HONG KONG (AP) – Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy former Hong Kong media mogul and outspoken critic of Beijing, was convicted in a landmark national security trial in the city’s court on Monday, which could send him to prison for the rest of his life.

ROME (AP) – Pope Leo XIV on Monday denounced the “antisemitic violence” behind the Sydney Hanukkah massacre as he prayed for the victims and the “gift of peace and fraternity” this holiday season.

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

President Donald Trump ‘s administration is talking tough about SNAP, saying the government’s biggest food aid program is riddled with fraud that must be stopped. His appointees are looking at Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from an enforcement perspective, seeing fraud as a major and expensive problem.

SYDNEY (AP) – A father and son are suspected by officials to have killed 15 people on a popular Australian beach, shocking a country where gun violence is rare. The government on Monday, a day after the shootings, proposed tougher new gun laws amid criticism that officials didn’t take seriously enough a string of antisemitic attacks.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s rial slid further Monday to a new record low of more than 1.3 million to the U.S. dollar, deepening the currency’s collapse less than two weeks after it first breached the 1.2-million mark amid sanctions pressure and regional tensions.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) – The government of Trinidad and Tobago said Monday that it would allow the U.S. military to access its airports in coming weeks as tensions build between the United States and Venezuela.

Punk group Pussy Riot was declared an “extremist organization” by a Russian court on Monday. The ruling, which was made by Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court, effectively outlaws the group from operating in Russia and puts anyone linked with the group at risk of criminal prosecution.