Six In The Morning Monday 28 December 2020

 

Brexit: 'Bumpy' period expected as UK adjusts to new EU rules

There will be "bumpy moments" for UK businesses and travellers as they get to grips with new EU rules, says government minister Michael Gove.

He said there would be "practical and procedural changes" when the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December.

Mr Gove also urged people going to the EU to make extra checks, including mobile phone roaming charges.

Wuhan Covid citizen journalist jailed for four years in China crackdown

Prosecution of 10 Hong Kongers detained in mainland China after allegedly attempting to flee to Taiwan also began on Monday

Helen Davidson in Taipei

@heldavidson

Mon 28 Dec 2020 05.07 GMT

Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old former lawyer and citizen journalist who was arrested in May while reporting from Wuhan, has been sentenced to four years in jail.

Zhang was arrested for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – an accusation commonly used against dissidents, activists and journalists – with her video and blog reports from the Wuhan lockdown. Last month she was charged with disseminating false information.

On Monday afternoon, just hours after the trial began, Zhang’s lawyer said she had been sentenced to four years in jail.

UN rapporteur on Assange: 'The US is trying to criminalize investigative journalism'

A London court will decide on January 4 on the US extradition request for Julian Assange. For Nils Melzer, UN special rapporteur on torture, it's a political process and a travesty of justice.

DW: After four weeks of hearing evidence in the extradition trial against Julian Assange, Judge Vanessa Baraitser is going to deliver her verdict on January 4. You have followed the case of Julian Assange closely. What's your take on the proceedings?

Nils Melzer: The legal proceeding in itself is not respecting the basic standards of human rights, of due process and the rule of law. Already, the motivation behind the extradition request is not in compliance with basic legal standards, with the protections of freedom of the press and so on. Julian Assange is being prosecuted by the United States for espionage, just because he practiced investigative journalism.

He has published secret information of a government that he has not been employed by, that he has no obligations towards. And he has not stolen the information himself. It was leaked to him by someone who had access to the information. And he published it because it was in the public interest to publish it.

Saudi women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul given five-year prison sentence

A Saudi terrorism court handed rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul a prison sentence of five years and eight months on Monday, with two years and 10 months of the term suspended. FRANCE 24's correspondant in Riyadh, Saeed Al Jaber, said that with time served Hathloul could be released as soon as March.

A Saudi court on Monday sentenced prominent women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul to five years and eight months in prison, local media reported, in a trial that has drawn international condemnation and as Riyadh faces new U.S. scrutiny.

Hathloul, 31, has been held since 2018 following her arrest along with at least a dozen other women's rights activist.

Indian officer accused of planting weapons on Kashmir civilians

The Indian army admitted in September that three labourers were killed in staged gun battle after public outcry.

Indian police on Sunday accused an army officer and two associates of planting weapons on the bodies of three labourers killed in Kashmir to make it look as though they were armed fighters in a staged gun battle.

Their July deaths sparked a furore in the Indian-administered Kashmir.

Captain Bhoopendra Singh has been charged with murder, conspiracy and other offences, the police statement said. He is now in military detention. The two civilian “sources”, who were with him at the time, are in police custody.

British tourists 'fled' Swiss ski resort quarantine

Fanny Bobille, Arnaud Siad and Amy Woodyatt, CNN • Updated 28th December 2020

British tourists fled the Swiss ski resort of Verbier "clandestinely" under cover of darkness rather than submit to a new quarantine imposed on UK visitors, a local official said on Monday.

Switzerland is one of dozens of countries to have banned travel from the UK over a new, potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant, linked to a recent surge in cases in England, was reported in the UK.

On December 21, the Swiss Federal Council imposed an entry ban and a retroactive 10-day quarantine period on all travelers from the UK and South Africa -- which has detected another new variant -- meaning anyone who entered Switzerland from the two countries since December 14 is required to quarantine.