News of the World

[kyonides]

Game of Thrones games maker dies after poisoning

A Chinese tycoon who died on Christmas Day was poisoned, Shanghai police say.
Lin Qi, 39, was the chairman and chief executive of games developer Yoozoo, best known for the Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming strategy game.
The Shanghai police statement pointed to one of Mr Lin's colleagues - identified only by his surname Xu - as the main suspect.
Mr Lin was believed to have a net worth of around 6.8bn yuan (£960m), according to the Hurun China Rich List.
Yoozoo released its own statement, saying Mr Lin had admitted himself to hospital after feeling unwell but was in a stable condition.
According to local media reports, the person in custody could be Xu Yao, who heads Yoozoo's movie production arm.

Still, it's unclear why anybody would kill him. Did he ever criticize the CCP?

Zhang Zhan: China jails citizen journalist for Wuhan reports

A Chinese citizen journalist who covered Wuhan's coronavirus outbreak has been jailed for four years.
Zhang Zhan was found guilty of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", a frequent charge against activists.
The 37-year-old former lawyer was detained in May, and has been on hunger strike for several months. Her lawyers say she is in poor health.

Hong Kong democracy activists caught at sea go on trial in China

Ten of 12 Hong Kong democracy activists arrested at sea as they tried to flee to Taiwan by speedboat have gone on trial in mainland China.
The hearing was closed to foreign reporters and diplomats but the court said in a statement that both prosecution and defence lawyers spoke.
Court was adjourned with no verdict.
Two of the 12 dissidents are underage and will face private hearings on a separate date.

Could this mean the CCP treats every Chinese citizen as an actual soldier? Or are Office Politics that important all of sudden?

China and EU on verge of major investment deal

The pact, expected to be finalised this week, will give EU firms better access to the Chinese market and improve competition conditions.
Talks on the investment deal began in 2014 but have been stuck for years over a number of issues.
But rising trade tensions between the US and China may have helped change the Chinese position, officials said.
According to multiple reports, the deal would open up China's manufacturing sector to EU companies, as well as construction, advertising, air transport and telecoms.
One of the sticking points was China's demands for access to the EU's energy market given sensitivities over national security. The deal is expected to give Beijing access to a small part of the European renewable energy sector on a reciprocal basis.
The pact is also designed to remove barriers to investment in China such as joint-venture requirements and caps on foreign ownership in certain industries.
On Monday, the European Commission reported progress on the talks with Beijing, including the core issue of workers' rights in China.

This might mean some real bad news for US.  
Who on earth would make a deal with the CCP? They know they were asked to let the CCP get access to its telecoms and renewable energy sector! It's darn obvious they will either steal their technology or infiltrate their networks!
Since when do the Chinese government keep it promises!? They're used to break them!
Right! They've recently incarcerated a journalist for reporting the situation in Wuhan.

EU ambassadors approve EU-UK trade deal

Ambassadors from the 27 EU member states have unanimously approved the EU-UK post-Brexit trade deal, paving the way for it to take effect.
The deal is likely to become law on 1 January, as the UK Parliament is expected to approve it on Wednesday.
Under EU rules it can take effect provisionally, though the European Parliament will vote on it in January.
The deal sets the framework for trade once the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union in four days' time.
The deal ends nearly 50 years of UK membership of the bloc, covering a vast array of policies besides those governing common trade rules.
[The deal] enables the UK to continue selling goods to the EU market - the UK's biggest trade partner - without tariffs or quotas

George Blake: Soviet Cold War spy and former MI6 officer dies in Russia

George Blake, the former MI6 officer and one of the Cold War's most infamous double agents, has died aged 98, Russian media has reported.
Over nine years, the Soviet spy handed over information that led to the betrayal of at least 40 MI6 agents in Eastern Europe.
He was jailed in London in 1960, but escaped in 1966 and fled to Russia.
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said Blake "had a genuine love for our country".
His death, reported by Russia's state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, was confirmed by Sergei Ivanov, the head of the press bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
Russian president Vladimir Putin described him as an "outstanding professional of special courage and life endurance".

Who would ever tell a spy would live almost 100 years?

Ghislaine Maxwell denied $28.5m bail in sex crime case

A US judge has turned down a $28.5m (£21.4m) bail package by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell who is awaiting trial on sex crime charges.
The New York ruling said the suspect, 59, poses a flight risk and the offer did not assure her appearance at future hearings.
She is accused of helping the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein groom young girls, which she denies.
It is the second time bail for Ms Maxwell has been denied.

She never learns the lesson, does she?  

Japan developing wooden satellites to cut space junk

A Japanese company and Kyoto University have joined forces to develop what they hope will be the world's first satellites made out of wood by 2023.
Sumitomo Forestry said it has started research on tree growth and the use of wood materials in space.
The partnership will begin experimenting with different types of wood in extreme environments on Earth.
Space junk is becoming an increasing problem as more satellites are launched into the atmosphere.
Wooden satellites would burn up without releasing harmful substances into the atmosphere or raining debris on the ground when they plunge back to Earth.

And how exactly is wood able to resist the impact of micro asteroids?

Spain to keep registry of those who refuse Covid vaccine

Spain is to set up a registry of people who refuse to be vaccinated against coronavirus and share it with other European Union nations, the health minister has said.
Salvador Illa said the list would not be made accessible to the public or to employers.
He said the way to defeat the virus was "to vaccinate all of us - the more the better".
Spain has been one of the countries in Europe worst affected by the virus.
In other comments on Monday, Mr Illa said people would be contacted by regional authorities when it was their turn to be inoculated.

They claim vaccination isn't mandatory... but they will tell other European countries about your refusal to take the shot.

Berlin shooting: Several injured in Kreuzberg

Four people have been seriously injured after a shooting in Berlin in the early hours of Saturday, police say.
Heavily armed police officers were deployed to the scene in the Kreuzberg district, German media report.
The four injured were aged between 30 and 42. One man was pulled from the Landwehr canal, reportedly with a gunshot wound to the leg.
The city's attorney general said the incident could have been carried out by members of rival organised crime gangs.
A murder investigation team has taken over the investigation.
Photographs from the scene show gunshot damage to a doorway of a building opposite the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).