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On energy, the ministry has “completely overhauled the previous government’s Russia-friendly policy” to reduce Germany’s dependence on Russian natural gas, it said. “That tells you something.”Germany consistently underestimated the Russian threat and gave counterintelligence work a low priority, but that is changing now in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, experts and Western officials said. Last April, Berlin expelled 40 Russian Embassy employees for allegedly working for Russian intelligence services. Germany’s intelligence services failed to anticipate that Russia would invade Ukraine, a failure that has yet to be the subject of any publicly released “lessons learned” review. Such a review would show Germany is serious about altering its approach, the Western official said.

☆ Hong Kong to resume hamster imports a year after mass cull over Covid
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Marie Brockling | Dorothy Kam | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

HONG KONG — Hong Kong is lifting a ban on the importing of hamsters for sale, a year after it ordered more than 2,000 hamsters and other small mammals to be culled in an effort to prevent pets from spreading Covid-19 to people. The Hong Kong government ordered the culling last January after a small virus outbreak was traced to a pet shop called Little Boss that had imported hamsters from the Netherlands. Hong Kong residents who had recently purchased hamsters were advised to surrender their pets, shops selling hamsters were temporarily shut down and an import ban was enacted. But at the time of the Hong Kong government’s decision last year, the Chinese territory was following a strict “zero-Covid” approach in line with mainland China, leading officials to act aggressively. In recent weeks both Hong Kong and mainland China have relaxed anti-Covid restrictions that minimized cases and deaths but also caused widespread public frustration.

☆ Prince Harry accuses William of physical attack in new book, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Marie Brockling | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Prince Harry has accused his brother Prince William of physically attacking him during an argument over his marriage to Meghan, The Guardian reported Thursday. Representatives for Prince Harry and the publisher Penguin Random House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Kensington Palace, which represents Prince William, and Buckingham Palace, which represents King Charles, declined to comment on allegations made in the book. Harry reportedly says that he was scared of his brother, who was furious and following him around the house. Harry writes that he initially only spoke to a therapist about the alleged incident, according to the leak.

☆ Zelenskyy's U.S. trip comes as Ukraine warns Putin is planning a major new offensive
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Patrick-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Patrick Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

The visit comes a day after Zelenskyy greeted troops in Bakhmut, a front-line city that Moscow's forces have struggled to seize despite months of intense battles, while Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a rare admission of his army's difficulties. The Russian leader’s pre-Christmas trip to neighboring Belarus only added to mounting speculation. Zelenskyy will now meet with President Joe Biden and address Congress as his country hopes to not just shore up but secure greater support from its Western allies. "Ukraine is very keen to step up and intensify the military support from the U.S.," Frank Ledwidge, a senior lecturer of law and strategy at University of Portsmouth, told NBC News. On Monday, Putin and his most senior advisers traveled to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, to meet authoritarian ally President Alexander Lukashenko, amplifying long-held fears that his forces could join a new offensive.

MAINZ, Germany — A 97-year-old woman who worked as a secretary at a Nazi concentration camp was convicted by a German court Tuesday of being an accessory to the murder of more than 10,000 people. In what could be the last trial of its kind, Irmgard Furchner — dubbed the ‘secretary of evil’ by German media — was handed a two-year suspended sentence for helping the Stutthof concentration camp to function during World War Two. That's in line with what prosecutors had sought, while survivors of the death camp and relatives of victims who appeared as joint plaintiffs also said that it was not in their interest for the 97-year-old to serve any time in prison. Furchner was charged with “aiding those in a position of responsibility at the former Stutthof concentration camp with the systematic killing of those imprisoned there, due to her work as a shorthand typist/secretary in the Camp Commandant’s Office between June 1943 and April 1945,” according to a court press release. In Germany proof of intent is required for criminal liability.

China reported 2,157 new symptomatic infections Thursday, but officials have stopped counting asymptomatic cases and halted mandatory testing. James Zimmermann, a lawyer, posted on Twitter earlier this week that 90% of his office was sickened. Meanwhile, Beijing has tried to maintain its policy of imposing harsh limits on people’s daily lives whenever an outbreak flared. Although direct comparisons are difficult, officially China has suffered just more than 5,200 deaths — compared with nearly 1.1 million in the United States. It also recently caused social unrest in the form of widespread demonstrations, which appeared to be the catalyst for the abrupt policy change.

☆ American college student reported missing while studying abroad in France
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Marie Brockling | Gabrielle Nolin | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

An American college student has been reported missing by his family while studying abroad in France. The parents of 22-year-old Ken DeLand Jr. have set up a website in an effort to share information about their son, who they say has been missing since last month. The family says they “fear the worst and want him to be located.”DeLand Jr. was studying at the University Grenoble Alpes in France through a study abroad program. DeLand Jr. was last seen making a purchase at 9 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2022. A surveillance camera captured DeLand Jr. entering a sports store in Montelimar in southeast France on Dec. 3, where he made a purchase for $8.40, according to the parents.

Other researchers have also tracked the spam campaign. Videos of the protests quickly spread on Chinese social media, with online censors struggling to keep up. Many of them also made their way onto Twitter and other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, all of which are blocked in China but some Chinese users access via virtual private networks. There are no firm numbers on the scope of the spam campaign, but Wright said she has observed thousands of Twitter posts an hour in some cases. “So essentially, it can be very effective as a method for driving out the truth, the real videos, and the real content about the protests.”

While the protests were largely tamped down, there continued to be scattered incidents of unrest. Experts say China will have a tough time navigating its way out of the pandemic without getting more people inoculated. The National Health Commission said Tuesday that it was especially focused on increasing vaccinations among people older than 80, though it did not announce a mandate. With new, mostly asymptomatic infections still being reported across China — 38,421 on Tuesday, down from a record 40,052 the day before — some Covid restrictions are still tightening. An opinion article Tuesday in People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, said officials at all levels must “unswervingly implement” the government’s Covid policies.

☆ First Russia, now China? Europe doesn’t appear ready to ‘decouple’ from Beijing just yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Marie Brockling | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Scholz was the first leader of a Group of 7 nations to visit China since the start of the pandemic, which was first detected there in 2019. China’s relations with Europe have deteriorated amid tensions over Taiwan, human rights issues and Beijing’s tacit support for Russia in its war on Ukraine. China has welcomed Scholz’s visit, saying it would “contribute to world peace, stability and growth.” But it received considerable pushback in Europe. Fears over Chinese interferenceScholz’s one-day visit to Beijing comes amid heightened fears in Europe over Chinese interference abroad. Wang suggested Europe could have the “best of both worlds” by playing a mediating role between Beijing and Washington.

☆ Superyacht struggle: Is Hong Kong now safe harbor for sanctioned Russians?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Marie Brockling | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

A superyacht linked to a Russian oligarch has produced the latest ripple of tensions between the United States and China after it moored in Hong Kong’s harbor. Hong Kong said Tuesday it would not seize the superyacht, defying Washington and raising fears that the global financial hub could become a haven for individuals sanctioned over the war in Ukraine. “Secondary sanction is more a practical matter rather than a legal or moral matter as Hong Kong banks handling Russian transactions could be sanctioned,” Sun added. The Hong Kong Marine Department did not respond to a request for comment on the number of Russian yachts in its harbors. “We will have to see how much money eventually flocks to Hong Kong and how they are being handled in order to assess the impact on U.S.-China relations,” Sun said.

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