China detains 93 over doomsday rumors

China has detained 93 people for spreading rumors of a supposed forthcoming apocalypse in December, according to authorities in seven provincial-level regions.

They include 37 members of the Christian "Almighty God" cult in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

These cult members recently latched on to the Mayan doomsday scenario to predict the sun will not shine and electricity will not work for three days beginning on December 21, according to the public security bureau of Xining, the provincial capital.

A large number of banners, discs, slogans, books and printing machines were seized by police.

Four "Almighty God " members were also detained in the neighboring Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for swindling elderly people in the remote Arxan mountain area. They proclaimed that only by believing in the "Almighty God" can they survive the doomsday.

Thirty-four people in Jinjiang City of east China's Fujian Province, four in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, two in southwest China's Sichuan Province, seven in northwest China's Shaanxi Province and five in central China's Hubei Province were also detained recently for handing out leaflets about the apocalypse and spreading rumors, local public security departments said.

The "Almighty God" cult was established in 1990 in central China's Henan Province. It requires its members to surrender their property to the group.