BlackBerry Z10 off to 'solid start' in U.K., Canada -- analyst

BlackBerry Z10

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

The BlackBerry Z10 is off to a good start in several countries around the world, Jefferies analyst Peter Misek claims in a research note obtained by CNET.

"Our initial checks indicate that sales in the UK are off to a strong start," Misek wrote in his note to investors. "Some stores had lineups out front with widespread sell outs of the White Z10 and limited stock of the Black Z10. Also, our checks indicate that pre-orders in the UAE and Canada have had a solid start."

The U.K. seems to be BlackBerry's best market. Misek said that he has completed "initial checks," and found that Carphone Warehouse, a company that sells handsets, "is seeing widespread sellouts." U.K. carriers O2, Vodafone, Orange, and EE "are seeing robust demand," Misek said.

"We estimate sell-in to be at least several hundred thousand units," Misek wrote to investors. "To put that in perspective, the iPhone had first weekend sales of 5M+ in the U.S. The U.S. is five times larger so continued strong sales could bode very well for Blackberry."

BlackBerry announced the Z10 last week. The device runs its latest operating system,
BlackBerry 10, and comes with a full, 4.2-inch touchscreen. The handset will be available internationally first, and then come to the U.S.

Misek is also seeing strong Z10 performance elsewhere around the world. He reported that preorders in Canada are in the "tens of thousands" and could approach or exceed 100,000 units.

Still, Misek's findings are extremely preliminary and might not hint at future performance. The only way to handicap a smartphone's success is to give it some time on store shelves. For now, that's what the Z10 is lacking.

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Boy held captive may celebrate birthday as hostage

(CBS News) The Alabama hostage drama is now in its seventh day. The 5-year-old boy held captive underground by Jimmy Lee Dykes remains underground and could spend his birthday as a hostage. The boy, identified only as Ethan, turns six on Wednesday.

Police tell CBS News they still have an open line of communication with the Dykes, but almost a full week into this standoff, very little has changed.

Details about communications with the suspect Dykes, remain scarce. Dykes did allow police to lower crackers and a red hot wheels car into the underground bunker for his hostage.

Cindy Steiner, a friend of Ethan's family, told CBS News he has autism. She said, "He's crying, he wants his momma, he's never really been away from her."

Police said Dykes appears to be caring for Ethan. Sheriff Wally Olson said in a recent press conference, "Thank you for taking care of our child."

Neighbors remember Dykes for his anti-government rants. A source told CBS News senior producer Pat Milton that Dykes is a decorated Vietnam-era veteran. He served in the Navy in the late 1960s, based in Japan and California and received awards for good conduct.

CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, a former FBI assistant director, who has been involved in other hostage and standoff situations, said there are some good signs in this situation. He said Dykes' caring for the boy is a sign of bonding. "You can see that when Dykes asks for coloring books, crayons. He allows medication to come in," he said. "He's trying to provide for this boy, so as time goes on, that bond should increase.

For John Miller's full analysis, watch the video in the player below.

"It also happens with the negotiators. There's going to be a primary negotiator who started this conversation and a backup negotiator and then over this many days they're going to be others. He's going develop relationships and trust as he asks for things and they give him things and they ask for things in return. ... That can only get better, probably not worse."

Miller said the situation with Dykes may be controlled to some extent by negotiators, but depends largely on Dykes' own rollercoaster or emotions. Miller explained, "One would argue this might not be a stable person, so they have to manage that in that conversation and sometimes they may want to do a controlled probe to stir things up if there's no conversation, but otherwise they may want to talk him down if he's getting excited. But they want to keep that even if they can."

Explaining what a controlled probe is, Miller said it's a possible tactic "when somebody breaks off conversation, you can stir things up. Make some noise, do something provocative. That will usually generate a phone call. And then at least you've got a conversation going on. On the other hand, when somebody is getting very excited for perspective, they say, let's see where things are. 'The kid's fine, you're fine, let's bring this down a notch.'"

Children in the area will return to school Monday for the first time since the shooting.

On Sunday, just miles from the standoff, hundreds gathered to remember slain bus driver Charles Poland, Jr. Police say Dykes shot Poland Tuesday, when he stormed this school bus demanding child hostages.

Robbie Batchelor, a fellow school bus driver, said of Poland, "He laid down his life for the kids on the bus."

Twenty children on that bus escaped.

Watch Manuel Bojorquez's full report in the video above.

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Former SEAL Killed at Gun Range; Suspect Arrested

A man is under arrest in connection with the killing of a former Navy SEAL and "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and another man at an Erath County, Texas, gun range, police said.

"We have lost more than we can replace. Chris was a patriot, a great father, and a true supporter of this country and its ideals. This is a tragedy for all of us. I send my deepest prayers and thoughts to his wife and two children," "American Sniper" co-author Scott McEwen said in a statement to ABC News.

ABC affiliate WFAA-TV in Dallas reported that Kyle and a neighbor of his were shot while helping a soldier who is recovering from post traumatic stress syndrome at a gun range in Glen Rose.

The suspect, identified as Eddie Routh, 25, was arrested in Lancaster, Texas, after a brief police chase, a Lancaster Police Department dispatcher told ABC News.

Routh was driving Kyle's truck at the time of his arrest and was held awaiting transfer to Texas Rangers, according to police.

Investigators told WFAA that Routh is a former Marine said to suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Paul Moseley

The other man who was killed with Kyle was identified as 35-year-old Chad Littlefield by authorities.

PHOTOS: Notable Deaths in 2013

Kyle, 38, served four tours in Iraq and was awarded two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation.

From 1999 to 2009, Kyle recorded more than 150 sniper kills, the most in U.S. military history.

Travis Cox, the director of FITCO Cares, the non-profit foundation Kyle established, said Kyle's wife Taya and their children "lost a dedicated father and husband" and the country has lost a "lifelong patriot and an American hero."

"Chris Kyle was a hero for his courageous efforts protecting our country as a U.S. Navy SEAL during four tours of combat. Moreover, he was a hero for his efforts stateside when he helped develop the FITCO Cares Foundation. What began as a plea for help from Chris looking for in-home fitness equipment for his brothers- and sisters-in-arms struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) became an organization that will carry that torch proudly in his honor," Cox said in a statement.

After leaving combat duty, became chief instructor training Naval Special Warfare Sniper and Counter-Sniper teams, and he authored the Naval Special Warfare Sniper Doctrine, the first Navy SEAL sniper manual. He left the Navy in 2009.

"American Sniper," which was published last year in 2012, became a New York Times best seller.

The fatal shooting comes after week filled with gun related incidents -- a teen who participated in inaugural festivities was shot to death in Chicago, a bus driver was fatally shot and 5-year-old was taken hostage in Alabama and a Texas prosecutor was gunned outside a courthouse.

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Syrian opposition chief under fire for talks with Assad allies

MUNICH (Reuters) - Syria's opposition leader flew back to his Cairo headquarters from Germany on Sunday to explain to skeptical allies his decision to talk with President Bashar al-Assad's main backers Russia and Iran, in hope of a breakthrough in the crisis.

The Russian and Iranian foreign ministers, and U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, portrayed Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib's new willingness to talk with the Assad regime as a major step towards resolving the two-year-old war.

"If we want to stop the bloodshed we cannot continue putting the blame on one side or the other," Iran's Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday, welcoming Alkhatib's overtures and adding that he was ready to keep talking to the opposition. Iran is Assad's main military backer together with Russia.

"This is a very important step. Especially because the coalition was created on the basis of categorical rejection of any talks with the regime," Lavrov was quoted as saying on Sunday by Russia's Itar Tass news agency.

Russia has blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at pushing Assad out or pressuring him to end a civil war in which more than 60,000 people have died. But Moscow has also tried to distance itself from Assad by saying it is not trying to prop him up and will not offer him asylum.

Syrian state media said Assad received a senior Iranian official and told him Syria could withstand "threats ... and aggression" like an air attack on a military base last week, which Damascus has blamed on Israel.

"USELESS" TALKING TO IRAN

Politicians from the United States, Europe and the Middle East at the Munich Security Conference praised Alkhatib's "courage". But the moderate Islamist preacher was likely to face sharp criticism from the exiled leadership back in Cairo.

Alkhatib has put his leadership on the line by saying he would be willing to talk to representatives of the Assad regime on condition they release 150,000 prisoners and issue passports to the tens of thousands of displaced people who have fled to neighboring countries but do not have documents.

"He has a created a political firestorm. Meeting the Iranian foreign minister was totally unnecessary because it is useless. Iran backs Assad to the hilt and he might as well have met with the Syrian foreign minister," said one of Alkhatib's colleagues on the 12-member politburo of the Syrian National Coalition.

Alkhatib, whose family are custodians of the Umayyad Mosque in the historic centre of Damascus, is seen as a bulwark against Salafist forces who are a main player in the armed opposition.

He was chosen as the head of the Coalition in Qatar last year, with crucial backing from the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Syrian opposition member, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed to comments by Salehi and Lavrov on Sunday, a day after their meetings with Alkhatib, as evidence that they had not changed their positions and still backed Assad.

Salehi told the Munich conference where the round of talks took place that the solution was to hold elections in Syria - making no mention of Assad having to leave the country.

FIZZLE OUT?

Firm opposition backers like Qatar's Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani and U.S. Republican Senator John McCain voiced frustration in Munich at the international community's reluctance to intervene in the Syrian conflict.

"We consider the U.N. Security Council directly responsible for the continuing tragedy of the Syrian people, the thousands of lives that were lost, the blood that was spilled and is still flowing at the hands of the regime's forces," said al-Thani.

Moscow played down the significance of the discussions in Munich, with one diplomatic source calling the talks between Lavrov and Alkhatib "simply routine meetings".

"We have presented our views when Minister Lavrov meet Alkhatib, we have noted his comments that there is still a chance for dialogue with Syrian government. That is something we have called for," said the Russian source.

"To what extent is that realistic, that's a different matter and there are doubts about that," said the source.

One source in Khatib's delegation said the offer of dialogue would find an echo among Syrians opposed to Assad who have not taken up arms "and want to get rid of him with the minimum bloodshed".

Fawaz Tello, a veteran Syrian opposition campaigner based in Berlin, said Alkhatib had made "a calculated political manoeuvre to embarrass Assad".

"But it is an incomplete initiative and it will probably fizzle out," Tello told Reuters. "The Assad regime cannot implement any item in the series of initiatives we have seen lately because it would simply fall."

Russia and Iran were already beginning to use Alkhatib's initiative negatively, he said, while "the regime and its allies will only treat Alkhatib's meetings as an additional opportunity to smash the rebellion or weaken it".

Asked about the risk of his strategy being seen as a sign of weakness in the opposition or frustration at the Free Syrian Army's gains, Alkhatib told Reuters in Munich: "The fighters have high morale and they are making daily advances."

(Additional reporting by Alexandra Hudson in Munich and Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Writing by Stephen Brown; Editing by Andrew Roche)

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Etch A Sketch creator dies

PARIS: Andre Cassagnes, the French inventor of the Etch A Sketch, a toy beloved of children around the world, has died at the age of 86.

His death in France in mid-January was announced by the Ohio Art Company which has been making the Etch a Sketch since 1960, according to media reports.

The Etch A Sketch, a grey screen with bold red frame, allows children to draw a picture using a stylus and then erase it with the turn of two buttons.

It has sold more than 100 million copies around the world.

- AFP/ck

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1964 Ears custom in-ear headphones beat their competition on price

1964 Ears 1964-V6 headphones, with custom art faceplates

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

1964 Ears makes custom-molded, in-ear headphones, just like Ultimate Ears, JH Audio, and Westone, but 1964 Ears is a relative newcomer. It has to try harder than the more established brands, so 1964 Ears offers a wider array of customizable features and service options than the others. Prices start a little lower, at $350 for the 1964-D, and $650 for the top-of-the-line model I'm reviewing here today, the 1964-V6. That's significantly less expensive than the established brands' flagships.

1964 Ears can also "remold" your old universal-fit balanced-armature headphones, like a Shure or Etymotic pair, and make them into custom-molded-to-your-ears headphones for $250. 1964 Ears will also remold older custom-molded in-ear headphones, so you could buy someone's older Ultimate Ears or Westone headphones, and have them remolded to fit your ears. I don't know of another company that offers that service.

Manufacturing in-ear headphones is a labor-intensive process, and 1964 Ears builds all of its headphones in Portland, Ore. The company has an excellent video that takes the mystery out of the process. Watch it and you'll see that few consumer products priced like in-ear headphones are built with this much attention to detail. Since they're made to order, many custom features are available, including different colors for the earpieces, and wood, metal, or carbon-fiber end caps. You can even supply your own artwork; my 1964-V6s have a snazzy black-and-white checkerboard pattern. 1964 Ears also offers soft plastic ear canal fittings that improve comfort over the standard hard acrylic earpieces. Replacement cables sell for $32.

1964 Ears 1964-V6 in a standard finish

(Credit:
1964 Ears)

The 1964-V6 is a "three-way" design with six balanced-armature drivers (dual bass, dual midrange, and dual treble). The headphone comes with your choice of a 50- or 64-inch detachable cable and two carrying cases. Before you buy custom-molded in-ear headphones you need to first visit a local audiologist to have "impressions" of your ear canals made, which are then used to build your headphones. Most audiologists charge from $75 to $100 to make the molds, but you can't beat custom in-ears for fit and isolation from external noise.

In terms of sound, the V6 is certainly on par with the best Ultimate Ears, Jerry Harvey, and Westone custom-molded in-ears. The tonal balance is nice and smooth, bass power and detail are excellent, and the treble is crisp. I spent a few weeks using the 1964-V6s instead of my more expensive customs, and thoroughly enjoyed them.

To gain more perspective on the sound I compared the V6 earphones with the $400 Logitech UE 900 universal-fit headphones. I like the UE 900s a lot, and they use similar balanced armature drivers to the V6 model's, but the UE 900 earphones aren't custom-molded. So the fit is less secure and they don't block outside noise as well as the V6s do. Sonically, the V6 earphones were substantially more detailed and clear. I didn't have to switch back and forth too many times; the V6s resolved details in the mixes better, so I could more clearly hear exactly how much reverb was used on each instrument in the mix. The V6 earphones had superior dynamic punch, while the UE 900s seemed more laid-back by comparison.

The 1964-V6 earphones are really good, but the latest $1,099 Jerry Harvey JH13 customs are better. Again it's a matter of clarity, and the JH13s produced a bigger and more spacious stereo image. Percussion instruments cut through better, cymbals shimmered more, bass was richer, and vocals had more body. Still, the 1964-V6 earphones weren't embarrassed by the almost-twice-as-expensive JH Audio JH13 pair. That's impressive.

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Bus hits overpass in Boston, injuring more than 30

Updated February 3, 2013, 10:27 AM ET

After a visit to Harvard University, dozens in a group of high school students and their adult chaperones were injured when their charter bus hit a bridge after police say the driver failed to heed low-clearance warning signs.

One person was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and three with serious injuries, the Boston Emergency Medical Services said. Thirty-four people were injured in all, EMS said.

The Calvary Coach bus was carrying 42 people and was heading back to the Philadelphia area when it struck an overpass on Soldier's Field Road in Boston, a major crosstown road, at around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Massachusetts State Police said. Some passengers were trapped for more than an hour as rescue crews worked to free them.

In this photo released by the Boston Fire Department via Twitter, firemen work to remove injured passengers from a bus that hit an bridge as it traveled along Soldiers Field Road in the Allston neighborhood of Boston Saturday night, Feb. 2, 2013.

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AP Photo/Boston Fire Department

Authorities said the bus did not belong on the road, where a 10-foot height limit is in place and over-sized vehicles are not authorized. State Police said the driver, whose name was not released, "failed to heed signs" warning of the height limit and will likely be cited for an over-height violation. The investigation will determine if he faces more serious charges, state police said. The driver was not injured.

Ray Talmedge, owner of the Philadelphia-based Calvary Coach Bus company, said Saturday night that his driver was being interviewed by police. Talmedge, who said he didn't know anything about the road restrictions, said the driver also drives a school bus.

CBS Station WBZ Boston reported that the bus company has an adequate record with the Department of Transportation.

The students were part of a Destined for a Dream Foundation group, Talmedge said. Officials with the Bristol, Pa.-based group, a nonprofit that helps underprivileged youth, refused to comment on the crash when reached by phone.

The group's Facebook page said the trip to Harvard was to "visit the campus, sit with the office of cultural advancement, followed by a tour of the campus ... followed by Harvard Square (shopping, eating, site seeing...etc...) This should be a fun time for all!"

None of those injured was identified, and state police said they did not know how many of the injured were adults and how many were juveniles.

The bus suffered significant damage in the crash. The front part of the roof was pushed in while the center section bowed downward. Photos posted on the Fire Department's website showed firefighters standing on the top of the bus using boards to extract people. The last victim was freed from the bus around 9 p.m., according to the department.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority sent buses to pick up other passengers and get them out of the frigid temperatures.

Soldiers Field Road curves along the Charles River and passes by Harvard and Boston University. It is a major roadway to the Massachusetts Turnpike. Soldiers Field remained closed while crews tried to remove the bus.

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Ala. Standoff: Students Say Suspect Threatened to Kill

A brother and sister who escaped the school bus where a 5-year-old autistic boy was taken hostage by a retired Alabama trucker are speaking out about the standoff and the man who threatened the lives of the children on board.

"I look up and he's talking about threatening to kill us all or something," 14-year-old Terrica Singletary told ABC's "Good Morning America." "He's like, 'I'll kill all y'all, I'll kill y'all, I just want two kids.'"

Singletary and her brother, Tristian, 12, said Jimmy Lee Dykes boarded the bus on Tuesday and offered the driver what appeared to be broccoli and a note, before demanding two children.

"The bus driver kept saying, 'Just please get off the bus,' and [Dykes] said, 'Ah alright, I'll get off the bus," said Terrica Singletary, "He just tried to back up and reverse and [Dykes] pulled out the gun and he just shot him, and he just took Ethan."

PHOTOS: Worst Hostage Situations

School bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was fatally shot several times by Dykes.

WDHN (inset); Julie Bennett/al.com via AP

Alabama Hostage Standoff: Who Is Jimmy Lee Dykes? Watch Video

Alabama Boy Held Hostage in Underground Bunker Watch Video

Alabama Hostage Standoff: Boy, 5, Held Captive in Bunker Watch Video

The siblings and the rest of the students on board were able to get away unharmed, but were shocked by what had transpired just five days ago.

"I never thought I would have to go through a shootout," Singletary said.

They said they had seen Dykes, 65, working on his fence, and described him as a menacing figure.

"He was very protective of his stuff," Tristian Singletary said. "Whenever he stares at you, he looks kinda crazy."

Dykes has been holed up in his underground bunker with his 5-year-old hostage named Ethan near Midland City, Ala. for five days now. Neighbors told ABCNews.com that Dykes has been known to retreat underground for up to eight days.

READ: Alabama Hostage Suspect Jimmy Dykes 'Has No Regard for Human Life'

While Dykes, who was described as having "no regard for human life," has allowed negotiators to send Ethan's medicine, as well as coloring books, into the bunker for the boy through a ventilation pipe that leads into the 6 by 8 foot subterranean hideout 4 feet underground, authorities are staying quiet about their conversations with Dykes.

While negotiations continue and it was reported that Ethan is physically unharmed, an official told the Associated Press that the boy has been crying for his parents.

Meanwhile, his peers are steadfast that he will return home soon.

"Ethan will make it out there, Ethan will make it out there," said Tristian Singletary.

ABC News' Kevin Dolak and Gio Benitez contributed to this report.

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Turkish leftist group claims U.S. embassy bombing: website

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish leftist group claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. embassy and accused Washington of using Turkey as its "slave", according to a statement posted on the internet.

The Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C) said it carried out Friday's attack, in which a suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at the embassy in Ankara, killing himself and a Turkish security guard.

In a statement on "The People's Cry" website, the DHKP-C, which is listed as terrorist organization by the United States and Turkey, warned Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan he too was a target.

"Murderer America! You will not run away from people's rage," the statement said, next to a picture of the bomber, named as Alisan Sanli, wearing a black beret and military-style clothes and with an explosives belt around his waist.

Erdogan, who said hours after the attack that the DHKP-C were responsible, met with his interior and foreign ministers as well as the head of the army and state security service in Istanbul on Saturday to discuss the bombing.

Interior Minister Muammer Guler said the attacker had served time in jail on domestic terrorism charges in Turkey in the past, re-entered the country using false documents and was wanted by the authorities.

"(The bomber) was demanding to pass through the guest and staff gate of the U.S. embassy using a fake ID when he detonated the explosives," the provincial governor's office in Ankara said in a statement.

It said he had also detonated a hand grenade.

The White House condemned the bombing as an "act of terror", while the U.N. Security Council described it as a heinous act.

U.S. officials said the DHKP-C were the main suspects in Friday's bombing but did not exclude other possibilities.

Islamist radicals, extreme left-wing groups, ultra-nationalists and Kurdish militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.

U.S. PATRIOT MISSILES

The DHKP-C, formed in 1978, is virulently anti-American.

It called on Washington to remove Patriot missiles, due to go operational on Monday as part of a NATO defense system, from Turkish soil. The missiles are being deployed alongside systems from Germany and the Netherlands to guard NATO-member Turkey against a spillover of the war in neighboring Syria.

"Our action is for the independence of our country, which has become a new slave of America," the statement said.

Turkey is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East with common interests ranging from energy security to counter-terrorism and has been one of the leading advocates of foreign intervention to end the civil war in Syria.

It was the second attack on a U.S. mission in four months. On September 11, 2012, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three American personnel were killed in an Islamist militant attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The DHKP-C was responsible for the assassination of two U.S. military contractors in the early 1990s in protest against the first Gulf War and launched rockets at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul in 1992, according to the U.S. State Department.

It has been blamed for previous suicide attacks, including one in 2001 that killed two police officers and a tourist in Istanbul's central Taksim Square, and has carried out a series of deadly attacks on police stations in the last six months.

Friday's attack may have come in retaliation for an operation against the DHKP-C last month in which Turkish police detained 85 people. A court subsequently remanded 38 of them in custody over links to the group.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Andrew Roche)

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Colonial flags fly in Hong Kong as anger grows

HONG KONG: Sixteen years after Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule, public discontent with Beijing is swelling and protesters have been rallying around an unexpected symbol - the British colonial flag.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets in recent months in marches against Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who took over from Donald Tsang last July after being elected by a 1,200-strong pro-Beijing committee.

On several occasions the old blue flag, which incorporates the Union Flag, has been flown by protesters on the streets of what is becoming an increasingly divided Hong Kong, both embarrassing and infuriating Beijing.

While Leung's supporters say he is tackling pressing social issues such as affordable housing and the strain on public services, his critics see him as a stooge for Beijing and are angry over a widening poverty gap.

In September, he backed down from a plan to introduce Chinese patriotism classes in schools, which had incited mass protests and was viewed as an attempt to brainwash children into accepting doctrines taught on the mainland.

The founder of a group mobilising Hong Kongers to fly colonial flags said it did so because the city was worse off after 16 years of "encroachment" by Beijing, stressing it was not because of any desire to see Britain rule again.

"Our freedom and everything else has gone downhill since (the handover)" said 26-year-old Danny Chan from the "We're Hong Kongese, not Chinese" Facebook group, which has been "liked" by nearly 30,000 people.

Hong Kong's semi-autonomous status enshrines civil liberties not seen on the mainland, including the right to protest, until 2047 under the "One country, two systems" handover agreement.

Chan cited housing prices that stubbornly remained among the world's highest and the widening income gap between the rich and the poor as factors driving the increasingly frequent protests in the city.

Many Hong Kongers blame increased immigration from the mainland for high house prices and overcrowding in local hospitals.

Chan said that the flags symbolised anger and the perceived erosion of the rule of law in Hong Kong since 1997.

"Hong Kong's core values and the rule of law have been gradually destroyed until there is almost nothing left," argued the computer engineer, who waved the flag at a mass rally on January 1 to demand Leung step down.

Dixon Sing, political analyst at Hong Kong's University of Science and Technology, said the protesters "believe the Chinese Communist Party has been undermining those core values and reneging on the promise of giving Hong Kong 'two systems'".

The increased visibility of the old emblem has sparked tensions, at a time when China is ushering in a new batch of leaders who yearn for order and stability in the Asian financial hub.

The British Council, which promotes cultural and educational ties overseas, unwittingly became embroiled in the controversy recently when advertisements for an education fair bearing the Union Jack became the centre of attention.

Comments such as "Great Britain built Great Hong Kong!" were posted on the British consulate's Facebook page and linked to the posters.

The advertisements were hastily removed due to the possibility of "misinterpretation", a British Council spokeswoman said.

The waving of the old flag has drawn criticism from Chen Zuoer, the former No.2 mainland Chinese official in Hong Kong, who reportedly said last year that it "should be sent to history museums".

Other critics, including those from the city's pro-democracy political camp, said any "good old days" notion is largely misguided, as corruption and malpractice were once widespread before a major clean-up in the 1970s.

"During colonial times, there was no freedom and our rights were denied but in the late 1980s, the government won people's trust and it was seen as clean," said Avery Ng from maverick lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung's League of Social Democrats party.

The party has called for full democracy in Hong Kong to replace the current system.

"I understand the current sentiment but this is very sad for Hong Kong that people would rather look back at colonial times."

- AFP/de

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