CHINA
Tencent apologizes for error
Internet giant Tencent has been forced to apologize after its video team reported that a typhoon had wiped out the entire population of Shandong Province, which is home to nearly 100 million people. Typhoon Lekima hit the provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong and Anhui over the weekend, forcing more than 2 million residents to flee. Xinhua news agency said late on Tuesday that at least 49 people were killed with dozens still missing, but Tencent Video sent a news alert to its subscribers on Monday saying the typhoon had “killed nearly everyone” in Shandong. Screenshots of the erroneous message were widely shared on microblogging sites, with many users criticizing the slip. “You have an army of reviewers to erase even the slightest social protest, but you can’t check your own content at a time of a major disaster?” one netizen wrote.
JAPAN
Fishy quake theory debunked
People hoping to predict the next big earthquake should ignore mysterious deep-sea fish after experts said rare sightings of the creatures on the country’s beaches did not, as some had believed, foretell a seismic calamity. University researchers said they had debunked the theory of oarfish as a harbinger of doom by comparing sightings of deep-sea fish, including those caught in fishermen’s nets, with earthquake records going back more than 90 years. “We thought that if we could understand the connection, it would be useful for disaster prevention,” said Yoshiaki Orihara of Tokai University’s Institute of Oceanic Research and Development. However, the experts found no correlation between the sightings and major earthquakes. Their findings were published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.
MALYASIA
‘No foul play’ in teen’s death
A Franco-Irish teen who disappeared from a rainforest resort likely starved and died of internal bleeding, with no immediate sign of foul play, police said yesterday. Nora Quoirin, 15, is thought to have died two to three days after going missing and there was no indication she was abducted or raped, they said. Her naked body was discovered on Tuesday in a ravine in dense jungle following a 10-day hunt involving hundreds of people, helicopters and sniffer dogs. She went missing from the Dusun Resort on Aug. 4, a day after checking in for a holiday with her London-based family. Speaking after a post-mortem examination, Negeri Sembilan state Police Chief Mohamad Mat Yusop told reporters the teen suffered “bleeding in her intestines due to not eating” as well as “extreme stress.” “For the time being, there is no suspicion of foul play,” he said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Arron Banks tweet slammed
Businessman Arron Banks has been criticized after he appeared to wish harm upon Greta Thunberg as the 16-year-old set sail across the Atlantic in a solar-powered yacht on a zero-carbon two-week voyage. The controversial Brexit backer warned the teenager that “freak yachting accidents do happen in August” as he responded to a tweet by Green Party lawmaker Caroline Lucas who said Thunberg was carrying “the vital message to the UN that time is running out to address the climate emergency.” His comments sparked outrage among lawmakers, celebrities and academics, but he defended the remark in a series of late-night tweets on Wednesday in which he accused “lefties” of having no sense of humor.
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number