Students shelter in libraries as heatwave hits eastern China
The heatwave has piled pressure onto China's power grid.
BEIJING - Universities in eastern China scrambled to upgrade their dorms with air conditioning, and one let students sleep in cooler libraries, after near record temperatures raised concerns about the health of students and staff.
One student at Qingdao University in Shandong suffered from heat stroke, and the school would upgrade its student accommodation over the summer break, Jimu News, an arm of state-run Hubei Daily, reported.
One member of staff there died on the morning of July 5 after showing signs of 'physical distress', the university added without saying whether that was linked to the heatwave.
The staff member was a dormitory supervisor, Jimu News said.
A total of 28 locations across central Henan and eastern Shandong provinces issued their most severe alerts for extreme heat on July 7.
Parts of the coastal city of Qingdao saw temperatures soar to 40.5 deg C over the weekend, just 0.5 deg C below the highest recorded there since records began in 1961, according to the official Qingdao Daily.
Qingdao University, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters, was one of at least six colleges to announce plans to upgrade student accommodation in recent days.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Singapore Eligible S'poreans to get up to $850 in GSTV cash, up to $450 in MediSave top-ups in August
Singapore Four golf courses to close by 2035, leaving Singapore with 12 courses
Singapore Fewer marriages in Singapore in 2024; greater marital stability for recent unions
Singapore Construction starts on Cross Island Line Phase 2; 6 MRT stations in S'pore's west ready by 2032
Singapore Shell heist: Second mastermind gets more than 25 years' jail for siphoning $100m of fuel
Asia 72-year-old man on diving trip to Pulau Tioman in Malaysia found dead on the beach
Singapore Jail for ex-auxiliary police officer who loaded one bullet and accidentally discharged revolver
Singapore $1.46b nickel scam: Ng Yu Zhi opts to remain silent after judge calls for his defence
Yantai Nanshan University, also in Shandong, said on July 7 it would let students stay overnight in libraries as it prepared to work on the student halls.
Video footage posted by Jimu News showed scores of students sitting on the floor in air-conditioned supermarkets to escape the heat.
The heatwave has piled pressure onto China's power grid.
The national electricity load surged to a record 1.47 billion kilowatts on July 4 as demand for air conditioning spiked, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The announcements will fuel concerns over Chinese institutions' preparedness for extreme weather events, which scientists say are exacerbated by global warming.
In 2022, China was hit by the worst heatwaves since 1961, with many parts enduring a 79-day hot spell from mid-June to late August.
According a 2023 report published in the medical journal The Lancet, there were about 50,900 heatwave-related deaths in China that year.
No official death toll was disclosed at the time. China does not provide regular tallies of heat-related deaths. REUTERS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Chinese state-sponsored contract hacker arrested in Italy at US request, DOJ says
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: The seal of the U.S. Justice Department is seen on the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File photo WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday a Chinese state-sponsored contract hacker was arrested last week in Italy at the request of Washington, but the arrested man claimed he is a victim of mistaken identity. Xu Zewei, 33, was arrested on July 3, the Justice Department said, adding a nine-count indictment was unsealed on Tuesday in the Southern District of Texas alleging the involvement of that individual and a co-defendant in computer intrusions between February 2020 and June 2021. Xu was arrested in Milan, Italy, and will face extradition proceedings, the DOJ said in a statement. It alleged China's ministry of state security had directed theft of COVID-19 research and the exploitation of Microsoft email software vulnerabilities. The Chinese government has denied allegations of being involved. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Xu's lawyer said on Tuesday that he is a victim of mistaken identity, that his surname is quite common in China and that his mobile phone had been stolen in 2020. The 33-year-old IT manager at a Shanghai company appeared on Tuesday before an appeals court in Milan, which will decide whether to send him to the United States. The man was arrested last week after he arrived at Milan's Malpensa airport for a holiday in Italy with his wife. U.S. authorities allege that he was part of a team of hackers who tried to access a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Texas in 2020. The DOJ also says that in 2021, he was part of a cyber-espionage group known as Hafnium, which has alleged ties to the Chinese government and which "exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in U.S. systems to steal additional research." Hafnium targeted over 60,000 U.S. entities, according to the DOJ. The charges listed on the arrest warrant were wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and unauthorised access to protected computers. REUTERS
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Four crew dead, at least two wounded in latest Red Sea attack on Greek ship
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox LONDON/ATHENS - Four seafarers on the Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C were killed in a drone and speedboat attack off Yemen, an official with knowledge of the issue said on Tuesday, the second incident in a day after months of calm. The Red Sea, which passes Yemen's coast, has long been a critical waterway for the world's oil and commodities but traffic has dropped since the Iran-aligned Houthi militia began targeting ships in November 2023 in what they said was solidarity with Palestinians against Israel in the Gaza war. The deaths on the Eternity C, the first involving shipping in the Red Sea since June 2024, bring the total number of seafarers killed in attacks on vessels plying the Red Sea to eight. The vessel's operator, Cosmoship Management, was not immediately available to comment on the reported fatalities. A source with knowledge of the matter said that one more injured crew member had died on board following the attack. An official with Aspides, the European Union's mission assigned to help protect Red Sea shipping, also said that at least two other crew members were injured. Liberia's shipping delegation had told a United Nations meeting earlier that two crew members had been killed. Eternity C, with 22 crew members - 21 Filipinos and one Russian - on board, was attacked with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from manned speed boats, maritime security sources told Reuters. The ship was now adrift and listing, the sources said. According to sources, Greece was in diplomatic talks with Saudi Arabia over the incident. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDP celebrations to be held at 5 heartland sites, including Bishan and Punggol, on Aug 10 Singapore Keep citizens at the centre of public service, Chan Chun Sing tells civil servants Singapore Man arrested for allegedly throwing bottle at SMRT bus, injuring passenger Asia As Trump plays tariffs hard ball, Asean has little choice but to play on Asia PM Anwar called out by his own lawmakers as Malaysia's judicial crisis heats up Singapore SIA flight from Brisbane to Singapore diverted to Perth due to technical issue Sport Speeding likely cause of Diogo Jota car crash: Police Business Great Eastern could resume trading after delisting vote fails to pass; OCBC's exit offer lapses Hours before the latest attack, the Houthis had claimed responsibility for a strike on another Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier, the MV Magic Seas, off southwest Yemen on Sunday, saying the vessel sank. The vessel's manager said the information about the sinking could not be verified. All crew on the Magic Seas were rescued by a passing merchant vessel and arrived safely in Djibouti on Monday, Djibouti authorities said. The Houthis have not commented on the Eternity C. "Just as Liberia was processing the shock and grief of the attack against Magic Seas, we received a report that Eternity C again has been attacked, attacked horribly and causing the death of two seafarers," Liberia's delegation told a session of the International Maritime Organization. Since November 2023, the Houthis have disrupted commerce by launching hundreds of drones and missiles at vessels in the Red Sea, saying they were targeting ships linked to Israel. While the Houthis reached a ceasefire with the United States in May, the militia has reiterated that they will keep attacking ships it says are connected with Israel. "After several months of calm, the resumption of deplorable attacks in the Red Sea constitutes a renewed violation of international law and freedom of navigation," IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said on Tuesday. "Innocent seafarers and local populations are the main victims of these attacks and the pollution they cause." 'ELEVATED RISKS' Both the Eternity C and Magic Seas were part of commercial fleets whose sister vessels have made calls to Israeli ports over the past year. "The pause in Houthi activity did not necessarily indicate a change in underlying intent. As long as the conflict in Gaza persists, vessels with affiliations, both perceived and actual, will continue to face elevated risks," said Ellie Shafik, head of intelligence with the Britain-based maritime risk management company Vanguard Tech. Filipino seafarers - who form one of the world's largest pools of merchant mariners - have been urged to exercise their right to refuse to sail in "high-risk, war-like" areas, including the Red Sea after the latest strikes, the Philippines' Department of Migrant Workers said on Tuesday. Shipping traffic through the region has declined by around 50% from normal levels since the first Houthi attacks in 2023, according to Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer with shipping association BIMCO. "This reduction in traffic has persisted due to the ongoing unpredictability of the security situation. As such, BIMCO does not anticipate the recent attacks will significantly alter current shipping patterns," Larsen said. Monday's attack on Eternity C, 50 nautical miles southwest of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, was the second on merchant vessels in the region since November 2024, according to an official at Aspides. REUTERS
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of women
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: An Afghan woman walks among Taliban soldiers at a checkpoint in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Ali Khara/File Photo THE HAGUE - The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders in Afghanistan including supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of the persecution of women and girls. The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, chief justice of the Taliban, had committed the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds against girls, women and other persons non-conforming with the Taliban's policy on gender, gender identity or expression. Since the Islamist Taliban returned to power in 2021 it has clamped down on women's rights, including limits to schooling, work and general independence in daily life. The Taliban condemned the warrants as an example of hostility towards Islam. "We neither recognise anything by the name of an international court nor do we consider ourselves bound by it," the Taliban government's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, added in a statement. It is the first time judges of the ICC have issued a warrant on charges of gender persecution. "While the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms," the court said. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDP celebrations to be held at 5 heartland sites, including Bishan and Punggol, on Aug 10 Singapore Keep citizens at the centre of public service, Chan Chun Sing tells civil servants Singapore Man arrested for allegedly throwing bottle at SMRT bus, injuring passenger Asia As Trump plays tariffs hard ball, Asean has little choice but to play on Asia PM Anwar called out by his own lawmakers as Malaysia's judicial crisis heats up Singapore SIA flight from Brisbane to Singapore diverted to Perth due to technical issue Sport Speeding likely cause of Diogo Jota car crash: Police Business Great Eastern could resume trading after delisting vote fails to pass; OCBC's exit offer lapses The full warrants and details on the specific incidents they are based on remain under seal to protect witnesses and victims, the court said. NGOs hailed the warrants and called on the international community to back the ICC's work. "The international community should fully back the ICC in its critical work in Afghanistan and globally, including through concerted efforts to enforce the court's warrants," Human Rights Watch International Justice director Liz Evenson, said in a statement. The ICC has been under increased criticism from non-member states such as the United States, Israel and Russia. Last year the court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict. The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023 on suspicion of deporting children from Ukraine. Neither Russia nor Israel is a member of the court and both deny the accusations and reject ICC jurisdiction. Last month the United States imposed sanctions on four ICC judges including two who were involved in a ruling that allowed prosecutors to open a formal investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, including alleged crimes committed by American troops. The ICC said it was an attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution that provides hope and justice to millions of victims. REUTERS
