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Perth Now
3 hours ago
- Perth Now
HK democrat Jimmy Lai's final stretch of marathon trial
Hong Kong pro-democracy businessman Jimmy Lai was provided with medication and a heart monitor for the start of his final submissions in a landmark national security trial, following health concerns over heart palpitations. Lai, 77, who founded the Apple Daily newspaper that was forced to close after a police raid and asset freeze in June 2021, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material. Lai's lawyer Robert Pang told the court last Friday that Lai had some episodes where he felt that he was collapsing and had heart "palpitations", prompting the court to adjourn proceedings and order that he be provided with a heart monitor and medication. Prosecutor Anthony Chau confirmed that Lai had been provided with these items on Friday and that he was fit for court on Monday. Lai, noticeably thinner than when the trial began in late 2023, was dressed in a white jacket in the glass dock and pressed his palms together in a prayer gesture several times to his family and supporters. One of the judges, Esther Toh, said additional breaks could be provided for Lai if need be, while also acknowledging the opinion of a medical expert who examined Lai that he was "physically and mentally fit for court". "I'm worried for him. He's already in his 70s and has diabetes, and now palpitations," said Lucille, a supporter who queued for hours to get into the packed courtroom. Lai, a British citizen, has been held in solitary confinement for around 1700 days. His son Sebastien Lai and some rights groups have expressed fear over his deteriorating health on X. Some Western governments have called for Lai's immediate release and raised concerns about the erosion of fundamental rights in the financial hub under China-imposed national security laws. Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have said Lai is being given a fair trial and have warned against such interference in the city's internal affairs. US President Donald Trump said last week that he would "do everything I can to save him". An Australian foreign affairs spokesperson told Reuters on Monday that Canberra was "deeply concerned by Hong Kong's widespread application of national security laws to repress civil society and prosecute pro-democracy advocates ... such as Jimmy Lai". The trial's final days come just days after Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Ted Hui was granted asylum in Australia, more than four years after he left Hong Kong where he faces criminal charges over the 2019 pro-democracy protests. with AP
Sydney Morning Herald
5 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The Democrats can't allow Trump to be a saviour on crime in Washington
It's hardly the most heinous crime, but you hear a lot about Washingtonians and their personal experiences of being preyed on. City officials and many liberal residents are outraged about Trump's painting the district as a hellscape and flooding the zone with law enforcement and troops. Protesters around town held up signs reading 'fascists,' and a Department of Justice employee (now fired) threw a Subway sandwich at an officer and was charged with assault. It's ridiculous to drag FBI agents from their desks to be cops on the beat. And the tableau of National Guard troops — even unarmed — raises the spectre of martial law being normalised and weaponised. (Armed and masked Border Patrol agents showing up at a Gavin Newsom gerrymandering speech in LA was disturbing.) It is also true that many district residents are secretly glad to see more uniforms. No matter what statistics say, they don't feel safe. I've always been hypervigilant. My mom, the wife of a policeman, passed down a healthy paranoia. She drove me to move into my dorm at Catholic University with a butcher knife on the seat between us. She gave me a Chinese letter opener with written instructions on how to find the jugular. At Christmas, there was always a can of pepper spray or a whistle among the presents. I find myself packing pepper spray again. I feel more wary walking around the city. It's disturbing to ask someone to unlock the Claratyne at the chemist because the police don't lock up the smash-and-grabbers. Drugstores, as Bill Maher pointed out, have become a 'zoo for teeth-whitening strips'. Loading Trump is playing the saviour on crime when he's the biggest scofflaw in town — first inciting the mob on January 6 and then pardoning felons who broke into the Capitol and beat up police officers. Elie Honig, a CNN legal analyst and the author of the forthcoming book When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ's Pursuit of the President, From Nixon to Trump, summed up the dilemma. 'Yes, Trump is hypocritical and scattershot on public safety,' he told me. 'And yes, he's likely doing this as a flex. But he happens to be within the law here, and he happens to be right.' While the district's homicide rate has fallen, it's almost as high as New York City's at its most dangerous, in 1990. In The Atlantic, Michael Powell noted that the reality of crime is grimmest in Wards 7 and 8, the disadvantaged, majority-Black neighbourhoods where more than half of the district's homicides occurred last year. 'I have no doubt that Trump enjoys targeting Democratic-controlled cities for embarrassment,' Powell writes. 'I also have little doubt that a mother in Ward 8 might draw comfort from a National Guard soldier standing watch near her child's school.' The diva of distraction is putting on a show. (They're eating the cats and the dogs!) But progressives should not fall into Trump's trap and play down crime, once more getting on the wrong side of an inflammatory issue. As with inflation, they should remember that personal experiences can count more than sanguine statistics. Even if Trump is being diabolical, Democrats should not pretend that everything is fine here. Because it's not.
The Age
5 hours ago
- The Age
The Democrats can't allow Trump to be a saviour on crime in Washington
It's hardly the most heinous crime, but you hear a lot about Washingtonians and their personal experiences of being preyed on. City officials and many liberal residents are outraged about Trump's painting the district as a hellscape and flooding the zone with law enforcement and troops. Protesters around town held up signs reading 'fascists,' and a Department of Justice employee (now fired) threw a Subway sandwich at an officer and was charged with assault. It's ridiculous to drag FBI agents from their desks to be cops on the beat. And the tableau of National Guard troops — even unarmed — raises the spectre of martial law being normalised and weaponised. (Armed and masked Border Patrol agents showing up at a Gavin Newsom gerrymandering speech in LA was disturbing.) It is also true that many district residents are secretly glad to see more uniforms. No matter what statistics say, they don't feel safe. I've always been hypervigilant. My mom, the wife of a policeman, passed down a healthy paranoia. She drove me to move into my dorm at Catholic University with a butcher knife on the seat between us. She gave me a Chinese letter opener with written instructions on how to find the jugular. At Christmas, there was always a can of pepper spray or a whistle among the presents. I find myself packing pepper spray again. I feel more wary walking around the city. It's disturbing to ask someone to unlock the Claratyne at the chemist because the police don't lock up the smash-and-grabbers. Drugstores, as Bill Maher pointed out, have become a 'zoo for teeth-whitening strips'. Loading Trump is playing the saviour on crime when he's the biggest scofflaw in town — first inciting the mob on January 6 and then pardoning felons who broke into the Capitol and beat up police officers. Elie Honig, a CNN legal analyst and the author of the forthcoming book When You Come at the King: Inside DOJ's Pursuit of the President, From Nixon to Trump, summed up the dilemma. 'Yes, Trump is hypocritical and scattershot on public safety,' he told me. 'And yes, he's likely doing this as a flex. But he happens to be within the law here, and he happens to be right.' While the district's homicide rate has fallen, it's almost as high as New York City's at its most dangerous, in 1990. In The Atlantic, Michael Powell noted that the reality of crime is grimmest in Wards 7 and 8, the disadvantaged, majority-Black neighbourhoods where more than half of the district's homicides occurred last year. 'I have no doubt that Trump enjoys targeting Democratic-controlled cities for embarrassment,' Powell writes. 'I also have little doubt that a mother in Ward 8 might draw comfort from a National Guard soldier standing watch near her child's school.' The diva of distraction is putting on a show. (They're eating the cats and the dogs!) But progressives should not fall into Trump's trap and play down crime, once more getting on the wrong side of an inflammatory issue. As with inflation, they should remember that personal experiences can count more than sanguine statistics. Even if Trump is being diabolical, Democrats should not pretend that everything is fine here. Because it's not.
