Category World News

Chinese President Xi Jinping has suggested that China and Brazil set an example of “unity and self-reliance” in the Global South, Chinese state media has reported.

In a phone call on Monday, Xi told Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that China was ready to work with Brazil to be a model for other countries and build a “more just world and a more sustainable planet”, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Xi told Lula that China-Brazil ties were “at their best in history” and the “alignment” of the two countries’ development strategies was making “smooth progress”, Xinhua reported.

“Xi also said that China backs the Brazilian people in defending their national sovereignty and supports Brazil in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests, urging all countries to unite in resolutely fighting against unilateralism and protectionism,” Xinhua said.

Lula’s office said the two leaders agreed on the role of the Group of 20 and BRICS in “defending multilateralism”, discussed efforts to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine, and committed to expanding cooperation to sectors such as health, oil and gas, the digital economy and satellites.

“Both presidents also emphasised their willingness to continue identifying new business opportunities between the two economies,” Lula’s office said.

Lula also reiterated the importance of China for the success of the COP30 world climate conference in November in Belem, Brazil, his office said.

The two leaders held the discussion as United States President Donald Trump’s trade salvoes are spurring calls for greater cooperation among emerging economies, including China and Brazil.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency last week, Lula said he planned to contact the leaders of the 10-member BRICS group, which includes India and China, to discuss the possibility of a coordinated response to US tariffs.

Trump last month announced a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods, and on Monday he signed an executive order extending a pause on a 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods until November.

Multiple explosions at a US Steel plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have killed two people and injured 10, according to the company and local authorities.

The blasts at the Clairton Coke Works – part of a sprawling industrial complex along the Monongahela River – took place just before 11am Eastern Time (15:00 GMT) on Monday.

Firefighters battled flames and heavy smoke that billowed out of the plant, which is owned by US Steel, a subsidiary of Nippon Steel.

Initially, two people were reported missing. One person was found and transported to a local hospital, said Allegheny County Police Assistant Superintendent Victor Joseph at an afternoon briefing.

There was no word yet on the possible cause of the explosion.

The investigation into the explosion would be “a time-consuming technical investigation”, Joseph said.

David Burritt, president and chief executive officer of US Steel, said in a statement that the company was working with local authorities to discover the cause.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro posted on X that there were multiple explosions at the plant and that his administration was in touch with local officials.

“The scene is still active, and folks nearby should follow the direction of local authorities,” he wrote at the time the employee was missing.

The severity of the injuries was not known, but news accounts said several people were taken to hospital burn units.

Steel sector in decline

Clairton Mayor Rich Lattanzi said it was a horrible day for the city, about 32km (20 miles) south of Pittsburgh, long known as the US Steel City.

US Steel has produced steel in the area since the late 19th century, but in recent decades, the industry has been in decline, leading to plant closures and restructurings.

In June, Nippon Steel, Japan’s biggest steelmaker, closed its $14.9bn acquisition of US Steel after an 18-month struggle to obtain United States government approval for the deal, which faced scrutiny due to national security concerns.

While air quality monitors did not detect a dangerous rise in sulphur dioxide after Monday’s explosions, residents within 1.6km (1 mile) of the plant were advised to remain indoors, close windows and doors, set HVAC systems to recirculate, and avoid activities that draw in outside air, said Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato at the briefing.

The Clairton Coke Works is the largest coke manufacturing facility in the US, employing about 1,300 workers. It operates 10 coke oven batteries, which produce about 4.3 million tonnes of coke a year.

Four reactor units at one of France’s largest nuclear power stations have been forced to shut down due to a swarm of jellyfish in the plant’s water pumping stations, French energy group Electricite de France (EDF) said.

Three reactor units were automatically shut down on Sunday evening at Gravelines on the English Channel, followed by the fourth early on Monday morning, EDF said, adding that the safety of the plant, its employees and the environment was not at risk.

“These shutdowns are the result of the massive and unpredictable presence of jellyfish in the filter drums of the pumping stations,” EDF said in a statement.

The plant in northern France is one of the largest in the country and is cooled from a canal connected to the North Sea.

Teams were carrying out inspections to restart the site “in complete safety”, EDF said, adding the reactors that were shut down are expected to restart on Thursday.

The beaches around Gravelines, between the major cities of Dunkirk and Calais, have seen an increase in jellyfish in recent years due to warming waters and the introduction of invasive species.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wrote in 2021 that jellyfish swarms incapacitating nuclear power plants is “neither new nor unknown” and there was substantial economic cost due to the forced closure of power plants.

Scientists are currently exploring ways to avert closures due to sea swarms, including using drones to map the movement of jellyfish, which would allow early intervention.

“Jellyfish breed faster when water is warmer, and because areas like the North Sea are becoming warmer, the reproductive window is getting wider and wider,” Derek Wright, marine biology consultant with the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told the Reuters news agency.

“Jellyfish can also hitch rides on tanker ships, entering the ships’ ballast tank in one port and often getting pumped out into waters halfway across the globe,” he said.

An invasive species known as the Asian Moon jellyfish, native to the Pacific Northwest, was first sighted in the North Sea in 2020. The species, which prefers still water with high levels of animal plankton, such as that in ports and canals, has caused similar problems before in ports and at nuclear plants in China, Japan, and India.

EDF said it did not know the species of jellyfish involved in the shutdown, but this is not the first time jellyfish have shut down a nuclear facility, though such incidents were “quite rare” – the last effect on EDF operations was in the 1990s.

There have been cases of plants in other countries shutting down due to jellyfish invasions, notably a three-day closure in Sweden in 2013 and a 1999 incident in Japan that caused a major drop in power output.

Experts say overfishing, plastic pollution and climate change have created conditions for jellyfish to thrive and reproduce.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, is “in denial” about the suffering inflicted on Gaza, and the international community is now saying, “Enough is enough”.

A day after announcing that Australia will recognise Palestinian statehood at the United Nations next month, Albanese said that frustration with the Israeli government amid the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza had contributed to Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

“[Netanyahu] again reiterated to me what he has said publicly as well, which is to be in denial about the consequences that are occurring for innocent people,” Albanese said in an interview with state broadcaster ABC on Tuesday.

Albanese said he spoke with Netanyahu last week to inform him of Australia’s decision to join France, Canada and the United Kingdom in recognising a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly meeting in September.

Netanyahu, he said, continued to make the same arguments he made last year regarding the conduct of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has now killed more than 61,500 Palestinians since October 2023.

“That if we just have more military action in Gaza, somehow that will produce a different outcome,” Albanese said, recounting his call with the Israeli leader, according to ABC News.

Announcing Australia’s decision to recognise Palestinian statehood on Monday, Albanese said that “the risk of trying is nothing compared to the danger of letting this moment pass us by”.

“The toll of the status quo is growing by the day, and it could be measured in innocent lives,” Albanese said, adding the decision was made as part of a “coordinated global effort” on the two-state solution, which he had discussed with the leaders of the UK, France, New Zealand and Japan.

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“A two-state solution is humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza,” he said.

“It seems to me very clearly… we need a political solution, not a military one,” he said.

Albanese had said just last month that he would not be drawn on a timeline for recognition of a Palestinian state, and has previously been wary of a public opinion backlash in Australia, which has significant Jewish and Muslim minorities.

But the public mood has shifted sharply in Australia against Israel’s war on Gaza.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched across Sydney’s Harbour Bridge this month, calling for aid deliveries to be allowed to enter Gaza as the humanitarian crisis worsens and Israel’s military continues to block relief efforts.

Israel also plans to take military control of Gaza City, risking the lives of more than a million Palestinians and instigating what a senior UN official said would be “another calamity”, as deaths from starvation and malnutrition continue to grow across the enclave.