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US to require travelers from China to show negative Covid-19 test result before flight | CNN Politics

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US to require travelers from China to show negative Covid-19 test result before flight | CNN Politics



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The USA would require all vacationers from China to point out a damaging Covid-19 check outcome earlier than flying to the nation as Beijing’s fast easing of Covid-19 restrictions results in a surge in circumstances.

Passengers flying to the US from China might want to get a check not more than two days earlier than flying, federal well being officers stated, and current proof of the damaging check to their airline earlier than boarding.

The exams might be both a PCR check or an antigen self-test administered by a telehealth service.

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The requirement will apply each to passengers flying on to the US from China as effectively to passengers flying by well-liked third-country gateways, together with Seoul, Toronto and Vancouver.

Passengers who check constructive greater than 10 days earlier than their flight can present documentation of their restoration in lieu of a damaging check outcome.

The brand new guidelines take impact at 12:01 a.m. ET on January 5.

American officers have expressed deep considerations about China’s lack of transparency surrounding the latest surge in circumstances, notably the absence of genome sequencing data that would assist detect new strains of the coronavirus.

“We all know these measures is not going to eradicate all threat or utterly stop people who find themselves contaminated from coming into the US,” a federal well being official stated. Nonetheless, “taken collectively they are going to assist restrict the variety of contaminated individuals and supply us an early warning about new variants.”

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US well being officers stated the January 5 timeline was chosen to offer airways with ample time to regulate operations to implement the brand new guidelines. The officers didn’t estimate how lengthy they anticipate these guidelines to stay in place, saying they might “monitor the scenario on the bottom and alter as wanted.”

Moreover, officers introduced that the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is increasing the Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance program to airports in Seattle and Los Angeles, bringing the entire variety of airports taking part to seven with roughly 500 weekly flights from a minimum of 30 international locations lined. This can embody roughly 290 weekly flights from China and surrounding areas.

“We’re increasing that to hopefully to choose up any variant which will emerge” in addition to “to scale back transmission of a brand new variant by introducing this pre-departure testing program,” an official stated.

The brand new requirement comes as Japan and India have introduced Covid-19 measures for vacationers from China amid considerations over an uptick in circumstances.

Japan is requiring people touring from China be examined for Covid-19 upon arrival beginning December 30. Indian authorities have stated vacationers from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand must present proof of a damaging Covid-19 check on arrival to India and quarantine in the event that they check constructive.

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China has began loosening its strict Covid-19 measures after dismantling the nation’s long-held zero-Covid coverage earlier this month. On Monday, China introduced it’ll finish quarantine necessities for worldwide arrivals from January 8, marking a significant step towards reopening its borders.

However the sudden finish to the China’s stringent well being coverage has caught many within the nation off guard and put strains on the well being system because it offers with a rise of infections.

Officers famous that the “CDC continues to suggest masking throughout journey, self-monitoring for signs and testing for 3 days after arrival for worldwide journey.”

Officers stated China uploaded “solely about 100” new sequences to public databases in current weeks, “together with Omicron subvariants resembling BA.5,” however the small pattern measurement leaves room for concern, the CDC stated.

“What we’re involved about is a brand new variant might emerge really in China,” one official stated. “With so many individuals in China being contaminated in a brief time frame, there’s a probability and likelihood {that a} new variant will emerge.”

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Requested if there was concern in regards to the veracity of the info – and whether or not China was being truthful and clear, an official stated it was primarily the quantity of information that involved the administration at this level.

“We’ve got simply restricted data by way of what’s being shared associated to variety of circumstances (that) are rising hospitalizations, and particularly deaths,” he stated. “Additionally, there’s been a lower in testing throughout China. In order that additionally makes it troublesome to know what the true an infection fee is.”

China’s international ministry responded Wednesday to stories that the US is contemplating imposing restrictions on vacationers from China, urging events to work collectively to make sure the secure motion of individuals between international locations and the soundness of the worldwide provide chain.

“We’d like all events to work collectively scientifically towards the epidemic to make sure the secure motion of individuals between international locations, keep the soundness of the worldwide industrial chain provide chain and promote the resumption of wholesome development on this planet economic system,” China’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated in a briefing.

This story has been up to date with further developments.

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Russia aims to be global leader in nuclear power plant construction

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Russia aims to be global leader in nuclear power plant construction

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Russia is building more than 10 nuclear units abroad as it looks to tap into rising energy demand driven by artificial intelligence and developing markets, according to an envoy of President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow is doubling down on efforts to boost its global influence by expanding its nuclear fleet, with plants under construction in countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Iran and Turkey. Russia has enhanced its role as a major nuclear energy provider even as the oil and gas sector has faced heavy sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine.

Boris Titov, the Kremlin’s special representative for international co-operation in sustainability, said the country wanted to cement its position as “one of the biggest builders of new nuclear plants in the world”. 

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He said Russia expected strong demand for nuclear power from developing countries eager for cleaner sources of energy, as well as from technology companies harnessing AI in data centres. The International Atomic Energy Agency forecast this year that world nuclear generating capacity would increase by 155 per cent to 950 gigawatts by 2050.

“We are building more than 10 different units around the world,” Titov told the Financial Times. “We need a lot of energy. We will not be able to provide this energy without using . . . nuclear. We know that it’s safe . . . it’s not emitting [greenhouse gas emissions], so it is very clean.”

Boris Titov, the Kremlin’s special representative for international co-operation in sustainability © Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA/LightRocket/Getty Images

Russia’s growing overseas nuclear portfolio, including reactor construction, fuel provision and other services, spans 54 countries, according to an article published last year in the journal Nature Energy by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. 

Titov pointed to Hungary’s Paks 2 plant as well as units in Bangladesh and Turkey. Russia is also expected to build a plant with small modular reactors in Uzbekistan, while it signed an agreement with Burkina Faso’s ruling junta in 2023. The FT reported this year that Russia was involved in more than a third of new reactors being built worldwide.

Western governments have attempted to push back against Russia’s nuclear prominence, with the US banning imports of Russian-enriched uranium this May. 

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With the exception of Hungary, most eastern European countries have signed contracts for fuel developed to fit Soviet-era reactors by US company Westinghouse since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

As part of a wider push to meet an indicative target of being free from Russian fuel imports by 2027, Dan Jørgensen, the new EU commissioner for energy, said that he wanted to examine the “full nuclear supply chain”. 

But Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán and Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico have said they would block any steps to restrict Russia’s civilian nuclear energy industry.

After meeting Putin on Sunday, Fico said in a post on Facebook that potential sanctions against Russia would be “financially damaging and endanger the production of electricity in nuclear power plants in Slovakia, which is unacceptable”.

But fears that Russia could create critical nuclear fuel shortages for the bloc, as it did for gas in 2022, are overstated, one senior EU official said.

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“Rosatom has a vested interest to be reliable,” they added.

A more immediate problem is US sanctions on Gazprombank, a major conduit for energy payments to Russia. The measures exempted civil nuclear energy except for Hungary’s Paks 2 plant. Hungary’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó has called the singling out of the new plant an “entirely political decision”.

Many developing countries are looking at nuclear to meet clean energy requirements, offering more potential markets for Russia.

Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Malaysia’s natural resources and environmental sustainability minister, told the Financial Times that the country was “studying the introduction of nuclear”. 

He said all the “major players” were “talking to the [Malaysian] government” on potential projects, without referring to specific countries.

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Speaking at the UN COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan in November, Jake Levine, senior climate and energy director at the US National Security Council, said Washington was concerned about countries turning to China or Russia for nuclear power.

Global competitiveness in the industry was a “huge issue”, he added.

Additional reporting by Anastasia Stognei, Polina Ivanova and Raphael Minder

Climate Capital

Where climate change meets business, markets and politics. Explore the FT’s coverage here.

Are you curious about the FT’s environmental sustainability commitments? Find out more about our science-based targets here

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Why Trump's tariffs on Mexico would mean higher avocado prices at the grocery store

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Why Trump's tariffs on Mexico would mean higher avocado prices at the grocery store

Avocados grow on trees in an orchard in the municipality of Ario de Rosales, Michoacan state, Mexico, on Sept. 21, 2023. Tariffs on Mexican imports would have a big effect on avocados in the U.S.

Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images


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Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images

Of all the products that would be affected by President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Mexico, avocados stand out: 90% of avocados consumed in the U.S. are imported. And almost all of those imports come from Mexico.

Trump has said he plans to impose a blanket tariff of 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada, along with an additional 10% tax on goods from China.

It’s unclear whether the tariffs will be implemented or if they will serve merely as a negotiating tactic.

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If enacted, they could have multiple effects on the avocado industry.

“Broad tariffs, like what’s being proposed, is not something that we’ve seen” before, says David Ortega, a food economist and professor at Michigan State University. “We had the trade war with China back in 2018 that affected steel and aluminum, but when it comes to food, these types of policy proposals are not something that are very common or that we’ve seen recently.”

With one of the biggest guacamole-eating events of the year — the Super Bowl — approaching in February, here’s what to know about avocados, tariffs, and why so many avocados are grown in Mexico.

Prices will rise

Avocados are displayed in a grocery store in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2022. Experts predict avocado prices will rise in the event of tariffs on Mexican imports.

Avocados are displayed in a grocery store in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2022. Experts predict avocado prices will rise in the event of tariffs on Mexican imports.

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First, a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico would lead to higher avocado prices at the grocery store.

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But estimating just how much higher is hard to say. It’s possible that producers and importers will absorb some of the costs to keep prices down and stay more competitive.

Ortega says there could be “pretty significant increases in the price of avocados. Maybe not the full 25%, but pretty close, given that there’s very little substitute ability with regards to where we would source avocados.”

But he cautions that because the tariffs apply only to the product’s value at the border, and not to other costs like transportation and distribution within the U.S., prices may not go up by the full 25%.

Regardless of these potential price increases, however, people in the U.S. love their avocados and they’re willing to pay more. Avocado consumption tripled in the U.S. between 2000 and 2021.

“Given that avocado is a staple of our consumption here, I would say that the elasticity is not very high, meaning that even with a big increase in price, consumption is not going to change that much,” says Luis Ribera, a professor and extension economist in the agricultural economics department at Texas A&M University.

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Why Mexico

A farmer works at an avocado plantation at the Los Cerritos avocado group ranch in Ciudad Guzman, state of Jalisco, Mexico, on Feb. 10, 2023. Mexico provides 90% of the avocados consumed in the U.S.

A farmer works at an avocado plantation at the Los Cerritos avocado group ranch in Ciudad Guzman, state of Jalisco, Mexico, on Feb. 10, 2023. Most of the avocados consumed in the U.S. are grown in Mexico.

Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images


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Mexico is the biggest producer of avocados in the world and exported $3.3 billion worth of avocados in 2023. A study funded by the industry estimated that avocado production supports 78,000 permanent jobs and 310,000 seasonal jobs in Mexico.

“It’s a very important business in Mexico, very lucrative,” Ribera says.

Mexico emerged as the largest foreign supplier of fruits and vegetables to the U.S. for a few reasons, he says. One: Its proximity to the U.S. market. With a perishable product, closer is better. Peru is the second-largest source of foreign avocados in the U.S., but its greater distance means avocados need to be shipped farther.

The other reasons for Mexico are favorable weather that allows for year-round production of avocados and access to cheap labor, according to Ribera.

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Avocados are grown in the U.S. too, mostly in California and to a lesser extent Florida and Hawaii, but U.S. growers can’t meet Americans’ big appetite. Avocado production in the U.S. has declined, even as Americans grew fonder of the green fruit, according to the USDA.

California avocado growers have faced droughts and wildfires in recent years, making it difficult to offer the year-round availability that American consumers crave, Ortega says. In addition, land is expensive and water is limited.

If the goal of implementing tariffs is to force avocado production to move somewhere besides Mexico, that isn’t easy.

It takes about eight years for avocado trees to produce fruit, according to the USDA. “This is not a product that you can just simply plant more of this season and you get more of in a few months,” Ortega says.

Other countries where the U.S. sources avocados — Peru, the Dominican Republic and Chile — “just simply don’t have the production capacity to replace Mexico’s supply,” he says.

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Tariffs could impact the organic avocado market

Tariffs could also alter the market dynamic when it comes to organic vs. conventional foods.

If prices rise across the board, consumers who typically buy organic avocados might switch to conventional ones to save money. Organic produce makes up about 15% of total fruit and vegetable sales in the U.S., according to the Organic Trade Association, which represents hundreds of organic businesses and thousands of farmers.

“My hypothesis is that the price of conventional products would increase more than the premium organic product,” Ortega says. He reasons that because people who are used to buying organic avocados would move to buy conventional ones, “that in turn increases the demand and would make prices rise more for that category.”

Matthew Dillon, co-CEO of the Organic Trade Association, says those in the organic food industry are looking at diversifying their supply chains away from Mexico, but there’s a three-year transition period required for farmers to switch from producing conventional to organic produce.

“Supply chains are not incredibly elastic in organic. It takes more time to pivot and change when there’s a supply chain disruption. And tariffs are in some ways a form of supply chain disruption for a company, because it creates unpredictable pricing,” he says.

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Together with grocery prices that have gone up more than 26% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump’s plans for tariffs on Mexico, along with mass deportations, could create “a perfect storm of high inflationary pressure on the organic sector,” Dillon says.

Furthermore, retaliatory tariffs from Mexico could have their own impacts.

Avocado producers face uncertainty as Trump’s return looms

Avocados in boxes are pictured at a packing plant in the municipality of Ario de Rosales, Michoacan state, Mexico, on Sept. 21, 2023.

Avocados in boxes are pictured at a packing plant in the municipality of Ario de Rosales, Michoacan state, Mexico, on Sept. 21, 2023.

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Aside from the threat of tariffs, the avocado industry has other challenges to deal with: climate change presents several problems, and avocados require a large amount of water to grow. Meanwhile, environmentalists say some avocado growers are cutting down forests to plant avocados.

Producers also face extortion from criminal gangs in Mexico.

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And now with Trump’s tariff threats, producers are left to wonder about their next steps.

“Producers, they react to market fundamentals,” Ribera says. For example, people can foresee how bad weather in Mexico would affect avocado prices. Producers and retailers will adjust to higher and lower demand.

“The issue with a tariff is it’s not a market fundamental — it’s a policy. It’s a political move,” he says. “It could happen or it could not happen, or it could be increased or it could be decreased, you know. So it’s hard for the whole supply chain to adjust.”

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Live news: SingPost shares slump after CEO fired over handling of whistleblower report

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Live news: SingPost shares slump after CEO fired over handling of whistleblower report

While the holiday spirit will dominate the news agenda, there are notable developments to watch across the world, as the three defining themes of 2024 — elections, war and inflation — continue to hum in the background.

On Tuesday, Moldova’s pro-EU president-elect Maia Sandu will attend her inauguration. Her narrow election victory in October, despite alleged Russian meddling in the process, will set the former Soviet country on a path to EU membership.

Maia Sandu © Dumitru Doru/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Georgia, on the other hand, will on Sunday swear in Mikheil Kavelashvili to the presidency, a pro-Russian firebrand and Croatia will hold a first-round presidential vote on Sunday.

On Monday, Mozambique’s top court is set to give a verdict on the country’s disputed election in October, while Albanian opposition parties block roads demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation

Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda will deliver a speech on Christmas Day. Economists will pore over his words for clues on how president-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs will affect the pace and trajectory of monetary policy.

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UK third-quarter GDP figures will be out on Monday, after months of disappointing economic releases for chancellor Rachel Reeves.

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