World Feb 23, 2022

Climate forecasters warn of a ‘global wildfire crisis’

The likelihood of extreme, catastrophic fires could increase by up to one-third by 2050 and up to 52% by 2100, a new United Nations report estimates.

Winter Olympics Feb 8, 2022

Beijing wanted the Winter Olympics. All it needed was snow.

The secret of winter sports is that many competitions take place on artificial snow. China’s water-scarce capital had to go to enormous lengths to make enough of it.

World Jan 28, 2022

Did I turn off the stove? Yes, but maybe not the gas.

Over a 20-year period, emissions from stoves across the United States could be having the same effect in heating the planet as half a million gas-powered cars.

World / Science & Health Dec 15, 2021

Trends in Arctic report card: ‘Consistent, alarming and undeniable’

The Arctic is heating up more than twice as quickly as the rest of the globe, exposing "vulnerabilities" that will similarly "unfold for our entire planet."

Asia Pacific Jun 14, 2021

China’s censorship widens to Hong Kong’s vaunted film industry, with global implications

The new guidelines, which apply to both domestically produced and foreign films, come as a sharp slap to the artistic spirit of Hong Kong.

Asia Pacific | FOCUS Apr 12, 2021

Drought in Taiwan pits chipmakers against farmers

The island nation is going to great lengths to keep water flowing to its all-important semiconductor industry, including shutting off irrigation to legions of rice growers.

Asia Pacific Jan 3, 2021

How Taiwan plans to stay (mostly) coronavirus-free

Consider for a moment, in this time of anguish and loss and death, of mass unemployment and flattened national economies, the Twilight Zone alternate reality that is Taiwan. For months and months, life on the island has been, in a word, normal — spookily so. ...

Business / Tech Dec 28, 2020

With money and waste, China fights for chip independence

In every corner of the country, investors, entrepreneurs and local officials are in a frenzy to build up semiconductor abilities, responding to a call from Xi Jinping.

Asia Pacific Dec 20, 2020

No ‘negative’ news: How China censored the coronavirus

Officials scrambled to suppress inconvenient news and reclaim the narrative, according to confidential directives sent to local propaganda workers and news outlets.

Asia Pacific Dec 17, 2020

As China tracked Muslims, Alibaba showed customers how they could, too

The discovery could thrust one of the world’s most valuable internet companies into the storm of international condemnation surrounding China’s treatment of its Muslim minorities.