Hong Kong people should do something about the future not just sit here shouting he said

Hong Kong people should do something about the future, not just sit here shouting, he said."If everyone says it will be hopeless, it will be hopeless, it's a self- fulfilling prophecy."The Democrats believe that there is no need to prophesy about the future: "We see [Peking's] puppets ruling Hong Kong with a high degree of control," said the Democrats' leader, Martin Lee, yesterday. This will overturn the current system, which approximates to universal suffrage."We are ordinary people," said Tsang Yuk Shing, the leader of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), which organised the pro- China rally. He said that ordinary people were seeking pragmatic solutions to the challenges of the new era. To prove the point, a succession of "ordinary people" were brought up to the platform to say what they were hoping for. A teacher said he would take a course to study for a new career, a white-collar worker said he would try to start his own business, and a small girl demonstrated how she was learning the language of the new rulers by counting from one to 10 in Mandarin.Cheng Kai Nam, the DAB's General-Secretary, said there was too much preoccupation with the theory of what will happen.

A group of 100 people conducted an all- night vigil to protest against China's plans for dismembering the legislature and replacing it with a non-elected body, pending the organisation of fresh elections. They were orderly, and responded well to instructions from the platform.The Democrats, who mustered a bigger crowd, were less Identikit, and were in a more belligerent mood. The next moment - ominous black clouds and downpours. In the centre of Hong Kong, there were equally confused versions of the future depicted in rallies held by Peking's supporters on the one hand, and the Democratic Party, which is the largest and most vocal opponent of Chinese plans for the new Hong Kong, on the other.For the pro-Peking event, 400 people were bussed in wearing identical yellow T-shirts and orange sun shields. The floods began in mid-June, caused by unusually heavy rains.

The Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has said the damage is estimated at $1.2bn (pounds 0.8bn).. Maybe the unseen hand which controls the weather was saying all that needed to be said about the colony's future yesterday, the day marking the start of the 365-day countdown to the end of British rule One moment, there were brilliant clear skies. One other person was injured.Rescue teams are still searching for the body of one missing Briton. Another was taken to hospital and is said to be in a stable condition."The victims were terribly unlucky," said a British Embassy spokesman in Muscat. "There is always a risk when going on these excursions, but it was a popular tour and people don't really expect any danger."There are only 6,000 Britons out here in Oman," he said.