News Headlines - 26 September 2020

▽Hunter Biden received $3.5M from Russian billionaire: report

Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Elena Baturina, the richest woman in Russia and the widow of Yury Luzhkov, the former mayor of Moscow, Senate Republicans revealed in their report on the younger Biden’s work in Ukraine.
Baturina is referenced in the 87-page report, which was released Wednesday, addressing her payment to Biden’s investment firm in early 2014.

▽US lawmakers weigh $25bn subsidies to boost chipmaking - Nikkei Asia

U.S. lawmakers are mulling subsidies of about $25 billion to encourage companies to relocate chip production facilities back home amid rising competition with China in the high-tech sector.
It is uncommon for the U.S. to pour big subsidies into any sector, stirring concerns that such direct support could distort the market. But Washington has been keen to protect its own industry on fears that too much outsourcing to China in the high-tech arena could eventually compromise its own national security and military capabilities.
U.S. semiconductor manufacturers controlled 47% of the global market in terms of sales in 2019, according to a report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. It was followed by South Korean companies with 19% of the market and Japanese entities with 10%.

▽Dark web drugs raid leads to 179 arrests - BBC News

Police forces around the world have seized more than $6.5m (￡5m) in cash and virtual currencies, as well as drugs and guns in a co-ordinated raid on dark web marketplaces.
Some 179 people were arrested across Europe and the US, and 500kg (1,102lb) of drugs and 64 guns confiscated.
It ends the "golden age" of these underground marketplaces, Europol said... The operation, known as DisrupTor, was a joint effort between the Department of Justice and Europol. It is believed that the criminals engaged in tens of thousands of sales of illicit goods and services across the US and Europe.

▽Chen Qiushi: Chinese journalist missing since February 'under state supervision' - BBC News

A Chinese citizen journalist who disappeared in February after reporting on the outbreak of the coronavirus has been found, a friend has said.
The whereabouts of Chen Qiushi have not been known since he was allegedly "quarantined by force".
A friend has now uploaded a video to YouTube saying he is in "good health" but is under government supervision.
There have been separate reports that he is staying with his parents in Qingdao.

▽3 found dead as massive fire breaks out at Huawei lab in China - The Mainichi

Three people were found dead after a massive fire broke out Friday afternoon at a laboratory of Huawei Technologies Co. in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan, municipal authorities said.
The authorities said they immediately dispatched firefighters to the site to rescue people and extinguish the blaze, which spread after cottony material for sound insulation caught flame.