Hot News This Week: Luigi Mangione Charged, Royal Mail Aquisition, Whistleblower Found Dead, Youngest Chess Champion And More!
+ some dishes made in the Hot Source Kitchen
We Made it! (Yayyy!) We are back again for the second issue of Hot News This Week *everybody claps and cheers*.
We have a lot to cover and the news is very heavy this week. Hence this may warrant a (TW) Trigger Warning: Mention of Suicide. We also have some updates from last week’s news on the South Korean President and the CEO Assassination. So Stick around to find out more!
Royal Mail has now been acquired by Czech Billionaire owned EP Group
The UK government has officially approved Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky's EP Group to buy Royal Mail in a 3.57 billion pound ($4.5 billion) deal, upon securing commitments that the government said would protect one of the world's oldest postal services.
Prior to this, the Royal Mail was already privatised The privatisation of Royal Mail has taken place in three parts – the majority of the company was disposed of in 2013, with 10% of shares allocated to an employee free offer and 60% sold to individuals and financial institutions. The sales of the remaining part started in June 2015. The final sale was completed in October 2015.
EP Group has agreed to acquire the Royal Mail parent company International Distribution Services (IDS). Moreover, the UK government will retain an agreed upon"golden share" that will require it to approve any major changes to Royal Mail's ownership, UK HQ location and tax residency.
The conditions agreed by EP Group include keeping the brand name and Royal Mail's headquarters and tax residency in the UK for at least the next five years. Additional agreements include workers getting a 10% share of any dividends paid out to Kretinsky, and for a formation of a workers group to have monthly meetings with the directors of Royal Mail to provides employees with a bigger voice.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said while it was up to shareholders to approve the deal, the agreement the government had reached meant the takeover "will be a good deal for the UK, be a good deal for the people who work for Royal Mail and a good deal for customers".
Kretinsky stated that EP Group had a "mission to make Royal Mail a successful modern postal operator with high quality service and products for its customers".
Luigi Mangione Charged with the murder of United Health CEO
In an update from last week’s issue of Hot News This Week, the suspect involved in the assassination of United Health CEO has been found and identified as Luigi Mangione.
Mangione was apprehended at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 9 after nearly one week on the run. He's accused of assassinating United Health CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4 as the CEO headed to an investors conference.
Mangione has now been formally charged with Second Degree murder, possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police.
Mangione’s Manifesto, heavily criticising and highlighting the greed of health insurance companies profiteering off of the deaths of millions on Americans has gone viral in the past week and has garnered a lot of attention. This is despite mainstream news outlets not posting/withholding this manifesto.
Investigative journalist, Ken Klippenstein, has bypassed mainstream media outlets and has posted the obtained manifesto directly to his Substack.
South Korean President finally impeached by parliament
Another update from last week’s Hot News, South Korean MPs have successfully voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on their second attempt, following his brief move to impose martial law
Yoon is now officially suspended, with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stepping in as acting president
The Constitutional Court will decide Yoon's fate, with up to six months to rule on the impeachment. He could also face other charges, such as insurrection. The Constitutional Court has begun trial proceedings for Yoon’s impeachment.
Although this was a huge moment of victory for South Koreans who have been adamantly protesting for Yoon’s removal since the martial law in early December, the sentiment did not resonate with many staunch supporters of Yoon, who believe that martial law was necessary.
BREAK TIME: Here’s what we made in the Hot Source Kitchen in the past week:
Open AI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment
An OpenAI researcher-turned-whistleblower, Suchir Balaji, had been found dead in an apartment in San Francisco, authorities said. Balaji’s body was discovered on 26 November after police said they received a call asking officers to check on his wellbeing.
Balaji’s death comes three months after he publicly accused OpenAI of violating U.S. copyright law while developing ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence program that has become a moneymaking sensation used by millions of people across the world. He came to the conclusion that OpenAI's use of copyrighted data violated the law and that technologies like ChatGPT were damaging the internet.
The medical examiner’s office determined the cause of death to be suicide and police officials this week said there is “currently, no evidence of foul play.”
If you've been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available here
Yang Tengbo: Alleged Chinese spy linked to Prince Andrew named
An alleged spy who befriended Prince Andrew has been named as the businessman Yang Tengbo. Tengbo has been banned from the UK since last week when a Special Immigration Appeals Tribunal upheld a Home Office order, banning him from the UK on national security grounds following a long-running legal battle.
Tengbo's identity was previously protected by an anonymity order, of which a judge lifted the ban on Monday. Yang Tengo has attempted to claim innocence as he said in a statement that he has: “done nothing wrong or unlawful and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are ill-founded”.
Prince Andrew will be absent from the royal family’s traditional Christmas gathering at Sandringham this year amid the controversy surrounding his links to the alleged Chinese spy.
Indian Teen becomes world’s youngest chess champion
18 Year Old Gukesh Dommaraju, is now crowned as the youngest ever World Chess Champion. This follows from a Dommaraju beating Ding Liren 7.5-6.5 in their best-of-14 final in Singapore on Thursday.
Liren made one of the worst blunders in the 138-year history of world championship matchplay. The defending champion resigned moments later after a game that lasted 58 moves, approximately four hours of play time. Dommaraju shattered the age record held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he toppled Anatoly Karpov in 1985.