“Farewell,” the flag-waving Chinese children chanted to Donald Trump as he strolled along the red carpet back to Air Force One at the end of his summit with Xi Jinping in Beijing. The US leader claimed he was leaving with a cluster of “fantastic” trade deals to sell US oil, jets and soya beans to China. That has not been confirmed by his smiling host, but one thing was crystal clear from the two days of meetings: the global balance of power is shifting, from the declining petrostate in the…
Tag: Environment
Weather tracker: Furnace Creek sizzles as snow sweeps Siberia in a week of extremes
Extreme weather across several parts of the world this week has brought record-breaking temperatures to Honduras, North America and Indonesia. Honduras smashed its all-time May maximum temperature record earlier this month – only for it to be broken again on 13 May in Choluteca, known as the furnace of Central America. Temperatures climbed to 42.2C (107.9F), surpassing the previous record of 42.1C. With intense heat forecast to persist over the coming weeks, more records are expected to fall. In the western US, it soared to 46.7C in the aptly named…
Nissan ponders building cars for Chinese rivals at Sunderland plant
Nissan’s chief executive has confirmed he would consider building cars for other manufacturers at the UK’s largest car factory in Sunderland, amid talks with China’s Chery. Ivan Espinosa said Nissan was “looking at options” for Sunderland and its 6,000 workers as the struggling Japanese carmaker on Wednesday reported steep losses for the year to March. Nissan announced last week it was closing one of its two production lines at Sunderland, in north-east England, because of faltering demand for its vehicles. However, it has held talks to produce vehicles on behalf…
Smuggled in syringes: how Nairobi became a nexus for the black market in giant harvester ants
In the biblical text Book of Proverbs, King Solomon describes the harvester ant as a model of wisdom and industriousness: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!” Almost 3,000 years later, the thriving international parallel market for a distinct species of the ant native to east Africa has been thrust into the global spotlight after a series of convictions in Kenya for ant smuggling. In the most recent case, Zhang Kequn, a Chinese national, was sentenced to a year in prison and fined 1 million…
‘Temu Range Rover’: what the bestselling Jaecoo 7 says about China’s electric car ascendancy
The UK is no stranger to foreign cars. The bestseller lists in recent years have been dominated by the US’s Ford Puma, Japan’s Nissan Qashqai, Korea’s Kia Sportage and occasionally even Tesla’s Model Y. But in March the top 10 provided a shock: a Chinese car leapt into the lead. Little more than a year after launching in the UK, China’s Chery sold 10,064 of its Jaecoo 7 crossover SUVs during the month, beating all the usual suspects. It was not the first Chinese-made car to make it to UK…
Weather tracker: Tornadoes and giant hail in central US
Spring is the season for severe thunderstorms across the central US, and the start of this week was a particularly active period for the region. A favourable weather pattern fuelled intense thunderstorms on Monday through Wednesday, bringing strong winds, very large hail and strong tornadoes. Eight tornadoes were reported on Monday, including an EF2 tornado that ripped through the town of Sycamore, Kansas. On Tuesday, a more widespread event tore across the mid-west, most notably as a severe hailstorm moved through Springfield, Missouri. Hailstones up to 12cm (5in) in diameter…
Weather tracker: Torrential rain in southern China leads to flooding fears
Widespread heavy rain is sweeping over southern China. By Wednesday, rainfall totals are expected to exceed 100mm across many parts of Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, and in some areas as much as 150-200mm. As a result, the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management have been holding meetings with meteorological and hydrological departments to emphasise the importance of reinforced patrols and emergency responses to mitigate against the probable flooding that the intense rainfall is expected to bring.…
How the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket Upended Climate Policy
In 2016, a surprise decision from the Supreme Court “sent both climate policy and the court itself spinning in new directions,” Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak wrote in an investigation published last week. The one-paragraph ruling halted the Clean Power Plan, President Barack Obama’s signature environmental policy, which was aimed at reducing emissions from power plants. The decision signaled the birth of the court’s modern “shadow docket,” which the court uses to issue short opinions and bypass the time-tested procedures of hearing oral arguments and publishing detailed explanation of the…
Ant smuggler sentenced to a year in jail by Kenyan court
A Chinese national has been sentenced to a year in prison and fined by a Nairobi court for attempting to smuggle thousands of ants out of Kenya, a lucrative trade in east Africa that was exposed last year. The insects are mostly destined for China, the US and Europe, where they become pets and can be worth about $100 each. Ant smuggling made headlines last year when two Belgian teenagers were arrested in possession of nearly 5,000 ants, mostly stored in small test tubes. They were fined about $7,700. Zhang…
As Iran war exposes global dependence on fossil fuels, the biggest emitters are reaping the rewards
Oil stands at about $110 a barrel and some forecasts have predicted it could reach $150. Food prices are on the rise and are expected to leap further owing to the fertiliser supply crunch, leading the World Food Programme USA to warn that global food insecurity could reach record levels, with 45 million more people pushed into acute hunger. Industries from steel to chemicals have alerted markets that they face shortages and soaring costs, while households across the world are feeling the pinch – people have been told to turn…