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US, China to work ‘intensively’ on climate issues in weeks ahead

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US, China to work ‘intensively’ on climate issues in weeks ahead

US climate envoy John Kerry says more work is needed to iron out agreements with China on the climate crisis, as Chinese Vice President Han Zheng said Beijing is willing to work with Washington on reducing global warming if its political demands are met.

The comments come after three days of talks in Beijing designed to rebuild trust between the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters.

“We – our team and the United States administration – came to Beijing in order to unstick what has been stuck since almost last August,” Kerry told reporters late on Wednesday.

Climate talks were suspended last year following the visit of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, an island over which China claims sovereignty.

“This is our first in-person meeting since that time, and we’re here to break new ground,” Kerry said.

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He said “despite the hiatus of the last year” the two sides found many points of agreement during three days of cordial but frank discussions, and they planned to work “intensively” in the weeks ahead as they prepare for crucial COP28 climate talks in Dubai.

“We are already pinpointing the time for our next meeting and even the next one after that, recognising that we only have about four months before the COP, and we have to make up a certain amount of time for the period that this discussion has not been taking place,” Kerry said.

“This is not a one-off meeting,” he added, noting that the abatement of non-CO2 emissions like methane and the shift away from coal dependence were a crucial part of talks.

“We are trying to work with China to figure out the path ahead. China is working hard to try to develop some of those new technologies as well as deploy those renewables that will become the clean energy in the future. We look forward to working with China to accelerate that.”

Li Shuo, senior climate adviser with the environmental group Greenpeace in Beijing, said this week’s talks were “a complex rescue operation for the US-China climate dialogue” and said it could put relations on a “stronger footing”.

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“Further engagements should help unlock more ambition in reducing coal consumption, cutting methane emissions, and beating a path towards a stronger outcome at COP28,” he said.

‘Very positive’

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Zheng as telling Kerry that addressing climate change was “an important aspect of China-US cooperation,” but was predicated on mutual respect. He said it must proceed “on the basis of US attendance to core issues that concern both parties, fully engaging and exchanging ideas”.

Ties between the countries have hit a historic low amid other disputes as well, including over tariffs, access to technology, human rights, and China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Contacts have only slowly been restored and China continues to refuse to restart dialogue between the People’s Liberation Army, the party’s military branch, and the US Department of Defense.

Kerry arrived in Beijing on Sunday as heatwaves scorched parts of Europe, Asia and the US, underscoring the need for governments to take drastic action to reduce carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming and extreme weather events.

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He has held meetings with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and Premier Li Qiang as well as veteran climate envoy Xie Zhenhua in a bid to rebuild trust between the two sides ahead of the COP28 climate talks.

“If we can come together over these next months leading up to COP28, which will be the most important since Paris, we will have an opportunity to be able to make a profound difference on this issue,” Kerry told Han.

US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua before a meeting in Beijing, China [Valerie Volcovici/Reuters]

Kerry told reporters earlier that his talks with Chinese officials this week have been constructive but complicated, with the two sides still dealing with political “externalities”.

“We’re just reconnecting,” he said. “We’re trying to re-establish the process we have worked on for years.”

“We’re trying to carve out a very clear path to the COP to be able to cooperate and work as we have wanted to with all the externalities,” Kerry said.

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“The mood is very, very positive,” Kerry said ahead of Wednesday’s meetings. “We had a terrific dinner last night. We had a lot of back and forth. It’s really constructive.”

“We’re focused on the substance of what we can really work on and what we can make happen.”

No meeting has been announced with China’s paramount leader, President Xi Jinping, and Foreign Minister Qin Gang has been absent from public sight for three weeks.

China leads the world in producing and consuming coal and has proceeded with building new plants that add tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere annually, while also expanding the use of renewables such as solar and wind power.

China has pledged to level off carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060 as part of efforts to keep global temperatures from running out of control. The US and the European Union have urged China to adopt more ambitious reduction targets.

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As in the US and Europe, northern China has seen record stretches of high temperatures over the course of Kerry’s visit that have threatened crops and prompted cities to open Cold War-era bomb shelters to help residents escape the heat.

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What a merger between Nissan and Honda means for the automakers and the industry

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What a merger between Nissan and Honda means for the automakers and the industry

BANGKOK (AP) — Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan will attempt to merge and create the world’s third-largest automaker by sales as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels.

The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses. Honda will initially lead the new management, retaining the principles and brands of each company.

Following is a quick look at what a combined Honda and Nissan would mean for the companies, and for the auto industry.

An industry shakeup

The ascent of Chinese automakers is rattling the industry at a time when manufacturers are struggling to shift from fossil fuel-driven vehicles to electrics. Relatively inexpensive EVs from China’s BYD, Great Wall and Nio are eating into the market shares of U.S. and Japanese car companies in China and elsewhere.

Japanese automakers have lagged behind big rivals in EVs and are now trying to cut costs and make up for lost time.

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Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi announced in August that they will share components for electric vehicles like batteries and jointly research software for autonomous driving to adapt better to dramatic changes in the auto industry centered around electrification. A preliminary agreement between Honda, Japan’s second-largest automaker, and Nissan, third largest, was announced in March.

A merger could result in a behemoth worth about $55 billion based on the market capitalization of all three automakers.

Joining forces would help the smaller Japanese automakers add scale to compete with Japan’s market leader Toyota Motor Corp. and with Germany’s Volkswagen AG. Toyota itself has technology partnerships with Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp.

What would Honda need from Nissan?

Nissan has truck-based body-on-frame large SUVs such as the Armada and Infiniti QX80 that Honda doesn’t have, with large towing capacities and good off-road performance, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of AutoForecast Solutions.

Nissan also has years of experience building batteries and electric vehicles, and gas-electric hybird powertrains that could help Honda in developing its own EVs and next generation of hybrids, he said.

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“Nissan does have some product segments where Honda doesn’t currently play,” that a merger or partnership could help, said Sam Abuelsamid, a Detroit-area automotive industry analsyt.

While Nissan’s electric Leaf and Ariya haven’t sold well in the U.S., they’re solid vehicles, Fiorani said. “They haven’t been resting on their laurels, and they have been developing this technology,” he said. “They have new products coming that could provide a good platform for Honda for its next generation.”

Why now?

Nissan said last month that it was slashing 9,000 jobs, or about 6% of its global work force, and reducing global production capacity by 20% after reporting a quarterly loss of 9.3 billion yen ($61 million).

Earlier this month it reshuffled its management and its chief executive, Makoto Uchida, took a 50% pay cut to take responsibility for the financial woes, saying Nissan needed to become more efficient and respond better to market tastes, rising costs and other global changes.

Fitch Ratings recently downgraded Nissan’s credit outlook to “negative,” citing worsening profitability, partly due to price cuts in the North American market. But it noted that it has a strong financial structure and solid cash reserves that amounted to 1.44 trillion yen ($9.4 billion).

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Nissan’s share price has fallen to the point where it is considered something of a bargain. A report in the Japanese financial magazine Diamond said talks with Honda gained urgency after the Taiwan maker of iPhones Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., better known as Foxconn, began exploring a possible acquisition of Nissan as part of its push into the EV sector.

The company has struggled for years following a scandal that began with the arrest of its former chairman Carlos Ghosn in late 2018 on charges of fraud and misuse of company assets, allegations that he denies. He eventually was released on bail and fled to Lebanon.

Honda reported its profits slipped nearly 20% in the first half of the April-March fiscal year from a year earlier, as sales suffered in China.

More headwinds

Toyota made 11.5 million vehicles in 2023, while Honda rolled out 4 million and Nissan produced 3.4 million. Mitsubishi Motors made just over 1 million. Even after a merger Toyota would remain the leading Japanese automaker.

All the global automakers are facing potential shocks if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on threats to raise or impose tariffs on imports of foreign products, even from allies like Japan and neighboring countries like Canada and Mexico. Nissan is among the major car companies that have adjusted their supply chains to include vehicles assembled in Mexico.

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Meanwhile, analysts say there is an “affordability shift” taking place across the industry, led by people who feel they cannot afford to pay nearly $50,000 for a new vehicle. In American, a vital market for companies like Nissan, Honda and Toyota, that’s forcing automakers to consider lower pricing, which will eat further into industry profits.

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AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher contributed to this report from Detroit.

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US military conducts successful airstrikes on Houthi rebel forces in Yemen

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US military conducts successful airstrikes on Houthi rebel forces in Yemen

The U.S. military confirmed it conducted airstrikes in Yemen, saying it targeted a missile storage site and a command-and-control center operated by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the successful strikes in a release Saturday, saying they were meant to “disrupt and degrade” Houthi operations.

“CENTCOM forces conducted the deliberate strikes to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden,” CENTCOM said in a news release.

DISAPPROVAL MOUNTS BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD AS US AVOIDS DIRECT ACTION AGAINST HOUTHI REBELS

The U.S. military successfully conducted airstrikes in Yemen, saying it targeted a missile storage site and a command-and-control site operated by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. (CENTCOM via X)

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Footage from CENTCOM showed F/A-18’s taking off. The agency said it also used assets from the Navy and the Air Force.

US NAVY SHIPS REPEL ATTACK FROM HOUTHIS IN GULF OF ADEN 

“The strike reflects CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment to protect U.S. and coalition personnel, regional partners and international shipping,” it said.

Houthi rebels

Houthi followers burn the Israeli and American flags on the outskirts of Sana’a, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)

The attacks against shipping are ongoing, and Houthi militants have vowed to continue until Israel ends its campaign in Gaza.

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The terrorist group has targeted more than 100 merchant vessels since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.

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Fact check: How deadly was 2024 for journalists?

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Fact check: How deadly was 2024 for journalists?

An estimated 104 journalists lost their lives in 2024, with Palestine the most dangerous territory.

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An estimated 104 journalists were killed worldwide over the past year, according to data shared earlier this month by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

Another report by NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) puts the figure at 54, but its methodology means it only includes killings that are considered “directly related” to journalists’ professional activity.

Both organisations say that Palestine is the deadliest place on earth for journalists. More than half (55) of the 104 killings reported by IFJ were Palestinian media professionals in Gaza, while a further six were killed in Lebanon.

At least 138 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on 7 October 2023, making the country one of the “most dangerous in the history of modern journalism, behind Iraq, the Philippines and Mexico,” according to the IFJ.

Reporters without Borders has described the number of killings in Gaza as “an unprecedented bloodbath”.

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Israel firmly denies it has intentionally targeted any journalists, but has recognised some that have been killed in its airstrikes on Gaza.

The 104 total killings reported by the IFJ is a slight decrease on the 129 they reported on in 2023, which is considered the bloodiest year for journalists since 1990.

How do other world regions fare?

Asia Pacific is the world’s second most dangerous region for journalists, after the Middle East, according to the IFJ.

It recorded 20 deaths in the region in 2024, of which 70% happened in the southern Asian countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

The region has seen an “upsurge” in violence, according to the IFJ, with deaths increasing sharply from the 12 recorded in 2023.

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Africa was the third most dangerous region for journalists at eight deaths, five of them in war-torn Sudan.

The number of journalists killed in south, central and north America has dropped sharply over the past two years, from 30 in 2022 to six in 2023, and another six in 2024. Mexico, considered to be one of the deadliest places in the world to do journalism, continues to see “threats, intimidation, kidnappings and murders” against journalists, particularly due to reporting on drug trafficking.

Number of journalists behind bars on the rise

According to IFJ estimates on 10 December, there were 520 journalists in prison across the world, considerably more than in 2023 (427) and 2022 (375).

China, including Hong Kong, accounts for most of journalists behind bars, followed by Israel and Myanmar.

The IFJ says the figures show how “fragile” the independent press is and how “risky and dangerous” the profession of journalism has become.

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