🍵 90% of this company's workers are millionaires

In case you missed it:

• Japan and China got gold and silver in men’s team gymnastics and Asher Hong won bronze with Team USA.

• Yuto Horigome (Japan) wins gold and Nyjah Huston (USA) wins bronze in men’s street skateboarding

• China wins gold in men’s synchronized 10m platform diving

Olympics

Racist comments hit Instagram video of U.S. badminton players at Paris Olympics

An Instagram reel featuring two of Team USA’s badminton players at the Paris Olympics has received multiple racist comments. Vinson Chiu, one of the badminton athletes shown in the video, was subsequently forced to address them, calling them “ignorant” and explaining “yes my face is Asian but I was born and raised in Newport Beach, CA.”

What they said: The video posted by NBC Sports shows a highlight from Chiu and teammate Jennie Gai’s Mixed Doubles match against Malaysia’s Tang Jie Chen and Ee Wei Toh on Sunday. Some of the problematic comments state: “Chinese being everywhere,” “Don’t look American to me” and “Team USA lookin hella Chinese.” Still, others suggested that badminton is “not a sport.”

Reactions: Aside from Chiu himself, other users criticized the racist remarks in the same comment section. “The Sinophobia here is utterly ridiculous,” one wrote in part.  One also commented, “The racist comments are infuriating, and people acting shocked at how intense badminton is, like they can’t believe how fast this so-called ‘backyard’ sport is, just shows why USA can’t compete with other countries.”

Olympics

IOC “sincerely” apologizes for misidentifying South Korean athletes as North Korean

The International Olympic Committee apologized over the weekend after mistakenly introducing South Korean athletes as North Korean at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday. As the South Korean delegation of 143 athletes floated down the Seine River, they were misidentified in both French and English as representatives of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — the official name of North Korea — causing significant embarrassment and dismay. In a call with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, IOC President Thomas Bach “apologized sincerely” and assured steps to prevent similar errors in the future.

Tech

This tech entrepreneur turned almost 90% of his 1st company’s workers into millionaires

Jay Chaudhry, the 65-year-old Indian American CEO of cybersecurity firm Zscaler, recalled how he helped turn his former employees into millionaires after selling his first company, SecureIT, to VeriSign in an all-stock deal worth $70 million in 1998. Chaudhry and his wife, Jyoti, started the company using their life savings of approximately $500,000.

Instant millionaires: Chaudhry told CNBC Make It that over 70 out of his 80 employees became millionaires "on paper" when VeriSign's stock soared by over 2,300% between 1998 and February 2000, reaching a high of $253 per share. “People were going crazy in the company, because they had never thought of so much money. A lot of them were buying new houses. They were buying new cars. I know one guy, he took six months off, rented a [mobile home] and went around the country. They could do what they wanted to do,” he said.

What happened next: Although the share value dropped to just under $4 in 2002, the employees' patience seemingly paid off when VeriSign's stock rose again to $254 in January 2021. Chaudhry, who moved from India to the U.S. in 1980 to pursue engineering, told CNBC Make It that he is unaware of when his employees cashed in their shares. “I went home that night and looked at the spreadsheet of all the [stock] options they had, and I multiplied by the stock price of VeriSign. That’s when I realized that the math was about 70 or 80 millionaires, with stock options. It was impressive,” he said.

Crime

Father of San Gabriel teen who went missing arrested

Jeffrey Chao, the father of 15-year-old Alison Jillian Chao, was arrested on suspicion of child abduction, conspiracy and falsifying a police report after his daughter went missing on July 16 in Monterey Park, California. Alison was reportedly on her way on a bicycle to her aunt’s house in San Gabriel, less than four miles from her home, but never arrived. She was spotted by a Glendale resident as she was on her way to ABC7 studios on July 23. 

Ongoing investigation: Monterey Park police highlighted the importance of their efforts and inter-agency collaboration in ensuring Alison's safety, noting that the investigation is ongoing. Her parents are in the midst of a contentious divorce and custody battle, with the teen’s mother, Annie, recently awarded full custody. It was revealed that Alison’s mother had filed for a restraining order against Jeffrey the day before Alison went missing, and full custody was awarded to her the following day. A day before Alison’s disappearance, a video recorded by Alison herself surfaced online in which she refused to go with the police to a “facility” at the command of her mother, claiming that she does not feel safe with her mom. 

Annie’s claims: Annie accused Jeffrey of driving a wedge between her and Alison, claiming he “coached Alison to make false accusations against [her] and he continues to thwart and undermine [her] relationship with Alison.” Jeffrey and his sister previously held a press conference when Alison was found to thank the public for their support, with the aunt suggesting Alison ran away to avoid being with her mother.

Crime

Asian woman punched by another woman in NYC subway hate crime

A woman is accused of punching an Asian woman on a Manhattan subway on July 17 in what is being investigated as a hate crime by the New York Police Department. 

What happened: The incident occurred on a northbound Q train at the West 57th Street and 7th Avenue station at around 8 p.m. The suspect allegedly argued with the victim, made anti-Asian remarks and then punched her in the face before fleeing. It is unclear whether the victim suffered any injuries. 

Investigation: The suspect is described as a woman in her 30s, around 5’5″ tall, with long, wavy black hair. She was last seen wearing a brown tan short dress, multi-color sneakers, a white hat and carrying a black bag. The NYPD are urging anyone with information regarding this case to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip via crimestoppers.nypdonline.org. 

News

Lana Condor pens emotional letter to mother days after her death

“To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” star Lana Condor shared a heartfelt, emotional letter dedicated to her mother, Mary Condor, who died “a few days” ago. Condor, 27, shared the letter in an Instagram post on Sunday along with a picture of her as a child with her mother.

The lessons: “I’m laying here thinking about everything I want to say to you, how to put into words the sheer devastation of losing you and how it has carved me out and left me lost,” Condor wrote, adding the lessons her mother taught her, including how to “love the world and others as if there was no such thing as hate” and “empathy, in a world that needs much more of it.”

Endless love: Condor, who was adopted by her mother and father, Bob, along with her brother Arthur, from an orphanage in Vietnam when she was 4 months old, continued, “I miss you with my whole soul. I used to say ‘I love you more than you could possibly ever know,’ I hope now, wherever you are, that you know. You found me first, and I pray with everything that I am, that you’ll find me again. I love you endlessly.”

Featured Post

Oscar-nominated, Taiwanese-American film director Sean Wang and lead actor Izaac Wang sat down with NextShark to discuss their new film, 'Dìdi (弟弟)' a heartwarming story about a boy learning important life lessons as a 13-year-old in 2008.

Final Bites

Asian students sue California massage school over alleged discrimination: Six Asian students are suing the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) for allegedly denying them certification based on their English language skills. Among them, Qian Zhang, who spent $6,000 and completed over 500 hours of training, was rejected after an informal phone interview, reported the Sacramento Bee. The suit claims that CAMTC’s actions are discriminatory, targeting Chinese and Thai students and using language proficiency as a barrier. The students claim to have faced both professional and personal hardships due to the certification denials. CAMTC, for its part, reportedly slammed the allegations as “false and completely without merit.”

Lawmakers from around the world allege pressure to skip Taiwan conference: Lawmakers from at least six countries reported Chinese diplomats pressuring them not to attend a China-focused conference in Taiwan, aiming to isolate the self-governed island. Politicians from Bolivia, Colombia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and an unnamed Asian country told the Associated Press they received conflicting texts and calls, with Sanela Klarić from Bosnia even reporting that Chinese diplomats contacted her party leader to prevent her from traveling. The conference will be held by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of lawmakers from 35 countries, beginning Monday in Taipei and includes participants from 25 countries like Japan, India and the U.K. 

J.D. Vance acknowledges racist attacks on Indian American wife: Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance has acknowledged the “white supremacist” attacks against his wife, Usha Vance. “Obviously, she’s not a white person, and we’ve been accused, attacked by some white supremacists over that. But I just, I love Usha,” he told Megyn Kelly on her show on Friday. Usha, the daughter of Indian immigrants, has been on the receiving end of racist comments since Trump announced her husband as his running mate at the Republican National Convention earlier this month. While Vance has acknowledged the racist attacks, he has not publicly condemned them.