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Trump urges China’s Xi to free jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai

Trump urges China’s Xi to free jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai

Trump appeals to Chinese leader Xi Jinping after Jimmy Lai convicted under Hong Kong’s national security law in case said to symbolises collapse of media freedoms in the city. United States President Donald Trump has personally appealed to Chinese President Xi Jinping to release imprisoned Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, saying he was deeply concerned about the 78-year-old’s health following his conviction. On Monday, Hong Kong’s High Court found Lai guilty on three charges in his national security trial, a ruling condemned by rights groups as a decisive blow to press freedom in the Chinese financial hub. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Prosecutors accused Lai of orchestrating conspiracies to encourage foreign governments to take action against Hong Kong or China, and of publishing material that “excited disaffection” against Chinese authorities. Lai pleaded not guilty and now faces a possible life sentence following his guilty verdict. “I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release,” Trump told reporters on Monday, without saying when he made the request to Xi. “He’s an older man, and he’s not well. So I did put that request out. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. Trump met Xi in October in South Korea, where he is believed to have raised Lai’s case with the Chinese leader. Shortly after Trump’s comments on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the verdict underscored Beijing’s determination to suppress dissent. Rubio said the conviction showed China’s resolve to “silence those who seek to protect freedom of speech and other fundamental rights”. Lai founded the now-defunct pro-democracy tabloid newspaper Apple Daily and became one of the most prominent pro-democracy figures targeted under Hong Kong’s national security law. Advertisement “Reports indicate that Mr. Lai’s health has severely deteriorated during more than 1,800 days in prison,” Rubio said in the statement. “We urge the authorities to bring this ordeal to an end as soon as possible and to release Mr. Lai on humanitarian grounds,” he said. Jimmy Lai has spent over 1,800 days in prison. I echo President Trump’s call for Beijing to conclude this ordeal and release Mr. Lai. — Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) December 15, 2025 The United Kingdom also criticised the conviction of Lai as a “politically motivated prosecution” and called for his immediate release. Lai, who has been detained since late 2020, is a British citizen. His son Sebastien said that the UK needed to increase pressure on Beijing. “It’s time to put action behind words and make my father’s release a precondition to closer relationships with China,” Lai’s son said at a news conference in London. Lai’s daughter, Claire, said her father would abandon political activism if freed from jail. “He just wants to reunite with his family. He wants to dedicate his life to serving our Lord, and he wants to dedicate the rest of his days to his family,” she told the Associated Press in Washington. “My father is fundamentally not a man who operates on illegal ground,” she said. A devout Catholic, Lai has drawn support in the US from a loose coalition of democracy advocates, press freedom groups and Christian activists, a constituency that forms a key part of Trump’s political base. The forced closure of Lai’s Apple Daily in 2021, once known for its fiercely critical reporting, marked a turning point for Hong Kong’s media landscape. News organisations have since scaled back critical coverage of China amid fears of prosecution in Hong Kong, while the city’s global press freedom ranking has fallen sharply, dropping to 140th out of 180 countries, according to advocacy group RFA. “Although it’s an expected verdict, when the news came out, the feeling of ‘finally it’s here’ hit us,” said Edward Li, a former editor at Apple Daily currently residing in Taiwan. “Not only does Hong Kong no longer have Apple Daily; Hong Kong no longer has a strong voice to criticise and monitor the government…, which is why we feel the need to fill that role,” Li said. Adblock test (Why?)

Russian court designates punk band Pussy Riot as ‘extremist’ group

Russian court designates punk band Pussy Riot as ‘extremist’ group

Exiled punk band says its members are proud to be branded ‘extremists’ and hits back at Putin as an ‘aging sociopath’. A Moscow district court has designated Russian punk protest band Pussy Riot as an extremist organisation, according to the state TASS news agency. The exiled group’s lawyer, Leonid Solovyov, told TASS that Monday’s court ruling was made in response to claims brought by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and that the band plans to appeal. According to TASS, the case was heard in a closed session at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The court said that it had upheld prosecution submissions “to recognise the punk band Pussy Riot as an extremist organisation and ban its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation”, the AFP news agency reports. An official Pussy Riot social media account shared a statement, responding defiantly to the ruling, saying the band’s members, who have lived in exile for years, were “freer than those who try to silence us”. “We can say what I think about putin — that he is an aging sociopath spreading his venom around the world like cancer,” the statement said. “In today’s Russia, telling the truth is extremism. So be it – we’re proud extremists, then.” The group’s designation will make it easier for the authorities to go after the band’s supporters in Russia or people who have worked with them in the past. “This court order is designed to erase the very existence of Pussy Riot from the minds of Russians,” the band said. “Owning a balaclava, having our song on your computer, or liking one of our posts could lead to prison time.” According to TASS, earlier reports said that the Prosecutor General’s Office had brought the case over Pussy Riot’s previous actions, including at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February 2012, and the World Cup Final in Moscow in 2018. Today Russian court designated Pussy Riot as an extremist organization. And yet, we’re freer than those who try to silence us. We can say what I think about putin — that he is an aging sociopath spreading his venom around the world like cancer. In today’s Russia, telling the… pic.twitter.com/ymz3BbApTo — 𝖕𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖞 𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖙💦 (@pussyrrriot) December 15, 2025 Advertisement The band’s members have already served sentences for the 2012 protest at the cathedral in Moscow, where they played what they called a punk prayer, “Mother of God, Cast Putin Out!” Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who were jailed for two years on hooliganism charges over the cathedral protest, were released as part of a 2013 amnesty, which extended to some 26,000 people facing prosecution from Russian authorities, including 30 Greenpeace crew members. In September, a Russian court handed jail terms to five people linked with Pussy Riot – Maria Alyokhina, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova, Diana Burkot and Alina Petrova – after finding them guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian military, news outlet Mediazona reported. All have said the charges against them are politically motivated. Mediazona was founded by Alyokhina alongside fellow band member Tolokonnikova. The news outlet says that it is continuing to maintain a verified list of Russian military deaths in Moscow’s war on Ukraine. “We have confirmed 153,000 names, each supported by evidence, context, and documentation,” Mediazona said on Monday. Adblock test (Why?)

Trump sues BBC for $10bn over edited 2021 US Capitol riot speech

Trump sues BBC for bn over edited 2021 US Capitol riot speech

Lawyers for US President Donald Trump say the BBC caused him overwhelming reputational and financial harm. Published On 16 Dec 202516 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share United States President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit seeking at least $10bn from the BBC over a documentary that edited his speech to supporters before the US Capitol riot in 2021. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami on Monday, seeks “damages in an amount not less than $5,000,000,000” for each of two counts against the United Kingdom broadcaster for alleged defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Earlier in the day, Trump confirmed his plans to file the lawsuit. “I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth, literally… I guess they used AI or something,” he told reporters at the White House. “That’s called fake news .” President Trump: “I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth, literally…I guess they used AI or something…they actually put terrible words in my mouth having to do with January 6th that I didn’t say.” pic.twitter.com/cUwXqBq3Zd — CSPAN (@cspan) December 15, 2025 Trump has accused the UK publicly-owned broadcaster of defaming him by splicing together parts of a January 6, 2021, speech, including one section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol, and another where he said, “Fight like hell”. The edited sections of his speech omitted words in which Trump also called for peaceful protest. Trump’s lawsuit alleges that the BBC defamed him, and his lawyers say the documentary caused him overwhelming reputational and financial harm. The BBC has already apologised to Trump, admitted an error of judgement and acknowledged that the edit gave the mistaken impression that he had made a direct call for violent action. Advertisement The broadcaster also said that there was no legal basis for the lawsuit, and that to overcome the US Constitution’s strong legal protections for free speech and the press, Trump will need to prove in court not only that the edit was false and defamatory, but also that the BBC knowingly misled viewers or acted recklessly. The broadcaster could argue that the documentary was substantially true and its editing decisions did not create a false impression, legal experts said. It could also claim the programme did not damage Trump’s reputation. Rioters attack the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to disrupt the certification of Electoral College votes and the election victory of President Joe Biden [File: John Minchillo/AP Photo] Trump, in his lawsuit, said that the BBC, despite its apology, “has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses”. A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said in a statement that the BBC had “a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda”. The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the lawsuit was filed on Monday. The dispute over the edited speech, featured on the BBC’s Panorama documentary show shortly before the 2024 presidential election, prompted a public relations crisis for the broadcaster, leading to the resignations of its two most senior officials. Other media organisations have settled with Trump, including CBS and ABC, when Trump sued them following his comeback win in the November 2024 election. Trump has also filed lawsuits against The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and a newspaper in Iowa, all of which have denied wrongdoing. Adblock test (Why?)