- Exclusive: Chinese jet fired flares close to submarine-hunting helicopter in South China Sea, Canadian Navy says CNN
- Canadian military aircraft was in international airspace during Chinese jet intercept: DND Global News
- Chinese J-11 Fighter ‘Attacks’ Canadian CH-148 Chopper With Flares; PLAAF Continues To Harass Western Aircraft EurAsian Times
- China jet fired flares at Canadian helicopter in international waters, Blair says The Globe and Mail
- Canada Fumes After China’s J-11 Fighter Jet Fires Flares At Chopper Over South China Sea | Details Hindustan Times
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: flares
Rancor flares on the Wisconsin Supreme Court as its new liberal majority moves to limit the chief justice’s power – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- Rancor flares on the Wisconsin Supreme Court as its new liberal majority moves to limit the chief justice’s power Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- New liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court majority moves to weaken conservative chief justice The Associated Press
- Wisconsin Supreme Court liberal majority asserts new power Madison.com
- Major cases await as liberals exert control of Wisconsin Supreme Court WMTV – NBC15
- Conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler accuses liberal majority of meeting in secret Wisconsin Public Radio
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Israel hits Gaza as conflict flares after West Bank clashes
JERUSALEM/GAZA, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Israeli jets struck Gaza overnight on Friday in retaliation for two rockets fired by Palestinian militants, further escalating tensions after one of the worst days of violence in the occupied West Bank in years.
The rockets fired from Gaza overnight set off alarms in Israeli communities near the border with the southern coastal strip controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas but there were no reports of casualties.
The cross-border fire came after an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank on Thursday that killed at least nine Palestinians, including militant gunmen and at least two civilians, the highest single-day death toll in years.
Another man died in a separate incident in al-Ramm outside Jerusalem, bringing the Palestinian death toll so far in 2023 to at least 30.
The raid, the latest in a near-daily series of clashes in the West Bank over the past year, came days before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to visit Israel and the West Bank.
Palestinian officials said CIA director William Burns, who was visiting Israel and the West Bank on a trip arranged before the latest violence, would meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday. No comment was immediately available from U.S. officials in Jerusalem.
The months of violence, which surged after a spate of lethal attacks in Israel last year, have drawn fears the already unpredictable conflict could spiral out of control, triggering a broader confrontation between Palestinians and Israel.
[1/2] Smoke and flames rise during Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh
The U.S. State Department issued a statement on Thursday saying it was “deeply concerned” with the violence in the West Bank and urged both sides to de-escalate the conflict.
The United Nations, Egypt and Qatar have also urged calm, Palestinian officials said.
In Gaza, large rallies were planned for the afternoon following Friday prayers as residents inured to years of exchanges of rockets and airstrikes between Israel and Hamas feared further clashes.
“We didn’t sleep the whole night, bombing and missiles,” said 50 year-old Abdallah Al-Husary. “There is worry and there is fear, any minute a war can happen. With any clash in the West Bank, there can be war along the borders in Gaza.”
In the aftermath of Thursday’s raid, the Palestinian Authority, which has limited governing powers in the West Bank, said it was suspending a security cooperation arrangement with Israel that is widely credited with helping to keep order in the territory and preventing attacks against Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to power this year at the head of one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history, said Israel was not looking to escalate the situation, although he ordered security forces to be on alert.
The Israeli Defence Force said Friday’s air strikes in Gaza targeted an underground rocket manufacturing site and a military base used by Hamas.
Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Dan Williams and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Edmund Blair
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Fast-growing sunspot may threaten Earth with flares and eruptions
A once-tiny spot on the sun’s surface grew over the weekend to the size of Earth, potentially threatening our planet with radio blackout-causing solar flares and plasma eruptions that could trigger aurora displays.
The sun has been lively in the past few weeks, treating skywatchers at high latitudes and astronauts onboard the International Space Station to beautiful aurora displays. There may be more of those storms to come, as the sunspot AR3085 keeps growing and rotating toward Earth.
The sunspot is one of six active regions currently observable on the disk of the sun, but space weather forecasters are not too worried about it, predicting low activity for the next 24 hours with occasional mild solar flares that could possibly cause short-duration radio blackouts, according to U.K. space weather forecaster Met Office (opens in new tab).
Related: Storm-boosted auroras dazzle skywatchers around the world (photos)
Met Office expects the low solar activity to continue in the next four days, with a small chance of an increase to moderate levels. A small coronal hole, an opening in the magnetic field lines in the sun’s upper atmosphere, the corona, may increase the flow of solar wind toward Earth, possibly leading to turbulent geomagnetic conditions, which might make auroras visible farther away from the poles.
Of course, the sunspot AR3085, which has, according to spaceweather.com, increased in size tenfold in the past two days, might fire a coronal mass ejection (CME) — a burst of charged particles — at Earth, triggering a geomagnetic storm later in the week. Currently, however, no such CME is heading our direction.
Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
‘Cannibal’ solar flares may bring auroras as far as New York
The sun has spat out two clouds of plasma in the past two days, which might trigger beautiful aurora displays observable much farther south than usual.
The two coronal mass ejections (CMEs), eruptions of charged particles from the sun’s upper atmosphere known as the corona, burst from the sun on Aug. 14 and 15 respectively, according to the U.K. forecaster Met Office (opens in new tab). As the CMEs cross the 900,000-mile (150 million kilometers) distance between the star and our planet, they might cannibalize each other, according to SpaceWeather.com (opens in new tab), creating a single super powerful CME.
CME cannibalization occurs when the sun launches two eruptions within a short period of time, with the second of the two being more energetic, and therefore faster than the first.
The double CME is currently expected to reach Earth on Thursday (Aug. 18) and might trigger aurora displays that could be visible as far south as New York and the north of England.
Related: Where and how to photograph the aurora
Auroras are a by-product of geomagnetic storms caused by interactions between Earth’s magnetic field and the magnetized plasma from the sun. In addition to those mesmerizing phenomena, geomagnetic storms can also trigger power blackouts and disrupt satellite links and radio communications. The United Kingdom’s national weather service, Met Office, predicts the upcoming geomagnetic storm to be only minor and doesn’t expect significant disruption.
There are currently five numbered sunspot regions on the visible disk of the sun, generating solar flares, bursts of electromagnetic radiation that also affect Earth. Unlike CMEs, which take up to three days to arrive, solar flares reach the planet at the speed of light, which means forecasters can give no advance warning as the planet experiences the effect the moment the flares are seen.
Within the past 24 hours, there have been three moderate-class flares from the most active sunspot region, which triggered minor radio blackouts, Met Office said. The space weather forecasters expect further flares over the coming days. In addition to the two CMEs, there is also some increased solar wind flowing from a coronal hole, which will enhance the aurora displays expected toward the end of this week.
Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
China live-fire military exercises: Taiwan’s Kinmen islands fire flares to drive away drones – live | Taiwan
Taiwan fires flares to drive away drones near Kinmen islands
Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday that unidentified aircraft, probably drones, had flown on Wednesday night above the area of its Kinmen islands, which are just off the southeastern coast of China, and that it had fired flares to drive them away.
A senior military official at Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen islands added that the situation is “normal” on the islands, including it military alertness level, according to a recent Reuters report.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concluded her visit to Taiwan on Wednesday with a pledge that the American commitment to democracy on the self-governing island and elsewhere “remains ironclad.”
“,”elementId”:”f2686d28-08bf-4fc9-9fd1-bbeeebc98e93″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Pelosi received a euphoric welcome as the first US House speaker to visit in more than 25 years.
“,”elementId”:”0b0db2f3-a49d-4f24-9a23-6d3676e4617b”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Before leaving, a calm but resolute Pelosi repeated previous remarks about the world facing “a choice between democracy and autocracy.”
“,”elementId”:”f161e4c0-8c08-4d99-9be5-314be67da4c8″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”
n
America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad,” she said.
n
“,”elementId”:”95d006e9-1d7a-469b-b338-e8b6ecf30dbf”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The Biden administration, and Pelosi, have said that the United States remains committed to the so-called one-China policy, which recognises Beijing but allows informal relations and defence ties with Taipei.
“,”elementId”:”5c5e2b88-90ab-49df-8232-2e0c498d0831″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Thanking Pelosi for her decades of support for Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen presented her with a civilian honour, the Order of the Propitious Clouds.
“,”elementId”:”c4a434e4-86a3-4230-aaba-a2b5d82f2db9″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement”,”html”:”
I led a Congressional delegation to Taiwan to make crystal clear that America stands with the people of Taiwan – and all those committed to Democracy and human rights.
Check out this video of our historic visit to Taipei. pic.twitter.com/TON6zB3x4s
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) August 3, 2022
n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1554897362299981824″,”id”:”1554897362299981824″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”4c74a1cc-956c-4f3c-ba6a-bd9a602197cf”}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1659575709000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”02.15 BST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1659576629000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”02.30 BST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1659576630000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”02.30 BST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”02.30″,”title”:”US commitment to Taiwan democracy ‘remains ironclad'”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 4 Aug 2022 02.45 BST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Wed 3 Aug 2022 23.53 BST”},{“id”:”62eb12118f08b58de97ec316″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday that unidentified aircraft, probably drones, had flown on Wednesday night above the area of its Kinmen islands, which are just off the southeastern coast of China, and that it had fired flares to drive them away.
“,”elementId”:”4da23638-fe7a-4679-ac69-9aceb7bf0ed1″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
A senior military official at Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen islands added that the situation is “normal” on the islands, including it military alertness level, according to a recent Reuters report.
“,”elementId”:”03009f0f-7f24-44a7-8311-48e1ec732c6c”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement”,”media”:{“allImages”:[{“index”:0,”fields”:{“height”:”3036″,”width”:”5057″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/5057.jpg”},{“index”:1,”fields”:{“isMaster”:”true”,”height”:”3036″,”width”:”5057″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg”},{“index”:2,”fields”:{“height”:”1200″,”width”:”2000″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/2000.jpg”},{“index”:3,”fields”:{“height”:”600″,”width”:”1000″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/1000.jpg”},{“index”:4,”fields”:{“height”:”300″,”width”:”500″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/500.jpg”},{“index”:5,”fields”:{“height”:”84″,”width”:”140″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/140.jpg”}]},”data”:{“alt”:”Relics of Kinmen’s history of warfare are scattered across the islands. Kinmen is Taiwan territory but just a few kilometres from the Chinese mainland.”,”caption”:”Relics of Kinmen’s history of warfare are scattered across the islands. Kinmen is Taiwan territory but just a few kilometres from the Chinese mainland.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Helen Davidson/The Observer”},”displayCredit”:true,”role”:”inline”,”imageSources”:[{“weighting”:”inline”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=df1c772e811647308828d94d7fe8b359″,”width”:620},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=c1ee9a3e8ce22fdf762ca26271cf16a1″,”width”:1240},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=605&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=7dffb68c6cbf9efec6ddcba93dbdf9c4″,”width”:605},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=605&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7c378a5779f3afe18571c021d697182a”,”width”:1210},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=3269b5150d9c0a7fd0b6b5d1a7818eba”,”width”:445},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d6f56d2f3ead71baa7e83d2cfb606080″,”width”:890}]},{“weighting”:”thumbnail”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=e530828e65a086c0646e69a9c28f7009″,”width”:140},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=140&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=1cc4ea6767f030a3e2e123aad39d6567″,”width”:280},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=120&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=94b5bf90bb7d4ecaaa809347fed58b8d”,”width”:120},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=120&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=6b160f7e1e674bb4b6d5fe9287568de5″,”width”:240}]},{“weighting”:”supporting”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=380&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=8063f54e49d61e7f270f1ccd6b1a243f”,”width”:380},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=380&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=697c0ee52dfe1ac5300c576572123b83″,”width”:760},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=21de461d250562882c54abde74e14e37″,”width”:300},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=300&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=3a2d11feff3d287a6685e8db2404d956″,”width”:600},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=df1c772e811647308828d94d7fe8b359″,”width”:620},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=c1ee9a3e8ce22fdf762ca26271cf16a1″,”width”:1240},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=605&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=7dffb68c6cbf9efec6ddcba93dbdf9c4″,”width”:605},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=605&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7c378a5779f3afe18571c021d697182a”,”width”:1210},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=3269b5150d9c0a7fd0b6b5d1a7818eba”,”width”:445},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d6f56d2f3ead71baa7e83d2cfb606080″,”width”:890}]},{“weighting”:”showcase”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=860&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=a6e28a8c94c114089656d9203477d907″,”width”:860},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=860&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=ed374af9efc3f42eeabeee26ef7f0499″,”width”:1720},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=780&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=eda3ab9992bd042623aa7b7d5762b0de”,”width”:780},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=780&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=eb26298a637f99e00e671d035692e78d”,”width”:1560},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=df1c772e811647308828d94d7fe8b359″,”width”:620},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=c1ee9a3e8ce22fdf762ca26271cf16a1″,”width”:1240},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=605&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=7dffb68c6cbf9efec6ddcba93dbdf9c4″,”width”:605},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=605&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7c378a5779f3afe18571c021d697182a”,”width”:1210},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=3269b5150d9c0a7fd0b6b5d1a7818eba”,”width”:445},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d6f56d2f3ead71baa7e83d2cfb606080″,”width”:890}]},{“weighting”:”halfwidth”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=df1c772e811647308828d94d7fe8b359″,”width”:620},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=c1ee9a3e8ce22fdf762ca26271cf16a1″,”width”:1240},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=605&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=7dffb68c6cbf9efec6ddcba93dbdf9c4″,”width”:605},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=605&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7c378a5779f3afe18571c021d697182a”,”width”:1210},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=3269b5150d9c0a7fd0b6b5d1a7818eba”,”width”:445},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d6f56d2f3ead71baa7e83d2cfb606080″,”width”:890}]},{“weighting”:”immersive”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=1900&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=ed4583f275296cc22c1624097f12441e”,”width”:1900},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=1900&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=bae0d30e99049a3c89bdfad78e6d4297″,”width”:3800},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=1300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=0e1af78286d20c9743c6b8d16c4f9c88″,”width”:1300},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=1300&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=ac51ce9ce31766e57fd95beea797da08″,”width”:2600},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=1140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=14347b3ca4b78ee7a181e630b717b996″,”width”:1140},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=1140&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d0024c3012259098aa606362247b103b”,”width”:2280},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=980&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=a7b00d055efab6b487962084cadfc6bd”,”width”:980},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=980&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=3fac948c305a428edd609e384eec8e18″,”width”:1960},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=740&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=5038ed2d7d795d1a22680b1c95cfaa70″,”width”:740},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=740&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=8d32fb15f6c401ed189612f9fe8ede2a”,”width”:1480},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=660&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=09aa7007c2ca1f96246e55088b9ddebf”,”width”:660},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=660&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=f14632ac4f44b0f03d00df4fe6a85047″,”width”:1320},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=480&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=e65e0bfa2768eb1720a11c7589421590″,”width”:480},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0186ed101e5030f22b6ed16e6d8ca123356fa213/0_178_5057_3036/master/5057.jpg?width=480&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=00a8ce945e02278b1a4a8b4ff062b63b”,”width”:960}]}],”elementId”:”7958e64f-7438-4385-96f7-407ba4828bf2″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:true,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1659572753000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”01.25 BST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1659576969000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”02.36 BST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1659573105000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”01.31 BST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”01.31″,”title”:”Taiwan fires flares to drive away drones near Kinmen islands”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 4 Aug 2022 02.45 BST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Wed 3 Aug 2022 23.53 BST”},{“id”:”62eb0a758f0892e28b4ab62b”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The world’s most powerful democracies have slammed China for “increasing tensions and destabilising the region” over its response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
“,”elementId”:”b2967249-b530-4142-b975-8685aada872d”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The G7’s top diplomats on Wednesday said they were “concerned by recent and announced threatening actions by the People’s Republic of China, particularly live-fire exercises and economic coercion, which risk unnecessary escalation”.
“,”elementId”:”671eb991-18e1-4b13-bae4-1b3279561557″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The statement from the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US and the EU, read:
“,”elementId”:”80551199-5064-4497-8484-a939a2a40d7d”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”
n
There is no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait. It is normal and routine for legislators from our countries to travel internationally.
n
The PRC’s escalatory response risks increasing tensions and destabilising the region.
n
“,”elementId”:”c615acf2-c950-4159-af13-07795dc2d201″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
It urged China not to “unilaterally change the status quo by force in the region, and to resolve cross-strait differences by peaceful means”.
“,”elementId”:”3d5d5c23-e25e-4e44-a883-93489fdd2fa8″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
They also made clear there was “no change in the respective one-China policies, where applicable, and basic positions on Taiwan of the G7 members”.
“,”elementId”:”eca3d960-c6ad-4c2f-8e02-6d6337be7f07″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”
n
[We] encourage all parties to remain calm, exercise restraint, act with transparency, and maintain open lines of communication to prevent misunderstanding.”
n
“,”elementId”:”ab6b0d14-da17-40a9-a8e9-aaf4e3b14fc0″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1659570805000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”00.53 BST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1659571396000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”01.03 BST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1659571397000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”01.03 BST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”01.03″,”title”:”G7 calls on China to resolve Taiwan dispute”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 4 Aug 2022 02.45 BST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Wed 3 Aug 2022 23.53 BST”},{“id”:”62eb047d8f0878ca99e20a97″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s high-profile visit to Taiwan, the senior US official arrived in Seoul on Wednesday night as part of her Asian tour.
“,”elementId”:”ea6e035c-7c9e-4d77-91d9-56c5be75a020″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The congresswoman, who is second in line to the US presidency, will on Thursday meet South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and leaders of the ruling conservative People Power Party, as well as the opposition Democratic Party of Korea.
“,”elementId”:”512b533e-58db-4e90-92b3-83c6d63813fb”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
However, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has no plans to meet Pelosi as he is currently on a summer holiday, an official at the presidential office told SCMP.
“,”elementId”:”04626f63-d0eb-4b73-b22b-ec6b9866135b”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The official denied earlier press reports that Yoon, who is taking a break at his home in Seoul, may head out to receive Pelosi.
“,”elementId”:”85a86ab4-3f9f-464b-a3cb-f0e087186fcc”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”
n
In the first place, there was no such a plan (for Yoon’s meeting with Pelosi) as the president’s vacation schedule coincides with her visit here.”
n
“,”elementId”:”c61e94b8-e8d5-4b81-ab00-0306c129544e”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement”,”media”:{“allImages”:[{“index”:0,”fields”:{“height”:”3288″,”width”:”5477″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/5477.jpg”},{“index”:1,”fields”:{“isMaster”:”true”,”height”:”3288″,”width”:”5477″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg”},{“index”:2,”fields”:{“height”:”1200″,”width”:”2000″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/2000.jpg”},{“index”:3,”fields”:{“height”:”600″,”width”:”1000″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/1000.jpg”},{“index”:4,”fields”:{“height”:”300″,”width”:”500″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/500.jpg”},{“index”:5,”fields”:{“height”:”84″,”width”:”140″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/140.jpg”}]},”data”:{“alt”:”South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will not be meeting US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as he is currently on a summer holiday.”,”caption”:”South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will not be meeting US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as he is currently on a summer holiday.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Presidential Office Handout/EPA”},”displayCredit”:true,”role”:”inline”,”imageSources”:[{“weighting”:”inline”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=311ac65a0389c0a0458141d1d7ef3c97″,”width”:620},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=82c1768bd93df54d8f48069702443c1f”,”width”:1240},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=605&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c43d29afbb45829f259425662e06fa1c”,”width”:605},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=605&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=be161359a89daed7d93bdc0af11c60f3″,”width”:1210},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=411e43019e9167abf675c6f264464e62″,”width”:445},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7e9b4d76202d2d57cd0051b4c0947be8″,”width”:890}]},{“weighting”:”thumbnail”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=a00eb673833f3dbc2d52e21795b2be45″,”width”:140},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=140&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=365c4cc008501ad303833497f6d55dcb”,”width”:280},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=120&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=934c28ef90e512e0dc2d3ba906d1afc3″,”width”:120},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=120&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=2d8181de0ab754e7807f103b0a435725″,”width”:240}]},{“weighting”:”supporting”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=380&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=0903042019515b170bafc863fc782de3″,”width”:380},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=380&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=564063b6f69a113029a03c19b034a929″,”width”:760},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=6d32c3c81dc35132cd5a1fcbf25a95cf”,”width”:300},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=300&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=821daae848d71c2869be9ce931512220″,”width”:600},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=311ac65a0389c0a0458141d1d7ef3c97″,”width”:620},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=82c1768bd93df54d8f48069702443c1f”,”width”:1240},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=605&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c43d29afbb45829f259425662e06fa1c”,”width”:605},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=605&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=be161359a89daed7d93bdc0af11c60f3″,”width”:1210},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=411e43019e9167abf675c6f264464e62″,”width”:445},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7e9b4d76202d2d57cd0051b4c0947be8″,”width”:890}]},{“weighting”:”showcase”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=860&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=3885bdba9d8ab3b53d3bb8736c26fe60″,”width”:860},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=860&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=f425756530a042e0c4176a801f12fe09″,”width”:1720},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=780&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c7a8f1069e7031b3d6d0870bb3ca540c”,”width”:780},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=780&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=21ba6322db9aa49d173f907a094eb2a8″,”width”:1560},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=311ac65a0389c0a0458141d1d7ef3c97″,”width”:620},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=82c1768bd93df54d8f48069702443c1f”,”width”:1240},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=605&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c43d29afbb45829f259425662e06fa1c”,”width”:605},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=605&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=be161359a89daed7d93bdc0af11c60f3″,”width”:1210},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=411e43019e9167abf675c6f264464e62″,”width”:445},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7e9b4d76202d2d57cd0051b4c0947be8″,”width”:890}]},{“weighting”:”halfwidth”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=311ac65a0389c0a0458141d1d7ef3c97″,”width”:620},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=82c1768bd93df54d8f48069702443c1f”,”width”:1240},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=605&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c43d29afbb45829f259425662e06fa1c”,”width”:605},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=605&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=be161359a89daed7d93bdc0af11c60f3″,”width”:1210},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=411e43019e9167abf675c6f264464e62″,”width”:445},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7e9b4d76202d2d57cd0051b4c0947be8″,”width”:890}]},{“weighting”:”immersive”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=1900&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=a683d95d962b4bbbec0e986401aec011″,”width”:1900},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=1900&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=0aaba6b3842ad031354c327e45d20474″,”width”:3800},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=1300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=fdc4e8935e78f00f44560d7d68f87cb7″,”width”:1300},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=1300&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=e7ed6842e90f608e24c6f364990b92a0″,”width”:2600},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=1140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=1373742b166980ea319d77beede8464e”,”width”:1140},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=1140&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=847c4bd5eca356c05cf868930b6b682d”,”width”:2280},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=980&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=9c5d80266d13658ef2d9d23d2fde993f”,”width”:980},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=980&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=3326262f23e141164b1a06aeeffb0e7c”,”width”:1960},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=740&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=2a5aa74f3a46a72ad57bbbc80a4b7d8e”,”width”:740},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=740&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=64ba1aa793c13c0facf1fec032659623″,”width”:1480},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=660&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=ac24834049418c6a030da6390a4db7d6″,”width”:660},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=660&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=35676476e7b92c8bf0b5ccb70c31add3″,”width”:1320},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=480&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=bc73045138ef586752a7cc0d0fb5bebd”,”width”:480},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d2cfcaf9419926f2ce91a318a53375d6e503d3eb/0_363_5477_3288/master/5477.jpg?width=480&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=aca98f4af7ee151581a61999db3de9a3″,”width”:960}]}],”elementId”:”959dd488-f6fe-4909-8575-53187ddde579″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The presidential office “welcomes” Pelosi’s visit to South Korea and it hopes her talks with National Assembly Speaker Kim will be productive, the official said.
“,”elementId”:”8bf7bd84-b6f0-4985-94ad-615aa1437f9d”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Asked about Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan, she said: “Our government’s stance is that we will maintain close communication with the nations concerned on all issues under the banner of the need for peace and stability in the region through dialogue and cooperation.”
“,”elementId”:”1e366db2-eccd-4bbe-a8f0-5781c9231a77″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Speculation mounted on social media.
“,”elementId”:”72ae89a7-dc17-48a8-8a1f-7f5f67b26968″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
“Because of vacation? No way. Yoon is not meeting Pelosi as he is nunchi-ing around China,” one post read. Had this happened to Yoon’s predecessor – liberal former president Moon Jae-in – conservatives and news media would have “raised hell with it” and accused Moon of nunchi-ing around Beijing, the post added.
“,”elementId”:”4616d6a0-19f2-4c97-85e0-5288a913773a”}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1659569277000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”00.27 BST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1659572215000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”01.16 BST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1659570231000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”00.43 BST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”00.43″,”title”:”South Korean President won’t be meeting Pelosi in Seoul, on holiday”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 4 Aug 2022 02.45 BST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Wed 3 Aug 2022 23.53 BST”},{“id”:”62eaf5b78f08b58de97ec28c”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The former Chinese ambassador to the UK issued a scathing statement overnight, warning the US to stop obstructing China’s “great cause of reunification” and describing the process as a “historical inevitability”.
“,”elementId”:”f7c1aa11-7310-43f2-a8f4-df2f96b8e713″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Liu Xiao Ming said:
“,”elementId”:”f4e2b5e9-0fd9-4e19-8cff-ed4f1ebe13db”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”
n
The United States should not fantasise about obstructing China’s great cause of reunification. Taiwan is part of China.
n
Realising complete national reunification is the general trend and a historical inevitability. We will never leave any space for ‘Taiwan independence’ split and interference from external forces.
n
No matter what way the US supports and condones ‘Taiwan independence’, it will ultimately be a sham, and it will only leave more ugly records of the US grossly interfering in other countries’ internal affairs in history.
n
The Taiwan issue was born out of the country’s weakness and chaos, and it will surely end with the rejuvenation of the nation in the future.”
n
“,”elementId”:”e05b42d1-ebc1-49af-8d7b-f6c2798ad33a”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement”,”html”:”
美国不要幻想阻挠中国的统一大业。台湾是中国的一部分。实现国家完全统一是大势所趋，是历史必然。我们绝不会为“台独”分裂和外部势力干涉留下任何空间。美方不论以什么方式支持纵容“台独”，最终都将是竹篮打水一场空，只会在历史上留下更多美国粗暴干涉别国内政的丑陋记录。
— 刘晓明Liu Xiaoming (@AmbLiuXiaoMing) August 3, 2022
n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/AmbLiuXiaoMing/status/1554837161664323584″,”id”:”1554837161664323584″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”46d5f5b6-5eed-4e92-982f-284fbfc0bec0″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1659567184000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”23.53 BST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1659568193000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”00.09 BST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1659568194000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”00.09 BST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”00.09″,”title”:”China claiming Taiwan’s territory a ‘historical inevitability’, former ambassador to UK says”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 4 Aug 2022 02.45 BST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Wed 3 Aug 2022 23.53 BST”},{“id”:”62eaf59b8f0878ca99e20a3d”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of tensions between China and Taiwan.
“,”elementId”:”d9f9fca5-8566-42a0-b752-44b2b1936ba2″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments.
“,”elementId”:”da1de8fb-cbe5-4dac-b87e-aa492e786e68″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
It is approaching 7am in Beijing. Here is everything you might have missed:
“,”elementId”:”0ca43510-122e-4346-acd5-6ed048c3c718″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
- n
- China is to begin a series of unprecedented live-fire drills that would effectively blockade the island of Taiwan, just hours after the departure of US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, whose controversial visit this week has sparked fears of a crisis in the Taiwan strait.
- Taiwan has characterised the drills as a violation of international law. The drills will last until Sunday afternoon – and will include missile tests and other “military operations” as close as nine miles to Taiwan’s coastline.
- Ahead of the drill, Taiwan said 27 Chinese warplanes had entered its air defence zone.
- Pelosi arrived in Taipei on Tuesday night under intense global scrutiny, and was met by the foreign minister Joseph Wu and the US representative in Taiwan, Sandra Oudkirk.
- Pelosi addressed Taiwan’s parliament on Wednesday before having public and private meetings with the president, Tsai Ing-wen. “Our delegation came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear we will not abandon Taiwan, and we are proud of our enduring friendship,” she said, adding that US solidarity with Taiwan was “crucial” in facing an increasingly authoritarian China.
- In a later statement, she said China could not prevent world leaders from travelling to Taiwan “to pay respect to its flourishing democracy”.
- Pelosi’s trip generated condemnation from Beijing and sparked fears of a new Taiwan strait crisis.
- China vowed “consequences” and announced military exercises in waters around the island on Thursday to show its dissatisfaction.
- Taiwan’s defence ministry accused Beijing of planning to violate the international convention on the law of sea, by breaching Taiwan’s sovereign territory.
- Taiwanese authorities have said the proximity to some major ports combined with orders for all aircraft and sea vessels to steer clear of the area amount to a blockade.
- While China’s military often holds live-fire exercises in the strait and surrounding seas, those planned for this week encircle Taiwan’s main island and target areas within its territorial sea.
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
“,”elementId”:”f8193e06-2976-44e5-addb-63f2023c0c22″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.InteractiveBlockElement”,”url”:”https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader/embed/2022/08/china-taiwan-exercises/giv-6562kaKEyJd3irEy/”,”alt”:”China to conduct a series of live-fire military drills in waters surrounding Taiwan”,”scriptUrl”:”https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/iframe-wrapper/0.1/boot.js”,”isMandatory”:false,”caption”:”China to conduct a series of live-fire military drills in waters surrounding Taiwan”,”elementId”:”b7df431e-5b6a-412d-804f-35e258ef085b”}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1659567184000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”23.53 BST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1659568874000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”00.21 BST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1659567184000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”23.53 BST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”23.53″,”title”:”Summary and welcome”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 4 Aug 2022 02.45 BST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Wed 3 Aug 2022 23.53 BST”}],”filterKeyEvents”:false,”format”:{“display”:0,”theme”:0,”design”:9},”id”:”key-events-carousel-mobile”}”>
Key events
The Taiwan defence ministry has said its website suffered cyber attacks and went offline temporarily on Thursday, adding it is working closely with other authorities to enhance cyber security as tensions with China rise.
Earlier this week, several government websites, including the presidential office, were subject to overseas cyber attacks, some of which authorities said were launched by China and Russia.
US commitment to Taiwan democracy ‘remains ironclad’
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concluded her visit to Taiwan on Wednesday with a pledge that the American commitment to democracy on the self-governing island and elsewhere “remains ironclad.”
Pelosi received a euphoric welcome as the first US House speaker to visit in more than 25 years.
Before leaving, a calm but resolute Pelosi repeated previous remarks about the world facing “a choice between democracy and autocracy.”
America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad,” she said.
The Biden administration, and Pelosi, have said that the United States remains committed to the so-called one-China policy, which recognises Beijing but allows informal relations and defence ties with Taipei.
Thanking Pelosi for her decades of support for Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen presented her with a civilian honour, the Order of the Propitious Clouds.
I led a Congressional delegation to Taiwan to make crystal clear that America stands with the people of Taiwan – and all those committed to Democracy and human rights.
Check out this video of our historic visit to Taipei. pic.twitter.com/TON6zB3x4s
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) August 3, 2022
n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1554897362299981824″,”id”:”1554897362299981824″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”e67630e3-9796-45ff-9ff2-5358d28ee773″}}”>
I led a Congressional delegation to Taiwan to make crystal clear that America stands with the people of Taiwan – and all those committed to Democracy and human rights.
Check out this video of our historic visit to Taipei. pic.twitter.com/TON6zB3x4s
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) August 3, 2022
Here is a little more detail on the suspected drone activity above the Kinmen islands on Wednesday night.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday that unidentified aircraft, probably drones, had flown on Wednesday night above the area of its Kinmen islands and that it had fired flares to drive them away.
Major General Chang Zone-sung of the Army’s Kinmen Defence Command told Reuters that the Chinese drones came in a pair and flew into the Kinmen area twice on Wednesday night, at around 9pm (1pm GMT) and 10pm.
We immediately fired flares to issue warnings and to drive them away. After that, they turned around. They came into our restricted area and that’s why we dispersed them,” he said.
We have a standard operating procedure. We will react if they come in,” Chang said, adding that the alert level there remained “normal”.
Chang said he believed the drones were intended to gather intelligence on Taiwan’s security deployment in its outlying islands.
The heavily fortified Kinmen islands are just off the southeastern coast of China, near the city of Xiamen.
Last week, Taiwan’s military fired flares to warn away a drone that “glanced” its Matsu archipelago off the coast of China’s Fujian province and was possibly probing its defences, Taiwan’s defence ministry said.
Taiwan fires flares to drive away drones near Kinmen islands
Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday that unidentified aircraft, probably drones, had flown on Wednesday night above the area of its Kinmen islands, which are just off the southeastern coast of China, and that it had fired flares to drive them away.
A senior military official at Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen islands added that the situation is “normal” on the islands, including it military alertness level, according to a recent Reuters report.
G7 calls on China to resolve Taiwan dispute
The world’s most powerful democracies have slammed China for “increasing tensions and destabilising the region” over its response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
The G7’s top diplomats on Wednesday said they were “concerned by recent and announced threatening actions by the People’s Republic of China, particularly live-fire exercises and economic coercion, which risk unnecessary escalation”.
The statement from the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US and the EU, read:
There is no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait. It is normal and routine for legislators from our countries to travel internationally.
The PRC’s escalatory response risks increasing tensions and destabilising the region.
It urged China not to “unilaterally change the status quo by force in the region, and to resolve cross-strait differences by peaceful means”.
They also made clear there was “no change in the respective one-China policies, where applicable, and basic positions on Taiwan of the G7 members”.
[We] encourage all parties to remain calm, exercise restraint, act with transparency, and maintain open lines of communication to prevent misunderstanding.”
South Korean President won’t be meeting Pelosi in Seoul, on holiday
Following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s high-profile visit to Taiwan, the senior US official arrived in Seoul on Wednesday night as part of her Asian tour.
The congresswoman, who is second in line to the US presidency, will on Thursday meet South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and leaders of the ruling conservative People Power Party, as well as the opposition Democratic Party of Korea.
However, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has no plans to meet Pelosi as he is currently on a summer holiday, an official at the presidential office told SCMP.
The official denied earlier press reports that Yoon, who is taking a break at his home in Seoul, may head out to receive Pelosi.
In the first place, there was no such a plan (for Yoon’s meeting with Pelosi) as the president’s vacation schedule coincides with her visit here.”
The presidential office “welcomes” Pelosi’s visit to South Korea and it hopes her talks with National Assembly Speaker Kim will be productive, the official said.
Asked about Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan, she said: “Our government’s stance is that we will maintain close communication with the nations concerned on all issues under the banner of the need for peace and stability in the region through dialogue and cooperation.”
Speculation mounted on social media.
“Because of vacation? No way. Yoon is not meeting Pelosi as he is nunchi-ing around China,” one post read. Had this happened to Yoon’s predecessor – liberal former president Moon Jae-in – conservatives and news media would have “raised hell with it” and accused Moon of nunchi-ing around Beijing, the post added.
China claiming Taiwan’s territory a ‘historical inevitability’, former ambassador to UK says
The former Chinese ambassador to the UK issued a scathing statement overnight, warning the US to stop obstructing China’s “great cause of reunification” and describing the process as a “historical inevitability”.
Liu Xiao Ming said:
The United States should not fantasise about obstructing China’s great cause of reunification. Taiwan is part of China.
Realising complete national reunification is the general trend and a historical inevitability. We will never leave any space for ‘Taiwan independence’ split and interference from external forces.
No matter what way the US supports and condones ‘Taiwan independence’, it will ultimately be a sham, and it will only leave more ugly records of the US grossly interfering in other countries’ internal affairs in history.
The Taiwan issue was born out of the country’s weakness and chaos, and it will surely end with the rejuvenation of the nation in the future.”
美国不要幻想阻挠中国的统一大业。台湾是中国的一部分。实现国家完全统一是大势所趋，是历史必然。我们绝不会为“台独”分裂和外部势力干涉留下任何空间。美方不论以什么方式支持纵容“台独”，最终都将是竹篮打水一场空，只会在历史上留下更多美国粗暴干涉别国内政的丑陋记录。
— 刘晓明Liu Xiaoming (@AmbLiuXiaoMing) August 3, 2022
n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/AmbLiuXiaoMing/status/1554837161664323584″,”id”:”1554837161664323584″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”485f1fed-ca7b-4c84-b21b-68c8c1c9a0b9″}}”>
美国不要幻想阻挠中国的统一大业。台湾是中国的一部分。实现国家完全统一是大势所趋，是历史必然。我们绝不会为“台独”分裂和外部势力干涉留下任何空间。美方不论以什么方式支持纵容“台独”，最终都将是竹篮打水一场空，只会在历史上留下更多美国粗暴干涉别国内政的丑陋记录。
— 刘晓明Liu Xiaoming (@AmbLiuXiaoMing) August 3, 2022
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of tensions between China and Taiwan.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments.
It is approaching 7am in Beijing. Here is everything you might have missed:
- China is to begin a series of unprecedented live-fire drills that would effectively blockade the island of Taiwan, just hours after the departure of US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, whose controversial visit this week has sparked fears of a crisis in the Taiwan strait.
- Taiwan has characterised the drills as a violation of international law. The drills will last until Sunday afternoon – and will include missile tests and other “military operations” as close as nine miles to Taiwan’s coastline.
- Ahead of the drill, Taiwan said 27 Chinese warplanes had entered its air defence zone.
- Pelosi arrived in Taipei on Tuesday night under intense global scrutiny, and was met by the foreign minister Joseph Wu and the US representative in Taiwan, Sandra Oudkirk.
- Pelosi addressed Taiwan’s parliament on Wednesday before having public and private meetings with the president, Tsai Ing-wen. “Our delegation came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear we will not abandon Taiwan, and we are proud of our enduring friendship,” she said, adding that US solidarity with Taiwan was “crucial” in facing an increasingly authoritarian China.
- In a later statement, she said China could not prevent world leaders from travelling to Taiwan “to pay respect to its flourishing democracy”.
- Pelosi’s trip generated condemnation from Beijing and sparked fears of a new Taiwan strait crisis.
- China vowed “consequences” and announced military exercises in waters around the island on Thursday to show its dissatisfaction.
- Taiwan’s defence ministry accused Beijing of planning to violate the international convention on the law of sea, by breaching Taiwan’s sovereign territory.
- Taiwanese authorities have said the proximity to some major ports combined with orders for all aircraft and sea vessels to steer clear of the area amount to a blockade.
- While China’s military often holds live-fire exercises in the strait and surrounding seas, those planned for this week encircle Taiwan’s main island and target areas within its territorial sea.
Solar eruptions, flares could impact Earth, NASA says
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Solar eruptions are happening and according to NASA, they could cause some problems on Earth.
NASA says the sun has been very active, which is what could cause problems on Earth. The solar eruptions could impact GPS signals, power grids, satellite electronics and radio communication.
Scientists from NASA have said that more solar activity, flares and eruptions are coming and that the solar cycle is not yet at its peak, but has already surpassed expectations.
NASA, PARTNERS REVEAL STUNNINGLY-DETAILED FIRST IMAGES FROM JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE
Scientists from NASA say that the increased solar activity, flares and eruptions could cause problems on Earth.
(AP Photo/NASA)
Not only could this impact people on earth, it could also put astronauts at risk as well as create heath concerns for airplane passengers and flight crews.
DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS MOBILE APP TODAY
NASA predicts that solar eruptions and flares will continue to increase from now until 2025.
China’s factory activity contracts unexpectedly in July as COVID flares up
Employees work on the production line of vehicle components during a government-organised media tour to a factory of German engineering group Voith, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Shanghai, China July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
BEIJING, July 31 (Reuters) – China’s factory activity contracted unexpectedly in July after bouncing back from COVID-19 lockdowns the month before, as fresh virus flare-ups and a darkening global outlook weighed on demand, a survey showed on Sunday.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.0 in July from 50.2 in June, below the 50-point mark that separates contraction from growth, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected it to improve to 50.4.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
“The level of economic prosperity in China has fallen, the foundation for recovery still needs consolidation,” NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said in a statement on the bureau website.
Continued contraction in the oil, coal and metal smelting industries was one of the main factors pulling down the July manufacturing PMI, he said.
The reading was the lowest in three months, with sub-indexes for output, new orders and employment all contracting.
Chinese manufacturers continue to wrestle with high raw material prices, which are squeezing profit margins, as the export outlook remains clouded with fears of a global recession.
Weak demand has constrained recovery, Bruce Pang, chief economist and head of research at Jones Lang Lasalle Inc, said in a research note. “Q3 growth may face greater challenges than expected, as recovery is slow and fragile.”
The official non-manufacturing PMI in July fell to 53.8 from 54.7 in June. The official composite PMI, which includes manufacturing and services, fell to 52.5 from 54.1.
China’s economy barely grew in the second quarter amid widespread lockdowns, and top leaders recently signalled their strict zero-COVID policy would remain a top priority. read more
Policymakers are prepared to miss their GDP target of “around 5.5%” for this year, state media reported after a high-level meeting of the ruling Communist Party. read more
Beijing’s decision to drop mention of the growth target has doused speculation that the authorities would roll out massive stimulus measures, as they often have in previous downturns.
Capital Economics says that policy restraint, along with the constant threat of more lockdowns and weak consumer confidence, is likely to make China’s economic recovery more drawn-out.
FALTERING RECOVERY
After a rebound in June, the recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy has faltered as COVID flare-ups led to tightening curbs on activity in some cities, while the once mighty property market lurches from crisis to crisis.
Chinese manufacturers are also still wrestling with high raw material prices, which are squeezing profit margins, and the export outlook is being clouded by fears of a global recession.
China’s southern megacity of Shenzhen has vowed to “mobilise all resources” to curb a slowly spreading COVID outbreak, ordering strict implementation of testing and temperature checks, and lockdowns for COVID-hit buildings. read more
The port city of Tianjin, home to factories linked to Boeing (BA.N) and Volkswagen , and other areas tightened curbs this month to fight new outbreaks. read more
According to World Economics, the lockdown measures had some impact on 41% of Chinese companies in July, though its index of manufacturing business confidence rose significantly from 50.2 in June to 51.7 in July.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Himani Sarkar and William Mallard
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
A Giant Sunspot Doubled in Size in 24 Hours, And It’s Pointing Right at Earth
A gigantic sunspot has swelled to twice Earth’s size, doubling its diameter in 24 hours, and it’s pointed right at us.
The sunspot, called AR3038, grew to 2.5 times Earth’s size – making the sunspot roughly 19,800 miles, or 31,900 kilometers, in diameter – from Sunday (June 19) to Monday night (June 20), according to Spaceweather.com, a website that tracks news about solar flares, geomagnetic storms and other cosmic weather events.
Sunspots are dark patches on the Sun’s surface where powerful magnetic fields, created by the flow of electric charges from the Sun’s plasma, knot before suddenly snapping. The resulting release of energy launches bursts of radiation called solar flares and generates explosive jets of solar material called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
Related: Strange new type of solar wave defies physics
“Yesterday, sunspot AR3038 was big. Today, it’s enormous. The fast-growing sunspot has doubled in size in only 24 hours,” Spaceweather.com reported. “AR3038 has an unstable ‘beta-gamma’ magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class [medium-sized] solar flares, and it is directly facing Earth.”
When a solar flare hits Earth’s upper atmosphere, the flare’s X-rays and ultraviolet radiation ionize atoms, making it impossible to bounce high-frequency radio waves off them and creating a so-called radio blackout. Radio blackouts occur over the areas on Earth that are lit by the Sun while a flare is underway; such blackouts are classified from R1 to R5 according to ascending severity.
In April and May, two solar flares caused R3 blackouts over the Atlantic Ocean, Australia and Asia, Live Science previously reported. As solar flares travel at the speed of light, they take only 8 minutes to reach us, from an average distance of about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).
If an Earth-facing sunspot forms near the Sun’s equator (where AR3038 is located), it typically takes just under two weeks for it to travel across the Sun so that it is no longer facing Earth, according to SpaceWeatherLive.
Currently, AR3038 lies slightly to the north of the Sun’s equator and is just over halfway across, so Earth will remain in its crosshairs for a few more days.
Despite its alarmingly speedy growth, the giant sunspot is less scary than it may seem. The flares it will most likely produce are M-class solar flares, which “generally cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions,” alongside minor radiation storms, the European Space Agency wrote in a blog post.
M-class flares are the most common type of solar flare. Although the Sun does occasionally release enormous X-class flares (the strongest category) with the potential to cause high-frequency blackouts on the side of Earth that’s exposed to the flare, these flares are observed much less often than smaller solar eruptions.
Sunspots can also belch solar material. On planets that have strong magnetic fields, like Earth, the barrage of solar debris from CMEs is absorbed by our magnetic field, triggering powerful geomagnetic storms.
During these storms, Earth’s magnetic field gets compressed slightly by the waves of highly energetic particles, which trickle down magnetic-field lines near the poles and agitate molecules in the atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light to create colorful auroras in the night sky.
The movements of these electrically charged particles can disrupt our planet’s magnetic field powerfully enough to send satellites tumbling to Earth, Live Science previously reported, and scientists have warned that extreme geomagnetic storms could even cripple the internet.
Erupting debris from CMEs usually takes around 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center.
Astronomers have known since 1775 that solar activity rises and falls according to a roughly 11-year cycle, but recently, the Sun has been more active than expected, with nearly double the sunspot appearances predicted by NOAA. The Sun’s activity is projected to steadily climb for the next few years, reaching an overall maximum in 2025 before decreasing again.
Scientists think the largest solar storm ever witnessed during contemporary history was the 1859 Carrington Event, which released roughly the same energy as 10 billion 1-megaton atomic bombs. After slamming into Earth, the powerful stream of solar particles fried telegraph systems all over the world and caused auroras brighter than the light of the full Moon to appear as far south as the Caribbean.
If a similar event were to happen today, scientists warn, it would cause trillions of dollars in damage and trigger widespread blackouts, much like the 1989 solar storm that released a billion-ton plume of gas and caused a blackout across the entire Canadian province of Quebec, NASA reported.
Related Content:
15 unforgettable images of stars
The 12 strangest objects in the universe
9 ideas about black holes that will blow your mind
This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.
‘No need to panic’ as sunspot with potential for solar flares doubles in size overnight, scientists say
A sunspot pointing toward Earth has the potential to cause solar flares, but experts told USA TODAY it’s far from unusual and eased concerns over how flares would affect the Blue Planet.
Active Region 3038, or AR3038, has been growing over the past week, said Rob Steenburgh, acting lead of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Forecast Office.
“This is what sunspots do,” he said. “Over time, generally, they’ll grow. They go through stages, and then they decay.”
Sunspots appear darker because they are cooler than other parts of the sun’s surface, according to NASA. Sunspots are cooler because they form where strong magnetic fields prevent heat within the sun from reaching its surface.
“I guess the easiest way to put it is that sunspots are regions of magnetic activity,” Steenburgh said.
Solar flares, which typically rise from sunspots, are “a sudden explosion of energy caused by tangling, crossing or reorganizing of magnetic field lines near sunspots,” NASA said.
“You can think of it like the twisting of rubber bands,” Steenburgh said. “If you have a couple of rubber bands twisting around on your finger, they eventually get twisted too much, and they break. The difference with magnetic fields is that they reconnect. And when they reconnect, it’s in that process that a flare is generated.”
The larger and more complex a sunspot becomes, the higher the likelihood is for solar flares, Steenburgh said.
The sunspot has doubled in size each day for the past three days and is about 2.5 times the size of Earth, C. Alex Young, associate director for science in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in an email.
Young said the sunspot is producing small solar flares but “does not have the complexity for the largest flares.” There is a 30% chance the sunspot will produce medium-sized flares and a 10% chance it will create large flares, he said.
W. Dean Pesnell, project scientist of the Solar Dynamics Observatory, said the sunspot is a “modest-sized active region” that “has not grown abnormally rapidly and is still somewhat small in area.”
“AR 3038 is exactly the kind of active region we expect at this point in the solar cycle,” he said.
Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo, lead scientist at the SouthWest Research Institute in San Antonio, said the sunspot is nothing for people on Earth to worry about.
“I want to emphasize there is no need to panic,” he said. “They happen all the time, and we are prepared and doing everything we can to predict and mitigate their effects. For the majority of us, we don’t need to lose sleep over it.”
Solar flares have different levels, Muñoz-Jaramillo said. The smallest are A-class flares, followed by B, C, M and X at the highest strength. Within each letter class is a finer scale using numbers, and the higher numbers denote more intensity.
C flares are too weak to noticeably affect Earth, Muñoz-Jaramillo said. More intense M flares may disrupt radio communication at Earth’s poles. X flares can disrupt satellites, communication systems and power grids and, at their worst, cause electricity shortages and power outages.
Lower-intensity solar flares are pretty common; X flares are less so, Steenburgh said. In a single solar cycle, about 11 years, there are typically about 2,000 M1 flares, about 175 X1 flares and about eight X10 flares, he said. For the largest solar flares at X20 or above, there is less than one per cycle. This solar cycle began in December 2019.
The AR3038 sunspot has caused C flares, Steenburgh said. Although there have been no M or X flares from this area, he said there is a potential for more intense flares in the next week or so.
Sun releases moderate solar flare
(c)2022 USA Today
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Citation:
‘No need to panic’ as sunspot with potential for solar flares doubles in size overnight, scientists say (2022, June 22)
retrieved 22 June 2022
from https://phys.org/news/2022-06-panic-sunspot-potential-solar-flares.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.