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The Deals: Reservoir’s PopIndia Acquires Vincey Productions Catalog; A State of Trance Extends Insomniac Partnership
Reservoir Media’s Indian subsidiary PopIndia has struck two deals: acquiring the compositions, masters and YouTube channels of Chennai-based Vincey Productions, and signing a publishing agreement with hip-hop producer Rajvir Singh (30KEY!) for his future work. The moves extend Reservoir’s push into India’s regional music market, spanning both established devotional catalogues and emerging urban artists, while…
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Moment Zombie knife importer laughs and clutches huge wad of cash after selling weapons to schoolchildren online
A 20-year-old man from Brixton, south London, has admitted a string of offences after being caught running a criminal network that imported banned “zombie” knives and other weapons in bulk from overseas and sold them on, including to a schoolboy. Jonathan Soares filmed himself flaunting large amounts of cash while wearing a balaclava, footage released…
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Discovery of five baby orangutans in Indian forest sparks trafficking investigation
Five baby orangutans were discovered abandoned in a forest in Odisha, eastern India, thousands of kilometres from their native habitats in Borneo and Sumatra, prompting an investigation into whether they were victims of international wildlife trafficking. The find is significant because orangutans are critically endangered and protected under both global and Indian law, and the…
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China holds strategic advantage over UK power infrastructure, former MI6 chief warns
Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, has warned MPs and peers that China could bring the UK to a “complete standstill” by exploiting Britain’s growing dependence on Chinese steel and technology used in the power grid. Speaking in Parliament, he said such dependencies give Beijing “strategic leverage” in peacetime and “weapons of mass…
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Europe will go it alone on Venus mission after NASA yanks radar instrument
The European Space Agency is pressing ahead alone on its Envision mission to Venus after NASA signalled it likely cannot deliver a US-built radar instrument it had promised, due to budget pressures from the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to NASA science funding. Envision will map the Venusian surface at ten times the resolution of NASA’s…
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India’s Pocket FM doubles revenue run rate to $500M as AI powers 93% of audio content
Pocket FM, an Indian audio storytelling platform, has doubled its annualised revenue run rate to $500 million (£394 million) over the past year, driven largely by its expanding use of artificial intelligence in content production. AI now powers 93% of the platform’s overall catalogue and generates 99% of new content, according to co-founder and chief…
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Google signs its biggest rice-methane carbon credit deal with Indian startup Mitti Labs
Google has struck its largest publicly announced carbon credit deal for rice-methane reduction, agreeing to buy 1 million credits through 2030 from Indian climate-tech startup Mitti Labs. The four-year agreement covers rice farms across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, reaching around 100,000 hectares at peak delivery, and comes as Google grapples with meeting its 2030…
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Banker who accuses Ferrari of brake failure cover up after he ran over and killed security guard can’t sue for millions in UK, judge rules
A former Deutsche Bank equities boss, Robert Ebert, has lost a High Court bid to sue Ferrari in England after alleging the carmaker covered up a brake defect that led to him fatally running over a security guard in Hong Kong in 2015. Ebert, who was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and served…
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‘Significant casualties’ after fire on cargo ship in eastern China
A fire aboard a foreign-flagged cargo ship docked at a shipyard in Qingdao, eastern China, killed 25 people, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. The vessel was undergoing maintenance when the blaze broke out, prompting President Xi Jinping to call for “all-out” search and rescue efforts and Premier Li Qiang to urge the rescue of those…
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Kim Jong Un may have a secret SON, South Korean spies believe
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) has said it believes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may have a secret son, though it stressed that even if he exists, he is not currently positioned to succeed his father. The agency reaffirmed that Kim’s daughter, believed to be around 13 and named Kim Ju Ae, remains…