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A Chinese consulate recommends against unnecessary travel as schools urge international students to be in place before the inauguration.

The Finnish electricity grid’s head of operations says sabotage can’t be ruled out
An undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia broke down on Wednesday, Finland’s prime minister said, the latest in a series of incidents involving cables and energy pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
The Finnish electricity grid’s head of operations, Arto Pahkin, told the public broadcaster Yle that sabotage could not be ruled out.

The 76-year-old is part of a trend of ‘silver influencers’ whose success in the face of adversity resonates strongly. Could she be Elon’s secret weapon in China?
Maye Musk is a busy woman. As well as being the mother of the world’s richest man, she has been jetting between various glamorous events – many of them in China. In December alone, she attended a gala dinner in Hangzhou, walked the red carpet for a cosmetics company in Wuhan and signed copies of the Chinese edition of her book, A Woman Makes a Plan, which .
In fact, the only Musk-related book on the was a biography of her son Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. Elon Musk is popular in China, and is thought to have the in the otherwise hawkish incoming administration of Donald Trump. But he has also faced scrutiny for his links to the US Department of Defense via his aerospace company, SpaceX.

The government says it will "restore clarity" for vehicle manufacturers and the charging industry.

The King County Sheriff's Office estimates switching to American-made drones would increase costs by 50%. That cost would fall to taxpayers.

Exclusive: Labour Together urges government to ‘de-risk’ supply chains by working with other countries
The UK must become less dependent on China for critical minerals, an influential thinktank has concluded before a government strategy decision in the spring.
In on rare earth minerals, which are essential components for hi-tech products from mobile phones to missiles, Labour Together said ministers should “de-risk” supply chains and by building partnerships with other countries.

While some residents take to building houses in trees, officials recognise need for national response to climate disasters
Every summer, Dongting Hu, China’s second-largest freshwater lake, swells in size as flood water from the Yangtze River flows into its borders. Dams and dikes are erected around the lake’s edges to protect against flooding. But this year, not for the first time, they were overwhelmed.
For three days in early July, more than 800 rescue workers in Hunan province scrambled to block the breaches. One rupture alone took 100,000 cubic metres of rock to seal, Zhang Yingchun, a Hunan official. At least 7,000 people had to be evacuated. It was one of a series of disasters to hit China as the country grappled with a summer of extreme weather. By August, there had been 25 large floods, the biggest number since records began in 1998, .

More than 160 Chinese nationals were found living in ‘degrading’ conditions and working excessive hours
Brazilian authorities have halted the construction of a factory for the Chinese electric vehicle company BYD, after they found more than 160 Chinese nationals living in “slavery-like” conditions.
The workers, based in a construction site in the north-eastern Brazilian state Bahia, were found to be labouring for excessive hours – sometimes for seven days straight – and living in “degrading” accommodation.

The Countering CCP Drones Act calls for a ban on new DJI drones. Stefanik argued the U.S. needs to stop China’s “monopolistic control over the drone market”.

HK$1m rewards target people accused of national security crimes who fled after pro-democracy protests
Hong Kong police have announced bounties of HK$1m (about £105,000) for information leading to the arrest of six democracy advocates based overseas and accused of national security crimes.
Authorities also said they would cancel the passports of seven others for whom bounties had already been issued, including the former lawmakers Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok, local media said.

As stores that were spaces for open discussion have been forced to close, new ventures spring up overseas
On 24 November, exactly two years after a in Xinjiang killed 10 people and sparked a wave of historic protests across China, two dozen people gathered in a small bookshop in the Netherlands to reflect on the event.
“When anger becomes infectious, / when words are seen to be dangerous, / leave me blank, please!” Hongwei Bao, an associate professor at the University of Nottingham, read to the small, predominantly Asian audience.

More than 160 workers have been rescued from the car factory, according to local prosecutors.