Day: January 8, 2022

As U.S. Figure Skaters Test Positive, New Worries for Winter Olympics

Chin@Strategy

U.S. Figure Skating on Saturday announced the women’s team heading to Beijing for the Winter Olympics next month. It will include a top-ranked competitor who withdrew from the national championships this week in Nashville after a positive coronavirus test, a stark reminder of a resurgent pandemic still capable of disrupting sports events and lifelong dreams. “Things happen unfortunately, but it is what it is,” Alysa Liu wrote on social media after her withdrawal on Friday. A strong showing this past season on the international circuit, in spite of having to…

Chinese Activists Face Subversion Charges for Weekend Gathering

Chin@Strategy

Twenty or so lawyers and activists quietly arrived at a gaudy “Nice Home Party” rental villa near the Chinese seaside. They ate takeout food, sang along to a karaoke machine and played table soccer. But they also had a serious purpose: discussing China’s besieged human rights movement. Two years after that weekend gathering in December 2019, the two best-known attendees — Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi — are awaiting trial on subversion charges related to the gathering, according to indictments. Police and prosecutors have seized on the weekend meeting to…

At least 16 killed after office canteen explosion in China

Chin@Strategy

A lunchtime explosion at an office canteen killed 16 people in southwest China and injured 10 others, authorities said. A gas leak is the suspected cause of the blast on Friday, the Chongqing city government said in an online statement. The canteen collapsed, trapping victims inside. Rescue workers searched the debris into the night and all the bodies were recovered by midnight, the official Xinhua news agency said. The Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched a team to of more than 600 personnel to the scene, state broadcaster CCTV said. Rescuers…