From Samsung's chip cuts to Super Mario Bros. raking it in at the box office – Here's your April 10 news briefing

To start off, we're looking into:

Samsung's chip cut

The backstory: So, you know how COVID made us stay home and rely on our gadgets more than ever? Well, it turns out that led to a global chip shortage. With everyone purchasing new electronics like personal computers and smartphones, the demand for memory chips skyrocketed. But with the rising cost of living, people are now cutting back on spending, leading to a decreased demand for chips. Now, semiconductor manufacturers are facing the challenge of balancing their inventories with the current demand.

More recently: The world's biggest memory chip maker Samsung has had a challenging quarter, with the tech giant reporting its lowest profit in 14 years. The company's operating profit for the January-March period was just 600 billion won (US$455.5 million), a shocking 96% drop from the first quarter. Plus, its chip division is expected to suffer even more losses.

The development: The company has announced a "meaningful" cut in chip production because there's not much demand for semiconductors lately. This is the first time Samsung's made a public announcement like this. Although it's unknown how much Samsung is reducing its production, analysts believe this decision will help its finances in the short term.

Iran installs cameras to enforce hijab

The backstory: Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, women in the country have been legally required to cover their hair. Iranian authorities see the hijab as "a religious necessity." Women who don't wear the hijab face fines and even arrest.

More recently: In Iran last year, a young woman named Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being taken in by the morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly. Since then, there have been sprawling, ongoing protests against the government across the country. And many women have been refusing to wear hijabs.

The development: On Saturday, Iranian authorities announced a new project, installing cameras in public spaces to find and prosecute unveiled women. These women will be identified and sent warning text messages about consequences, like facing public trials or having their cars impounded. The announcement also requested that business owners keep an eye out for violators of the hijab laws. The police will be able to shut down businesses where workers don't follow the hijab requirements, too.

Saudi Arabia's gaming empire

The backstory: Saudi Arabia's gaming market is on fire, with around 21 million gamers in the country – more than half the population. And it's not just Saudi Arabia. The gaming industry across the Middle East and North Africa is predicted to reach US$2.79 billion by 2026.

More recently: In 2022, Savvy Games Group, owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, rocked the esports industry by spending a whopping US$1.5 billion to acquire tournament organizer ESL and merge it with Faceit. And this year, it has invested US$265 million in Chinese esports company VSPO and a jaw-dropping US$4.9 billion in mobile game maker Scopely. In case you're unfamiliar, esports is a form of professional gaming where players compete in massive tournaments, and fans tune in for live streams.

The development: Saudi Arabia aims to become a big shot in the gaming world, investing a massive 142 billion riyals (US$38 billion) to establish itself as a global esports hub by 2030. In fact, the PIF is already supporting top gaming companies such as Nintendo, Tencent and Activision Blizzard, with its subsidiary, Savvy, leading the charge in building world-class gaming and esports facilities. This move by Saudi Arabia could have a massive impact on the gaming industry and pave the way for a new era of esports dominance in the region.

To end, we'll look into:

Saving Hong Kong’s neon signs

From the 1950s-80s, Hong Kong was all about neon signs. In the 70s, the National Panasonic was one of the world's biggest neon boards, at more than a few stories tall. Movies made by Wong Kar Wai really popularized the idea of Hong Kong as this neon city. The iconography of Hong Kong's neon signs inspired tons of images in pop culture, like the backdrops of films like "Blade Runner" and "Ghost in the Shell."

But the age of neon dimmed in the 90s, as LEDs became more popular – still bright and colorful but also way more energy efficient. Then, in 2013, a law went into effect to remove all unauthorized signboards in Hong Kong, which was the last nail in the coffin. If a sign is unauthorized, the business can take it down and make a new one or apply for retroactive approval. But, these approvals aren't often granted, and the process can be costly and time-consuming. Meanwhile, gentrification and other kinds of development haven't helped the neon cause.

The number of signs still lighting up the city streets has taken a total nosedive. "Ten to 12 years ago, the general figure was around 120,000," says Cardin Chan, an artist who works with neon and the general manager of Tetra Neon Exchange, a non-profit collecting and preserving Hong Kong's neon signs. "We're under the impression that more signs are coming down quicker." Now, her team says there are around 400 neon signs still up.

Since it formed in 2020, Tetra Neon Exchange has saved over 40 neon signs. Last August, the group exhibited the signs they've been able to restore. Otherwise, they keep the signs in storage until they have the means for a more permanent display.

The people who make neon signs are called neon sifus. One sifu, Wu Chi-kai, told Nikkei Asia, "No one is doing it full-time, and there's no money in it. How do you think the younger generations who want to do this can sustain themselves? The sifus of my generation have all changed industries."

But, Chan claims that neon is making a comeback as art. She explains, "Neon is integral to Hong Kong culture, and people are starting to see it as an art form. As we accept that it is part of our visual culture and language, so too do we appreciate the artisanal skills behind it and elevate it even further."

In other news ...

💞Ukrainian children returned home: Since the war in Ukraine began over a year ago, Ukraine estimates that almost 19,500 of its children have been deported to Russia, which it sees as an illegal move. Russia, on the other hand, has said it’s removing the children for their safety. There have been operations to reunite those children with their families. This week, more than 30 children were returned to their homes in Ukraine.

💬China and the WHO: In mid-March, the leader of the WHO criticized Chinese authorities for not sharing certain genetic info about the origins of COVID sooner. This Saturday, Chinese health officials defended how they’ve released information and also called out the WHO for what they saw as “offensive and disrespectful” comments.

💣Three rockets launched from Syria to Israel: There have been higher tensions between Israel and its neighboring countries recently, with Lebanon allegedly firing off rockets into Israel and Palestine sounding off fireworks. Israel reported that Syria launched six rockets at it, with three crossing into Israeli territory. In response, Israel fired off airstrikes at Syrian military targets.

🤝Pakistan sending arms to Ukraine: Ukraine has faced a shortage of arms and ammunition as it continues to defend itself from Russian invasion. Pakistan has plans to send 230 containers of weapons this month to Ukraine to help. Interestingly, this is while Pakistan is in the middle of negotiating a crude oil deal with Russia.

💥Explosion in France: Early Sunday morning in the southern French city of Marseille, an explosion brought down two buildings. Now, authorities believe eight people are trapped under the rubble, and they’ve stopped responding. Five people are in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The cause of the explosion is being investigated.

📄Iraq wants an apology: The Iraqi government is saying that Turkey sent a drone to attack near Sulaymaniyah airport on Friday (no damages, injuries or casualties were reported). On Saturday, Iraq called on Turkey to apologize for the attack. Turkey has said no Turkish Armed Forces activity was going on in the area that day.

🔋Another Tesla factory: Tesla has plans to build a new battery factory in Shanghai, China, later this year. In the new factory, the company will make its Megapack large-scale energy-storage unit. CEO Elon Musk is said to be visiting China this week.

🍏Baidu sues Apple: Chinese search engine company Baidu developed the “Ernie” AI bot, which launched last month.  Now, the bot is available on the Apple app store even though Baidu never actually launched Ernie as an app, meaning a third party is ripping it off and spreading it via Apple. Now, Baidu is suing Apple and the companies that developed the copycat apps.

👉Substack pushes back: Last week, Substack, a major subscription newsletter platform, launched its new Notes feature, which allowed for shorter, quippy posts organized kind of like tweets. Twitter then made it so that users couldn’t like or retweet any posts with the word “Substack” on its own platform. And now Substack CEO Chris Best responded on Notes, saying that Substack never violated Twitter’s rules and that there was no notification that it had.

💔Taylor Swift breakup: Taylor Swift used to face a lot of (pretty sexist) flack for the number of men she’d dated. Now, after six years together, Swift has apparently split with her long-term boyfriend, actor Joe Alwyn. The break-up is said to be amicable, at least. Another album in the works, perhaps?

🐔Chicken scaring: A man in China had been arguing with his neighbor after they cut some of the trees on his property down. So, the man called by his surname, Gu, crept onto the neighbor’s property at night several times, scaring his flock of chickens and killing hundreds of them at a time in the fright. After causing several chicken crushes, authorities estimate he had killed around 1,100 of them. Last week, Gu was ordered to serve six months in prison with one year of probation for the property damage.

🎬Pope doc: Last Wednesday, a new documentary about Pope Francis was released called “The Pope: Answers.” In the doc, the Pope interacts with both religious and non-religious younger adults. He calls sex “one of the beautiful things God gave human beings” and says that using apps like Tinder is “normal.” He also criticized pornography, saying that porn “diminishes a true sexual expression,” leaving people “partial” and preventing them from growing.

🥗Moose enjoys healthy salad: On Thursday, a young moose wandered into a medical building in Anchorage, Alaska. He went inside to eat a nice meal of the plants growing inside, the automatic doors letting him in without trouble.

🍿Itsa Mario!: “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” had a record-breaking global opening weekend, bringing in around  US$368 million. This makes it the biggest worldwide debut ever for an animated film.

Written and put together by Joey Fung, Vanessa Wolosz, Shebby Farooq and Christine Dulion