The year 2024 will be a critical one. The future of Gaza and the West Bank may hinge in part on whether Donald Trump returns to the White House – as may the outcome of the war in Ukraine. China will be locked in a race against time as its population ages. And the natural world will reach a new series of tipping points. But there are some reasons for cautious optimism. With so much happening, it can be hard to know where to look. Here Guardian correspondents offer their…
Tag: India
Tiny Electric Vehicles Pack a Bigger Climate Punch Than Cars
In Darbhanga, a new acid-battery rickshaw, like the one Mr. Rai drives, sells for around 175,000 rupees, or $2,100. That’s half the price of a new rickshaw powered by natural gas. Charging the battery costs 20 rupees (25 cents), one-fourth of the price of filling a gas tank. The rebates seem to be working. Reliance Industries, India’s biggest company, is converting its three-wheeled cargo vehicles from gas to electric. Food delivery services are going electric as quickly as possible. Chetan Maini, whose company Sun Mobility builds charging infrastructure, said business…
Greenhouse gas emissions soar – with China, US and India most at fault
Electricity generation in China and India, and oil and gas production in the US, have produced the biggest increases in global greenhouse gas emissions since 2015, when the Paris climate agreement was signed, new data has shown. Emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, have also risen, despite more than 100 countries signing up to a pledge to reduce the gas, according to data published on Sunday by the Climate Trace project. The data shows that countries and companies are failing to report their…
At BRICS Summit, Countries Diverge Slightly on Israel and War in Gaza
The BRICS group of developing countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — held a virtual summit on the war in Gaza on Tuesday, articulating divergent positions on the conflict that together reflected the reluctance of some nations outside the world’s largest industrialized democracies to fall in behind Washington’s support for Israel. Several other nations that have been invited to join the BRICS group next year also attended the conference — Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates. A joint statement released by the…
Can the U.S. Handle China While Supporting Israel and Ukraine Wars?
For some countries, the rekindled conflict over the Palestinian issue has also inflamed old beliefs that the United States is anti-Muslim, or at least too biased toward Israel. After years of watching Washington avoid confronting the often harsh mistreatment of Palestinians by both the Israeli government and extremist Israeli settlers, some no longer trust the United States to be a fair broker. When Mr. Austin, the defense secretary, gets to Indonesia, he is likely to face an angry public, if not anti-U.S. protests, despite his efforts to advise Israel’s military…
Arundhati Roy is being hounded by the Indian state. This is a test case for its democracy | Meena Kandasamy
The climate for media and free speech in India is in a dangerous place. The country is already ranked 161 out of 180 countries in the press freedom index, but the actions of prime minister Narendra Modi’s government in the past few weeks have shown how many more clampdowns await. Desperately in need of distraction tactics – given the many failures in governance, tackling inflation or delivering jobs – the regime is after a fresh dose of sound and fury against political opponents. And so a decade-old case has been…
Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu wins Maldives presidency, upending relationship with India
Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu won Saturday’s presidential election in the Maldives, a result set to once again upend the archipelago’s relationship with traditional partner India. Muizzu helms a party that presided over an influx of Chinese loans when it last held power in the atoll nation, better known for its luxury beach resorts and celebrity tourists. He won over 54% of the vote in the run-off contest, prompting incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to concede defeat shortly before midnight. “Congratulations to president-elect Muizzu,” Solih wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I also…
Maldives vote: runoff for presidency begins in shadow of India-China tussle for influence
The Maldives started voting on Saturday to decide their next president, in an elections widely seen as a referendum on whether to hitch their fortunes to China or India, both vying for influence in the island nation. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, 61, faces an uphill battle to secure a second mandate after a term that saw renewed ties with New Delhi, the archipelago’s traditional benefactor. Frontrunner Mohamed Muizzu, 45, has vowed closer ties with Beijing and a review of relations with India if he is elected. Muizzu won 46% of the…
Maldives Votes in Presidential Runoff Overshadowed by India and China
As voting began on Saturday in the presidential runoff in the Maldives, the race was proving to be as much a referendum on the competition between India and China for influence as it was a chance to determine the small island nation’s next leader. The pro-India incumbent, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, has trailed Mohamed Muizzu, the mayor of the capital, Malé City, who has pushed for stronger ties with China. When neither managed a first-round victory with half the vote early this month, the race was pushed into a runoff.…
Maldives election run-off pitched as fork in the road between India and China
As the archipelago of the Maldives goes to an election run-off on Saturday, it will not just be two presidential candidates on the ballot. This election is being pitched as a larger geopolitical battle between India and China, which over the past decade have been engaged in a tug-of-war to gain influence over the Maldives. While the tussle is not new, the narrative of India versus China has reached a fever pitch in this election, where opposition candidate Mohamed Muizzu is trying to unseat the government of Mohamed Solih and…