Today’s news digest comes from the ‘World’ page of the UK Google News site. The Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is a main supporter of the recent pro-democracy protests in the autonomous region of Hong Kong, has been detained by local authorities on accusations of fraud. Today, Lai was denied bail by a court in the city state and was formally charged and will be kept in custody until a court hearing in April 2021. Aged 73, Lai is a media magnate who founded and manages Next Digital which publishes Apple Daily, a well-read tabloid which is frequently critical of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese leadership. He was arrested Wednesday night along with two other Next Digital senior executives – Hong Kong pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai detained for fraud (BBC News China)
The crackdown on protests for greater democracy and autonomy for the Hong Kong special region has also seen the arrest of other key figures of the movement, including Joshua Wong. Wong, along with two other activists, were sentenced to jail spells of maximum 13-and-a-half months, with fellow protester Agnes Chow receiving ten months inside. The last of the trio, Ivan Lam, was sent down for seven months. The three activist were part of massive student-led protests that gripped Hong Kong last year – Hong Kong’s Joshua Wong and pro-democracy activists jailed – BBC News (BBC News/YouTube GB)
On the other side of the world, outgoing president Donald Trump has renewed his claims that the recent national elections, in which the incumbent was outvoted in favour of Democrat frontrunner Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris, were fraudulent. He made his claims, which Britain’s Telegraph newspaper said were ‘baseless allegations’ in a 46-minute long video from his presidential base at the White House. Trump claimed the speech was the most important of his presidency, while critics said he would stubbornly refuse to accept the results. There are fears Trump will use legal means to try and overturn the result, or at least frustrate Biden’s move into the White House next year – Donald Trump escalates election fraud claims in 46-minute video (The Telegraph)
The video, released solely on social media, saw Trump state that it was ‘statistically impossible’ that he lost the election. He also pleaded with the American Supreme Court to use its power to overturn Biden’s victory. He vented against alleged rigged voting machines and results being taken in for counting on election night. He also insisted the election was a ‘total catastrophe’ – ‘It’s statistically impossible that I lost’: White House releases 46-minute address by Trump complaining about losing the election and pleading with the Supreme Court to OVERTURN Biden’s victory (Mail Online News)
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