
Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao taken in for questioning, WSJ reports
Liu was taken away after returning to Beijing in late July from a work trip overseas, WSJ reported, citing the people familiar with the matter.
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Bloomberg
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Bessent Says BOJ Is Falling Behind the Curve, Expects Rate Hike
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Yahoo
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- Yahoo
Jimmy Lai: Landmark trial of Hong Kong's rebel mogul resumes
Hailed by some as a hero and scorned by others as a traitor, Hong Kong's pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai is in the final stage of his national security trial. Closing arguments begin on Thursday for Lai, who is accused of colluding with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed national security law. The trial has drawn international attention, with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer calling for Lai's release. The 77-year-old has British as well as Chinese citizenship - though China does not recognise dual nationality, and therefore considers Lai to be exclusively Chinese. Lai has been detained since December 2020 and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if he is convicted. Critics say Lai's case shows how Hong Kong's legal system has been weaponised to silence political opposition. Lai has been a persistent thorn in China's side. Unlike other tycoons who rose to the top in Hong Kong, Mr Lai became one of the fiercest critics of the Chinese state and a leading figure advocating democracy in the former British territory. "I'm a born rebel," he told the BBC in an interview in 2020, hours before he was charged. "I have a very rebellious character." What a defiant mogul's trial says about Hong Kong Hong Kong's year under China's controversial law He is the most prominent person charged under the controversial national security law which China introduced in 2020, in response to massive protests which erupted in Hong Kong the year before. The legislation criminalises a wider range of dissenting acts which Beijing considers subversion and secession, among other things. Beijing says the national security law is necessary to maintain stability in Hong Kong but critics say it has effectively outlawed dissent. Over the years, Lai's son Sebastien has called for his release. In February, the younger Lai urged Starmer and US President Donald Trump to take urgent action, adding that his father's "body is breaking down". Rags to riches Lai was born in Guangzhou, a city in southern China, to a wealthy family that lost everything when the communists took power in 1949. He was 12 years old when he fled his village in mainland China, arriving in Hong Kong as a stowaway on a fishing boat. While working odd jobs and knitting in a small clothing shop he taught himself English. He went from a menial role to eventually founding a multi-million dollar empire including the international clothing brand Giordano. The chain was a huge success. But when China sent in tanks to crush pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, Lai began a new journey as a vocal democracy activist as well as an entrepreneur. He started writing columns criticising the massacre that followed the demonstrations in Beijing and established a publishing house that went on to become one of Hong Kong's most influential. As China responded by threatening to shut his stores on the mainland, leading him to sell the company, Lai launched a string of popular pro-democracy titles that included Next, a digital magazine, and the widely read Apple Daily newspaper. In a local media landscape increasingly fearful of Beijing, Lai had been a persistent critic of Chinese authorities both through his publications and writing. This has seen him become a hero for many in Hong Kong, who view him as a man of courage who took great risks to defend the freedoms of the city. But on the mainland he is viewed as a "traitor" who threatens Chinese national security. In recent years, masked attackers firebombed Lai's house and company headquarters. He was also the target of an assassination plot. But none of the threats stopped him from airing his views robustly. He was a prominent part of the city's pro-democracy demonstrations and was arrested twice in 2021 on illegal assembly charges. When China passed Hong Kong's new national security law in June 2020, Lai told the BBC it sounded the "death knell" for the territory. The influential entrepreneur also warned that Hong Kong would become as corrupt as China. Without the rule of law, he said, its coveted status as a global financial hub would be "totally destroyed". The media mogul is known for his frankness and acts of flamboyance. In 2021, he urged Donald Trump to help the territory, saying he was "the only one who can save us" from China. His newspaper, Apple Daily, published a front-page letter that finished: "Mr President, please help us." For Lai, such acts were necessary to defend the city which had taken him in and fuelled his success. He once told news agency AFP: "I came here with nothing, the freedom of this place has given me everything... Maybe it's time I paid back for that freedom by fighting for it." Lai has been slapped with various charges - including unauthorised assembly and fraud - since 2020. He has been in custody since December of that year. The prosecution of Lai has captured international attention, with rights groups and foreign governments urging his release. Over the years, Sebastien Lai has travelled the world to denounce his father's arrest and condemn Hong Kong for punishing "characteristics that should be celebrated". "My father is in jail for the truth on his lips, courage in his heart, and freedom in his soul," he had said. Silenced and erased, Hong Kong's decade of protest is now a defiant memory Hong Kong pro-China informer: 'Why I've reported dozens of people to police' One of Hong Kong's last major pro-democracy parties disbands 'Never': Jimmy Lai denies foreign collusion in landmark trial


New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Man who helped bomb 2017 Ariana Grande concert charged with attempted murder for prison guard attack
The brother of the suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a 2017 Ariana Grande concert has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly attacking four prison guards with a makeshift blade and hot cooking oil at a high-security lockup, according to reports. Hashem Abedi, 28, left three of the officers hospitalized with serious injuries after the attack on April 11 at the high-security HMP Frankland in Durham, England, the Guardian reported. Abedi allegedly attacked the four guards by dumping hot cooking oil over them and stabbing them with a makeshift knife, the outlet said. Advertisement Hashem Abedi has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly attacking four prison guards with a makeshift blade and hot cooking oil at a high-security lockup. via REUTERS He has been charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of assault for the attack on the fourth officer, authorities told the outlet. Abedi also faces additional charges of unauthorized possession of a knife, according to reports. Advertisement Abedi was sentenced in 2020 to at least 55 years in prison after being found guilty of 22 murders for helping his brother, Salman Abedi, plan a mass slaughter at the Manchester Arena show that also left hundreds injured. He was transferred to another prison after the attack on the guards and can be prosecuted under counterterrorism protocol — allowing prosecutors to argue the assault was terror-motivated, BBC reported. Counter Terrorism Policing North East carried out a 'thorough investigation' of the incident with Durham Constabulary and HMP Frankland, the authority told the outlet. Abedi was sentenced in 2020 to at least 55 years in prison after being found guilty of 22 murders for helping his brother, Salman Abedi, plan a massacre at the Manchester Arena show that also left hundreds injured. Getty Images Advertisement Although Abedi was in Libya during the May 2017 attack, he was convicted of helping his brother plot and prepare his massacre at the Manchester Arena, where seven of the dead were children as young as 8 years old. Abedi helped source, buy, stockpile, and transport the components for his brother's bomb, using a number of phones, vehicles, and addresses in preparation for the attack, prosecutors said. 'He has blood on his hands even if he didn't detonate the bomb,' Max Hill, Britain's director of public prosecutions, said at his trial. Another 237 concertgoers were injured, and 670 survivors reported suffering from psychological trauma. The 'No Tears Left to Cry' singer, Grande, has also said she suffers post-traumatic stress disorder. Advertisement Abedi will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Sept 18, records indicate. The Ministry of Justice will do a full investigation into the incident.