
US singer Chris Brown pleads not guilty to attempting to cause GBH
The US R&B star was arrested at a hotel in Manchester by Metropolitan Police detectives last month, after the singer flew to the city by private jet in preparation for his world tour.
The 36-year-old said he had gone "from the cage to the stage" after he was released on bail in time for the tour.
The musician had been remanded in custody following an initial hearing at Manchester Magistrates' Court but was freed ahead of his court appearance after paying a £5m security fee to the court.
Brown was charged with grievous bodily harm following an alleged assault at a London nightclub named Tape in 2023.
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BBC News
26 minutes ago
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Cherish bonds of love and friendship this summer, says Kate
The Princess of Wales has encouraged people to "cherish the bonds of love and friendship" this summer, as part of her Mother Nature video an Instagram post, Catherine narrates over clips showing natural landscapes and people enjoying the sunshine at the beach and in parks. It is the second such post from the princess this year - she launched the series in May with a special message for Mother's Day. Catherine has been making a gradual return to public duties since completing chemotherapy treatment last summer. Most recently she attended both Wimbledon tennis finals, as patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, and Colchester Hospital's Wellbeing Garden - both in the video, which was posted to the princess' official Instagram account on Wednesday, she wrote: "It has never been more important to appreciate the value of one another, and of Mother Nature. Here's to Summer."The scenery featured was shot at locations in Sheffield, Bradford, North Wales and Anglesey and the south part of her narration, Catherine describes summer as the "season for abundance", saying that "as the flowers bloom and the fruits ripen, we too are reminded of our own potential for growth".A group of dancers from The Royal Ballet School, who performed in a Westminster Abbey carol service hosted by the princess last year, are also video concludes with Catherine encouraging us to "embrace the joy to be found in even the most fleeting of moments and shared experiences".Unlike the first video in the series, published earlier this year, the Prince of Wales does not that one, there were shots of the pair walking their dogs in Norfolk. Catherine also alluded to her cancer battle, saying nature had been her family's "sanctuary" for the past year.


Telegraph
26 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Bollywood-inspired ‘Christmas Carol' to feature anti-refugee Scrooge
A Bollywood-inspired adaptation of A Christmas Carol will feature a version of Ebenezer Scrooge who 'despises refugees', the director has revealed. The 'modern-day' musical, based on the Charles Dickens 1843 novella, will feature the titular character as a 'British-Indian' man named Sood. In her director's statement, Gurinder Chadha said: 'Our Scrooge, called Sood, is a rich British Indian who despises poor people and refugees in particular.' 'Sood has decided that immense wealth brings him status and standing, so to hell with the poor, unemployed and disenfranchised who didn't work as hard as him to get where he is.' Ms Chadha, who is well-known for Bend It Like Beckham and Bride & Prejudice, suggested the inspiration for her film came from well-known faces in British politics, saying: 'Sounds familiar to some of our current British Indian politicians?' The film, titled Christmas Karma and slated for release in November 2025, is described in a press release as a celebration of 'all of modern Britain's communities and cultures'. The London-set musical 'is very true to the original text and sentiment', according to Ms Chadha, and will teach audiences 'the urgent lesson of how prejudice, poverty and division in all its forms shapes Sood and our society today'. The British-Indian director added: 'A hundred and eighty-two years later, Dickens' novella still resonates globally in today's sometimes harsh world.' The novella is a tale of redemption which follows Scrooge as he meets a supernatural reckoning. Ms Chadha writes that it is the author's 'plea for a kinder, more tolerant Britain'. Playing the protagonist in the upcoming film is Kunal Nayyar, known for his role as Raj Koothrappali on the US sitcom The Big Bang Theory. He is joined by Boy George as the Ghost of Christmas Future, Eva Longoria as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Hugh Bonneville as the Ghost of Jacob Marley and Billy Porter as the Ghost of Christmas Present. EastEnders star Danny Dyer will also feature in the musical as a London cabbie. Ms Chadha described the film as her 'ode to Dickens' and Italian-American director Frank Capra – who made It's a Wonderful Life – but 'with a contemporary twist'. She said she was also inspired by one of her family members who was a Ugandan refugee. 'He came to Britain around Christmas time having lost his home in Uganda as a child and arriving to a hostile welcome as a refugee,' she said. 'For years he didn't feel Christmas was for him and the hardships he faced as a child left him despising it.' The film's soundtrack has been influenced by gospel, reimagined Christmas songs, Christmas carols, Bhangra, traditional music of Punjab, as well as rap and classic pop. Ms Chadha said that she hopes the audience will 'be invested to beg [Sood] to move on, transform, and be part of a society that doesn't allow Scrooges, twisted and shaped by prejudice to grow'. She added: 'It is an affectionate, hopeful, musical celebration of the Britain of today and the future for our kids.' It marks the latest in a series of controversial takes on the author's novels. In 2023, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight adapted Dickens' 1861 novel Great Expectations into a six-part series for the BBC that featured mental health issues, prison breaks, toxic relationships, recreational drug use and self-harm. The limited historical drama series, which rates at a low 5.4 on IMDb, also featured an expletive-laden script and an ethnically diverse cast. Mr Knight also created a bold retelling of A Christmas Carol in 2019, which shocked period purists with its radical and horror-filled narrative. The BBC helmed another controversial adaptation of Dickens's work when it filmed Bleak House in the style of a television soap opera in 2005. Andrew Davies, who wrote the adaptations' 16 episodes, said at the time that he hoped to attract a younger audience to the classic tale by highlighting the novel's sexual themes and stripping away its Victorian 'sentimentality'.


BBC News
26 minutes ago
- BBC News
Who is Jimmy Lai, the HK media tycoon on trial for national security crimes?
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 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." 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 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 was 12 years old when he fled his village in mainland China, arriving in Hong Kong as a stowaway on a fishing 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 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 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 a local media landscape increasingly fearful of Beijing, Lai had been a persistent critic of Chinese authorities both through his publications and 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 on the mainland he is viewed as a "traitor" who threatens Chinese national recent years, masked attackers firebombed Lai's house and company headquarters. He was also the target of an assassination 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 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 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 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 prosecution of Lai has captured international attention, with rights groups and foreign governments urging his 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.