Teacher receives SMS threat over grades
Beijing: A teacher at a university in China received an SMS from a student who threatened dire consequences if better grades were not awarded him.
The teacher from Nanjing city in Jiangsu province received the SMS message July 17, cursing her family to death for giving a student a low grade.
Thereafter, Yang received three more text messages demanding she enhance the scores or face retaliation, the China Daily cited China Youth Daily as reporting.
The message mentioned the teacher’s son and warned: “I will put you in pain.”
Tracking the phone number led to a student who had been given a low grade.
The teacher then reported the matter to police.
The student later sent a text message to apologise for his behaviour and claimed he acted on impulse as he felt the grade was unfair. (IANS)
China to track online gamers for addiction
Beijing: China will soon launch a nationwide anti-addiction drive to track down 300 million players of online games to prevent them from becoming addicted to the digital entertainment.
Starting in October, online game firms must send details of players’ identities to police, the Shanghai Daily reported.
The game industry regulator – the General Administration of Press and Publication – is one of eight departments which will regulate the system, along with the ministry of industry and information technology and the ministry of public security.
Around 300 million online game players in China would be required to register their identities before playing, it said.
The latest move is designed to detect players who get round the requirement by using false identity information.
When the system is installed, teenaged players will get only half the game experience points after three hours of consecutive play and lose points if they play for five hours.
Addiction to online games – especially of young students – is a major concern for teachers and parents who say it affects their health and interferes with their studies.
On the other hand, the online game industry is important for China with annual revenue of more than 30 billion yuan (around $4.6 billion). (IANS)
20 million year old ape skull found in Uganda
Kampala: A 20 million years old ape skull has been discovered in northeastern Uganda, an official said here Tuesday.
Fred Opolot, executive director of the Uganda Media Center, a government agency, described the discovery as “huge”.
A team of scientists from Uganda and France discovered the skull of the ape in the middle of last month, reported Xinhua.
The discovery was at Napak XV, a fossil site near Iriri in Karamoja region. (IANS)
Crashed UFO found on seabed?
London: Sonar scans looking for a century-old wreck of a Swedish merchant ship have revealed a grainy outline of a saucer shape against the dirt in the Gulf of Bothnia — hinting of a crashed UFO on the ocean floor.
The mysterious shape found at a depth of roughly 100 metres, between Sweden and Finland, makes scientists certain about one thing — that our planet has been visited by extraterrestrials.
The ocean exploration team which found it suggests that the mud around the craft has been scarred, suggesting it has tried to move around, the Daily Mail reports.
Swedish explorer Peter Lindberg was looking for remains of sunken Swedish ships laden with cargo such as wines and champagne when he chanced upon the UFO.
Some have even suggested it resembles the Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars series, with its distinctive front forks and round shape.
Lindberg said it was large and about 60 feet across and clearly visible. “You see a lot of weird stuff in this job, but during my 18 years as a professional I have never seen anything like this,” he said. (IANS)
Two Malaysian girls held for kissing!
Kuala Lumpur: Two teenage Muslim girls have been arrested by Malaysian Islamic officials for hugging and kissing each other publicly in Tawau town in the state of Sabah.
The girls aged 16 and 17 were detained during an integrated operation by the Sabah Islamic Religious Affairs Department together with the Tawau Municipal Council on Tuesday, news reports said.
The department’s officer Abdul Imam Basiron said the two girls faced charges under the Islamic Shariah Criminal Offences Enactment that carries a maximum fine of RM 1,000 (15,000 rupees) or jail of up to six months or both upon conviction.
Abdul Imam said during the operation they also detained three Muslim men aged between 20 and 60 for gambling. They were caught buying 4D lottery tickets. Malays Muslims are not allowed to drink liquor and gamble. However, ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians who are the other components of the 27 million population can buy lottery tickets and liquor. (PTI)
Chinese city bans pet dogs
Beijing: In a move to control increasing incidents of rabies, a city in China has banned raising of pet dogs and ordered the owners to get rid of their canines by August 10, sending shock waves among pet lovers.
Dog owners living in downtown Jiangmen in Guandong Province have been asked to move their pets out of the city failing which the canines will be forcefully seized, state-run Global Times reported today.
The new rule bans dogs from downtown Pengjiang, Jianghai and Xinhui districts, with exceptions for those kept for special purposes. Dog owners without a permit must decide what to do with their pets by August 10. After that, government workers will contact those who refuse to comply with the rule in a two-week campaign.
Starting August 26, any dogs seen in the restricted area will either be seized or killed, the order said. The new rule is likely to affect more than 30,000 dogs in the city of four million people. The Jiangmen government says 42 people were killed due to rabies during the last three years but pet owners argue that it was unfair to snatch their pets for the mistakes by few. According to statistics, from the Ministry of Health, rabies was the third deadliest infectious disease in 2010 after AIDS and tuberculosis.
While the local government defended the move saying it was aimed at preventing and controlling rabies, maintain public order and sanitation, and create a sound environment for the people, the news front-paged in Global Times sent shock wave across the country as more and more Chinese adopted dogs in recent years to overcome loneliness.
With their only child either away for studies or for work, Chinese people took to dogs in a big way so much so that hundreds of dog lovers waylaid a lorry carrying dogs to slaughter house outside Beijing and got them released after making sizable payment.
With their popularity on the high, the prices for pet dogs have gone up leaps and bounds as one dog owner bought a famous Tibetan Mastiff for USD 4.5 lakh last year. (PTI)