News Headlines - 20 August 2019

▽Hong Kong: British consulate worker 'detained at China border' - BBC News

The UK Foreign Office has expressed concern over reports that a Hong Kong consulate employee has been detained at the Chinese border.
Media reports say Simon Cheng, who is thought to be from Hong Kong, is believed to have gone missing on 8 August while on a business trip.
The Foreign Office said it was "seeking further information from authorities in Guangdong Province and Hong Kong".

▽Hong Kong protests: Twitter and Facebook remove Chinese accounts - BBC News

Twitter and Facebook have taken steps to block what they described as a state-backed Chinese misinformation campaign.
Twitter said it removed 936 accounts it said were being used to “sow political discord in Hong Kong”... Facebook said it had, after being tipped off by Twitter, removed "seven Pages, three Groups and five Facebook accounts.”

▽Russia refuses to share data on blast that caused radiation spike | The Guardian

Russia has told international nuclear test ban monitors that it does not have to share information on the blast that caused a brief spike in radiation levels in Arkhangelsk region, bolstering speculation that Russia may have tampered with monitoring stations that failed to transmit scientific data after the accident.
Two Russian-operated monitoring stations for the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty ceased transmitting data two days after the 8 August blast, when a projected radioactive plume from the deadly accident would be expected to reach them... On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported another two monitoring stations had also suddenly gone offline, bringing the total to four.

▽Sony acquires Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac Games - The Verge

Sony has announced that it’ll be acquiring Insomniac Games, the game development studio behind the Ratchet & Clank series and, most recently, Marvel’s Spider-Man for the PS4.
The news isn’t totally surprising: Insomniac has long had a close relationship with Sony, developing PlayStation-exclusive titles like Spyro the Dragon, Resistance, and the aforementioned Ratchet & Clank and Spider-Man, so bringing Insomniac in-house as a first-party studio makes a lot of sense.

▽Prince Hisahito pays courtesy visit with parents to Bhutan royals：The Asahi Shimbun

Twelve-year-old Prince Hisahito paid a courtesy visit to Bhutan's king and queen on Aug. 19 with his parents, Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko, during his first overseas trip.
The three met the Himalayan kingdom’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema at the Tashichho Dzong, which houses government agencies and a Buddhist monastery.