The media mogul and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai has gone on trial at a heavily guarded Hong Kong court on national security charges that could lead to life imprisonment.

Lai’s trial, expected to last months, is one of the most high-profile prosecutions in the Hong Kong government’s crackdown on opposition, and has been widely condemned by rights groups and other governments.

The 76-year-old pro-democracy activist and founder of the now-closed Apple Daily newspaper has been accused of conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security under sweeping legislation Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 and of conspiring to publish seditious material.

Navalny court hearing postponed amid fears over whereabouts

Russian authorities have put on hold two hearings for jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny. A United Nations rights expert earlier expressed concern about the dissident’s “enforced disappearance.”

Russian court filings showed that two court hearings for opposition politician Alexei Navalny, scheduled for Monday, have been postponed until January.

The Kremlin critic’s allies say his lawyers have not seen him since December 6 and have expressed concern over the lack of information about where he is.

What do we know about Navalny’s whereabouts?

Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that it was the 13th day without news since Navalny’s lawyers last had access to him.

Lawyers for Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation filed requests with more than 200 detention centers over the weekend, Yarmysh said, but they were still awaiting responses.

Gaza journalists both witnesses and victims of war

Journalists in the Gaza Strip are paying a heavy price to cover the war between Israel and Hamas, with scores already killed and injured.

Those surviving face constant danger from the relentless Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian territory, as well as grappling with communications difficulties, concern for their families and shortages of basic goods.

“Our work is to document the war, to let the world know what is happening,” Gazan journalist Hind Khoudary told AFP.

But they know it comes at a cost. On Friday, Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa became the latest fatality — killed while reporting in southern Gaza.

More journalists have been killed in the Gaza war over such a short period than in any other conflict in at least 30 years, said media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

FG, firms ‘trade’ jobs as illegal expatriates take over economy

Blatant abuse of expatriate quota (EQ) rule by foreign companies, the rising number of undocumented foreign workers and the underhand dealings of local capitalists in expatriate recruitment are driving Nigeria deeper into the unemployment crisis.

As bad as the situation is, relevant government agencies who should have brought the culprits to book are actively aiding the abuses or looking the other way.

The federal government, on its part, is profiteering from rising EQ even as its revenue from the source doubled the target for the year as far back as October. The accrued revenue (N1.2 billion) may be insignificant, but stakeholders suggest that when government agencies begin to use the figures as bragging rights, Nigerians have reasons to be worried.

Amal Clooney is representing over 400 plaintiffs in lawsuit seeking ‘accountability for genocide against Yazidis’

Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking ethnic and religious group with significant populations in Iraq and Syria. A 2021 UN investigation determined ISIS’s systematic persecution of the group, including forced conversion to Islam and the killing and enslavement of thousands of Yazidis, constitutes genocide.