Sunak branded ‘inaction man’ at PMQs as Starmer attacks record on schools, prisons and China – as it happened

From 19h ago Sunak branded ‘inaction man’ at PMQs as Starmer attacks his record on schools, prisons and China Here is the PA Media story on PMQs. Rishi Sunak has been branded “inaction man” by the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, as the government grapples with crumbling schools, Chinese espionage, and a prisoner on the run. Starmer urged the prime minister to call a general election, as he accused the government of failing to heed warnings which led to a series of crises for ministers over the last week. But Sunak…

Storms Deluge Hong Kong and Southern Chinese Cities

Torrential rains have pounded southern China, flooding low-lying homes and roads, choking expressways, and prompting officials to suspend classes while the record-breaking storms lingered over the region. By Friday morning, Shenzhen, a southern Chinese commercial city next to Hong Kong, had endured nearly eight inches of rain overnight, in the most intense downpour since records began in 1952, according to the city’s official news service. Hong Kong was hit by about six inches of rainfall in several hours. The Hong Kong Observatory headquarters recorded over six inches in just one…

China’s Misinformation Fuels Anger Over Fukushima Water Release

In Guangdong Province, on China’s southern coast, a woman posted a photo of a boxed-up Japanese-brand air-conditioner that she planned to return in protest. In southwest China, the owner of a Japanese pub posted a video of himself ripping down anime posters and smashing bottles, saying he planned to reopen the business as a Chinese bistro. In many social media posts like these, the phrase “nuclear-contaminated wastewater” has appeared — the same wording used by the Chinese government and state media to refer to Japan’s release into the ocean of…

Anger in China Over Flooding of Towns, in Part, to Save Beijing

For days, the rain came down in sheets, pounding Beijing and areas around it in what the government said was the heaviest deluge China’s capital had seen since record keeping began 140 years ago. When the extreme downpour finally stopped on Tuesday, most of Beijing had been spared the worst — but partly because officials made sure the floodwaters went elsewhere. Officials in Hebei Province, which borders Beijing, had opened flood gates and spillways in seven low-lying flood control zones to prevent rivers and reservoirs from overflowing in Beijing and…

Shanghai says water supplies ‘normal’ after shortage scare sparks hoarding

A wave of panic buying has swept Shanghai in recent days, as rumours swirled of drinking water shortages despite assurances from local authorities that supplies remained normal. Record-breaking droughts in China dried up parts of the Yangtze River, and prompted saltwater intrusions into the estuary and depleted reservoirs feeding Shanghai, which sits at the mouth of the crucial river. Caixin media reported on Tuesday that Shanghai authorities had taken emergency measures to secure water supply after the intrusions contaminated two of Shanghai’s four primary reservoirs and forced their temporary closure.…

China reports ‘most severe’ heatwave and third driest summer on record

China recorded its highest temperatures and one of its lowest levels of rainfall in 61 years during a two-month summer heatwave that caused forest fires, damaged crops and hit power supplies, the national meteorological agency said. The average national temperature in August, 22.4C, was 1.2C higher than the seasonal norm, while average rainfall fell 23% to 82mm, the third lowest since records began in 1961, according to Xiao Chan, the vice-director of China’s national meteorological administration. He told reporters that 267 weather stations across China recorded their highest temperatures in…

‘It’s getting extremely hard’: climate crisis forces China to ration electricity

There were still some streetlights on the Bund, one of the main roads in central Shanghai. But the decorative lights which light up the city skyline – blue, pink, and red – were turned off for two days to cope with the peaking power demand. The power restriction imposed by the city authorities, was the first in Shanghai, the financial hub of China. But across the rest of the country similar restrictions have been put in place, as cities, notably in the south-western region, grapple with ongoing power shortages caused…

China drought causes Yangtze to dry up, sparking shortage of hydropower

A record-breaking drought has caused some rivers in China – including parts of the Yangtze – to dry up, affecting hydropower, halting shipping, and forcing major companies to suspend operations. A nationwide drought alert was issued on Friday as a long-running and severe heatwave in China’s heavily populated south-west was forecast to continue well into September. The loss of water flow to China’s extensive hydropower system has sparked a “grave situation” in Sichuan, which gets more than 80% of its energy from hydropower. On Sunday the provincial government declared it…

Turning Cities Into Sponges to Save Lives and Property

Imagine a sponge. Swipe it over a wet surface and it will draw up water; squeeze it and the water will trickle out. Now imagine a city made of sponges, or spongelike surfaces, able to soak up rainwater, overflowing rivers or ocean storm surges and release stored water during droughts. Engineers, architects, urban planners and officials around the world are seeking ways to retrofit or reconstruct cities to better deal with water — basically, to act more like sponges. While water management has always been an essential service in cities,…

Terrawatch: what the world can learn from China’s sinking city

Fissures and sinkholes are the norm in China’s Shanxi province. Intensive agriculture combined with major coal production has put huge pressure on water resources and sucked the earth dry, leaving the city of Taiyuan, with a population of 5 million, and the surrounding area suffering some of the highest subsidence rates in the world. Pipelines, roads, bridges and railways need constant repairs, and gaping cracks in buildings have resulted in entire communities having to be rehoused. Since 2003, the Chinese government has been trying to solve this problem by diverting…