many to seek relief under shady trees in public parks and stepwells, the ancient structures used to harvest rainwater.

Though many people continued wearing masks properly, others pushed them onto chins, or had foregone them altogether.

Cyclone Amphan, a massive super storm that crossed the unusually warm Bay of Bengal last week, sucked up huge amounts of moisture, leaving dry, hot winds to form a heat wave over parts of central and northern India.

At the same time, swarms of desert locusts have devastated crops in India’s heartland, threatening an already vulnerable region that is struggling with the economic cost of the lockdown.

Exasperated farmers have been banging plates, whistling or throwing stones to try to drive the locusts away, and sometimes even lighting fires to smoke them out. The swarms appeared poised to head from Rajasthan north to Delhi, but on Wednesday a change in wind direction sent them southward toward the state of Madhya Pradesh instead.

K.L. Gurjar, a top official of India’s Locust Warning Organization, said his 50-person team was scrambling to stop the swarms before breeding can take place during India’s monsoons, which begin in July. Otherwise, he said, the locusts could destroy India’s summer crops.

Meanwhile, India reported another record single-day jump of more than 6,500 coronavirus cases on Thursday, pushing up the total to 158,333 confirmed cases and 4,531 deaths.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is preparing a new set of guidelines to be issued this weekend, possibly extending the lockdown in worst-hit areas while promoting economic activity elsewhere, with unemployment surging to 25%.

The sudden halt to the Indian economy when the lockdown began March 25 has been devastating for daily laborers and migrant workers, who fled cities on foot for their family homes in the countryside.

The government started running special trains for the migrants, but deaths on the rails because of starvation or dehydration have been reported. Others immediately put into quarantine centers upon their arrival in home districts have tested positive for COVID-19, adding to the burden of severely strained rural health systems.

To jump start the economy, Modi’s environment ministry has moved to lower liabilities for industrial polluters and given private players the right to explore for coal and mine it. Cheap oil will fuel recovery efforts worldwide.

Indian environmental journalist Joydeep Gupta said that the perfect storm of pandemic, heat and locusts show India must go green. He said the government should implement policies to safeguard biodiversity and offer incentives for green energy to reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

Instead, “the government is promoting the same sectors of the industry that have caused the multiple crises in the first place,” he said.

But Narain said other government initiatives that expand federal agriculture employment, cash transfer and food ration programs help India deal more effectively with its threats.

“It’s building coping abilities of the very poor to be able to deal with stress after stress after stress,” she said.

You are here

 

Heat, water woes and coronavirus: India's perfect storm

AFP / SAJJAD HUSSAINRoughly a third of India's 1.3 billion people cut back on washing and bathing during summer as taps run dry

Bollywood stars and political leaders have urged Indians to wash their hands to protect against coronavirus but that's a pipe dream for slum-dwellers like Bala Devi, now sweltering through a summer heatwave.

The 44-year-old widow and her family of eight are among tens of millions of people facing months of torrid weather while stuck at home, in lockdown, without regular access to clean water to keep cool and wash.

"It is so hot the children keep asking for water to drink. How can I give them water for washing their hands when we don't have even enough water to drink?" Devi said at her cramped home in New Delhi.

"Every drop of water is a luxury for us. We can't afford to spend it on bathing," she told AFP, pinching her nose at the waft of clogged drains as unwashed children milled around her.

Outside it is around 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) but her one-bedroom tenement house has just an improvised ceiling fan to keep its occupants cool.

There is a piped water connection but the supply is extremely erratic and a pump connected to the groundwater mostly spews air. Her family uses a common public toilet and their "bathroom" is a bucket behind a curtain.

"If we can't wash and clean and there is filth everywhere, obviously the virus will attack us, but what can we do?" asked Devi's neighbour Anita Bisht.

"Already our children are falling sick," she added, her half-naked toddler hanging from her arms.

- Liquid gold -

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, water was in short supply for the 100 million people living in India's urban slums.

AFP / Jewel SAMADEven before the coronavirus pandemic, water was in short supply for the 100 million people living in India's urban slums

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has listed water infrastructure as a key priority, promising to reach 145 million rural households by 2024.

But currently roughly a third of the country's 1.3 billion people cut back on washing and bathing during summer as taps run dry.

Trucks deliver water to areas suffering shortfalls during the summer months but fights regularly break out in long queues to the tap.

Last year the southern city of Chennai ran out of water entirely.

Heatwaves are increasing in frequency, and this week the mercury hit 50 Celsius in western Rajasthan state. Parts of Delhi recorded their hottest May temperatures in almost 20 years.

Heat stress has killed around 3,500 people around the country since 2015, according to government figures, while farmers have killed themselves because of droughts ravaging their crops.

Only around seven percent of Indian households have air conditioning, despite rising incomes making the luxury more affordable for some.

AFP / SAJJAD HUSSAINThe daily wait for water trucks in the capital has become even worse since the pandemic hit Delhi

Tarun Gopalakrishnan from the Centre for Science and Environment think-tank said India must brace for frequent periods of extreme heat in the future.

"When we look at the seasonal averages we sometimes miss the picture that the extremes are increasing, causing massive social disruptions," he told AFP.

- More misery -

India's coronavirus lockdown is slowly being eased but the restrictions have compounded the miseries of the current heatwave.

In Delhi, a sprawling city teeming with 20 million people, demand for water outstrips supply by an estimated 200 million gallons (760 million litres) per day.

The daily wait for water trucks in the capital has become even worse since the pandemic hit the city.

Lining up for hours with plastic buckets and bottles, slum dwellers are now meant to stand a suitable distance apart -- if the government truck ever comes.

Lakhpat, a resident of the Sanjay Niwas slum settlement, recently waited in vain for over two hours with dozens of others for the scheduled water tanker to arrive.

"Because of the water problem we can't follow social distancing rules. People stick together closely in the mad rush to get their buckets filled first," he said.

Lawmakers ejected in Hong Kong debate on Chinese anthem bill

By ZEN SOO

1 of 13

Pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui, center, struggles with security personnel at the main chamber of the Legislative Council during the second day of debate on a bill that would criminalize insulting or abusing the Chinese anthem in Hong Kong, Thursday, May 28, 2020. A longer suspension followed the ejection of Ted Hui, who kicked the plastic bottle toward the president's dais after security officers tussled with him and it fell from his hands. (AP Photo)

HONG KONG (AP) — Three pro-democracy lawmakers were ejected from Hong Kong’s legislative chamber Thursday morning, disrupting the second day of debate on a contentious bill that would criminalize insulting or abusing the Chinese national anthem.

The legislature’s president, Andrew Leung, suspended the meeting minutes after it began and ejected Eddie Chu for holding up a sarcastic sign about a pro-Beijing lawmaker that read “Best Chairperson, Starry Lee.”

A second pro-democracy lawmaker was thrown out for yelling after the meeting resumed, and then a third after rushing forward with a large plastic bottle in a cloth bag that spilled its brownish contents on the floor in front of the president’s raised dais.

“We have wanted to use any method to stop this national anthem law getting passed by this legislature, which is basically controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, because the law is just another way of putting pressure on Hong Kong people,” Chu said outside the chamber.

In Beijing, China’s national legislature ratified a proposal to impose a national security law on Hong Kong, a Chinese territory that is supposed to have a high degree of autonomy under a “one-country, two systems” framework.

The measure is designed for the “steady implementation of ‘one country, two systems,’ and Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said. He was referring to the arrangement under which the territory retained its own Western-style social, legal and political institutions after being handed over from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday following the closing of the NPC’s annual session, Li offered no details about what specific areas the law would cover.

Joining the U.S. and other countries in expressing concern, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said it was important for Hong Kong to have a “stable and democratic development.”

“We are deeply worried about the National People’s Congress this time conducting the vote amid deep concern within the international community and Hong Kong citizens” Suga said.

The city’s pro-democracy opposition sees both the security legislation and the anthem law as assaults on that autonomy, and the U.S. has called on China to back off on the security law.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Congress on Wednesday that the Trump administration no longer regards Hong Kong as autonomous from mainland China, setting the stage for the possible withdrawal of the preferential trade and financial status the U.S. accords the former British colony.

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, who rose to prominence as a student leader during 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations, applauded the U.S. announcement.

Sanctions or the freezing of Hong Kong’s special economic status would “let Beijing know it is a must to completely withdraw and stop the implementation of the national security law,” Wong said.

China blocked a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the legislation Wednesday, with China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun tweeting that Hong Kong is “purely China’s internal affairs.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said ahead of Pompeo’s announcement that China would take necessary steps to fight back against any “erroneous foreign interference in Hong Kong’s affairs.”

Chu, the ejected lawmaker, said the legislature’s president had objected to his placard calling Lee an “illegal chairperson” during Wednesday’s first day of debate, so he made a new one that called her the best chairperson instead.

Lee was recently elected chair of a key committee that sent the anthem bill to the full legislature for consideration. Her election, which the pro-democracy opposition contends was illegal, ended a monthslong filibuster that had prevented the committee from acting on the bill and other legislation.

After the meeting restarted, pro-democracy lawmaker Ray Chan started yelling as Leung explained his decision to remove Chu, and the legislative president suspended the meeting again and ordered Chan ejected, too.

Other pro-democracy lawmakers surrounded Chan, who then hid under a table, as security officers tried to remove him. He eventually was carried out by officers.

A longer suspension followed the ejection of Ted Hui, who kicked the plastic bottle toward the president’s dais after security officers tussled with him and it fell from his hands.

Members left the chamber, security guards sprayed disinfectant and cleaning workers arrived to wipe the carpet. Then firefighters in full protective gear entered and collected evidence. They appeared to take samples from the floor using swabs.


Hui later described the contents as a rotten plant, and said he wanted Leung to feel and smell the rotting of Hong Kong’s civilization and rule of law, and of the “one country, two systems” framework that democracy activists feel is under attack by China’s ruling Communist Party.

“I wanted him to taste it, unfortunately it (fell) on the ground because I was hit by security guards,” he said.

Hui rushed toward Leung as pro-democracy lawmakers were demanding that the legislature’s president explain which rules of procedure banned sarcastic placards, and then all held up or displayed the same “Best Chairperson, Starry Lee” sign.