Did China torture a pro-democracy Hong Konger?

Did China torture pro-democracy Hong Konger? [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( Fifteen days of detention and torture. That’s what a Hong Konger and former British consulate employee says happened to him for expressing his pro-democracy views. On Capitol Hill, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is set to testify. Which version of events will he recall today? In Malta, police have finally detained a person of interest in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. In Syria, Israeli airstrikes were aimed at Iranian targets. And the Panda Express is about to take one of the best-known diplomats in Washington back to China. (We’re still beta-testing this newsletter and we've just updated the design. Let us know your thoughts on that more generally about this newsletter by replying to this email.) --------------------------------------------------------------- In the news today British embassy worker in Hong Kong alleges torture [A demonstrator holds a poster of Simon Cheng, a staff member at the consulate who went missing on August 9 after visiting the neighbouring mainland city of Shenzhen, as he and others shout slogans during a protest outside the British Consulate-general offi]( Credit: Willy Kurniawan/Reuters A former employee of Britain's consulate in Hong Kong said [Chinese secret police beat him, deprived him of sleep and shackled him]( in an attempt to force him to give information about activists leading pro-democracy protests. Simon Cheng, a Hong Kong citizen who worked for the British government for almost two years, said he was tortured while detained for 15 days as he returned from a trip to mainland China in August. He took to Facebook to detail his experience: "I was hung (handcuffed and shackled) on a steep X-Cross doing a spread-eagled pose for hours after hours. "Sometimes, they ordered me to do the 'stress tests', which includes extreme strength exercises such as 'squat' and 'chair pose' for countless hours. They beat me every time I failed to do so using something like sharpened batons." Britain said Cheng's treatment amounted to torture and summoned British Ambassador to China Barbara Woodward to express outrage. China did not immediately comment on Cheng's allegations. Cheng was accused of being a British spy and questioned at length about protest leaders and their links to the London School of Economics. Eventually, it was proposed, he should work for the Chinese "motherland." "I was suspected of being a mastermind and British proxy to incite and organize the protests in Hong Kong," Cheng said. Also: [China's suppression troops have plans for Hong Kong]( --------------------------------------------------------------- NewsMatch Do you value the global journalism you read here every morning? [Make a gift]( to support our work now, and your donation will be matched. [Donate here](. Impeachment latest: Which story is it, Gordon? US diplomat [Gordon Sondland is slated to testify in the impeachment inquiry against US President Donald Trump]( today. Sondland has told two different stories to lawmakers thus far. Today he’s likely to be pressed as to which version is the truth. Sondland told lawmakers in closed-door testimony last month that he saw no link between Trump's investigation request and the White House's decision to temporarily withhold $391 million in security aid to Ukraine. Weeks later, Sondland updated his story in supplemental testimony, telling lawmakers he had remembered that he had told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's administration that it would likely not get the money unless they publicly committed to taking action. Sondland also did not tell lawmakers about a July 26 phone call that another witness said he conducted with Trump on a mobile phone in a Kyiv restaurant that is certain to be a prominent subject in Wednesday's hearing. Also: [What's happening in the impeachment inquiry: A timeline]( [Watch the hearing here.]( Maltese businessman detained in journalist’s murder investigation [Rose and Michael Vella carry photos of their daughter, assassinated anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, during an anti-corruption protest against the government of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, in Valletta, Malta November 16, 2019.] Credit: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters Malta police arrested one of the country's most prominent businessmen on Wednesday as part of an investigation into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, two sources said. [Yorgen Fenech was detained as he tried to leave Maltese waters]( before dawn aboard his luxury yacht. Fenech is a director and co-owner of a business group that won a large energy concession in 2013 from the Maltese state to build a gas power station on the island. The arrest came a day after [Prime Minister Joseph Muscat offered to pardon a suspected middleman]( in the murder of Caruana Galizia if he provided legally binding evidence of who was behind the killing. Caruana Galizia, an eminent anti-corruption journalist, [was killed by a car bomb near the Maltese capital Valletta in October 2017]( — a murder that shocked Europe and raised questions about the rule of law on the small island. Eight months before her death, she wrote about a mysterious company in Dubai called 17 Black Limited, alleging it was connected to Maltese politicians. Rockets over Damascus In a warning to Iran, [Israel said its aircraft struck over 20 Iranian and Syrian military targets in Syria on Wednesday]( in retaliation for rockets fired towards Israel a day earlier. Syrian state media [reported](two civilians were killed and several others injured in the attacks, but said Syria's air defenses destroyed most of the missiles fired by Israeli jets over the capital Damascus before they reached their targets. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said 11 people were killed, including seven who were not from Syria, [citing their own sources](. Israel's military said its missile defense system shot down four rockets fired from Syria toward Israel on Tuesday. The airstrikes in Syria, it says, are aimed at Iranian targets that are allegedly trying to establish a permanent military presence there, and against advanced weapons shipments to Tehran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Also: [Legal recognition of West Bank settlements could 'kill off' hope of two-state solution, says former US ambassador]( ‘Panda Express’ to make nonstop flight to China with special passenger [Giant panda Bei Bei is departing for China on Tuesday.]( Credit: Courtesy of Smithsonian's National Zoo The most famous ursine diplomat in Washington, D.C., has been recalled to his native China. Bei Bei, a 240-pound panda bear, made the trip in a[special airplane dubbed the “Panda Express.”]( Final destination: Chengdu, China. Bei Bei has captivated visitors to the National Zoo for the last four years — as well as online visitors, too, due to the popular [panda cam](. [Although some think that Bei Bei’s return to China is due to political reasons](, his departure isn’t sudden; it’s part of a giant-panda loan agreement that China has with zoos around the globe. It goes like this: Any cub born abroad remains the property of their birth country. Once the panda turns 4 years old, it’s sent to a research center in cities such as Chengdu for breeding. And Bei Bei is now 4 years old. It’s time to go home. Also: [The trade war between the US and China comes with a cost]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Morning meme: Most of our days are spent in front of a desk. These two French athletes have a much different daily routine. Here they don jet-propelled wingsuits and[fly through Tianmen Cave in China, the world’s highest cave of its kind](. Extra: [Five global deforestation hotspots as Brazil reveals Amazon spike]( Reuters contributed to this newsletter. --------------------------------------------------------------- In case you missed it on The World - [Australia wildfires continue to rage]( - [Love around the world]( - [Hostages released in Afghanistan]( - [The latest on impeachment]( - [Rural carriers may have to 'rip and replace' Huawei equipment from their networks]( - [Identity and 'Phantoms' remembered by Iranian musician]( - [A school in Turkey for Uighur children separated from their parents]( - [US reverses policy on West Bank settlements]( - [‘I will be fine for telling the truth’]( Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. 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