Heavy, prolonged rainfall in southern and central China has resulted in weather warnings for flash flooding, landslides and waterlogging. The band of rainfall spanned 1,000km (620 miles) and steadily moved eastwards across the regions on Tuesday. It was a slow-moving band of rain, formed from the convergence of multiple bands originating from the Bay of Bengal, South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Coupled with low wind speeds, high daily and hourly rainfall totals have been recorded, with as much as 75mm locally in Hunan, 85mm in Anhui in a…
Tag: India
The Guardian view on India’s Iran shock: Asia’s neoliberal era starts to fracture | Editorial
The Indian prime minister’s call for sacrifice last week marks a fundamental shift. He urged the country’s 1.4 billion people to consume less fuel and fertiliser, buy less gold and curb foreign travel as global energy prices surge because of the war in Iran. The message, redolent of the Covid-era restrictions, suggests something larger: a retreat from neoliberal globalisation in Asia and the return of strategic economic management. The Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi waited for key regional elections to finish before pressing for the austerity measures. He was following other Asian…
Fifa’s failure to agree World Cup TV deals in China and India a headache for Infantino
When Fifa expanded the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams, it was in the hope that countries such as India and China, with their 2.7 billion residents, would qualify rather than countries such as Cape Verde and Curaçao, whose combined population of about 700,000 barely equals a district of a megacity such as Mumbai or Shanghai. What the governing body did not account for was that, with the 2026 tournament a month away, there would be no broadcasting deals done with the two Asian giants to ensure fans there…
Nations Brace for Long-Term Economic Woes as Trump Calls Iran Truce Plan ‘Garbage’
Countries were bracing on Monday for prolonged economic woes stemming from high energy prices after President Trump called the latest Iranian offer to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz “garbage” and declared that the cease-fire was “on massive life support.” Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, reiterated that Iran could not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and likened the truce announced last month to a patient with a “1 percent chance” of survival. Iran’s state-owned broadcaster reported on Monday that in its…
What Middle Powers Fear from the Trump-Xi Summit
Poland will soon host production lines for South Korean tanks. Australia is buying warships from Japan. Canada will send uranium to India, while India offers cruise missiles to Vietnam, and Brazil builds military transport planes for the United Arab Emirates. All of these deals were sealed in the past few weeks. Each one represents an attempt by middle powers to protect themselves as the conflict in Iran throttles global energy supplies, and as a high-stakes summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping of China looms. Global polls show the world…
DeepSeek’s Sequel
Remember the “DeepSeek moment?” The Chinese start-up announced in early 2025 that it had created an artificial intelligence model that could rival ChatGPT. Not only that, it had created it at a fraction of the cost of its American competitors. If China had been considered behind the United States on A.I., DeepSeek changed that. Almost instantly, its model became the most downloaded free app in the U.S. Some in Silicon Valley started calling it “A.I.’s Sputnik moment.” DeepSeek released its latest model last week. Today, my colleague Meaghan Tobin, who…
The Tragic Decline of the American Navy
Alfred Thayer Mahan, a 19th-century naval officer and pre-eminent military strategist, believed his young country was destined to be great because of its Navy. Toward the end of his service, Mahan, then a U.S. Navy captain, wrote a landmark book about the age of sailing ships. Read avidly by kings, prime ministers and presidents — including Theodore Roosevelt, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the young Winston Churchill — the book posited the idea of a free world anchored by American sea power. Mahan believed America needed a large number of ships…
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.…
Trump Reposts Anti-Immigrant Tirade Calling China and India ‘Hellhole’ Places
President Trump provoked a broad backlash this week when he posted a transcript from a right-wing podcast in which the host referred to China and India as “hellhole” places and said recent immigrants from those countries had not “integrated” into America as “European Americans” had. The transcript, which Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Wednesday night, came from a recent episode of “The Savage Nation,” hosted by Michael Savage, a popular conservative talk radio host. Mr. Trump also posted the original video clip of Mr. Savage’s podcast.…
Tim Cook Did Wonders for Apple. He Also Did a Lot for Xi Jinping.
Tim Cook is ending his illustrious stint as chief executive of Apple. The soft-spoken operator accomplished the near impossible, filling the shoes of the visionary co-founder Steve Jobs, turning the iPhone from a cultural phenomenon into a financial juggernaut and transforming his company into a $4 trillion goliath — growing its market value by $682 million per day, on average, for 15 years. By the metrics investors care about, Mr. Cook is nothing short of a rock star. But when one considers his role in the sweep of American history,…