Found in Translation 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇺🇲

Oct 28: 🇺🇸 Department of Homeland Security bans imports from three Chinese genomics companies over their alleged roles in enabling the forced labor of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. 🇨🇳 BGI Genomics Co Ltd, 🇨🇳 MGI Tech ‌Co Ltd and 🇨🇳 Shenzhen BGI Technology Co Ltd, which is also known as the BGI Group, were added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. The list identifies entities that use or facilitate the use of forced labor of Uyghurs and other minorities, or source material from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. US Customs and Border Protection is instructed to stop goods from listed companies from entering the US unless exporters can rebut the presumption they were made with forced labor. The US and human rights groups have accused Chinese authorities of establishing ⁠internment camps in Xinjiang, where Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups are subject to forced labor and other abuses. BGI Group and BGI Genomics conduct genetic testing in the region, working with the government to facilitate the recruitment, transport, transfer or receiving of forced labor, the Homeland Security Department said. MGI Tech provides equipment and related support to the government to conduct the testing, the department said. The US government believes BGI Group tests genetic material of people from the region as well as that of plants and animals. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the ⁠companies help operate a mass surveillance system that uses data derived from genetic material and other information to support broader repression, including labor programs and internment, often under the guise of healthcare. The companies' behavior “shows an unwillingness to separate profit motives from basic codes of human dignity.” The US imposed ⁠the ban during a fragile trade truce between China and the US. China banned imports of sequencing equipment from San Diego-based Illumina in Mar 2025, minutes after an additional 10% US tariff on Chinese goods took effect. Illumina said in Nov 2025 that 🇨🇳 Ministry of Commerce said it would lift the ban, but that the company would remain ⁠on China's Unreliable Entities List, meaning purchases of its instruments would still require government approval. Homeland Security, which oversees the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, posted the additions in the Federal Register, the US government's official daily journal. With the addition of the three genomics companies, 190 entities are now listed. Goods affected include everything from cotton and canned tomatoes to electronics and equipment. reuters.com/world/china/us-b…

Oct 28: 🇨🇳 national Yan Xiaoqin (严晓琴) was sentenced to 10 months of additional imprisonment for escaping from the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury (FCI Danbury). On Dec 10, 2024, Yan escaped from the Federal Satellite Low facility at FCI Danbury where she was serving a federal prison sentence imposed in the Middle District of Alabama for arson and possession of a firearm by an illegal alien. Yan was apprehended on Dec 10, 2024, and has been detained since her arrest.  On Apr 10, 2026, she pleaded guilty to escape from the custody of the Attorney General. justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/chine…