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☆ China says no unusual pathogens found after WHO queries respiratory outbreaks
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The WHO had asked China for more information on Wednesday after groups including the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in north China. No unusual pathogens have been detected in the capital of Beijing and the northeastern province of Liaoning. The U.N. health agency had also asked China for further information about trends in the circulation of known pathogens and the burden on healthcare systems. WHO China said it was "routine" to request information on increases in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children from member states, such as China. The WHO said that while it was seeking additional information, it recommended that people in China follow measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, pneumoniae, Ben Cowling, Deena Beasley, Andrew Silver, Jennifer Rigby, Emma Farge, Urvi, Robert Birsel, Miyoung Kim, Josie Kao Organizations: REUTERS, World Health Organization, WHO, International, National Health Commission, FTV News, Hong Kong University, Health Commission, Xinhua, Influenza, Thomson Locations: China, Beijing, Liaoning, Wuhan, WHO China, Taiwan, Los Angeles, Shanghai, London, Geneva, Bengaluru

☆ Haze lingers in Beijing as fog blankets parts of north China
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Vehicles move on a street in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD) as the city is shrouded in smog, in China November 1, 2023. REUTER/Tingshu Wang Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Hazy weather hung over Beijing on Wednesday with conditions in other parts of north China possibly worsening, forecasters said, although cold air sweeping in from the northwest is expected to help dissipate the smog. Experts attributed the haze in Beijing, which has lasted for several days, to poor atmospheric diffusion because of unseasonably weak cold air currents from the north. Visibility in most parts of Beijing dropped to less than 500 metres (546 yards), the China Meteorological Administration said. But from Thursday night, cold air is expected to push temperatures lower, possibly to new lows.

Persons: REUTER, Tingshu Wang, Gao, We're, Liu, Liz Lee, Ethan Wang, Xiaoyu Yin, Robert Birsel Organizations: Business, Rights, Beijing, China Meteorological Administration, Thomson Locations: China, Rights BEIJING, Beijing, Hebei province, Tianjin, Hebei, Jinan, Zhengzhou, Shijiazhuang

☆ Investing in Space: How the Pentagon sizes up China’s military strength in space
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. Coming in at a whopping 212 pages, the document represents the latest in-depth, albeit unclassified, view of China's military ambitions. The Pentagon highlighted that the space capabilities of the Chinese military, or PLA, are continuing to "mature rapidly" thanks to "significant economic and political resources to growing all aspects of its space program." China's PLA has a "Strategic Support Force," or SSF, under which is the "Space Systems Department", or SSD, that leads its military space operations. The Pentagon emphasized that most of those Chinese satellites can "support monitoring, tracking, and targeting of U.S. and allied forces worldwide, especially throughout the Indo-Pacific region."

Persons: CNBC's Michael Sheetz, landers, it's, Richard DalBello, China isn't Organizations: Taiyuan Satellite, CNBC's, Pentagon, PLA, Force, Systems Department, U.S, China, GPS, NASA Locations: Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, United States, Xi's, China, Namibia, Pakistan, Argentina, Kenya, U.S, Baku

Evacuated residents have been transferred to makeshift shelters in hotels and schools, according to state media reports. A woman sits next to a flooded road following heavy rains in Zhuozhou, in northern China's Hebei province on August 2, 2023. Jade Gao/AFP/Getty ImagesFlood control zonesSome 857,000 people have been relocated from these areas, state media reported. Under national rules, the cost of properties damaged due to the release of waters in flood control areas will be compensated by 70%. Floods inundate a village in Baoding city, Hebei province, on August 2, 2023.

Persons: Typhoon Doksuri, Jade Gao, ” Yang Bang, Yang, Ni Yuefeng, “, –, Cheng Xiaotao, Shao Sun, Sun, ” Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Ministry of Water Resources, Getty, University of California, CNN, Sun Locations: Hong Kong, China’s Hebei province, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Zhuozhou, China's Hebei, AFP, Hebei province, “, ”, Baoding, –, China, University of California Irvine, North China

People sort items outside a supermarket, after the rains and floods brought by remnants of Typhoon Doksuri, in Beijing, China August 2, 2023. Zhuozhou borders Beijing, which was inundated with the most rainfall in 140 years between Saturday and early Wednesday, official data showed. Residents forced to leave their homes were temporarily resettled in high-rise buildings, but lacked access to electricity and water, local media reported. Many Zhuozhou residents took to social media to complain about how long rescue and recovery efforts were taking. Nearly 100 employees were trapped without food and water, and a toxic gas leaking from a neighbouring tape factory complicated rescue efforts, local media reported.

Persons: Doksuri, Tingshu Wang, Liz Lee, Ryan Woo, Ella Cao, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, Weibo, Global Times, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Tingshu Wang BEIJING, Zhuozhou, Paris, Hebei province, Hebei, Weibo, Yongding River, Shanghai

BEIJING, July 29 (Reuters) - Rain soaked northern China on Saturday as Doksuri, one of the strongest storms to hit the country in years, prompted thousands to evacuate in Beijing after pummelling the Philippines and Taiwan, and lashing China's coast. The city's flood control department said it has mobilised 203,230 rescue personnel and 3,031 people had been evacuated, local media reported. Doksuri is the most powerful typhoon to hit China this year and the second-strongest to hit the southeastern province of Fujian since Typhoon Meranti in 2016. Provincial media reported rescue efforts in the storm's aftermath, of elderly trapped at home and a heavily pregnant woman, who was transferred to hospital on a stretcher in knee-deep waters. ($1 = 7.1488 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Liz Lee, Jenny Wang and Ryan Woo; Editing by William Mallard and Lincoln Feast.

Persons: Doksuri, Meranti, Liz Lee, Jenny Wang, Ryan Woo, William Mallard Organizations: China Meteorological Administration, Firefighters, cnsphoto, Provincial, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, China, Beijing, Philippines, Taiwan, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, Fujian, Anhui, Quanzhou, Fujian province, Shandong, Putian city, Fuzhou, Putian

☆ Global heat in ‘uncharted territory’ as scientists warn 2023 could be the hottest year on record
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

It works like this: As the world burns fossil fuels and pumps out planet-heating pollution, global temperatures are steadily warming. David J. Phillip/APWhile the record temperatures may have been expected, the magnitude by which some have been broken has surprised some scientists. Historically, global heat records tend to topple in El Niño years, and the current record-holder, 2016, coincided with a strong El Niño. The world gets hung up on blockbuster records but “these heat records are not exciting numbers,” she told CNN. CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty ImagesUnheeded warningsFor climate scientists, this is the “I told you so” moment they never wanted.

Persons: –, Jennifer Francis, ” Carlo Buontempo, Copernicus, “, we’ve, ” Francis, El, ”, Friederike Otto, Andres Matamoros, David J, Phillip, Peter Stott, There’s, Robert Rohde, ” Otto, Prashanth Vishwanathan, Niño, El Niños, ” Stott, Otto said, “ Organizations: CNN, Climate Research, World Meteorological Organization, Grantham Institute, Climate, UK’s Met, ”, Bloomberg, Getty, Publishing Locations: Europe, Antarctica, Pacific, El, Houston, Berkeley, Patna, Bihar, India, Texas, Mexico, China, Beijing, Northern, Zhonghua, Handan, North China's Hebei

☆ China's northern cities brace for more torrid heat
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A man pulls a cart carrying jugs of water amid the orange alert for heatwave, at a hutong alley in Beijing, China July 5, 2023. The torrid heat has gripped China for several weeks, pushing local governments to ask residents and businesses to curb the usage of electricity. It is expected that the maximum temperature in most areas of the city will rise above 40 degrees Celsius, according to the state-backed Beijing Daily. The meteorological observatory in northern Hebei province also issued a red alert, with temperatures in some areas expected to reach 40-43 Celsius on Thursday. China's Meteorological bureau issued orange alerts, the second highest alert, in mostly northern China with temperatures expected to hit 40 degree Celsius and above.

Persons: Tingshu Wang, Bernard Orr, Ella Cao, Michael Perry Organizations: REUTERS, Beijing Daily, China's Meteorological, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Tingshu Wang BEIJING, Hebei province, North China, Mongolia, Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong, Chongqing

☆ Medicare is prohibited from paying for weight-loss drugs. These are the 3 potential ways to change that.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

There are three routes lawmakers and regulators could use to add coverage for weight-loss drugs. Older Americans hoping to get their hands on powerful weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy may find it impossible to access them. Should Medicare cover weight loss medication, it could also unlock access for people who have private coverage. "A decision by Medicare to cover weight-loss drugs would put pressure on employers and other private insurers to cover weight-loss drugs too," said Tricia Neuman, a senior vice president at KFF who co-authored a recent brief on the subject. There are three potential strategies that could be used to expand Medicare coverage to weight-loss drugs.

The spot price for benchmark 62% iron ore for delivery to north China , as assessed by commodity price reporting agency Argus, dropped to $110.25 a tonne on April 21, the lowest since Dec. 20. China produces just over half of the world's steel and buys more than 70% of seaborne iron ore, with the main exporters being Australia, Brazil and South Africa. It's also the case the outlook for iron ore demand in China is not particularly clear cut, with some positive macro drivers but also areas of concern. This implies that steel mills may be looking to increase iron ore imports, especially if they plan to keep production at relatively high levels. Overall, the outlook for China's iron ore and steel demand is less assured than it was at the start of the year, when optimism over the economic re-opening abounded.

China produces more than half of the world's steel and buys about 70% of global seaborne iron ore, one of two key raw materials for steel, the other being coking coal. It's not just prices that are declining, there are signs that iron ore volumes and steel output are also weakening slightly. China's iron ore imports are estimated by Refinitiv at 94.17 million tonnes in March, which translates to a daily rate of 3.04 million tonnes. What the drop in prices, seaborne iron ore imports and steel output appear to be pointing to is a moderation in demand expectations in China. This suggests that iron ore and coking coal demand will remain solid, but may not rise much over 2023 as a whole.

☆ Sandstorms, dangerous pollution return to Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A woman poses for pictures near the Forbidden City, as the city is shrouded in smog amid a sandstorm, in Beijing, China March 10, 2023. The capital Beijing has seen regular air pollution and an unseasonal number of sandstorms over the past few weeks. On Tuesday morning, smog and misty grey clouds could be seen enveloping Beijing and the city's real-time air quality index was at a serious pollution level, according to the website of the Beijing Municipal Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Center. The concentration of fine particulates in the air in Beijing is currently 46.2 times the World Health Organization's annual air quality guideline value, according to IQAir, a website that issues air quality data and information. Beijing has regular sandstorms in March and April as it is near the large Gobi desert.

It's likely that the pace of imports has been maintained in March, with Refinitiv estimating arrivals of around 103 million tonnes, while Kpler forecasts 102.7 million. The question becomes what the risks are to the so far bullish start to 2023 for iron ore prices and volumes. The chief one is that China's economic recovery focuses more on boosting consumer spending than it does on rebuilding the residential property sector. CHINA IRON ORE IMPORTS VS SPOT PRICESTEEL DECLINE? The risk is that iron ore demand is being front-loaded into the first half of the year, and potentially will decline in the second, with the concomitant risk prices will also come under pressure.

The gains are being driven by restocking by steel mills in China, which buys about 70% of global seaborne iron ore and produces half of the world's steel. It's worth noting that stockpiles remain well below the same week last year, when they were at 160.95 million tonnes. Australia's iron ore exports are likely to drop in February, with Kpler estimating shipments of 57.7 million tonnes, while Refinitiv is forecasting 58.74 million. While Australia and Brazil dominate the global seaborne iron ore trade, it's worth noting that other exporters aren't adding much to the overall supply story. The supply shortage and expectations of increasing Chinese demand are likely to provide a solid base for further gains in spot iron ore prices.

☆ China has to figure out how to care for 400 million people over the age of 60 by 2040 — and it's off to a rocky start
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

By 2040, it's expected to have 400 million people above the age of 60 — more people than in the entire US. "It's obvious that relying on contributions from medical insurance schemes to fund age care services is not likely to be viable in the longer term," she said. Alzheimer's is quickly rising as a concern in China, Luk said. "Is China aging rapidly? Beijing has been pressuring the private sector into building daycare centers, wards, and other age care infrastructure to shore up gaps in local government finances, Gu said.

☆ China's new Covid surge is crippling the world's most important factories and biggest ports
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesThe surge in Covid-19 cases in China is impacting the completion of manufacturing orders, according to CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map data. "The container pickup, loading, and drayage (trucking) are also affected as all businesses are facing the impacts of COVID. Three major ports across China are experiencing supply chain delivery problems because of Covid, according to the note. "The booking cancellation is increasing as many factories can't operate properly due to a lot of workers getting invested with Covid," the report said. As a result of the Covid impact on trucking, MarineTraffic is seeing a slowdown in port productivity in Shanghai.

☆ Chinese astronauts return to earth after 'successful' six-month mission
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Martin Quin Pollard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Three Chinese astronauts landed back on earth on Sunday on board the re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft, state broadcaster CCTV reported, bringing to an end a six-month mission on China's space station. Staff at the landing site carried out the exhausted-looking crew one by one and by just after 9 p.m. all three had safely exited the capsule, CCTV reported. A new crew of three fellow Chinese astronauts arrived at the space station aboard the Shenzhou-15 to take over from them on Wednesday. The space station represents a significant milestone in China's three-decades long manned space programme, first approved in 1992. It also flags the start of permanent Chinese habitation in space.

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Iron ore prices are gathering steam as confidence over the outlook for China's steel demand increases, outweighing bearish factors such as potential winter production curbs and India lowering iron ore export taxes. Iron ore inventories at Chinese ports dropped to 135.45 million tonnes in the week to Nov. 18 from 136 million the previous week. China iron ore imports vs spot priceIRON ORE IMPORTSNovember is shaping up to be a strong month for iron ore arrivals, with commodity analysts Kpler estimating seaborne imports of 103.9 million tonnes, while Refinitiv estimates a higher 106 million tonnes. India may also start exporting more iron ore cargoes after the government scrapped some taxes, especially those on lower-grade material. Even if India does manage to resume exports, it's likely to have only a limited impact on prices for lower grades of iron ore, such as 58% and below.

While supply concerns have eased, the main dynamic behind the price retreat has been weakness in the residential construction sector in China, which takes about 70% of iron ore that is exported by sea. Given that construction accounts for more than a third of China's total steel demand, the ongoing weakness in residential property has been a cloud over iron ore's outlook. A recovery may be on the cards in November, with commodity analysts Kpler estimating that seaborne iron ore imports will be around 96.87 million tonnes. But the overall message from iron ore imports this year is that they will likely be slightly lower in 2022 than last year. While the market tends to focus on weakness in residential property construction, total construction has been holding up far better.

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