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Beijing, historically dry, is it ready for a wetter future?
Cui Jian, the owner of a rural hotel in Beijing, and his guests were stranded in the rain on a roof during the deadly floods that struck Beijing last month. Rescuers had to battle through metres-high silt and mud to reach them the following day. Beijing's northern Huairou District and the neighbouring Miyun District received an entire year's rain in just one week. This led to flash floods which devastated entire villages, killing 44 people. It was the worst flood in Beijing since 2012. Most Huairou villagers were asleep when the authorities issued their most severe weather warning. In the past, they evacuated tourists, closed scenic areas, and relocated villages. It's good to warn people, but it is a disaster if you don't. The floods revealed weaknesses in Beijing's rural emergency response infrastructure. Beijing is an urban center surrounded by a number of rural districts. They also showed how Beijing, a city of 22 million, which has a history of being dry, is not prepared for an increasingly wet climate, according to experts. Forecasters predicted that the Chinese capital would only experience three deluges every 100 years. Climate experts warn of a growing threat to disasters previously unimaginable in scale. Chinese experts increasingly call for city planners in China to prioritize "ecological resilient" due to the devastating effects of climate changes. Zhou Jinfeng is the Secretary-General of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation. He said: "The current understanding and future challenges of climate change are insufficient. This naturally leads to inadequate deployment and planning." Beijing's city government and China's housing and environment ministries did not reply to faxed comments. While two Beijing districts devastated by floods in 2023 have issued long-term reconstruction plans prioritising "climate-adaptive city construction" and proposing measures to improve rural flood control systems and upgrade infrastructure, the vast majority of recently-commissioned infrastructure projects in the capital do not prioritise climate adaptation in their plans. In a database of the Chinese government, only three Beijing infrastructures projects were mentioned in the last five years in terms of "ecological resilient", while hundreds more tenders that mention "climate changes" are mostly research projects at Beijing's state scientific institutes. According to Zhou, ecological resilience is a term that refers to such measures as restoring natural river banks, reducing concrete and other hard material use, and artificial landscaping as well as increasing biodiversity. A top-level meeting on urban planning in July emphasized the importance of building "liveable and sustainable" cities. Mid-July marks the start of northern China's wet season, but it began earlier this year than ever before. Several Beijing rivers also experienced their worst floods. Official data revealed that the citywide rainfall for June and July was 75% higher than a year ago. The director of China’s National Climate Center, who works for the state-owned China Newsweek newspaper, said that this is because of the "significant northward extension of China’s rain belt" since 2011, which has been linked to climate changes. This marks a shift to "multiple, sustainable, long-term cycles of rainfall" within the traditionally arid North. 'SPONGE CITIES' China's policymakers took some steps to fight urban flooding. Since 2015, "Sponge City" projects are underway in China, which transform concrete-laden megacities into cities with hidden drainage infrastructure, such as permeable pavements, sunken rainfall gardens, and modernised sewer systems. This concept originated in China and refers to the ability of a sponge to absorb rainwater, then release it. Recent projects in Beijing include flood control pumps, riverside parks and manmade lakes. Official data shows that China will spend more than 403,78 billion yuan (2.9 trillion yuan) in 2024 on infrastructure projects for "sponge cities". The authorities aim to cover 80% of all urban areas by 2030. However, many provinces and large cities are still behind schedule. According to a Chinese database of procurement tenders, in Beijing, this year has seen the start of new "sponge cities" worth at least 150 million yuan. Media reports claim that 38% of Beijing’s urban areas currently meet the "sponge-city" standards. Experts say that such initiatives will not help Beijing's rural fringes, because of the mountainous terrain, which makes villages more vulnerable to secondary disasters, such as landslides, due to their location at the base of steep hillsides, and the lack emergency response infrastructure. Yuan Yuan is Greenpeace East Asia’s climate and energy campaigner. She said that the current "sponge cities" standards were also based on historic precipitation data, and they are not equipped to handle extreme rainfall. She added that future contingency plans should also include pre-emptive evacuations of residents, and improved early warning systems. 31 residents of an elderly nursing home in Miyun died during the recent Beijing flooding. The elderly residents were not included in evacuation plans, and they became trapped by the rising water. Yuan stated that it was necessary to plan infrastructure in a rational way and to coordinate risk response plans, countermeasures and other measures to minimize future losses. Reporting by Laurie Chen, Editing by Kate Mayberry. $1 = 7.1813 Chinese Yuan Renminbi
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Prices of oil rise as US inventories are reduced, indicating a strong demand
The price of oil rose slightly on Thursday, as the decline in crude oil and fuel stocks in the U.S. - the world's largest oil consumer - was larger than expected. This supported expectations for steady oil demand. Brent crude futures rose 13 cents or 0.19% to $66.97 per barrel at 0055 GMT after rising 1.6% the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 15 cents or 0.24% to $62.86 after climbing 1.4% Wednesday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that U.S. crude oil inventories dropped by 6 million barrels to 420.7 million last week, contrary to analysts' expectations based on a poll of a 1.8-million barrel draw. The EIA reported that gasoline stocks fell by 2.7m barrels versus the expected 915,000 barrels. This indicates a steady demand for summer travel. This was also reflected in a spike in the average four-week consumption of jet fuel, which reached its highest level since 2019. Daniel Hynes said that the price of crude oil rebounded on Thursday as strong demand from the U.S. boosted confidence. Hynes warned that "bearishness remains evident" as traders continue to watch negotiations to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. Russia said Wednesday that attempts to resolve Ukraine security issues without Moscow's involvement were "a road to nowhere", as U.S. military planners and European military planners began exploring post-conflict guarantees of security for Ukraine. Western sanctions against Russian oil supplies will continue indefinitely due to the long-term efforts being made to bring peace to Ukraine. Further U.S. tariffs and sanctions against Russian oil buyers are also a possibility. The Russian government is adamant that it will continue to supply crude oil to India, despite the warnings of the U.S. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, announced that an additional 25% tariff would be applied to Indian goods starting August 27, due to their purchases of Russian crude. The European Union also sanctioned Indian refiner Nayara Energy which is supported by Russian oil company Rosneft. Indian refiners initially stopped buying Russian oil, but officials at Indian Oil and Bharat petroleum have resumed purchases for delivery in September and October after the discounts were increased. (Reporting and editing by Christian Schmollinger in Tokyo, Katya Golubkova)
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Chile's Codelco to lower 2025 copper target after El Teniente accident
Codelco, a Chilean copper mining company, has announced that it will reduce its production forecast for 2025 after an accident at the El Teniente mine in Chile reduced its output by 33,000 metric tonnes. Ruben Alvarado, the CEO of El Teniente, told a congressional committee that the company is now expecting to produce 316,000 tonnes this year. Alvarado stated that the decline is a $340 million loss due to the lost production. This was slightly more than the $300 millions Codelco predicted last week, based on an estimated loss of 20,000-30,000 tons. Six people were killed in an accident that occurred on July 31, near a section of El Teniente’s vast underground network, Andesita. This caused Codelco's mining operations to be halted for several days. Maximo Pacheco, the chairman of Andesita, told employees that they would only reopen Andesita after an internal investigation was completed. The company will release its first-half financial results in the next few days, and an updated estimate of total copper production will be released. Due to an accident, the company had to delay its results. Pacheco said the company would maintain its long-term target of producing 1.7 millions tons of copper annually by 2030. Codelco stated in March that it would aim to produce between 1,37 million and 1.4 millions metric tons by 2025. This is slightly higher than the output of the previous year. Reporting by Fabian Cambero, Paolo Laudani, Editing by Sarah Morland and Daina Beth Solon, Rod Nickel
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Entergy's investment in Meta's Louisiana datacenter receives regulatory approval
Entergy Louisiana's unit has received regulatory approval from the state to proceed with infrastructure investments related to Meta's global data center located in Richland Parish. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced in December that it would invest $10 Billion in Louisiana's data center. This would make Louisiana the largest datacenter in the world. The U.S. datacenter power consumption is expected to triple by 2030, due to AI expansion. This has led tech companies to explore other energy sources including nuclear power. Meta, in December, sought proposals from developers of nuclear power to meet its AI objectives. Entergy has been granted approval by the Louisiana Public Service Commission to build three combined-cycle combustion generator facilities in Richland Parish. Two of these are expected to be online in 2028. The third facility is set to begin operations at the Waterford site of Entergy Louisiana in St. Charles Parish in late 2029. The company said it would build new transmission facilities across its operating area for Meta's Data Center. The commission approved Entergy Louisiana's request to purchase up to 1,500 Megawatts of solar energy through a streamlined certification process. (Reporting and editing by Vijay Kishore in Bengaluru, with Pranav Mathur reporting from Bengaluru)
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Wall Street tech selloff deepens, European shares steady
Wall Street shares fell on Wednesday as a tech sell-off continued into the second day. Currency and rates traders remained focused on a meeting of central banks later this week. The S&P 500 finished down 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite, which is dominated by technology companies and has a high tech component to it fell 0.7%. This was a significant decline after Tuesday's steep drop. Both indexes have partially recovered from earlier, deeper losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.04%. Analysts attributed the decline in tech stocks to a number of factors, including fears over high valuations, investors selling profitable positions and risk aversion. Seth Hickle is the managing partner of Mindset Wealth Management. He said, "Tech was overbought to me." "We've had great earnings and it seems natural that the market would want to sell off some of this good news." Investors are also concerned about the growing influence of Donald Trump over U.S. tech companies. Two sources say that U.S. Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick is investigating the possibility of the government owning equity in Intel and other semiconductor companies. Washington has recently signed other revenue-sharing agreements with the artificial intelligence chip companies Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon all dropped more than 1%. The STOXX 600, a pan-European index, rose 0.25%. The FTSE 100 index in Britain rose 1.17%, reaching a new record high. Consumer and healthcare companies were the main drivers of this rally. FOCUS UPON JACKSON HOLLE The U.S. Dollar weakened against a basket after Trump demanded that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook resign. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury was unchanged at 3.29%. However, the yield on 2-year Treasury fell to 3.74%. Now the focus is on the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Symposium, which runs from August 21 to 23. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will speak on Friday about the U.S. Central Bank's policy framework and the economic outlook. Powell's comments on the short-term outlook of interest rates will be closely watched, as traders have already priced in a possible rate cut for next month. Analysts at ING wrote in a report that "even if Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell emphasizes muted unemployment rather than sharply revised payrolls that would be a difficult sell to the White House as well as a market pricing in 21 bp rate cuts for September." The minutes of the Fed's meeting in July, when interest rates remained unchanged, revealed that almost all policymakers believed it was appropriate to keep the target range of the federal funds rate between 4.25% and 4.50% despite the two dissenters. As expected, Sweden's central banks kept their key interest rates on hold, and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand lowered policy rates to an all-time low, signaling further easing. The kiwi fell by over 1%. Data showed that consumer prices in Britain rose 3.8% in July. This was the fastest increase for an economy in the Group of Seven. The data pushed sterling higher but it quickly retreated. Meanwhile, the fact that inflation wasn't even higher led to a rally of government bonds. The 10-year gilt yield fell 7 basis points to 4.68%. Oil prices rose about 1% as investors awaited next steps in the talks to end Ukraine war. Sanctions on Russian crude remain in place. Spot gold increased 1% to $3.348.70 per ounce.
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Investors sell tech and buy cheaper sectors as Nasdaq and S&P 500 close lower
Investors sold tech stocks on Wednesday and moved to less-valuable sectors as they awaited the Federal Reserve officials' remarks at their Jackson Hole Symposium this week. The tech stocks that drove the Wall Street recovery after its April selloff have been slipping back. The S&P 500 Technology index fell on the day while other sectors like energy, healthcare, and consumer staples rose. Bryant van Cronkhite, senior portfolio manager at Allspring, said that a broader perspective would indicate a more gradual rotation rather than a real sell-off. In the context of today's inflated spending, tech valuations appear to be stretched. Second, I'd say there are many pockets of the market which look very attractive in terms of valuation and have been ignored. The preliminary data shows that the S&P 500 fell 16.40 points or 0.26% to 6,394.97, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 144.76 or 0.68% to 21,170.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.48 points or 0.00% to 44,923.75. Analysts citing other reasons for the tech sell-off cited OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s last week comments about artificial intelligence stock being "in bubble" and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study which showed that many tech companies struggled to convert AI into profits. Investors are also concerned about government interference with the private sector. The Trump administration has been looking at taking equity stakes with chip companies like Intel, after striking revenue-sharing agreements with Nvidia AMD and others. Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel, and Micron all fell. Nvidia's quarter-end results, due on August 27, will provide important clues about demand for artificial intelligent. Apple and Meta, two other megacap growth companies, were also under pressure. The minutes of the Fed's meeting in July, when interest rates were not changed, revealed that almost all policymakers thought it was appropriate to keep the federal funds target rate range at 4.25%-4.50% despite the two dissenters. Jerome Powell, the chair of the central bank, is expected to deliver a speech at its annual conference, which begins on Friday in Jackson Hole. Ses remarks will be closely monitored for policy messages. According to LSEG data, investors have priced in a rate cut of 25 basis points in September. Investors also watched Trump's request for the resignation Fed Governor Lisa Cook. The president claimed that Cook was involved in mortgage fraud. This week, big retailers' earnings, a barometer of consumer health in the United States, will also be released. The sentiment has been affected by fears that tariffs may increase prices. Target's stock dropped after it named a new chief executive officer and kept its lower annual forecasts from May. Estee Lauder's profit forecast was hit by tariff-related headwinds. Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York; Johann M Cherian, Sanchayaita in Bengaluru, and David Gregorio in the editing department.
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Peru's gold imports to China in June surpass all 2024
According to data released by the government in August, Peruvian gold exports to China increased in the first half 2025 and exceeded shipments for all of last year. Why it's important The global appetite for gold has increased amid the trade tensions between China and the U.S. Prices of the metal, which is a safe-haven asset that typically increases in value during times of turmoil and economic uncertainty, reached record levels last year. By the Numbers In the first half 2025, Peruvian gold exports to China will reach $947 million, nearly four times the amount exported in the same period of last year. This figure is steadily increasing. Peru exported $885 millions in gold to China by 2024. This is a 410% rise from the $173million in exports recorded in 2023. In the six-month period ending June, Peru's gold exports grew 46% on an annual basis. CONTEXT China is the fourth largest gold buyer in Peru after Canada, India, and Switzerland. The local production of precious metals has increased in recent years. However, there are concerns that the increase is due to illegal mines which do not comply with environmental regulations and fuel violence. (Reporting and writing by Marco Aquino; Editing by Daina-Beth Solomon, Sandra Maler, and Daina Beth Morland)
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China and Canada launch WTO dispute over steel and aluminum taxes
The World Trade Organization announced on Wednesday that China had requested consultations regarding a dispute involving Canadian surtaxes, quotas, and tariffs on aluminum and steel products. A WTO notice said that the disputed measures included a surtax, in the form quotas for tariff rates, on certain imports of steel from Canada's nonfree trade partners, such as China. China also challenges a surtax imposed on certain products that contain steel and aluminum from China. Last month, in an effort to protect Canada's domestic steel industry, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada would implement 25% tariffs for steel imports coming from any country containing steel that has been melted and poured into China by the end of July. Huzaif Qaisar is a spokesperson for Maninder Singh Sidhu, the Trade Minister. He said via email that "these measures are a response to China's non-market behavior and overcapacity, which is undermining Canada’s steel sector and threatens Canadian jobs." Rachel More wrote in Berlin, David Ljunggren edited in Ottawa.
Scientists in Serbia experiment with mealworms for the degradation of polystyrene
Scientists in Serbia have been using mealworms to break down polystyrene.
Larisa Ilizin, principal researcher at the Institute for Biology in Belgrade, told reporters that scientists discovered mealworms could digest plastics including polystyrene which is used for packaging, insulation, and food containers.
The project, endorsed by both the UNDP and the United Nations agency for international Development, the Government, included polystyrene as a regular ingredient in the food that the larvae of yellow mealworm beetles, or Tenebrio Molitor, eat.
They eat anything and everything, but they need to be trained on how to eat plastic.
Ilijin said, "We have developed larvae which have been optimized to degrade plastic as efficiently as possible."
She said that the bacteria in their guts breaks down the plastic into water and carbon dioxide, and there was no evidence left in their faeces or innards of microplastic residue.
This work is based on similar research in the U.S.A. and Africa.
Serbia, which is hoping to join the EU in the near future, recycles less than 2% household waste and only 15% of its municipal waste. This is far below the EU target of 55%.
About 3,000 landfills are home to over 84% of all waste. These sites are often unregulated, and they contain plastic, cardboard and paper, as well as organic waste. It is seeking ways to meet EU standards for waste treatment.
Ilijin stated that "styrofoam decomposes in nature over 500 years... it would be a good way to solve the problem of plastic waste."
Belinda Animals, based in Belgrade, received several containers of mealworms from the institute. The institute is breeding the mealworms and hopes to attract other farms.
When breaking down one kilogram of Styrofoam larvae emit between 1 and 2 grams of CO2. Boris Vasiljev, owner of the company, said that if we incinerate (Styrofoam), it emits more than 4,000 times as much carbon dioxide.
If the commercial production of larvae reaches a large scale, he also envisions them being used for animal feed.
Ilijin stated that the use of mealworms for animal feed is in its infancy. Serbia has yet to adopt regulations allowing the sale and use of insect products. (Reporting and editing by Alison Williams; Aleksandar Vasovic)
(source: Reuters)