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Politics between Hong Kong and mainland China are a mine field these days and if Kenny G, the 1980s saxophone superstar, didn't know it, he does now.

Kenny G, who is hugely popular in mainland China, was in Hong Kong Wednesday and decided to pop by the main, pro-democracy protest camp, which is now in its fourth week.

He posed for photos with fans, flashed a peace sign and said he hoped the demonstrations would end peacefully.

"Most people really welcomed Kenny G's visit," says Kacey Wong, a protester and professor of design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. "Everybody's a Kenny G fan," Wong added, as he sang the opening bars to "Going Home," a signature tune which plays at malls across mainland China to signal closing time.

The Chinese government, though, was not happy with Kenneth Bruce Gorelick — that's Kenny G's full name — and said so during a regularly scheduled news conference.

"Kenny G's musical works are widely popular in China, but China's position on the illegal Occupy Central activities in Hong Kong is very clear," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

Occupy Central is a pro-democracy group that has participated in blocking a business district in downtown Hong Kong to press for open elections for the territory's next chief executive in 2017. The Communist Party is afraid someone opposed to it might win the race and is insisting on screening candidates.

Continuing to answer a question about Kenny G, Hua added: "We hope that foreign governments and individuals speak and act cautiously."

Kenny G seemed to take the hint. He deleted the photos from his verified Twitter account and began back-peddling.

"I was not trying to defy government orders with my last post," he wrote on Twitter. He added, "It's unfair that I am being used by anyone to say that I am showing support for the demonstrators. I am not supporting the demonstrators."

I was not trying to defy government orders with my last post. I was in Hong Kong as a stop on my way to perform... http://t.co/1pvx6ymE81

— Kenny G (@officialkennyg) October 22, 2014

"I don't really know anything about the situation," Kenny G continued in another tweet. "My impromptu visit to the site was just part of an innocent walk around Hong Kong."

Hardly anyone in Hong Kong seemed to buy this. On social media, Hong Kongers ripped the smooth jazz man for the about-face and accused him of self-censorship.

April Ha runs a boutique in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay, close to one of the protest sites. She says even though blocked roads have cost her a lot of business, she still supports the democracy movement.

Ha, who is not a fan of Kenny G's music, said he showed "no class" by suggesting people had misrepresented tweeted photos of him for their own political purposes.

"My personal opinion, he is a coward," Ha said. "He doesn't want to be the enemy of the Chinese government, because that's where he's going to make big money."

Kacey Wong, the protester and university professor, was disappointed as well, but pointed out that many people in Hong Kong who have business in mainland China are also careful about what they say.

"It's understandable and a lot of Hong Kong people are behaving that way, too," Wong says. "They don't want to offend an authority that potentially can harm them economically. This is fear at work."

Kenny G was spotted at the airport today and appears to be moving on from Hong Kong. He's heading to perform at a golf tournament/gala on Hainan Island, a province of mainland China.

Please don't mistake my peace sign for any other sign them a sign for peace

— Kenny G (@officialkennyg) October 22, 2014

kenny g

Hong Kong protests

Authorities in Canada today were taking stock of Wednesday's dramatic attack in the capital city that killed a soldier and led to a shootout inside a Parliament building between police and the alleged attacker, identified as 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

Canada's MPs, despite many of them spending hours in lockdown on Wednesday as police swept the area in downtown Ottawa for a possible second assailant, expected to return to work today.

Parliament will sit tomorrow at 10am as scheduled. Our democracy cannot and will not be intimidated by today's events.

— James Moore (@JamesMoore_org) October 23, 2014

In a speech Wednesday evening, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the events on Parliament Hill "an attack on our values."

NPR's Jackie Northam, reporting from Ottawa, says that while the area where the shooting took place will be open for government business, it remains closed to the public.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has so far declined to comment on the identity of the gunman, but U.S. and Canadian media have quoted unnamed American officials as saying he is Zehaf-Bibeau, a man Jackie says is being described as "a fairly recent convert to Islam" who had a criminal record in multiple provinces.

"He was also the son of a very senior official of Canada's immigration department," she says.

The Globe and Mail says he was "a labourer and small-time criminal — a man who had had a religious awakening and seemed to have become mentally unstable."

The newspaper reports: "Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau was born in 1982 and was the son of Bulgasem Zehaf, a Quebec businessman who appears to have fought in 2011 in Libya, and Susan Bibeau, the deputy chairperson of a division of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. The two were divorced in 1999."

The Globe and Mail quotes an acquaintance of Zehaf-Bibeau's who said the alleged attacker had frequently spoken of the presence of devils or demons in the world and had recently expressed a desire to go back to Libya and study. He apparently had been blocked from getting a visa to Libya by Canadian authorities "who have been taking measures to prevent Canadians from joining extremists overseas," the newspaper says.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. says Zehaf-Bibeau was charged in 2004 with drug possession in 2004, pleaded guilty and served 60 days in jail.

According to the CBC:

"Zehaf-Bibeau was in trouble with the law again in 2011, this time in British Columbia.

"Following a robbery in Vancouver, Zehaf-Bibeau was charged with robbery and uttering threats. He was found guilty of the lesser charge of uttering threats and sentenced to one day in jail, with credit for 66 days already served, according to court documents.

"Quebec court documents from 2004 show Zehaf-Bibeau lived in Montreal at the time, in the north-end neighbourhood of Villeray."

Meanwhile, Canadian authorities have not ruled out the possibility of a second assailant, but have so far turned up no additional suspects. And it wasn't yet clear whether the incident was tied to one the day before in which two soldiers were run down in a car, one killed and the other injured by someone who had been radicalized by Islam.

"It could just be a coincidence but certainly it did raise concern that the attacks happened so closely together," Jackie reports from Ottawa. "This all comes at a critical time for Canada when Canada says it's going to help in the fight against the so-called Islamic State and Canada is providing men and support for that effort."

canada parliament shooting

Canada

Politics between Hong Kong and mainland China are a mine field these days and if Kenny G, the 1980s saxophone superstar, didn't know it, he does now.

Kenny G, who is hugely popular in mainland China, was in Hong Kong Wednesday and decided to pop by the main, pro-democracy protest camp, which is now in its fourth week.

He posed for photos with fans, flashed a peace sign and said he hoped the demonstrations would end peacefully.

"Most people really welcomed Kenny G's visit," says Kacey Wong, a protester and professor of design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. "Everybody's a Kenny G fan," Wong added, as he sang the opening bars to "Going Home," a signature tune which plays at malls across mainland China to signal closing time.

The Chinese government, though, was not happy with Kenneth Bruce Gorelick — that's Kenny G's full name — and said so during a regularly scheduled news conference.

"Kenny G's musical works are widely popular in China, but China's position on the illegal Occupy Central activities in Hong Kong is very clear," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

Occupy Central is a pro-democracy group that has participated in blocking a business district in downtown Hong Kong to press for open elections for the territory's next chief executive in 2017. The Communist Party is afraid someone opposed to it might win the race and is insisting on screening candidates.

Continuing to answer a question about Kenny G, Hua added: "We hope that foreign governments and individuals speak and act cautiously."

Kenny G seemed to take the hint. He deleted the photos from his verified Twitter account and began back-peddling.

"I was not trying to defy government orders with my last post," he wrote on Twitter. He added, "It's unfair that I am being used by anyone to say that I am showing support for the demonstrators. I am not supporting the demonstrators."

I was not trying to defy government orders with my last post. I was in Hong Kong as a stop on my way to perform... http://t.co/1pvx6ymE81

— Kenny G (@officialkennyg) October 22, 2014

"I don't really know anything about the situation," Kenny G continued in another tweet. "My impromptu visit to the site was just part of an innocent walk around Hong Kong."

Hardly anyone in Hong Kong seemed to buy this. On social media, Hong Kongers ripped the smooth jazz man for the about-face and accused him of self-censorship.

April Ha runs a boutique in Hong Kong's Causeway Bay, close to one of the protest sites. She says even though blocked roads have cost her a lot of business, she still supports the democracy movement.

Ha, who is not a fan of Kenny G's music, said he showed "no class" by suggesting people had misrepresented tweeted photos of him for their own political purposes.

"My personal opinion, he is a coward," Ha said. "He doesn't want to be the enemy of the Chinese government, because that's where he's going to make big money."

Kacey Wong, the protester and university professor, was disappointed as well, but pointed out that many people in Hong Kong who have business in mainland China are also careful about what they say.

"It's understandable and a lot of Hong Kong people are behaving that way, too," Wong says. "They don't want to offend an authority that potentially can harm them economically. This is fear at work."

Kenny G was spotted at the airport today and appears to be moving on from Hong Kong. He's heading to perform at a golf tournament/gala on Hainan Island, a province of mainland China.

Please don't mistake my peace sign for any other sign them a sign for peace

— Kenny G (@officialkennyg) October 22, 2014

kenny g

Hong Kong protests

Authorities in Canada today were taking stock of Wednesday's dramatic attack in the capital city that killed a soldier and led to a shootout inside a Parliament building between police and the alleged attacker, identified as 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

Canada's MPs, despite many of them spending hours in lockdown on Wednesday as police swept the area in downtown Ottawa for a possible second assailant, expected to return to work today.

Parliament will sit tomorrow at 10am as scheduled. Our democracy cannot and will not be intimidated by today's events.

— James Moore (@JamesMoore_org) October 23, 2014

In a speech Wednesday evening, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the events on Parliament Hill "an attack on our values."

NPR's Jackie Northam, reporting from Ottawa, says that while the area where the shooting took place will be open for government business, it remains closed to the public.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has so far declined to comment on the identity of the gunman, but U.S. and Canadian media have quoted unnamed American officials as saying he is Zehaf-Bibeau, a man Jackie says is being described as "a fairly recent convert to Islam" who had a criminal record in multiple provinces.

"He was also the son of a very senior official of Canada's immigration department," she says.

The Globe and Mail says he was "a labourer and small-time criminal — a man who had had a religious awakening and seemed to have become mentally unstable."

The newspaper reports: "Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau was born in 1982 and was the son of Bulgasem Zehaf, a Quebec businessman who appears to have fought in 2011 in Libya, and Susan Bibeau, the deputy chairperson of a division of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. The two were divorced in 1999."

The Globe and Mail quotes an acquaintance of Zehaf-Bibeau's who said the alleged attacker had frequently spoken of the presence of devils or demons in the world and had recently expressed a desire to go back to Libya and study. He apparently had been blocked from getting a visa to Libya by Canadian authorities "who have been taking measures to prevent Canadians from joining extremists overseas," the newspaper says.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. says Zehaf-Bibeau was charged in 2004 with drug possession in 2004, pleaded guilty and served 60 days in jail.

According to the CBC:

"Zehaf-Bibeau was in trouble with the law again in 2011, this time in British Columbia.

"Following a robbery in Vancouver, Zehaf-Bibeau was charged with robbery and uttering threats. He was found guilty of the lesser charge of uttering threats and sentenced to one day in jail, with credit for 66 days already served, according to court documents.

"Quebec court documents from 2004 show Zehaf-Bibeau lived in Montreal at the time, in the north-end neighbourhood of Villeray."

Meanwhile, Canadian authorities have not ruled out the possibility of a second assailant, but have so far turned up no additional suspects. And it wasn't yet clear whether the incident was tied to one the day before in which two soldiers were run down in a car, one killed and the other injured by someone who had been radicalized by Islam.

"It could just be a coincidence but certainly it did raise concern that the attacks happened so closely together," Jackie reports from Ottawa. "This all comes at a critical time for Canada when Canada says it's going to help in the fight against the so-called Islamic State and Canada is providing men and support for that effort."

canada parliament shooting

Canada