What Abdul’s victory in Michigan means for the future

 

UN chief calls Russia-Ukraine war 'unwinnable'

France24 – AFP, 22 March 2022 

In this file photo taken on February 28, 2022, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
speaks on the Russia-Ukraine conflict at the General Assembly emergency special
session in New York Kena Betancur AFP/File

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – UN chief Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that it was time for Russia to end their "absurd war" in Ukraine, declaring the conflict "unwinnable." 

The Secretary General told reporters at the world body's headquarters in New York that the war "is going nowhere, fast." 

"For more than two weeks, Mariupol has been encircled by the Russian army and relentlessly bombed, shelled and attacked. For what?" he said. 

"Even if Mariupol falls, Ukraine cannot be conquered city by city, street by street, house by house." 

Guterres added that "the only outcome" to more fighting was "more suffering, more destruction, and more horror as far as the eye can see." 

Negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv have held ongoing talks aimed at ending nearly four weeks of fierce fighting, but have failed to announce any progress so far. 

Guterres said though that he believed diplomatic negotiations to bring a halt to fighting were making headway. 

"There is enough on the table to cease hostilities now and seriously negotiate now. 

"This war is unwinnable. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table. That is inevitable," he added. 

The UN General Assembly is due to reconvene a special emergency session on Ukraine on Wednesday and hold a vote this week on a non-binding French and Mexican resolution condemning Russia's invasion. 

Earlier this month, 141 out of 193 United Nations member states supported a similar resolution. 

The vote will indicate whether Russia has lost or gained any support over its actions since that vote on March 2. 

South Africa, which abstained last time around, has circulated a rival draft resolution which calls for an end to hostilities but makes no mention of Russia as the aggressor.

The New Normal - Election Special

Obama endorses Biden for president to 'heal' America

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mathes, April 14, 2020

Former US president Barack Obama endorsed his vice president Joe Biden's
2020 White House bid (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Washington (AFP) - Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden's White House bid on Tuesday, saying his longtime vice president can unify and "heal" a nation struggling through some of its darkest moments.

The formal backing by perhaps the most popular politician in America is the latest boost for Biden's surging candidacy, and a further sign that Democratic leaders are rallying around the party flagbearer more than six months before November's election.

"Joe has the character and the experience to guide us through one of our darkest times and heal us through a long recovery," Obama said in a 12-minute video.

"I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a president right now."

The cherished endorsement comes at a time of deep national anxiety, with the vast majority of Americans under stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 25,000 people in the United States.

With President Donald Trump's handling of the outbreak under the spotlight, Obama signalled he believed Biden -- with four decades of government experience -- would be a far more capable manager of the US response.

"Joe helped me manage H1N1 (influenza) and prevent the Ebola epidemic from becoming the type of pandemic we're seeing now," Obama said.

Biden, 77, promptly expressed his thanks in a tweet.

"Barack -- This endorsement means the world to Jill and me," the Democratic stalwart said.

"We're going to build on the progress we made together, and there's no one I'd rather have standing by my side."

Biden is the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee to challenge Trump, after his lone remaining opponent Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race last week.

The leftist US senator from Vermont endorsed his ex-rival Monday, saying it was time for Americans to "come together" behind Biden.

Two-term president Obama also praised Sanders as a progressive champion whose energy and enthusiasm inspired young voters by the millions.

And he said it was time for those progressive supporters to help defeat the Republican incumbent.

"Right now, we need Americans of goodwill to unite in a great awakening against a politics that too often has been characterized by corruption, carelessness, self-dealing, disinformation, ignorance, and just plain meanness," Obama said.

"To change that, we need Americans of all political stripes to get involved in our politics and our public life like never before."

Special bond

Obama's endorsement comes as the coronavirus has frozen traditional campaigning.

Typically, such high-profile support would be followed by Obama's appearance at a major Biden rally, generating substantial national coverage and prompting a deluge of campaign donations.

But it remains unclear when, if at all, on-the-ground campaigning will resume.

Obama forged a special bond with Biden during the eight years the former Delaware senator served as his wingman, awarding him the presidential medal of freedom in January 2017.

But thus far in the 2020 race the nation's first African-American leader had largely flown under the political radar.

Despite his silence he was given a starring role in campaign advertisements by Biden, Sanders and other candidates as they scrambled for advantage ahead of key primaries, such as those on Super Tuesday on March 3.

At campaign events and debates Biden made sure to show he is running as Obama's heir, routinely highlighting the partnership with his former boss.

But Biden, after sitting out 2016 to mourn the loss of his son Beau to cancer, had made clear from the start he would run on his terms.

"I asked president Obama not to endorse," Biden said last April 25, the day he launched his candidacy. "Whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits."

Obama's endorsement comes relatively early in the race compared to 2016.

That year he waited until June 8 to endorse Hillary Clinton, who had clinched the Democratic nomination against Sanders two days earlier.

David Axelrod, chief strategist of Obama's 2008 campaign, said Obama had committed to all 2020 Democratic candidates to not put his finger on the scale until the nomination was decided.

"He wanted to be a unifying figure for the Democratic Party, and he didn't feel he could do that if he intervened too soon," Axelrod told CNN Tuesday.

"Now that the outcome is determined, he is clearly going to plunge into this."

Buttigieg takes lead in chaotic Iowa vote, Sanders second

Yahoo – AFP, Agnes Bun with Chris Lefkow in Washington, February 5, 2020

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg claimed victory in Iowa although
full results have not yet been released (AFP Photo/WIN MCNAMEE)

Manchester (United States) (AFP) - Democratic White House candidate Pete Buttigieg seized a shock lead in the chaotic Iowa caucuses, closely trailed by leftist senator Bernie Sanders, according to partial returns released on Tuesday after an embarrassing delay in reporting the results.

Progressive standard-bearer Elizabeth Warren was in third place followed by Joe Biden, a disappointing showing for the former vice president who has claimed he is best positioned to defeat Donald Trump in November.

Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has been battling Biden for the moderate wing of the party, hailed what he called an "astonishing victory" in the midwestern farm state which kicks off the presidential nominating process.

"I have never been more confident in our campaign, in our team, and in the vision that brought to us this point," Buttigieg told ecstatic supporters in New Hampshire, which holds the next nominating contest on February 11.

With polls still mixed on whether Americans would be comfortable with an openly gay president, Buttigieg also made a rare, though implicit, reference to his sexuality -- and the added significance it gave the Iowa outcome.

Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wait for results 

at his caucus night watch party in Des Moines, Iowa (AFP Photo/kerem yucel)

"It validates for a kid, somewhere in a community, wondering if he belongs, or she belongs, or they belong in their own family, that if you believe in yourself and your country there's a lot backing up that belief," he said with a catch in his voice.

According to the partial results, Buttigieg, unknown nationally a year ago, leads with 26.8 percent followed by Sanders, the 78-year-old self-described democratic socialist, with 25.2 percent, followed by Senator Warren with 18.4 percent, and Biden with 15.4 percent.

The centrist senator from Minnesota Amy Klobuchar was in fifth place on 12.6 percent, with 71 percent of the precincts reporting.

The results were posted some 21 hours after Iowans gathered across the state to hold the first vote of the presidential nominating season.

Troy Price, the chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, apologized profusely for the delay and blamed it on a "coding error" with an app being used for the first time to report the returns from precincts across the farm state.

Price pledged to provide the full results as soon as possible.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was trailing three challengers 

in the Iowa caucuses, according to partial results (AFP Photo/Scott Eisen)

"We have been working day and night to make sure that the results are accurate," he said. "And we also have a paper trail and documentation that we have been able to use to provide information to help verify the results."

As Iowa struggled to publish the results and frustrated Democratic candidates fumed, Trump gleefully pounced on the hold-up, describing the Democrats' failure to deliver timely results as an "unmitigated disaster."

"Nothing works, just like they ran the country," tweeted Trump -- hours before delivering his annual State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress under the cloud of impeachment.

'Shocking incompetence'

The results are usually known within hours of the conclusion of the caucuses, which do not involve a traditional ballot but see voters attending public gatherings and voicing support for the candidate of their choice.

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren addresses her supporters 

during a caucus night rally in Des Moines, Iowa (AFP Photo/CHIP SOMODEVILLA)

Iowa kicks off the process of selecting presidential nominees every four years, but the fiasco surrounding the results is likely to increase calls for the state to lose the honor.

"The top finishers, probably Sanders and Buttigieg, could have used their showings to launch into New Hampshire," the next contest, said Larry Sabato, a professor of politics at the University of Virginia.

"Instead, the story is the shocking incompetence of the Iowa Democratic Party."

He called for an end to the "strange system in a 91 percent white state" in favor of giving other states a chance to kick off the process.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner expressed alarm over the Iowa debacle.

"This chaos has created an environment where misinformation is now running rampant online, further undermining confidence in the democratic process," he said.

How the Democratic and Republican party primaries and caucuses choose 

presidential candidates for the 2020 election (AFP Photo/Jonathan WALTER)

With Iowa still mired in confusion, the Democratic candidates turned their sights on New Hampshire.

According to a Boston Globe/WBZ-TV/Suffolk University poll released Monday, Sanders is leading in the Granite State with 24 percent, followed by Biden on 18 percent, Warren with 13 percent and Buttigieg with 11 percent.

Alluding to his own victory in Republican caucuses in Iowa, Trump said that "the only person that can claim a very big victory in Iowa last night is 'Trump.'"

"When will the Democrats start blaming RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, instead of their own incompetence for the voting disaster that just happened in the Great State of Iowa?" Trump tweeted.

In White House race, who is Obama's political heir?

Yahoo – AFP, Jerome CARTILLIER, November 17, 2019

Former US president Barack Obama -- seen here in Munich in September 2019 --
is quietly watching to see who will win the Democratic presidential primary (AFP
Photo/Christof STACHE)

Washington (AFP) - Some vying for the Democratic presidential nomination are loud and proud about their friendship with him. Others claim ideological kinship. And still others are taking distance from his record to stand out.

But one thing is for sure: Barack Obama is not saying anything -- well, much of anything.

The 58-year-old former president, who left power nearly three years ago with his popularity soaring, is quietly watching to see who in his party will duke it out with Donald Trump on November 3, 2020.

Beyond his positions on health care or immigration or education, numerous White House hopefuls have made reference to Obama's style -- a certain class in the way he exercised his power that is in stark contrast to the attitude of the billionaire Republican who succeeded him.

With less than three months to go before the first Democrats make their choice in the Iowa caucuses, the race is still entirely up in the air.

The next Democratic primary debate is set for Wednesday in Atlanta with 10 candidates on the stage and eager to score points -- Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer.

Barack Obama is seen here (L-R) campaigning in August 2008, in the White House 

in March 2012 and at a press conference in September 2016 (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

At this point, it's impossible to predict who will ultimately claim the party's nomination.

And the list of those who dream of wresting the Oval Office from Trump just keeps getting longer.

Billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is once again flirting with a run, and former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick threw his hat in the ring this week.

The late entrance by Patrick, one of the first black governors in US history who is close to Obama, fueled speculation about the doubts that the ex-president may have about the ability of the candidates already in the race, including his vice president Biden, to take out Trump.

'My friend Barack'

Many of the questions indeed focus on Biden, who has been saddled with the moniker "Sleepy Joe" by Trump. While he remains one of the favorites, observers fear the 76-year-old from Delaware cannot go the distance.

On the campaign trail, Biden never misses a chance to highlight his close relationship with his "friend Barack," and their eight years in power.

Biden is no stranger to campaign politics, and when he launched his latest White House bid, he underscored the fact that he had specifically asked Obama not to back him from the outset... even though the former president had never indicated he would do so.

The next Democratic presidential primary debate will take place on November 20, 

2019 in Atlanta (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

"President Obama has no plans to weigh in on the primary at this point -- preferring instead to let the candidates make their cases directly to voters," a source close to the former president told AFP.

But the 44th president of the United States has, unsurprisingly, ideas about how his party should approach the election to ensure that Trump is limited to just one term in office.

Little by little, he is positioning himself. In remarks Friday night to donors at the Democracy Alliance in Washington, he offered a few hints about how he sees the upcoming battle for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

'Tested' candidate

While he insisted on the need for new ideas from the party about reducing income inequality and other key issues, he issued a very clear warning about the temptation to take a sharp turn to the political left.

"Even as we push the envelope and we are bold in our vision, we also have to be rooted in reality," he said.

Barack Obama -- seen here taking the oath of office in January 2009 with his wife 

Michelle at his side -- served two terms as US president (AFP Photo/PAUL J. RICHARDS)

"The average American doesn't think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it," he added, noting that the United States was "a country that is less revolutionary than it is interested in improvement."

He called on the party faithful -- and by extension, its presidential candidates -- to be mindful that Democrats, independents and even moderate Republicans "are not driven by the same views that are reflected on certain, you know, left-leaning Twitter feeds, or the activist wing of our party."

He did not name names, but Warren and Sanders -- who have called for nothing short of a "political revolution -- certainly come to mind.

Obama appeared to want to reassure the many Democrats who fear that the crowded primary will end up being counterproductive, given that the incumbent Trump is all ready to run with a massive campaign war chest.

"For those who get stressed about robust primaries, I just have to remind you that I had a very robust primary," he said, recalling his at times acrimonious 2008 battle with Hillary Clinton.

"I'm confident that at the end of the process, we will have a candidate that has been tested."

Innovative Iraqis dodge net blackout to illuminate protest violence

Yahoo – AFP, Maya Gebeily, October 5, 2019

Protesters have used mobile phones to film against a backdrop of tear gas volleys
and live rounds during demonstrations that have gripped Iraq since Tuesday (AFP
Photo/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

Baghdad (AFP) - With secret satellites, pricey messages abroad and clandestine file transfers, young Iraqis are circumventing an internet blackout aimed at stifling several days of bloody protests in the capital and beyond.

Authorities restricted access to Facebook and Whatsapp after anti-government demonstrations began on Tuesday, before ordering a total network shutdown on Wednesday.

The termination of Wifi, 3G and 4G access left protestors with just regular phone calls and mobile messages -- a few notable exceptions aside.

Ahmad, 29, works at an internet service provider that helped implement the government's shutdown, but still has internet access at its headquarters.

"I go to the protests in the morning and shoot video on my phone, then use the internet at work to upload them to Facebook or send them to media outside Iraq," he said, using a fake name for fear of retribution or legal action by the government.

Protesters say the internet outage is an attempt to suppress reports of security forces using indiscriminate force including tear gas, live rounds and water cannons.

Ahmad showed AFP footage he planned to send to international media later that evening -- shots could be heard fired across a mostly-empty street in Baghdad as he and fellow protesters took cover behind a concrete barrier.

"Friends are even giving me the footage they shoot on flash drives so everyone outside Iraq can see what's happening here," he said.

Iraqi protesters take cover in Baghdad's central Khellani Square, while using their 

mobile phones - devices that have been key to citizen efforts to record alleged heavy 

handed tactics by security forces (AFP Photo/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

Before Tuesday, many Iraqis had taken to Facebook and Instagram to call for initial protests against a range of grievances: unemployment, mass government corruption, nepotism, poor public services, and more.

Images of young men and women marching towards the emblematic Tahrir Square flooded social media the first day, using the hashtag #save_Iraqi_people.

When restrictions on Facebook began, Iraqis acted quickly; many downloaded virtual private network (VPN) applications.

Others even began surreptitiously posting the details of the next protests in the comments section of Cinemana, a popular streaming service in Iraq.

But those avenues were shut off by the systemic shutdown.

Those that could afford to therefore erected costly satellites on their rooftops to get a window into the outside world.

'Follow the gunfire'

Nearly 100 people have died in the demonstrations since Tuesday, most of them protesters but also personnel from the security forces, according to authorities.

"They’re trying to fight us not just with arms, but with this blackout," said 31-year-old protester Osama Mohammad.

"We used to check the different neighbourhoods' Facebook pages to know where to go for protests. Now we just follow the sound of gunfire," Mohammad told AFP.

Live rounds have allegedly repeatedly been fired during the protests, which have 

evolved into calls for fundamental government change (AFP Photo/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

"If they cut off regular phone lines, we'll be completely blind," he noted.

For 25-year-old women's rights activist Rasha, taking to the streets carries too much risk, but she says she has found a different way to get involved.

Every day, her male friends text her dozens of updates from protest squares across the country, which she then texts and phones through to friends in the United Arab Emirates and Europe.

"I'm an intermediary. I can’t protest myself so this is the least I can do," she said, telling AFP the phone credit she buys has cost her around $100 (90 euros) per day for the last three days.

Rasha, who comes from Baghdad, is also saving videos and other unpublished material from one of the first protests that turned violent. She attended that initial demonstration.

"They think we'll forget they fired at us, they think people won't know. But I've got the videos and I'll publish everything I saw that day the minute the internet comes back," she said.

Jaafar Raad, an unemployed 29-year-old Iraqi who has frequently protested, is also storing dozens of images and videos to release once the blackout is lifted.

He even records voice notes from the protests themselves in applications like Whatsapp and Facebook, so that the audio messages will automatically send to friends abroad and international media outlets as soon as the internet returns.

"People must know what happened to us. This is so we can hold those behind the violence accountable," he told AFP.

#UPDATE The United Nations urged an end to violence in Iraq, after five days of anti-government rallies marred by the killing of nearly 100 people, mainly protesters https://t.co/BwOOH1xgzN pic.twitter.com/M919mR4vcP

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 5 oktober 2019

Related Article:

“The End of History”, Seattle, Washington, Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll

“… The Internet - The first Worldwide Tool of Unification

Now I give you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are leading the way.

I gave you a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when "everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy." For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?  ... “

Trump returns to White House and biggest crisis of presidency

Yahoo – AFP, Sebastian Smith, September 26, 2019

US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One prior to departure from
John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on September 26, 2019
(AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump flew back to Washington on Thursday and into the biggest crisis of his tempestuous presidency, raging at enemies and talking darkly of a conspiracy.

Trump's three day trip to New York was meant to showcase his achievements in a speech to the United Nations and multiple meetings with other world leaders.

But everything vanished into the vortex of the Democrats' decision to open an impeachment investigation over allegations that he shook down Ukraine's president for dirt on Joe Biden, the current frontrunner to be his Democratic opponent in the 2020 presidential elections.

The former real estate tycoon and reality TV performer returned to Washington on Air Force One as only the fourth president to face an impeachment inquiry.

Trump goes further than merely insisting he did nothing wrong when talking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Instead, he is painting the allegations as part of a plot, setting the stage for a political and legal struggle sure to stress an already divided country to its limits.

Talking to reporters on the way back to the White House, Trump branded the Democrats a "disgrace."

Trump boasted before the UN of what he called the US's historic military and 

economic might but foreign and domestic troubles overshadowed his speech 

(AFP Photo/STEPHANIE KEITH)

The impeachment procedures "shouldn't be allowed," he said.

"There should be a way of stopping it. Maybe legally, through the courts."

Those comments were likely to spook opponents already claiming that Trump has repeatedly behaved -- the Ukraine affair being only the latest example -- as if he were above the law.

About an hour earlier, The Los Angeles Times reported, Trump delivered even more unusual comments, telling US diplomats that the source of the whistleblower who first raised the alarm over the alleged Ukraine contacts should be treated as a traitor.

"You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now," he said according to the Times, which obtained a recording of the private event.

View from the penthouse

The New York trip was meant to be quite different.

The Big Apple is Trump's hometown and he returned like a modern-day emperor, traveling in a vast, heavily armed motorcade and staying in his own skyscraper, Trump Tower.

Yet as the week progressed the view from that penthouse eyrie became grimmer. The man looking down became angrier.

The allegation that Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky 

(left) to prosecute a corruption case against Joe Biden, the Democratic 

frontrunner for 2020, has roiled Washington (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

On Tuesday he boasted in front of the United Nations about what he called a historic peak in American military and economic might. However there were few diplomatic achievements to show.

Iran remains a combustible, unsolved affair, with frantic efforts by French President Emmanuel Macron to facilitate a meeting between Trump and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani coming to naught.

The China trade war rolls on. Attempts to force out Venezuela's leftist strongman Nicolas Maduro have failed. North Korea is not giving up nuclear weapons.

That same afternoon, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi announced the start of the formal impeachment probe, lighting a rocket under the already explosive 2020 presidential campaign.

Few Americans had ever thought much about Ukraine, let alone its new president, Zelensky, who, like Trump, used to work in television entertainment.

Suddenly the allegation that Trump twisted Zelensky's arm to prosecute a corruption case against Biden made Ukraine practically the only topic of discussion in Washington.

As impeachment talk swelled, Trump agreed to release a transcript of a lengthy phone call he had with Zelensky. He then authorized the release of the complaint by the intelligence community whistleblower who'd raised the alarm in the first place.

The White House said these documents killed the story.

A television screen at the Trump Bar inside Trump Tower in New York shows 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as she announced an impeachment 

inquiry into the president on September 24, 2019 (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

"He has nothing to hide," spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said on Thursday.

But for Democrats and even a few from Trump's ultra-loyal Republican party, the documents amounted to smoking guns.

'All planned'

The intensifying scandal turned Trump into an ever lonelier, downbeat figure.

Usually his press conferences are stunning performances, filled with bragging, joking, storytelling and, above all, a willingness to take on any question.

At times, Trump takes so many questions that journalists are visibly exhausted.

On Wednesday, though, he ascended the podium to launch into a rambling monologue of over 20 minutes before taking just a few questions.

It was a speech delivered in a flat voice, filled with an air of hurt.

"So many leaders came up to me today and they said, sir, what you go through, no president has ever gone through," he said.

The man with answers to every question was stumbling, plunging into conspiracy theories that are echoed all over America on rightwing radio shows and websites.

"It was all planned," Trump said grimly. "That was all planned like everything else."

China expresses 'strong dissatisfaction' with G7 on Hong Kong

Yahoo – AFP, August 27, 2019

Beijing has not intervened so far over unrest in Hong Kong, despite ramping
up the rhetoric against demonstrators (AFP Photo/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)

Beijing (AFP) - Beijing on Tuesday voiced "strong dissatisfaction" with a joint statement issued by the G7 leaders, who backed Hong Kong's autonomy and called for calm after months of civil unrest.

G7 leaders meeting in France on Monday backed Hong Kong's autonomy as laid out in a 1984 agreement between Britain and China, and called for calm in the protest-hit city.

But Beijing has accused foreign governments of interfering over Hong Kong, and foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the G7 was "meddling" and "harbouring evil intentions".

"We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the statement made by the leaders of the G7 Summit on Hong Kong affairs," Geng said at a press briefing in Beijing.

"We have repeatedly stressed that Hong Kong's affairs are purely China's internal affairs and that no foreign government, organisation or individual has the right to intervene."

Hong Kong has been wracked by more than two months of protests over an attempt by its Beijing-backed government to pass an extradition bill which opponents saw as a huge dent in the city's autonomy.

It has since morphed into a wider call for greater democratic freedoms.

In the G7 statement, the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States called for calm.

Beijing has previously accused former colonial power Britain of interfering in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, which was handed over to China in 1997.

"The rule of law, social order, economic livelihood and international image of Hong Kong has been severely affected," Geng said.

"No one cares more about the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong than the Chinese people, including the people of Hong Kong."

The financial hub faced more violence over the weekend, with police saying Monday that they were forced to fire water cannon and a warning shot to fend off "extremely violent" demonstrators, marking some of the worst violence in the last 12 weeks of political unrest in the city.

So far Beijing has not intervened over unrest in the semi-autonomous city, despite ramping up the rhetoric against demonstrators and mounting fears that they may act militarily to quell the violence.