UNITED STATES
Liu assault probe concludes
Minneapolis police have finished their initial investigation into a sexual assault allegation against Chinese billionaire Richard Liu (劉強東), the founder of Beijingbased e-commerce site JD.com, and have turned the case over to prosecutors for possible charges, prosecutors said on Thursday. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said that his office would review the evidence and make a charging decision. There is no deadline for that decision. Liu was on Aug. 31 arrested in Minneapolis on suspicion of felony rape. A police report did not provide details of the alleged incident. Liu was released the next day and he returned to China. Liu has an estimated fortune of US$7.5 billion.
UNITED STATES
Yellowstone geyser erupts
A thermal spring near Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park has erupted for the fourth time in the past 60 years, a park official said on Thursday. Ear Spring on Yellowstone’s Geyser Hill, Wyoming, went from being dormant on Saturday to spewing steam and water between 6m and 9m high, a height not recorded since 1957, park spokesman Neal Herbert said. It has since continued to erupt at a near-constant height of about 60cm, he said. Ear Spring, named for its resemblance to the shape of a human ear, is one of dozens of geysers, pools and hot springs in Yellowstone’s Upper Geyser Basin. It last erupted in 2004.
UNITED KINGDOM
Man Booker selects finalists
Three UK authors, two Americans and a Canadian are finalists for the Man Booker Prize for fiction. The shortlist announced on Thursday includes two debut novels: UK poet Robin Robertson’s verse novel The Long Take and Everything Under by British writer Daisy Johnson. At 27, Johnson is the youngest-ever Booker finalist. The American finalists are Rachel Kushner’s prison story The Mars Room and Richard Powers’ tree-inspired tale The Overstory. Washington Black, the saga of an escaped slave by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan, and Troubles-set story Milkman by Northern Irish writer Anna Burns round out the list.
UNITED STATES
Star Wars releases to slow
Disney plans to slow down the release schedule for its blockbuster Star Wars franchise, CEO Bob Iger has said, acknowledging that it was a mistake to shuttle a new film into theaters every year. Iger’s comments to the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Thursday come on the back of the disappointing box office take earlier this year of Solo: A Star Wars Story of US$400 million worldwide. While that result would be stellar for most films, it was mediocre at best for a Star Wars film, leading many industry observers to speculate about franchise fatigue.
FRANCE
Police seize Eiffel Towers
Police have broken up a suspected criminal gang who sold miniature copies of the Eiffel Tower at tourist sites around Paris, often employing illegal immigrants. The six-week operation also seized more than 20 tonnes of the trinkets stored in depots outside the capital. Migrants can often be seen selling the souvenirs near the Eiffel Tower and at other sites popular with tourists. “The operation led to the seizure of 20 tonnes of the trinkets stashed in boxes in Val-de-Marne and Hauts-de-Seine, as well as 15,000 [US$17,662] euros in cash, several money counting machines, coins and three delivery vans,” police said. The street value of the merchandise was estimated at 600,000 euros.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other