World

SEOUL — North Korea carries out public executions on river banks and at school grounds and marketplaces for charges such as stealing copper from factory machines, distributing media from South Korea and prostitution, a report issued on Wednesday said.

The report, by a Seoul-based non-government group, said the often extra-judicial decisions for public executions are frequently influenced by "bad" family background or a government campaign to discourage certain behaviour. 

The Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) said its report was based on interviews with 375 North Korean defectors from the isolated state over a period of two years.

Reuters could not independently verify the testimony of defectors in the report. The TJWG is made up of human rights activists and researchers and is led by Lee Younghwan, who has worked as an advocate for human rights in North Korea.

It receives most of its funding from the US-based National Endowment for Democracy, which in turn is funded by the US Congress.

The TJWG report aims to document the locations of public killings and mass burials, which it says had not been done previously, to support an international push to hold to account those who commit what it describes as crimes against humanity.

"The maps and the accompanying testimonies create a picture of the scale of the abuses that have taken place over decades," the group said.

North Korea rejects charges of human rights abuses, saying its citizens enjoy protection under the constitution and accuses the United States of being the world's worst rights violator.

However, the North has faced an unprecedented push to hold the regime and its leader, Kim Jong-un, accountable for a wide range of rights abuses since a landmark 2014 report by a United Nations commission.

UN member countries urged the Security Council in 2014 to consider referring North Korea and its leader to the International Criminal Court  for crimes against humanity, as alleged in a Commission of Inquiry report.

The commission detailed abuses including large prison camps, systematic torture, starvation and executions comparable to Nazi-era atrocities, and linked the activities to the North's leadership.

North Korea has rejected that inquiry's findings and the push to bring the North to a tribunal remains stalled due in part to objections by China and Russia, which hold veto powers at the UN Security Council.

TJWG said its project to map the locations of mass graves and executions has the potential to contribute to documentation that could back the push for accountability and future efforts to bring the North to justice.

It said executions are carried out in prison camps to incite fear and intimidation among potential escapees, and public executions are carried out for seemingly minor crimes, including the theft of farm produce such as corn and rice.

Stealing electric cables and other commodities from factories to sell them and distribution of South Korean-produced media are also subject to executions, which are most commonly administered by shooting, it said.

Testimonies also showed people can be beaten to death, with one interviewee saying: "Some crimes were considered not worth wasting bullets on."

 Government officials were executed on corruption and espionage charges, and bureaucrats from other regions would be made to watch "as a deterrence tactic", the report said.

Defectors from the North have previously testified to having witnessed public executions and rights abuses at detention facilities.

MOSCOW/KIEV —  The pro-Russian rebel leader of a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine proposed on Tuesday replacing Ukraine with a new federal state, in comments that could further undermine a 2015 peace deal that is already faltering.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko rejected the idea, describing Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), as part of "a puppet show", with Russia pulling his strings in order to relay a message.

France and Germany, which are involved in diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine crisis, also condemned the proposal. However, the Kremlin said it warranted analysis, though it declined to discuss the matter or say if it knew beforehand of the plan.

Ukrainian officials contend that Russia wants to show the world, and the United States especially, it can keep the crisis in a suspended state and deepen it if need be. A new US envoy for the Ukraine crisis was appointed this month and Moscow and Washington are likely to start regularly engaging on the issue.

Zakharchenko, who scarcely would have expected anything other than outright rejection from Kiev, said in a declaration that he and his allies were proposing a new state called Malorossiya (Little Russia) be set up with its capital in rebel-held Donetsk.

Malorossiya was the term used to describe swaths of modern-day Ukraine when they were part of the Russian Empire in tsarist times and is one many Ukrainians today regard as offensive.

Ukraine, a country of about 42.5 million people, declared independence from Moscow in 1991.

"We are proposing to residents of Ukraine a peaceful way out of a difficult situation without war. It's our last proposal," Zakharchenko said in a statement. The new state would be federal, with regions enjoying a large degree of autonomy.

He said the move was backed by delegates from different Ukrainian regions, but a statement from the neighbouring rebel territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic said it had been unaware of the initiative and did not support it.

‘Sick fantasies’

His declaration cast a shadow over the faltering Minsk peace agreement between the rebels and the Ukrainian government, which has failed to quell fighting between the two sides and has only been partially implemented since a pro-Russian uprising erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Russia denies accusations it has delivered arms and provided troops backing rebels in the industrial, largely Russian-speaking east. On Tuesday the Kremlin said it remained committed to the Minsk peace deal. 

Yevhen Marchuk, Ukraine's representative in the talks on implementing the peace deal, told Ukrainian TV channel 112.ua that Zakharchenko's declaration would complicate negotiations and looked like a Russian attempt to sabotage the process.

France condemned the idea and demanded Russia do more to prevent a further escalation. A German government spokeswoman also criticised the move, calling it "totally unacceptable". 

Ukraine's top military commander, Viktor Muzhenko, said on social media that the Ukrainian people would "bury" Malorossiya, calling the plan one of the rebels' "sick fantasies". 

Three former rebel leaders told Reuters in May that a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin decides how the pro-Moscow administration of eastern Ukraine is run and who gets what jobs there, challenging Kremlin denials that it calls the shots in the region.

MANILA — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday asked Congress to extend martial law on the southern island of Mindanao until the end of the year, to grant him time to crush a rebel movement inspired by the Daesh group

The region of 22 million people, which has a history of separatist and Marxist rebellion, was placed under military rule on May 23 after rebels from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups took over parts of Marawi City, plunging the Philippines into its biggest security crisis in years.

Insurgents have put up fierce resistance, with scores of mostly young fighters still holed up in central Marawi through 57 days of ground offensives, air strikes and artillery bombardments, prolonging a battle the authorities say has killed 413 militants, 98 security forces and 45 civilians. 

"The primary objective of the possible extension is to allow our forces to continue with their operations unhampered by deadlines and to focus more on the liberation of Marawi and its rehabilitation and rebuilding," said presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella, reading a letter signed by Duterte.

A hardcore of gunmen were on Tuesday clinging on to positions in a deserted commercial heart, which has been reduced to rubble by a bombing campaign that has angered residents with no homes or businesses to return to.

Duterte has appointed a taskforce to rebuild Marawi, with a 20 billion peso ($394.81 million) budget.

The brazen assault by organised, heavily armed militants who have pledged allegiance to Daesh has fanned fears that extremists may have radicalised and recruited more fighters than was previously thought.

The Marawi siege is the fourth battle between the Maute clan and the military over the past nine months and the country's defence minister, Delfin Lorenzana, has admitted the combat and planning capability of the enemy has been underestimated.

Duterte has long warned that Mindanao faced contamination by Daesh, and experts say Muslim parts of the predominantly Catholic southern Philippines are fertile ground for expansion due to their history of marginalisation and neglect.

Big problem

While few dispute that Duterte has a serious problem on his hands, his critics have derided his declaration of martial law across all of Mindanao, an area the size of South Korea.

Martial law allows for deeper surveillance and arrests without warrant, giving security forces a freer rein to go after suspected extremist financiers and facilitators.

According to several senate and congress leaders who dined with the president on Monday evening, Duterte had told them he wanted martial law for another 60 days.

In the case of continuing martial law beyond the initial 60-day limit, the constitution does not restrict how long it can be extended, although Congress can challenge it. 

Senator Antonio Trillanes, Duterte's top critic, said such a long extension was a "whimsical misuse of power".

"I have already forewarned the public of Duterte's authoritarian tendencies and this is another proof of it," he said in a statement.

Martial law is a sensitive issue in the Philippines, bringing back memories of the 1970s rule of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was accused of exaggerating security threats to justify harsh measures that allowed his regime to suppress dissent brutally.

The extension would be the first time since the Marcos era that martial law was renewed.

Outrage about martial law has largely been restricted to Duterte's main critics, with the majority of Filipinos behind his security measures, according to opinion polls.

Zia Alonto Adiong of the Marawi crisis committee said those most affected would have no issues with martial law.

"What they want is to bring normalcy back to their lives," he told CNN Philippines.

BRUSSELS  —  Britain and the EU vowed to get to the "heart of the matter" as they launched fresh Brexit talks in Brussels on Monday, even as bitter infighting gripped the British government.

Brexit minister David Davis met EU negotiator Michel Barnier for a second round of talks ahead of Britain's historic withdrawal from the bloc, scheduled for March 2019.

But in London there was fresh turmoil as weakened Prime Minister Theresa May prepared to urge her warring ministers to end damaging leaks against each other over Brexit.

"Now it's time to get down to work and make this a successful negotiation," Davis told reporters as Barnier welcomed him to the headquarters of the European Commission.

During four days of talks the two sides hope to make progress on key issues surrounding Britain's withdrawal, including citizens' rights and its exit bill, so that negotiations can move on to discuss a future trade deal later this year.

"For us it's incredibly important we now make good progress, that we negotiate through this and identify the differences so we can deal with them and identify the similarities so that we can reinforce them," added Davis.

Barnier, who has repeatedly called on Britain to set out a full divorce strategy, said they needed to "examine and compare our respective positions in order to make good progress."

 "We'll now delve into the heart of the matter," Barnier, a former French foreign minister and European Commissioner, told reporters.

Empty handed Brits 

Davis however stayed only a few hours before returning to Britain for parliamentary business, officials said. He will come back to Brussels on Thursday for more talks with Barnier and a news conference.

Photographs of the brief meeting showed grim-faced EU negotiators with large sheaves of paper across a table from a grinning, empty handed British team.

The talks are the first full round of negotiations that formally began last month with a one-day session to agree on a timetable.

The EU has demonstrated increasing confidence in recent weeks, accusing Britain of dithering over whether it wants a "hard" or "soft" Brexit more than a year after the shock referendum that propelled May to power.

But May's minority government remains fragile one month after the snap June 8 election in which her Conservative Party lost its majority, leaving the EU wondering whether she can actually formulate a coherent Brexit policy.

Over the weekend British newspapers were full of reports of a civil war within her cabinet, with finance minister Philip Hammond in particular being targeted over allegations he was trying to derail Brexit.

May herself was set to call them to order on Tuesday, her spokesman said.

"Cabinet must be able to hold discussions of government policy in private and the Prime Minister will be reminding her colleagues of that at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow," the spokesman said.

Hammond himself acknowledged that ministers were divided on other elements of Brexit.

"I think on many fronts it would be helpful if my colleagues -- all of us -- focused on the job in hand. This government is facing a ticking clock over the Brexit negotiations," Hammond said on Sunday.

'Ridiculous' bill 

Brussels insists it will only start discussing the future relationship once there has been "sufficient progress" on the divorce -- an estimated 100-billion-euro ($112 billion) exit bill, the rights of three million EU citizens living in the UK, and the border in Northern Ireland.

This week's talks are also set to address more detailed concerns such as Britain's future in Euratom, the EU's nuclear safety agency, and the role of the European Court of Justice, the EU's top court.

EU leaders are set to decide at a summit in October whether there is enough common ground to move on to trade talks.

Common ground was very much lacking last week after British foreign minister and leading Brexiteer Boris Johnson remarked that the EU could "go whistle" over its massive Brexit bill demand, drawing a rebuke from Barnier.

SEOUL — South Korea on Monday proposed military talks with North Korea, the first formal overture to Pyongyang by the government of President Moon Jae-in, to discuss ways to avoid hostile acts near the heavily militarised border.

There was no immediate response by the North to the proposal for talks later this week. The two sides technically remain at war but Moon, who came to power in May, has pledged to engage the North in dialogue as well as bring pressure to impede its nuclear and missile programmes.

The offer comes after the North claimed to have conducted the first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier this month, and said it had mastered the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on the missile. South Korea and the United States, its main ally, dispute the claim. 

"Talks and cooperation between the two Koreas to ease tension and bring about peace on the Korean peninsula will be instrumental for pushing forth a mutual, virtuous cycle for inter-Korea relations and North Korea's nuclear problem," the South's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told a news briefing.

The South Korean defence ministry proposed talks with the North on July 21 at Tongilgak to stop all activities that fuel tension at the military demarcation line. 

Tongilgak is a North Korean building at the Panmunjom truce village on the border used for previous inter-Korea talks. The last such talks were held in December 2015.

Cho also urged the restoration of military and government hotlines across the border, which had been cut by the North last year in response to the South imposing economic sanctions after a nuclear test by Pyongyang. In all, the North has conducted five nuclear tests and numerous missile tests. 

The South also proposed separate talks by the rival states' Red Cross organisations to resume a humanitarian project to reunite families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War in closely supervised events held over a few days. 

The South Korean Red Cross suggested talks be held on Aug. 1, with possible reunions over the Korean thanksgiving Chuseok holiday, which falls in October this year.

The last such reunions were held in October 2015 during the government of Moon's predecessor under a futile push for reconciliation following a sharp increase in tension over border incidents involving a landmine blast and artillery fire.

Beijing in favour

China, which has close ties to Pyongyang despite Beijing's anger over North Korea's missile and nuclear tests, welcomed the proposal, saying cooperation and reconciliation between the two Koreas was good for everyone and could help ease tensions.

"We hope that North and South Korea can work hard to go in a positive direction and create conditions to break the deadlock and resume dialogue and consultation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing.

The proposals come after Moon said at the G-20 summit in Hamburg earlier this month that he was in favour of dialogue with the North despite the "nuclear provocation" of its latest missile test.

When Moon visited Washington after being elected president, he and US President Donald Trump said they were open to renewed dialogue with North Korea but only under circumstances that would lead to Pyongyang giving up its weapons programmes.

"The fact that we wish to take on a leading role in resolving this (North Korean) issue has already been understood at the summit with the United States and the G-20 summit meetings," Cho said on Monday.

In the proposal for talks, South Korea did not elaborate on the meaning of hostile military activities, which varies between the two Koreas. South Korea usually refers to loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts by both sides, while the North wants to halt routine joint US-South Korea military drills.

Moon suggested earlier this month hostile military activities at the border be ended on July 27, the anniversary of the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War. Since no truce was agreed, the two sides remain technically at war.

When asked if South Korea was willing to "be flexible" on military drills with the United States should North Korea be open to talks, Cho said the government had not discussed the matter specifically.

Pyongyang has repeatedly said it refuses to engage in all talks with the South unless Seoul turns over 12 waitresses who defected to the South last year after leaving a restaurant run by the North in China.

North Korea says the South abducted the 12 waitresses and the restaurant manager and has demanded their return, but the South has said the group decided to defect of its own free will. Cho said this matter is not included on the talks agenda.

In an act to rein in the North, the United States is preparing new sanctions on Chinese banks and firms doing business with Pyongyang possibly within weeks, two senior US officials said last week.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's military has launched a major operation in its volatile tribal areas to stop the Daesh terror group making inroads into areas bordering Afghanistan, the military's spokesman said on Sunday.

Pakistan has long denied Daesh having a foothold inside the nuclear-armed nation despite a series of attacks claimed by the group over the past two years, including a bombing in the northern town of Parachinar last month that killed 75.

Military spokesman Lieutenant General Asif Ghafoor said Daesh was growing in strength inside Afghanistan, prompting Pakistan to launch an operation in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

"This operation was necessary because Daesh is getting established there and we have to stop the influence of Daesh spreading into Pakistani territory through the Rajgal valley," Ghafoor said, referring to a valley surrounded by mountains reaching up to 14,000 feet.

He said that the "Khyber 4" operation, which would include the Pakistan air force, would focus on the border areas inside the Khyber Agency area, which is part of FATA.

Ghafoor said across the Khyber border there are safe havens for multiple "terrorist" organisations that are linked to recent attacks in Pakistan, including the Parachinar assault.

Northwestern Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun lands are awash with weapons and the area remains the most volatile region in the country despite the military's success in driving out many Al Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban militants.

Fighting had subsided in FATA in recent years and many internally displaced people have been sent back to villages reduced to rubble due to military operations against the Islamists over the past 15 years.

"Once this operation is completed, we will first secure the international border on our side and eliminate the hideouts of various terrorist groups," Ghafoor added. 

Daesh has had more success in neighbouring Afghanistan, where it controls small chunks of land, but has also faced tough resistance from the US-backed government in Kabul and local Afghan Taliban militants.

Pakistan is seeking support from Afghanistan to control the border but Ghafoor made it clear that it will not allow "foreign boots on the ground" in its territory. 

Pakistan's military began building a fence along the 2,611 kilometre border with Afghanistan in May as part of its security programme.

SYDNEY/WASHINGTON — US officials interviewing refugees held in an Australian-run offshore detention centre left the facility abruptly, three detainees told Reuters on Saturday, throwing further doubt over a plan to resettle many of the detainees in America. 

US officials halted screening interviews and departed the Pacific island of Nauru on Friday, two weeks short of their scheduled timetable and a day after Washington said the United States had reached its annual refugee intake cap. 

“US [officials] were scheduled to be on Nauru until July 26 but they left on Friday,” one refugee told Reuters, requesting anonymity as he did not want to jeopardize his application for US resettlement. 

In the United States, a senior member of the union that represents refugee officers at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a Department of Homeland Security agency, told Reuters his own trip to Nauru was not going forward as scheduled. 

Jason Marks, chief steward of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1924, told Reuters his trip has now been pushed back and it was unclear whether it will actually happen. The USCIS did not respond to requests for comment. 

The Australian Immigration Department declined to comment on the whereabouts of the US officials or the future of a refugee swap agreement between Australia and the United States that President Donald Trump earlier this year branded a “dumb deal”. 

An indefinite postponement of the deal would have significant repercussions for Australia’s pledge to close a second detention centre on Papua New Guinea’s Manus island on October 31. Only 70 refugees, less than 10 per cent of the total detainees held in the camp, have completed US processing.

“The US deal looks more and more doubtful,” Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition said. “The US deal was never the solution the Australian government pretended it to be.”

Former US president Obama agreed a deal with Australia late last year to offer refuge to up to 1,250 asylum seekers, a deal the Trump administration said it would only honour to maintain a strong relationship with Australia and then only on condition that refugees satisfied strict checks.

In exchange, Australia has pledged to take Central American refugees from a centre in Costa Rica, where the United States has taken in a larger number of people in recent years.

The swap is designed, in part, to help Australia close both Manus and Nauru, which are expensive to run and have been widely criticised by the United Nations and others over treatment of detainees.

A State Department spokeswoman said on Friday that USCIS “has not yet concluded adjudications of any refugees being considered for resettlement out of Australian facilities in Nauru and Manus islands,” and referred questions on timing to USCIS.

The US government confirmed on Thursday that its refugee intake cap of 50,000 people had been reached with the new intake year not due to begin until October 1.

Exemptions could be made for those who have a “credible claim to a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States”, following a decision from the US Supreme Court last month reviving elements of Trump’s travel ban while it considers the legality of the order.

Given the risky boat journey the refugees in Manus and Nauru undertook to reach Australia, it is unlikely many of them have strong family ties to the United States, experts said. The majority of the detainees interviewed on both Manus and Nauru by US officials in April are from Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan.

Australia’s hardline immigration policy requires asylum seekers intercepted at sea trying to reach Australia to be sent for processing to camps at Manus and on the South Pacific island of Nauru. They are told they will never be settled in Australia.

Trump’s resistance to the refugee deal had strained relations with a key Asia Pacific ally, triggering a fractious phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier this year.

Trump’s concession and a series of high-level visits by US dignities has since help mend connections between the two countries. 

Australia has already offered detainees up to $25,000 to voluntarily return to their home countries, an offer few have taken up.

HERAT, Afghanistan — A team of Afghan girls who had been denied visas to attend a Washington robotics competition spoke of Donald Trump's support on Thursday after US authorities changed course and allowed them to come.

Clutching Afghan flags and waving to photographers, the schoolgirls boarded a plane in Herat in western Afghanistan on Thursday afternoon to begin the long journey to Washington, where they will become the first robotics team to represent the war-torn country overseas.

US authorities had originally refused access to schoolchildren from a number of Muslim-majority nations to participate in the science contest, decisions that followed implementation of stricter visa policies under Trump.

But the US president urged a reversal following public outcry over the Afghan girls' inability to attend the event, according to US media, with the decision announced on Wednesday.

"The President of the United States and the people of America supported us in this case, which shows that they have not forgotten us," one competitor, Yasamin Yasinzadah told AFP at the airport in Herat.

"We want to take the message of peace to America and convey that Afghanistan is not only the country of war, and there are girls who chase their dreams in robots and education," added Fatema Qaderyan.

Organiser Ali Reza Mehraban of the Digital Citizen Foundation said the decision meant "supporting peace and women of Afghanistan, who have been deprived of everything for the past forty years".

President of organisers First Global, Joe Sestak said he was "most grateful" at the decision, noting that teams from Gambia, Yemen, Libya and Morocco would also attend.

"All 163 teams from 157 countries have gained approval to the United States, including Iran, Sudan, and a team of Syrian refugees," said Sestak, a former US Navy admiral and congressman.

"I could not be more proud."

 The six girls from Herat, Afghanistan, were reportedly blocked from attending the robotics competition even after two rounds of interviews for a one-week visa.

The rejections appeared to contradict the administration's claim it wants to empower women globally.

"We were not a terrorist group to go to America and scare people," 14-year-old competitor Qaderyan told AFP in Herat before the U-turn.

"We just wanted to show the power and skills of Afghan girls to Americans."

 They told AFP they had worked for six months on their robot, which they built out of low-tech, recyclable material such as bottles and boxes. 

Mehraban said it had been especially difficult to find girls in deeply conservative, war-torn Afghanistan whose families would allow them to take part.

When the reversal was announced, Ivanka Trump tweeted: "I look forward to welcoming this brilliant team of Afghan girls, and their competitors, to Washington DC next week!"

 A limited version of Trump's travel ban — temporarily barring refugees and visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — recently took effect, after the US Supreme Court allowed it to be enforced pending a full hearing in October.

Travellers from Afghanistan and Gambia are unaffected by that measure.

BEIJING — Chinese Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident Liu Xiaobo is in critical condition and his breathing is failing, the hospital treating him said on Wednesday.

Liu, a prominent participant in the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests of 1989, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power” after helping to write a petition known as “Charter 08” calling for sweeping political reforms.

He was recently moved from jail to a hospital to be treated for late-stage liver cancer.

Liu’s kidney and liver functions are failing, and he suffers from blood clots, among other ailments, the hospital in the city of Shenyang said on its website.

However, Liu’s family has declined the use of intubation machinery to help him breathe with the aid of a plastic tube in his windpipe, the hospital said.

“The patient is in a critically ill condition, the hospital is doing all it can to save him, and his family members understand the situation and have given their signatures,” it added, without elaborating.

The announcement suggested a significant deterioration in Liu’s health since early on Wednesday, when the hospital said he was being treated for worsening liver function, septic shock and organ dysfunction.

Rights groups and Western governments have urged China to allow Liu and his wife, Liu Xia, to leave the country to be treated abroad, as Liu has said he wants to.

But the government has warned against interference in its internal affairs and has said Liu is getting the best care possible and is being treated by renowned Chinese cancer experts.

The state-backed Global Times tabloid said the “confrontational tone” of those in the West voicing their opinions on Liu failed to focus on his illness. 

“China has already taken the feelings of relevant Western forces into consideration, and has no obligation to meet their unreasonable demands,” it said in an English-language editorial on Wednesday.

The government allowed two foreign doctors, from the United States and Germany, to visit Liu on Saturday and they later said they considered it was safe for him to be moved overseas, but any move should be done as quickly as possible.

After the doctors’ Sunday statement, China released short videos of their visit, apparently taken without their knowledge, in which the German doctor appeared to praise the care Liu had received.

‘Keep calling’

Hu Jia, a dissident and friend of Liu’s, said he was deeply saddened to hear the news of his worsening condition but vowed to do all he could to push for Liu’s freedom.

“So long as Liu is still breathing and conscious, we should keep calling for him to be released and go abroad with Liu Xia, even if it is the last thing he does,” Hu said.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said on Twitter that the self-ruled island that China claims as its own, was closely following reports that Liu was in critical condition.

“I call on Beijing to free Liu Xiaobo and allow him to seek treatment wherever he wishes. Taiwan willing to provide any medical assistance,” she said.

Liu’s friends voiced suspicion about the hospital’s earlier statement, which suggested a worsening of his health soon after two foreign doctors said he was well enough to travel abroad.

“We do not know how reliable these accounts are, or if they mean Liu Xiaobo cannot travel,” one family friend told Reuters, declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.

No one answered the telephone at the hospital’s publicity department on Wednesday.

In Hong Kong, about 50 protesters sat outside the Beijing representative office surrounded by placards demanding Liu’s release.

Some protesters have been there for the third day and said they were dismayed to learn Liu was not being released despite his condition.

“I feel scared. If we lose Liu Xiaobo, nobody could replace him,” said 17 year old student Anson Hui. 

“If there’s no Liu Xiaobo we can’t unite the whole world to speak out... The world will lose a spiritual leader.” 

BERLIN — A blame game over ugly street violence that marred Germany's hosting of the G-20 summit last week spilled into the national election campaign on Tuesday as Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel attacked Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Gabriel, of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), charged that Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) had unfairly targeted Olaf Scholz, the SPD mayor of host city Hamburg, where anarchist mobs battled riot police, torched cars and looted shops.

As tensions between the coalition partners build ahead of September 24 general elections, Gabriel accused Merkel's centre-right CDU and its CSU partners of "a hitherto unknown level of mendacity", speaking to the Funke newspaper group.

Hamburg CDU politicians "who are calling on [Scholz] to resign... must also demand the resignation of Angela Merkel", Gabriel charged, pointing out that it was she who had chosen Hamburg, her birth city, as the summit site.

Gabriel said that "in the election year 2017, Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted to use the G-20 summit in her hometown of Hamburg to burnish her image with attractive pictures."

 But the global summit that brought US President Donald Trump, Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's Xi Jinping and other leaders to the port city was disrupted by mass protests, sit-in blockades and fierce street clashes.

Hamburg's government has come under fire in particular over the chaos on Friday night, when rioters throwing rocks from rooftops and setting up burning street barricades were in control of one district for several hours before police moved in.

Gabriel accused the "two-faced" CDU of "buck-passing" and added for good measure that the G-20 summit was "a total failure" when it came to finding answers to "humanity's big questions", from wars and refugee flows to poverty.

"This current crusade of the CDU/CSU against the SPD could poison the political culture for many years," he said.

Merkel is ahead in opinion polls and seen to have good chances in her bid to win a fourth term against her SPD rival, former European Parliament president Martin Schulz.