Monday morning blues in Hong Kong were shattered as news came it that media baron Jimmy Lai had been arrested, the first crackdown on the Press since the draconian National Security Law was imposed on June 30. The police arrived at the home of Lai, a vocal critic of Beijing's aggressive policies, in the morning, searched it for a couple of hours and led him away, handcuffed, senior media executive of Daily Apple, Mark Simon, told StratNews Global. Lai, a votary of democracy and human rights, was next taken to Daily Apple’s office. The office was searched from “top to bottom for about six hours” and the CEO was also taken into custody along with some other members of the senior management. All this while, Lai was handcuffed and asked silly questions like---“Do you recognise this notebook?” Lai has been arrested three times before but Monday's was a major escalation, said Simon. “They are trying to send Hong Kong the message that if you don’t align with us, this is how we are going to deal with you”.

Interviewer : Subrat Nanda 

Interviewee : Mark Simon 

Podcast Producer : Manas Tarai 

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa says he’s “happy and satisfied” with the results of the parliamentary elections in which people have voted overwhelmingly in  favour of the Rajapaksas-led (elder brother and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is now Prime Minister) Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna(SLPP) party. The Sri Lankan president expressed these sentiments during a brief conversation with StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin Gokhale after the results came out with the SLPP winning 145 seats in the 225-member Parliament. In this podcast with Deputy Editor Parul Chandra, Gokhale, who’s been a long-time Sri Lanka watcher, says though the party fell short of the two-thirds majority, its allies will bridge the shortfall. As for the Rajapaksas oft-expressed wish to do away with the 19th amendment which they feel curbs presidential powers, Gokhale says it will go now that the SLPP has the numbers in Parliament. Listen to this podcast for more.

Interviewer : Parul Chandra

Interviewee : Nitin Gokhale

Podcast Producer : Manas Tarai