INDIA
Key space tests launched
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) yesterday carried out the first of a series of key test flights after overcoming a technical glitch ahead of its planned mission to take astronauts into space by 2025, the space agency said. The test involved launching a module to outer space and bringing it back to Earth to test the spacecraft’s crew escape system, ISRO chairman Sreedhara Somanath said. The launch was delayed by 45 minutes in the morning because of weather conditions. The attempt was again deferred by more than an hour because of an issue with the engine, and the ground computer put the module’s liftoff on hold, said Somanath.
CHINA
Ad executive arrested
An executive and two former employees of WPP, one of the world’s biggest advertising companies, have been arrested, two people familiar with the situation said. The arrests involved WPP’s GroupM media trading division and included a raid on offices in Shanghai, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly. WPP declined to comment, and the Chinese embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment.
RUSSIA
Court detains US journalist
A court on Friday ordered Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to be detained for three more days, after prosecutors said she had failed to register as a “foreign agent.” Kurmasheva was working for the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty when she was detained by law enforcement officers in Kazan on Wednesday. She faces up to five years in jail if found guilty of the charges. She is the second US journalist to be detained by Russia, after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in March for “spying.”
CHINA
Tsingtao probes pee video
Tsingtao Brewery, one of the country’s biggest beer makers, said it has opened an investigation after a video appearing to show a factory employee urinating on raw ingredients went viral this week. The clip, published online on Thursday, purportedly shows a male worker at a Tsingtao warehouse clambering into a high-walled container and relieving himself onto its contents. The footage circulated widely on Chinese social media, racking up tens of millions of views on the popular Sina Weibo platform. Tsingtao on Friday said that it had contacted the police over the incident and an investigation was ongoing. Some Web users were not about to pass up the chance to make a wry quip about the country’s famously light and fizzy mass-market brews. “I’ve always said the beer here is like horse pee. Turns out I was wrong,” one of them commented. “Thanks, I think I’ll have wine instead,” quipped another.
UNITED STATES
Republicans drop Jordan
Republicans on Friday abruptly dropped Representative Jim Jordan as their nominee for House speaker, after the ally of former US president Donald Trump failed badly on a third ballot for the gavel. The outcome meant another week without a House speaker, bordering on a full-blown crisis. House Republicans have no realistic or working plan to unite the fractured party, elect a new speaker and return to the work of Congress that has been languishing since Representative Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker at the start of the month. “We’re in a very bad place right now,” McCarthy said.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
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