The billionaire founder of China’s top internet search engine has declared he will fight fiercely and “win again” should Alphabet's Google decide to return to the world’s largest internet arena.
Baidu chief executive Robin Li, responding for the first time to reports the US search titan is plotting a return to a market it largely pulled out of in 2010, said on social media he’s confident of eliminating Google if needed. Mr Li’s post, to friends via his personal WeChat account, comes as Baidu’s shares have slid about 6 per cent since the Intercept reported Google was designing a censored search engine to deploy in China within a year.
“If Google decides to return to China, we are very confident that we will PK once again and win again," he said, using a gaming term that’s come to mean to compete against. “In 2010, when Google withdrew from China, its market share was declining and Baidu’s market share had exceeded 70 per cent.”
Google is looking at ways to re-enter China, home to the biggest pool of internet users, through a search app that complies with Chinese censorship as well as partnerships with local companies, people familiar with the matter have said.
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After withdrawing, most of its services were blocked in the country. News of a potential return have been met with resistance from employees and criticism from human rights advocates and policymakers.
Mr Li also referenced a commentary by the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, which welcomed Google's return as long as it abided by local rules and regulations on censorship. Chinese tech giants are constantly censored with posts deemed harmful to social order quickly erased from public view.
But Mr Li argued China’s market had gone through “earth-shaking changes” since Google’s departure, adding that Chinese technology companies were now leaders in solving new problems.
“The world is copying from China,” he posted. “This is something every company wanting to enter the China market must carefully consider and face.”
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Match info
Wolves 0
Arsenal 2 (Saka 43', Lacazette 85')
Man of the match: Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal)
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
