Новости за 01.05.2024

Washington (AFP) May 1, 2024
A US requirement for asylum seekers to apply for an appointment online before crossing the border from Mexico leaves migrants vulnerable to cartel violence, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday. Under the policy, all asylum seekers - except unaccompanied minors - are required to sign up for an appointment with Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) via a mobile phone app or to have ha

Beijing (AFP) April 30, 2024
Tech giant Huawei's first-quarter profits surged over fivefold year-on-year, a company filing showed Tuesday, as the US-sanctioned firm continues a rebound and bit into competitor Apple's sales in China. Huawei has long found itself caught in the middle of an intense technological rivalry between Beijing and Washington, which has warned the firm's equipment could be used for Chinese espionag

Colombo (AFP) April 26, 2024
Sri Lanka said Friday it had leased a white elephant international airport built with Chinese loans to a foreign joint venture, as the island nation's bankrupt government seeks to offload loss-making assets. The small airport near a wildlife sanctuary on the southern coast opened in 2013 but was immediately plagued by problems, and has been a running sore on state coffers since. Governm

Bangkok (AFP) April 30, 2024
Large swaths of Asia are sweltering through a heatwave that has topped temperature records from Myanmar to the Philippines and forced millions of children to stay home from school. Here are some questions and answers about the extreme heat, which scientists warn will become more frequent and intense because of human-induced climate change. Where is affected? The heat has hit much of

Beijing (AFP) April 30, 2024
China's factory activity grew for a second successive month in April, data showed Tuesday, providing some good news for officials battling to kickstart the vast economy in the face of weak domestic demand and a battered property sector. The purchasing managers' index (PMI) - a key measure of factory output - came in at 50.4, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said - slightly higher t

Bogota (AFP) April 29, 2024
Colombia said Monday it was close to resuming electricity sales to neighbor Ecuador after being forced to halt exports as its hydropower plants reach near-critical levels due to a biting regional drought. After "technical reviews, we are on the point of resuming sales of energy to Ecuador and help resolve its rationing problems," President Gustavo Petro, whose own country is going through pr

Jakarta (AFP) April 30, 2024
Microsoft's chief executive officer pledged a $1.7 billion investment in artificial intelligence and cloud computing to help develop Indonesia's AI infrastructure after a meeting with the archipelago's president on Tuesday. Indonesia is Southeast Asia's biggest economy and has a population of around 280 million across its sprawling archipelago, with a growing demand for data centres and AI t

Paris (AFP) April 30, 2024
G7 environment ministers committed on Tuesday to ramp up the production and deployment of battery storage technology, an essential component for increasing renewable energy and combating climate change. Here is how and why batteries play a vital role in the energy transition: - Growing demand - Batteries have been central to the rise of electric vehicles (EVs) but are also critical

Turin, Italy (AFP) April 30, 2024
G7 ministers said Tuesday that efforts to raise money to help poorer countries adapt to climate change should include countries "capable of contributing", in a message aimed at China. Just a small fraction of the money needed to fund clean energy and build resilience to extreme weather in less developed countries is raised each year, eroding much-needed trust in climate negotiations. The

Turin, Italy (AFP) April 30, 2024
G7 ministers agreed a timeframe Tuesday for phasing out coal-fired power plants, setting as a goal the mid-2030s, in a move hailed as significant by some environmentalists but slammed as "too late" by others. The Group of Seven two-day meeting in Turin was the first big political session since the world pledged at the UN's COP28 annual climate summit in Dubai in December to transition away f