INDIA
Coffee tycoon’s body found
Fishers yesterday found the body of a coffee tycoon in a river, two days after he disappeared, police said. The body of Cafe Coffee Day founder V.G. Siddhartha has been identified, Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sandeep Patel said. Siddhartha, 60, had left Bangalore on Monday and traveled to a bridge in Dakshina Kannada. He told his driver to wait, saying that he was going for a walk. Police said that when Siddhartha did not return for two hours, the driver notified them. Police were investigating a letter that appeared on social media in which Siddhartha alleged that he was facing harassment from tax authorities that caused a serious liquidity crunch.
LEBANON
Festival drops gay band
An international music festival on Tuesday said that it has canceled a planned concert by a popular Mideast rock band whose lead singer is openly gay, apparently caving to pressure after weeklong calls by some Christian groups to pull the plug on the show, as well as online threats to stop it by force. Festival organizers released a statement saying that the “unprecedented step” of canceling the performance by Mashrou’ Leila was done “to prevent bloodshed and maintain peace and stability.”
CHINA
Start-up eyes more launches
Beijing-based start-up iSpace is planning up to eight commercial rocket launches next year, after last week becoming the nation’s first privately funded firm to put a satellite into orbit, its executives said. The firm’s success has increased pressure on 15-plus domestic start-ups looking to develop vehicles capable of delivering satellites into orbit. Since late last year, two other firms have attempted, but failed. “If you don’t have a rocket that can go into orbit, that shows that you don’t have a product,” iSpace vice president for finance Huo Jia (霍甲) said on Tuesday. “The threshold for orbital launches is extremely high, and 99 percent of companies will fail.”
UNITED STATES
Anti-violence mothers slain
Two women who worked with other mothers to try to stop gun violence in their neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side were killed by bullets on the same corner where they would often hand out food and bring children to play. The gunfire on Friday night was instead meant for a man who is affiliated with a street gang and recently got out of prison, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. The deaths of 26-year-old Chantell Grant and 35-year-old Andrea Stoudemire are a reminder of the violence that prompted them to join Mothers Against Senseless Killings. “That’s why we’re out here seven days a week ... trying to create a safe place,” group founder Tamar Manasseh said. “They can’t even walk to the store without getting killed. They were killed for parenting.”
UNITED STATES
Chinatown dig cut short
An archaeological dig in Boston’s historic Chinatown has been cut short after it turned up a 1980s music cassette, a toy dinosaur and other bric-a-brac. The city’s Archaeology Program on Tuesday tweeted that it was wrapping up its three-week excavation because researchers reached the water table and it was unsafe to dig further. The excavation of a vacant lot near the neighborhood’s distinctive gateway had been expected to last until early autumn. Researchers have been tweeting some of their “finds,” including a cassette by Boston R&B group New Edition, a dinosaur toy, linoleum flooring and other items from the 1970s and 1980s.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was