Hong Kong’s High Court jailed Joshua Wong, the city’s best-known democracy activist, for 10 years on Thursday for seeking foreign sanctions on China in 2020, but a legal floor set the figure more than the judge did. A “grave” finding makes 10 the minimum, so Judge William Tam started at 13 and cut three for the guilty plea, because the floor blocks the usual one-third discount, the South China Morning Post reports.

The plea earned 23% off, so defendants facing a grave finding have less reason to plead. The court ran the two months left on Wong’s earlier sentence concurrently, a concession costing the state little, and his release moves from January 2027 to late 2036, the paper adds.

Beijing gains deterrence: prosecutors said Wong pressed for sanctions from inside Hong Kong via foreign media, so any resident doing likewise knows the price. Only Jimmy Lai, the former media tycoon, has received more under the law: 20 years, Bloomberg notes.

The Gist AI Editor

Hong Kong adds 10 years to Joshua Wong’s sentence

According to the Wall Street Journal, a Hong Kong court extended the prison term of jailed activist Joshua Wong, 30, by 10 years under the national security law. Rights groups say the law is being used as a political weapon against him.

Mittal bets on a satellite network independent of the US and China

Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal is betting that he can build a global satellite-internet network independent of both the US and China, according to Bloomberg. His OneWeb would compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink, because governments increasingly want strategic alternatives for critical communication infrastructure. Governments that do not want to rely on one American or Chinese provider are the customers this pitch targets.

Arm and Qualcomm move beyond their core businesses

Analyst Angelo Zino of CFRA Research told Bloomberg that Arm’s revenue outlook was broadly in line with expectations and its results looked fine. He said investors may have wanted clearer guidance on its move into physical CPU products. Zino also expects Qualcomm to report a lower gross margin as it shifts away from handsets. Gross margin is the share of each sale left after the direct cost of making the product.

CVS splits its drugstore and insurance businesses

The Wall Street Journal reports that CVS is splitting its drugstore and insurance businesses amid mounting regulatory pressure.

Stay tuned for the next Gist, your edge in a shifting world. The Gist remains independent and reader-supported. If you value news free from corporate or state interests, consider supporting our mission with a donation.

Hong Kong Extends Jailed Activist Joshua Wong’s Prison Term by 10 Years
— Wall Street Journal

Inside CVS’s Decision to Break Up a Healthcare Juggernaut
— Wall Street Journal

Asian Currencies Mixed, But May Be Supported by Mild Risk Appetite
— Wall Street Journal

Arm’s Results Are ‘Perfectly Fine,’ CFRA’s Zino Says
— Bloomberg

Qualcomm Revenue Will Shift Away From Handsets, CFRA’s Zino Says
— Bloomberg

Spanish rail infrastructure chief steps down after Toledo train crash
— Politico.Eu

Germany’s firms raise price plans as oil and gas hit four-year highs

The ifo Institute (Munich-based economic research body) reported that its price-expectations index, which measures the share of companies planning price increases, rose from 23.0 in September to 25.9 in October 2026 (ifo). Crude oil and natural gas reached their highest level since 2022 in the second half of October (ifo). Ifo’s head of business surveys, Timo Wollmershäuser, expects inflation to keep rising at both producer and consumer level in the coming months (ifo). In September he had forecast that Germany’s inflation rate would climb above 3%, after oil prices rose again following the blockade of the Bab al-Mandab strait, and he expected energy suppliers to raise electricity and gas prices in winter (ifo).

Europe-funded research becomes US start-up patents

Clemens Fuest, president of the ifo Institute, and more than 50 other scientists argue in the journal Science that Europe does too little to turn its research strength into economic strength (ifo). They say research funded in Europe often feeds into patents held by US start-ups and underpins those firms’ market success (ifo). Their proposal is to direct public funding toward places where European research results can become marketable products (ifo). The reason this matters is that the economic return on European public money is currently being collected mainly by companies outside Europe.

NASA’s Swift telescope falls out of orbit after failed rescue

NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, launched in 2004 with three telescopes, re-entered the atmosphere over the North Sumatra region after a rescue attempt to raise its sinking orbit failed (DW, AP, Reuters). The mission had run for more than two decades (DW).

Le Pen delays Farage’s Paris visit

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had billed a trip to meet France’s presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen for October, as part of a tour of European right-wing leaders before year-end, but the meeting has not happened (Politico). Politico reports that the dynamics inside both parties have shifted since the visit was planned.

Catch the next Gist for the continent’s moving pieces.

Hubert Aiwanger – der Mann mit dem Gespür fürs Land
— ZDF

Höhere Energiepreise werden zunehmend weitergegeben
— IFO

Kräftig gestiegene Energiepreise sorgen weiterhin für Preisdruck
— IFO

NASA’s Swift space telescope plunges back to Earth in fiery demise
— Deutsche Welle

Europäische Forschung wird noch zu häufig in den USA zu Geld gemacht
— IFO

Aktuelles zum Krieg in der Ukraine
— ZDF