Octopus Overlords

El Guapo wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 5:20 pm Also - the Hearthstone player should hire a lawyer.

stessier wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 6:24 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 5:20 pm Also - the Hearthstone player should hire a lawyer.

Blizzard's terms of service seem to pretty clearly let them do it.

Toe wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 10:16 pm

stessier wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 6:24 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 5:20 pm Also - the Hearthstone player should hire a lawyer.

Blizzard's terms of service seem to pretty clearly let them do it.

ToS's don't seem to carry a lot of weight in the courts though.

In the ordinary setting, the commissioner laid out the extraordinary situation, spending 10 to 15 minutes, according to a source present, appearing "vulnerable and transparent" as he detailed the issues and challenges facing the league.

He expressed to the players that the best thing for the league would be for the Nets and Lakers to become ambassadors for the sport, to show a positive front and face the questions that would come from the throng of nearly 200 reporters set to descend upon the hotel in mere hours. One of the league's core values is freedom of expression, Silver said. "It's what you guys stand for." And to not speak, he said, could lead to criticism for staying silent.

Silver opened the floor. James raised his hand.

His question was related to Morey -- and the commissioner's handling of the Rockets' GM. James, to paraphrase, told Silver that he knew that if a player caused the same type of uproar with something he said or tweeted, the player wouldn't be able to skate on it. There would be some type of repercussion. So, James wanted to know, what was Silver going to do about it in Morey's case?

Silver pushed back, reminding the players that the league never doled out discipline when they publicly criticized President Donald Trump. Morey was exercising the same liberty when he challenged China. Regardless of the financial fallout of one versus the other, that's not what should matter. Silver might have disliked the ramifications of Morey's tweet, but he would defend the right to say it.

The semi-autonomous Chinese province’s leader, Carrie Lam, had initially proposed the bill in February to resolve a case involving a man wanted for murder in Taiwan who could not be sent to face charges because there was no extradition agreement.
...
Now, after assurances from Ms Lam in September that the bill would be scrapped in the next meeting of the state’s legislative council, it has been formally withdrawn by Secretary for Security John Lee.
...
But despite having now met what was the central demand of protestors when their demonstrations began in March, it is unlikely the move will deter further conflict.

The goals of the movement have shifted since the first protests in March to securing independence from China and the resignation of Ms Lam. Action is frequently accompanied by the chant “five demands, not one less”, in reference to the possible removal of the bill.
...
Citing people briefed on the deliberations, the Financial Times reported that, if given the blessing of Beijing’s Xi Jinping, a successor to Ms Lam could be installed in March to see out the remained of her term, which is due to end in 2022.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying has since said the plans were a political rumour with ulterior motives.

A Chinese team has been kicked out of its own Military World Games after other countries alerted judges to "extensive cheating" by the hosts.

Originally the Chinese athletes had taken the first, second and fourth places in the women's middle-distance orienteering competition, as well as second place in the men's, during the race on Sunday, according to a statement by the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).

But after a complaint by six European countries, including Russia and France, judges discovered that Chinese runners had been assisted by local spectators. This included onlookers placing markings and preparing special paths in the terrain for Chinese athletes, which only those competitors were aware of.

The Chinese team was banned from taking part in the long-distance orienteering competition, according to the IOF.
...
Like the Olympics, the Military World Games are held every four years. The inaugural competition was held in Rome in 1995 and this is China's first time hosting the event, which will continue until October 30.
...
Among the events are swimming, parachuting, orienteering and wrestling. So far, China is substantially leading on the medal tally, with twice as many gold medals as nearest competitor Russia.

Hong Kong is in a recession, as five months of protests send tourism and retail numbers plunging.

The Asian financial hub is expected to report negative economic growth on Thursday, which means Hong Kong is facing "a technical recession," or two consecutive quarters of economic decline, Paul Chan, Hong Kong's financial secretary, said in a blog post Sunday.

Exports for the three months that ended in September plummeted more than 7% compared to the same period a year earlier, Chan said. That's the largest quarterly drop in nearly a decade, he added.

Chan said the city also may not reach its forecasted growth of between 0% and 1% for all of 2019.

Hong Kong's economy has been hit hard by the one-two punch of the US-China trade war and China's economic slowdown. But those problems have been compounded by the protests, to which there seems to be no end in sight.

The organs of members of marginalized groups detained in Chinese prison camps are being forcefully harvested — sometimes when patients are still alive, an international tribunal sitting in London has concluded.

The Chinese government announced Wednesday that it would revoke the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters, the largest expulsion of overseas media from the country in more than three decades.

Speaking at a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the expulsion was due to an opinion piece published by the US news organization on February 3, entitled "China is the real sick man of Asia."

"The editors used such a racially discriminatory title, triggering indignation and condemnation among the Chinese people and the international community," Geng said.

Isgrimnur wrote:CNN

The Chinese government announced Wednesday that it would revoke the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters, the largest expulsion of overseas media from the country in more than three decades.

Speaking at a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the expulsion was due to an opinion piece published by the US news organization on February 3, entitled "China is the real sick man of Asia."

"The editors used such a racially discriminatory title, triggering indignation and condemnation among the Chinese people and the international community," Geng said.

$iljanus wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2020 4:39 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:CNN

The Chinese government announced Wednesday that it would revoke the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters, the largest expulsion of overseas media from the country in more than three decades.

Speaking at a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the expulsion was due to an opinion piece published by the US news organization on February 3, entitled "China is the real sick man of Asia."

"The editors used such a racially discriminatory title, triggering indignation and condemnation among the Chinese people and the international community," Geng said.

Not a fan of press censorship but if one looks at China's history in regards to it's relationship with the big colonial powers that's a pretty inflammatory headline.

But I'm sure China was happy to have an
"excuse" to expel some meddlesome journalists.

Wednesday's move comes less than one day after United States officials announced they would be treating five major Chinese state-run media companies as effective extensions of the Chinese government.

Telegraph.co.uk wrote:PM offered to make what he says would be one of the "biggest changes" in the history of the British visa system

Boris Johnson is ready to open the door to nearly three million Hong Kong citizens if China imposes a new security law that critics say would rob the territory of its autonomy.

The Prime Minister, writing in The Times, has offered to make what he says would be one of the "biggest changes" in the history of the British visa system to allow 2.85 million Hong Kong citizens the chance of fully-fledged citizenship.

The move, which represents a dramatic escalation in the stand-off between the UK and China, would put Hongkongers "on the route to citizenship", said the Conservative Party leader.

China's ceremonial legislature, the National People's Congress, endorsed a security law for Hong Kong earlier this week that has strained relations with the UK and the US.

The law will alter the territory's mini-constitution, or Basic Law, to require its government to enforce measures to be decided later by Chinese leaders.

Critics have said the law erodes the "one country, two systems" framework that promised Hong Kong freedoms not found in mainland China for 50 years.

Protesters have taken to the streets in Hong Kong to demonstrate , despite coronavirus social distancing restrictions still being in place.

Mr Johnson said the national security law would breach the treaty between China and the UK and would "dramatically erode" Hong Kong's autonomy.

If China chooses to go ahead with its changes for the island, the PM said he would effectively upgrade the status of British National (Overseas) passports, which 350,000 people in Hong Kong hold and 2.5 million are eligible to apply for, to grant immigration rights beyond the current six month limit.

China’s foreign ministry has accused Britain of “gross interference” in the country’s affairs after Boris Johnson said he would offer millions of Hong Kong residents a path to UK citizenship if Beijing pushed ahead with a controversial security law for the city.

The ministry’s spokesman Zhao Lijian told Britain to “step back … otherwise there will be consequences” and said China had made “serious representations” to London over its offer to holders of British national (overseas) passports.

Although pro-democracy politicians and protesters in Hong Kong welcomed Britain’s offer, most said they would prefer international efforts to focus also on protection for the city – in the form perhaps of sanctions against China or officials in Beijing – and not just on providing sanctuary for those who want to flee.
...
There are also concerns that the offer excludes the city’s youth, who have been at the forefront of the year-long protest movement, because the BNO passports are issued only to people born before the 1997 end of British colonial rule.
...
Britain’s position is based on the joint declaration between the two countries, which paved the way for the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 and promised the city 50 years of autonomy from that date, with its rights and freedoms protected.

The agreement was registered with the UN, and the UK considers it a binding international treaty; Beijing now argues that as soon as the handover was complete, it effectively became void.

A 13-ton shipment of beauty products such as weaves suspected to have been made out of human hair was seized on Wednesday by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Port of New York/Newark.

According to the CPB, the shipment originated in Xinjiang, China, signaling potential human rights abuses of forced labor and imprisonment.

The US State Department estimates that over one million Uyghurs have been detained in a massive network of internment camps in Xinjiang, where they are reportedly "subjected to torture, cruel and inhumane treatment such as physical and sexual abuse, forced labor, and death."
In addition to political indoctrination, former detainees have told CNN that they experienced sleep deprivation, lack of food and forced injections.
This is the second time this year that the CBP has seized products from China suspected to have been made from prisoner's hair.

The Hong Kong government has postponed September's parliamentary elections by a year, saying it is necessary amid a rise in coronavirus infections.

Hong Kong is currently experiencing a spike in Covid-19 infections, and reported 121 new cases on Friday.

However, the opposition has accused the government of using the pandemic as a pretext to stop people from voting.

On Thursday, the government banned 12 pro-democracy candidates from running in the elections.

Opposition activists had hoped to obtain a majority in the Legislative Council (LegCo) in September's poll, capitalising on anger at Beijing's imposition of a controversial national security law in Hong Kong, and fears that the territory's freedoms are being eroded.

Pro-democracy candidates had made unprecedented gains in last year's district council elections, winning 17 out of 18 councils.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said she would invoke emergency powers to postpone the elections, calling it the "most difficult decision I've made over the past seven months".

"This postponement is entirely made based on public safety reasons, there were no political considerations," she said.

Leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives received an FBI briefing regarding Rep. Eric Swalwell's ties to a suspected Chinese spy, as a report of his association with the woman prompted Republicans to call for the California Democrat's removal from his position on the House Intelligence Committee.

The first high-level meeting between U.S.-Chinese officials under the new Biden administration got off to a chilly start on Thursday, with senior American diplomats accusing China of threatening world stability and Chinese officials alleging America is a human rights hypocrite due to its mistreatment of Black citizens.

Afterward, a U.S. official accused the Chinese diplomats of “grandstanding.”

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, with top Chinese diplomats Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi. The two countries are at odds on many issues, from cyberattacks to trade; the relationship grew steadily worse under former President Donald Trump, who used tariffs to wage a trade war on Beijing.

"And you are lynching Negroes" (Russian: "А у вас негров линчуют", A u vas negrov linchuyut) (which also means "Yet, in your [country], [they] lynch Negroes") and the modern translation "And you are hanging blacks" are catchphrases that describe or satirize Soviet Union responses to United States criticisms of Soviet human rights violations.

The Soviet media frequently covered racial discrimination, financial crises, and unemployment in the United States, which were identified as failings of the capitalist system that had been supposedly erased by state socialism. Lynchings of African Americans were brought up as an embarrassing skeleton in the closet for the U.S., which the Soviets used as a form of rhetorical ammunition when reproached for their own perceived economic and social failings. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the phrase became widespread as a reference to Russian information-warfare tactics. Its use subsequently became widespread in Russia to criticize any form of U.S. policy.

@ianbremmer wrote:US-China readout.

Most important bilateral relationship in the world.

Among the most dysfunctional.

Zero trust.

And very limited near-term prospects of improvement.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:42 am Why would China censor the news that Chloe Zhao won Best Director? You would think they would want to lord it over the West.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:42 am Why would China censor the news that Chloe Zhao won Best Director? You would think they would want to lord it over the West.

A new video circulated among Chinese Communist Party channels has warned China will destroy Japan with nuclear weapons in a "full-scale war" if Tokyo interferes militarily in Taiwan.

The new video singles out Japan threatening it will be the “exception” to China’s stated policy to not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear powers.

“We will use nuclear bombs first. We will use nuclear bombs continuously. We will do this until Japan declares unconditional surrender for the second time,” the video said.

“When we liberate Taiwan, if Japan dares to intervene by force – even if it only deploys one soldier, one plane or one ship – we will not only return fire but also wage full-scale war against Japan itself.”

The video ends by stating: "There will be no peace talks."

Kraken wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 10:49 pm Whatever happened to trump's trade war? Are his tariffs still more-or-less intact, or were they quietly repealed?