Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 110

Myanmar earthquake death toll soars past 1,000 as Thailand scrambles to rescue trapped Bangkok workers

At least 1,000 people are dead after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck near Mandalay in Myanmar and rocked neighboring Thailand. The quake was the largest to hit Myanmar in more than a century. The US Geological Survey estimated that the death toll could top 10,000.•Myanmar’s giant neighbors China and India have sent teams to help with rescue efforts. A Chinese team was the first international

Water, ice, society, and ecosystems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

This Water, ice, society, and ecosystems in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HI-WISE) assessment report provides a partial update to the first HKH assessment report, focusing on the interlinkages between cryosphere, water, ecosystems, and societies in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). The vision, encouragement, and support of the former Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain

Opinion: The glacier crisis is no longer a remote, abstract problem

We are losing our glaciers. They are retreating at an accelerated rate, and the consequences are not confined to remote mountaintops – they will affect us all.Having spent much of my life scaling the high mountains of the Himalayas, I have seen this loss unfold firsthand. But translating that visceral experience into urgency for someone living in a coastal metropolis like Hong Kong or Mumbai can

Trump’s tariffs won’t save Musk from China’s BYD

No one wins in a trade war, as economists have insisted for decades. Yet Elon Musk sure does seem to be blowing this maxim to smithereens. In January 2024, the Tesla billionaire warned that America’s electric vehicle industry had no chance of beating China’s without massive tariffs. Fast forward 14 months and Musk finds himself in the winner’s circle as Trump hits the global car industry with 25%

US building walls while China erecting windmills

Dozens of foreign CEOs are gathering in Beijing this week for the annual China Development Forum (CDF). Against the backdrop of heightened global uncertainty, Beijing is sending its message to the world: As the US pursues protectionist “America First” policies, the world’s second-largest economy is open for business. The Chinese government has, on several occasions, iterated its determination to

US bill proposes expediting Uyghur asylum cases

Twelve U.S. House representatives have introduced a bipartisan bill that would expedite the ability of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities facing persecution in China to seek asylum in the United States. The Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act would lend further American support to the 12 million Uyghurs in the northwestern Xinjiang region who are suffering under what Washington has labeled a “

Radio Free Asia files lawsuit against US administration to restore funding

 Radio Free Asia, which transmits uncensored news to millions of people living under authoritarian regimes in Asia, filed a lawsuit on Thursday to restore congressionally-mandated funding that was abruptly frozen earlier this month. The lawsuit asserts that denying funding for RFA, which comes through grants administered by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, violated federal laws,

It’s the world’s hottest car company. You can’t buy one in America

In the world of electric vehicles, there’s a Chinese company outdoing Elon Musk’s Tesla. And it’s just getting started. BYD, the Shenzhen-based Chinese EV champion, eclipsed Tesla in annual sales last year. Last week, it unveiled a revolutionary battery charging technology that it says adds 250 miles of range in five minutes, outpacing Tesla’s Superchargers, which take 15 minutes to add 200 miles

China calls for global business to ‘resist protectionism’ as American executives gather in Beijing

China is prepared for “possible unexpected shocks,” Premier Li Qiang told a gathering of global executives in Beijing, where he urged them to “resist protectionism” and defend globalization. CEOs including Apple’s Tim Cook, FedEx’s Raj Subramaniam and Pfizer’s Albert Bourla gathered in the Chinese capital over the weekend for a two-day forum that comes as US President Donald Trump has ratcheted

Elon Musk thinks robots are a $10 trillion business. He’s got some competition from China

Spinning bright red handkerchiefs and dancing in step to folk music, more than a dozen human-like robots took to China’s biggest stage in January, making a splashy debut at the annual Lunar New Year gala.The remarkable performance, watched by more than a billion people, is a high-profile reminder of how far Chinese humanoid robots have come. Over the past two months, videos of the country’s