High pressure has dominated central and eastern Europe in early August, breaking temperature records across the region. Austria recorded a high of 41.2C (106.2F), while Slovakia reached 42.2C. Hungary hit a peak of 41.8C, surpassing a record set in 1905, while overnight temperatures remained above 28C in some areas, marking it as a tropical night. The extreme temperatures have been driven by a heat dome beneath the high-pressure system, which traps warm air close to the surface. The prolonged heat has dried out soil and vegetation, creating conditions conducive to…
Tag: Philippines
President Xi nevers wastes a good crisis. As Iran, Ukraine and Palestine distract the world, he tightens his grip | Simon Tisdall
Imagine what would happen if a British prime minister in London told the Scots they could not have their own parliament, national football team or fly the saltire. Or if the Welsh were told their language and poetry were banned and must no longer be taught in schools. The ensuing uproar would probably destroy the United Kingdom. Yet that’s exactly what Xi Jinping, China’s communist emperor, is telling the roughly 125 million members of the 55 ethnic and religious minorities who together comprise about 9% of the country’s (majority Han…
A New Security Order Is Taking Shape in Asia
A historic shift has gathered pace across Asia this summer. Over the past several weeks, China has extended maritime patrols to cover Taiwan’s east coast, demonstrating its ability to encircle the island. It has intensified military, trade and diplomatic pressure on Japan and test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile that showcased its growing sea-based nuclear capability. With an eye on China’s growing power, other countries have drawn closer, revealing the contours of an emerging new security architecture. Japan has strengthened defense ties with Australia, the Philippines and India, and it is…
Weather tracker: More than 900 wildfires rage across Canada
Recent hot, dry weather in Canada has triggered hundreds of wildfires across the country. As of Wednesday, more than 900 were burning, scorching about 3m hectares of land. While fires have broken out in several provinces, the greatest concern is in the Northwest Territories and Ontario, where several remain out of control. Poor air quality has been reported across affected regions, with wildfire smoke carried by winds into the US and even across the Atlantic to northern Europe. The risk of further blazes remains high as North America enters the…
Philippines Says Sailor Was Injured in Skirmish With Chinese Coast Guard
The Philippine military accused China’s coast guard of injuring one of its sailors in a scuffle that broke out on Monday in the South China Sea, where the two countries have been locked in a decades-long territorial dispute. The episode began when an inflatable Chinese coast guard boat approached the Sierra Madre, a beached World War II-era warship that the Philippines uses as a military outpost in a disputed reef, and lashed out at the Philippine sailors who approached in a boat to chase them away, the Armed Forces of…
Chinese, Philippine personnel clash in the South China Sea
China Coast Guard personnel on a rigid hull inflatable boat clashed with Philippine Navy personnel aboard a rubber boat using wooden batons in the South China Sea on 20 July. According to Philippine authorities, one of their sailors suffered a serious head injury when a Chinese crew member allegedly struck him with a wooden baton. The Guardian
Chinese warship holds live-fire drills inside Japan’s economic waters for first time
A Chinese missile destroyer fired live rounds for the first time inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) during a drill on Sunday, a day before Chinese and Philippine sailors clashed in the South China Sea. Three Chinese warships and a Russian frigate were spotted sailing between Okinawa’s main island and Miyako island into the Pacific on Thursday, before being picked up again around 330km south-west of Okinotori in the early hours of Sunday morning. The Chinese missile destroyer then issued a warning to shipping that it would be carrying out…
Philippines demands ‘racist’ Chinese state media video depicting Filipinos as monkeys be taken down
The Philippines strongly condemned state-run China Daily for releasing an AI-generated video that depicted Filipinos as monkeys, saying the “racist” imagery is “offensive, distressing and unacceptable” and drawing a firm line against dehumanising propaganda. Manila demanded that the video posted on China Daily’s Facebook account on 10 July be taken down. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The video portrayed a monkey dressed in Filipino attire being directed by arms representing the US and Japan on what to sing. After being called…
Typhoon Bavi Hits China, Causing Evacuations, Floods and Flight Delays
Typhoon Bavi caused landslides and flooding over the weekend as it made landfall in eastern China, where the authorities evacuated almost two million people in anticipation of the strongest storm to hit the country this year. The typhoon touched down in the city of Taizhou in Zhejiang Province at around 11:20 p.m. on Saturday, lashing the area with winds of almost 90 miles per hour. It made a second landfall in the city of Wenzhou, also in Zhejiang, around midnight. Across the province, 1.7 million people were evacuated, many of…
‘Unpredictable and extreme’: Asia braces for El Niño
The UN has warned that the world must prepare for the imminent return of El Niño and the raised global temperatures and weather extremes it brings. The powerful natural weather pattern has an 80% chance of forming before September and a 90% chance before November, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday. Experts say what is particularly concerning is that El Niño is unfolding against the backdrop of human-driven climate change, meaning there is the potential for its impacts to be supercharged. Asia is predicted to be one of…