CHINA
Floods kill dozens
At least 56 people have been killed and 22 are missing as heavy rains slammed the south, flooding rivers and towns, cutting off power and halting traffic, authorities said. As much as 48.6cm of rain has been dumped on several cities since Thursday last week, including the scenic resort city of Guilin in the Guangxi region, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said yesterday. More than 9.5 million people have been affected in some way by the strong rains, the ministry said. Water in major rivers and lakes in Hunan Province has surged to alarming levels and the collapse of levees has forced large-scale evacuations. The airport serving the southwestern hub of Chengdu was shut down for more than one hour on Monday because of rain.
CHINA
Tencent to limit children
All-night gaming marathons are to soon end for some children: Internet giant Tencent yesterday began limiting daily playing times on its smartphone smash hit King of Glory to “ensure children’s healthy development.” Young players are to be restricted to one or two hours on the mobile online multiplayer battle game, which boasts 80 million daily users. Tencent, which ranks first in the world for gaming revenue, said in a statement that King of Glory was “supposed to bring joy ... but excessive gaming brings joy to neither players nor their parents.” About 24 million young people in China are estimated to be Internet addicts. State media in April reported that a 17-year-old gamer in southern Guangdong Province suffered a type of stroke after spending 40 consecutive hours playing King of Glory. Users 12 years of age and younger are now limited to one hour of play a day, and would not be permitted to sign in after 9pm, Tencent said in a statement over the weekend.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the