World Tour: Hong Kong sentences Jimmy Lai

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour, with our reporter in Africa, Onize Oduah.

Jimmy Lai

SOUND: [Chanting]

We start today in Hong Kong, where a court has sentenced media tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison.

The 78-year-old’s charges include conspiring to collude with foreign forces and to publish seditious materials. His sentence is the harshest yet since authorities began cracking down on activists under the controversial national security law.

Lai is a dual British citizen who published a now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper called Apple Daily.

Sebastien Lai, his son, called the sentence devastating:

SEBASTIEN LAI: I think it's one of those moments where you kind of have doubt as to whether I'll see my father again. It's a 20-year sentence, which is comically large, given that my father's 78. You know, at that point in 20 years, he'll be 100, almost. But in the conditions he's being kept in, I think even a tenth of that he might not have, he might die before then.

He added that President Donald Trump’s call for his father’s release and additional pressure from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has brought some hope to the family.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said Lai’s sentence demonstrated the rule of law, adding that he used the publication to poison citizen’s minds.

Nigeria

Next to Nigeria, where one of the deadliest attacks in months happened outside of the conflict-hit north.

Terrorists last week killed more than 160 people in an attack that targeted two villages in western Kwara state. Survivors said the attackers went door to door, killing people and setting homes and shops on fire. The carnage lasted about 10 hours.

Weeks before the attack, residents said one of the village leaders received a letter, likely from Boko Haram, declaring the group’s intent to preach in their communities.

Taiwo Adebayo is a Nigerian security expert.

TAIWO ADEBAYO: Nigeria is in a deep-knit conflict trap right now... it's so bad that the country is dealing with a mix of actors with a very complex security landscape.

Nigeria’s insurgency largely began in the north, but has increasingly moved southward as terror groups battle for control. Last year, an al-Qaeda affiliate based in neighboring Mali claimed responsibility for another attack in Kwara. It marked the group’s first attack in the country.

Nigeria has deployed an army battalion to the state in response. State officials have also imposed curfews and temporarily closed down schools.

Cuba

Over in Cuba, aviation officials have said they no longer have enough fuel for airplanes to refuel.

That comes after U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order last month effectively cut the island’s access to fuel. Trump accused Cuba’s Communist regime of supporting terrorism and destabilizing the region with migration.

The move would impose tariffs on goods from countries that sell oil to Cuba, which was already facing an energy crisis. On Monday, Mexico halted their oil shipments.

Air Canada has suspended flights to the country, while other airlines issued delays and added extra layovers before taxiing in the capital city of Havana.

The crunch has affected daily life, with many Cubans facing fewer transportation options to get to work.

Solanda Oña is a bookseller in Cuba.

SOLANDA ONA: [SPANISH] Every now and then we have problems getting home, but there was always at least one bus. Now there isn't any.

She says they could always find at least one bus with transport problems in the past. But now, there aren’t any available.

Authorities have reduced the work week to four days and also cut in-person attendance at universities, among other emergency measures.

Armenia

We end in Europe, where U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to a civil nuclear energy deal between the two countries. Armenia is seeking to replace the aging Russian built nuclear reactor that supplies a third of the country’s electricity.

Vance also said the United States is ready to export advanced computer chips and surveillance drones to the former Soviet republic.

J.D. VANCE: Peace is not made by cautious people. Peace is made by people who are focused on the future.

In August, Pashinyan visited the White House to sign a commitment to work towards a peace treaty to end decades-long territorial conflicts with its neighbor Azerbaijan.

On Tuesday, Vance and second lady Usha Vance also laid flowers at the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex in the Armenian capital city of Yerevan.

Their visit to the Caucasus-region country is a first for any sitting U.S. president or vice-president.

In his remarks, Vance noted that Armenia is one of the world’s oldest Christian countries.

J.D. VANCE: A true bedrock of Christian civilization and culture. As a devout Christian myself, I know the meaning of this country to the entire world and to the religion that the prime minister and I share.

That’s this week’s World Tour. I’m Onize Oduah in Abuja, Nigeria.

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