World’s largest Buddha statue to undergo ‘physical examination’
Beijing: The world’s largest Buddha statue in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province will undergo a four-month “physical examination” as part of research for its repair plan. The statue, at 71 metres high, sits outside the city of Leshan. It has cracks and damage on its chest and abdomen, according to the management committee of the Leishan Buddha scenic area. During the examination, which will start on October 8, the main body of the Buddha statue will be partially or completely covered, state-run Xinhua news agency reported Monday. The examination will be overseen by dozens of cultural relic experts, involving the use of cutting-edge technology such as 3D laser scanning, infrared thermal imaging and a drone aerial survey. The statue, carved into a cliff in Leshan Mountain and overlooking three converging rivers, was built over a 90-year period starting the year 713, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)-listed world cultural heritage statue has undergone several repairs and checks. In 2001, a project was conducted to clean the body, cement rock structure, and mend cracks and install drainage pipes, at a spending of 250 million yuan (about USD 36.87 million). In 2007, the statue received another facelift to repair damage caused by weathering and acid rain. (PTI)
Three killed in rare US car blast
Washington: Autopsies are expected Monday on the bodies of three men killed in a US car blast, a rare event which tight-lipped police called a criminal case. The explosion in Allentown, Pennsylvania late Saturday, turned the car into a fireball and before it was reduced to twisted metal. “It burst into flames while it was still going,” Anthony Sealy, a witness, told WGAL TV. Coroner Scott Grim confirmed three men had been killed, but police said the victims were still being identified. “We have a high degree of confidence that the perpetrator was probably killed in the incident,” Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin told reporters in the community about 40 miles (60 kilometers) north of Philadelphia. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was leading the investigation. (AFP)
UK govt formulating guidelines to curb children’s social media use
London: The British government is drawing up guidelines to limit the number of hours children spend online on social media sites and apps, authorities announced Sunday. UK health secretary Matt Hancock said he has ordered the plans to be drawn up and attacked social media giants such as Facebook for not policing their own rules on users’ age limits. “I am, as a father, very worried about the growing evidence of the impact of social media on children’s mental health. Unrestricted use (of social media) by younger children risks being very damaging to their mental health,” he said. Dame Sally Davies, the UK’s chief medical officer, has been put in charge of drafting guidance on how much social media use should be deemed healthy. “As a parent you want to be able to say ‘The rules say you shouldn’t use social media for more than a certain period of time’. This is why we have a chief medical officer: to set a norm in society, make judgments on behalf of society, so that individual schools or individual parents don’t have to decide,” Hancock told the ‘Observer’ newspaper. The minister suggested that turning phones off before bed would be a “straightforward way of limiting the damage”. Davies will also be asked to give advice on minimum age for the use of social media sites. (PTI)