A 28-year-old Russian researcher dies under mysterious circumstances at a plague research institute. Was it a laboratory accident, a deadly pathogen, or something more sinister?

Meanwhile, China conducted eight plague-related emergency drills in the months leading up to her death, including one involving Russian researchers. Coincidence—or was China anticipating something?

Joining me is Dr. Sean Lin, a former U.S. Army officer and microbiologist, who served nine years in the military, specializing in preventive medicine, infectious disease surveillance, and vaccine development. He holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a master's degree in International Relations from Syracuse University's Maxwell School.

We discuss Russia's mysterious plague death, China-Russia biological research cooperation, the Soviet bioweapons legacy, and the growing threat of AI-powered biological warfare. Plague or bioweapon? What do Russia and China know that the rest of the world doesn't?

"This three-part series traces Mao Zedong's journey from peasants' son to revolutionary and architect of modern China — from his rural childhood to the founding of the People's Republic to the devastating impact of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, which claimed millions of lives.

Archival footage, as well as interviews with historians and eyewitnesses, tell the story of the man who changed China forever."

Part 2: Founding of PRC

https://youtu.be/kml_5jNV0j8?si=EMoLcpzEAAEjPWyP

Part 3: Mao and Cultural Revolution

https://youtu.be/cyWdTB3CT4o?si=HnTPpVzwVkJOnZKL

This image has no connection with our great leader Xi Jinping

Translation of the original text:
I am the person directly involved in this incident. I am the one who was wrongfully targeted.
My family and I have been living in Italy for 12 years. We earn around €5,000 a month combined. Our three children have been very happy here, with free education and healthcare.
Someone in a group chat for people from my hometown offered me a job: stalk a prominent anti-Chinese Communist Party influencer on Twitter (X) for eight hours in exchange for €100.
I foolishly accepted the job.
When I returned to China in August to visit relatives, I was subsequently denied entry into Italy when I tried to return. My world collapsed.
My entire family's future has been destroyed. I sought help from the Chinese embassy, which arranged for me to work as a neighborhood grid administrator (A low-level neighborhood administrator responsible for monitoring residents, collecting personal information, and reporting suspicious activities to local authorities), earning 2,200 yuan a month. Even that salary is often paid late.
My children have been learning three languages: Italian, English, and Chinese. Now, they have lost the environment in which they could practice the first two.
The course of my entire family's life has been changed. I've even had thoughts of suicide.
I am submitting this account to you because I truly have nowhere else to turn. I am an innocent victim. I had no idea the consequences would be so severe…

My mum Evita Sarma (Latvian citizen) has been missing from Gyron port (Tibet side), since the floods on the 26th of August.

At this point i am running out of options, so I'm reaching out to you dear Reddit users.

Based on the last photo that my mum sent me, she just cleared the Border about 3 min before floods hit. I have contacted the Latvian ministry of foreign affairs, Chinese embassy in Latvia and support phone line that was set up for international queries.

I do understand that chances are astronomically low, but until I'll get concrete information I will be still keeping hope and praying for the miracle.

My biggest problem is that last information about what's going on (in terms of rescue work) was on the 7th of September.

If you know anything current like hospitals rescued people have been transported to, agencies to contact, statistics or anything else, I would be endlessly thankful.

I really need your help. My mum is the dearest person to my ever and only family i have. We always been close and I miss her so, so much.

Zhimin Qian ran a Ponzi scheme in China from 2014 to 2017, raising over £4 billion from fake investment products, then converting the proceeds into Bitcoin. She fled to London using a fake passport, bought jewelry and designer goods, and tried laundering the money into property. UK police seized over 61,000 Bitcoin from her in 2018, now worth around $5 billion after the price surge, the largest crypto seizure in history. She was finally arrested in 2024 and sentenced to nearly 12 years.

Here's the twist nobody saw coming. Thousands of Chinese victims filed claims in UK court, arguing the Bitcoin should go to them, not the British government. On October 12, a UK judge ruled Chinese law decides who owns it, not English law, because the fraud, the payments, and the original purchases all happened in China.

That ruling matters enormously. Under Chinese law, victims are likely treated as unsecured creditors, entitled only to get back what they originally put in, not the current Bitcoin value, which has grown roughly 200 times since Qian bought it. Under English law, they might have had a real shot at owning a share of that appreciation.

Victims' lawyers say they'll appeal. Until then, the UK government, which already holds one of the largest government Bitcoin stockpiles in the world, remains in a strong position to keep most of the $5 billion for itself.