About 10,000 people were camped near the remote Amarnath temple, nestled in a Himalayan mountain cave, when a sudden cloudburst triggered a deluge. Soldiers in Baltal Base Camp in Indian-administered Kashmir yesterday carry a person recovered after a flash flood swept away hundreds of tents near a popular Hindu pilgrimage site. Photo: AFP“We found 16 bodies so far and at least 40 are missing,” an official from the state disaster response agency said. The annual pilgrimage sees hundreds of thousands of people trek up for days through rugged mountain passes to reach the shrine. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several senior government officials expressed their grief over the loss of lives.

Exports gain for 24th month in a rowHEADWINDS: The Ministry of Finance expects the uptrend in exports to be muted given a high base last year and softening demand due to surging global inflationBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterExports last month surged 15.2 percent year-on-year to US$42.2 billion, the second highest on record and 24th straight month of gains, as global demand for electronics remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s largest chipmaker, posted its second-highest revenue of NT$175.8 billion (US$5.9 billion). That was despite exports to China, Taiwan’s largest trading partner, tumbling 15.8 percent to NS$941.6 billion, Tsai said. For the second quarter, exports picked up 15.4 percent to US$125.75 billion, largely in line with the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics’ forecast, data showed. For the first six months of the year, exports gained 19.2 percent to US$246.68 billion, while imports climbed 24.8 percent to US$218.97 billion, it said.

The TAIEX joined other Asian stocks falling in afternoon trading after Abe’s assassination erased gains made earlier yesterday, the exchanges’ data showed. Photo: Chien Li-chung, Taipei TimesTurnover on the TAIEX was NT$257.3 billion (US$8.64 billion), as foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$3.93 billion of local shares, the third-largest this week, TWSE data showed. SinoPac Securities Investment Service Corp (永豐投顧) said in a research note that it expects the TAIEX to rebound gradually after tumbling 18 percent over the past five months. Local institutional investors have a higher confidence in the local market than foreign investors, PGIM said, citing their net purchases of local shares for three weeks in a row. They bought a net NT$10.3 billion of local shares this week, the second highest in a single week this year, it said.

Last month’s revenue was up 59 percent from a year earlier and 3.4 percent higher than a month earlier, the company said. Evergreen said it plans to receive four new vessels with 24,000 TEUs each by the end of this year. However, falling freight rates lowered its annual revenue growth in the second quarter after the previous quarter’s 92 percent increase. Average freight rates for small and medium-sized vessels slid in the second quarter, as the war in Ukraine disrupted supplies of grains and raw materials. The recovery being slower than expected in China’s manufacturing activities also weighed on freight rates, it added.

Apple plans extreme sports watch with larger screen and metal casingBloombergApple Inc plans its largest smartwatch display to date, with a bigger battery and a rugged metal casing, as part of the upcoming Apple Watch geared toward extreme sports athletes, people with knowledge of the plans said. The rugged version of the Apple Watch is to feature a screen that measures about 5cm diagonally, while a new Apple Watch Series 8 is to retain the 4.8cm diagonal screen size of Series 7. A planned update to the low-end Apple Watch SE is also to retain its screen size. A person tries on an Apple Watch at one of the company’s stores in Sydney on March 18. First released in 2015, the Apple Watch has become a key piece of the company’s hardware lineup.

NATO creates new space for TaiwanBy Joseph Tse-hei Lee 李榭熙The Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as tensions in the Taiwan Strait, dominated the agenda of last week’s NATO summit in Madrid. As NATO has the Indo-Pacific region in its radar, it is paying closer attention to Taiwan’s security needs. In reality, many Indo-Pacific states are craving the attention of great powers, and the benefits and resources that might come from such interactions. Because the Indo-Pacific region is far away from launching its singular security framework like NATO, Taiwan should pursue a wide range of bilateral defense initiatives. While working with the US and NATO to improve its national defense capability, Taiwan could still partner with other Indo-Pacific powers to consolidate its sovereign status and global recognition.

Chunghwa Express staff launch strike over wagesBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterChunghwa Express Co employees yesterday began a nationwide strike after failing to secure a raise following two years of negotiations with the company’s management. The first group of workers to strike were from the company’s offices in Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City and Yilan County, the Chunghwa Express Workers’ Union said. The delivery firm, which is a subsidiary of state-run Chunghwa Post, receives most of its revenue from delivering checks and other paperwork for local financial institutions. Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times“Because of the strike, our clients must deliver the paperwork themselves,” Chunghwa Express chairman Huang Cheng-chung (黃振忠). Profits generated by Chunghwa Express should not be used to feed the “fat cats,” retired management from Chunghwa Post who have stakes in the delivery firm, it said.

EDITORIAL: Tech must be made to pay for newsIn a research report published earlier this year, a National Taiwan University academic issued a “wake-up call” about the state of the news media’s dwindling revenues. By contrast, 2020 saw NT$48.26 billion of online media ad volume, creating what Lin called an “avalanche of losses” for newspapers. News remuneration legislation is favored by many governments, starting with the European Copyright Directive passed by the EU in 2019, requiring platforms to pay publishers for content aggregated on their sites. Google especially has complied with the rules wherever necessary, signing deals with hundreds of media companies to pay for rights to display their news content. It is only fair that tech giants share their spoils, which hopefully would be the first step toward reinvigorating a stagnant industry.

FootballRonaldo wants to escape from Manchester UnitedCristiano Ronaldo wants to leave Manchester United this summer if the English Premier League club receives the appropriate offer, reports said Saturday. United finished 6th in the league, missed the UEFA Champions League qualification and won the Ballon d’Or five times. This Ballon d’Or has a contract period and one year of options left and may play in the Europa League. Manchester United categorically claims that Ronaldo has not been put up for sale. England struggled on the second day of the rain in the series decision test at Edgbaston, England.

In group interactions, children with better memory also have greater social skills. From the researchers’ findings, preschool children with better memory do have an advantage. The teacher suspected that he was a “slow student.”Teachers might often categorize students with poor memory as slow learners. Especially given the low birthrate today, when all children are precious to their parents, teachers have an even greater responsibility. The classroom must be a friendly learning environment, not “killing fields” for students thought to be “slow.” This is the classroom management ability teachers must possess.

US President Joe Biden last month signed into law the Ocean Shipping Reform Act as part of efforts to fight inflation. The PC sector has performed brilliantly since the outbreak of COVID-19 due to work-from-home and remote-learning trends. The PC sector’s decline has affected supply chains, including the flat-panel display, power IC and PC hardware segments. They have also been paying attention to actions taken by central banks to address rising food and energy prices. The current market correction is of course worth great attention, but for investors, the underlying macro challenges and cyclical changes facing local industries and enterprises are even more of an issue worthy of pondering.

Tellez hits his fifth home run in five gamesAP, PITTSBURGH, PennsylvaniaRowdy Tellez on Friday homered for the fifth time in five games, and drove in five runs, while Corbin Burnes took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning as the Milwaukee Brewers routed the Pittsburgh Pirates 19-2. Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rowdy Tellez hits a three-run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during their MLB game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Friday. Tellez also had a two-run double in the fourth to push the Brewers’ lead to 9-0. The ball hit the top of the fence, bounced off a railing and back onto the field. “I got tagged out at second base by Javy Baez” on home run No.

India’s women water warriors transform parched landsA volunteer network of around 1,000 women are working across Bundelkhand to rehabilitate and revive disappeared water sourcesBy Jalees ANDRABI / AFP, CHHATARPUR, IndiaAs the monsoon storms bear down on India, a dedicated group of women hope that after years of backbreaking labor, water shortages will no longer leave their village high and dry. Women on June 9 collect water from a well in Agrotha village, in Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh. “All our wells have dried up.”Three years ago, Rajput joined Jal Saheli (“Friends of Water”), a volunteer network of around 1,000 women working across Bundelkhand to rehabilitate and revive disappeared water sources. Rajput said their work had helped them retain monsoon rainwater for longer and revive half a dozen water bodies around their village. Photo: AFPThough not yet self-sufficient, Agrotha’s residents are no longer among the roughly 600 million Indians that a government think-tank says face acute water shortages daily.

Driven by sustained growth in aquaculture, global fisheries and aquatic farming together hauled in 214 million tonnes, the UN agency said in a report. The total first-sale value of 2020 production topped US$400 million, with US$265 million coming from aquaculture, a sector poised for further expansion. “The growth of fisheries and aquaculture is vital in our efforts to end global hunger and malnutrition,” said FAO director Qu Dongyu. Production of aquatic animals in 2020 — totaling 178 million tonnes — was evenly divided between fisheries and aquaculture, according to the FAO report. Asian countries were the source of 70 percent of the world’s fisheries and aquaculture of aquatic animals in 2020.

For the first stage, it has identified 19 plastic items that are not very useful, but have a high potential to become litter, making it illegal to produce, import, stock, distribute or sell them. A man carries flowers and vegetables in plastic bags at a market in Kolkata, India, yesterday. Photo: AFPSome disposable plastic bags would also be phased out and replaced with thicker ones. Thousands of other plastic products — such as bottles for water or soda or bags for snacks — are not covered by the ban. In 2020, more than 4.1 million tonnes of plastic waste was generated in India, data from the nation’s federal pollution watchdog said.