Natural disasters in China during the first half of 2025 caused $7.55 billion in economic losses and affected more than 23 million people, with floods accounting for the majority of the damage, an official from the emergency response ministry said.
Major incidents included a powerful earthquake in Tibet, deadly landslides in southwestern provinces, and widespread flooding in southern regions.
The disasters led to 307 deaths or missing persons and forced the evacuation of 620,000 people from affected areas. Nearly 29,600 homes were destroyed—a 28.7% increase compared to last year—while 2.19 million hectares of crops were damaged.
In response, China has expanded economic safety nets for those affected by floods, including direct compensation from the central government and payments for livestock losses. Experts link the rising frequency of extreme weather events to climate change, posing increasing risks to the country’s infrastructure and population.
Recent weeks saw torrential rains and extreme heat challenge aging flood defenses and exposed infrastructure gaps such as limited air conditioning access. Dozens of rivers in southwestern China exceeded safe levels last week while more than 10,000 people were evacuated in the remnants of former typhoon Danas.
Authorities warn that flood and typhoon prevention will remain difficult through mid-August, as intense rainfall and typhoon activity peak in northern and eastern regions.
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The United States has accused Beijing of conducting a covert nuclear test in 2020, adding fresh strain to already fraught relations as Washington presses for a broader arms control treaty to include China as well as Russia.
“Having a good security relationship with the United States is of utmost importance for the Japanese as a whole,” said Professor Seijiro Takeshita of the University of Shizuoka, highlighting the strategic stakes ahead of Japan’s national election.
The U.S. and China are locked in a growing struggle over critical minerals, the materials that power everything from electric vehicles and microchips to missiles and advanced radar systems, as both sides move to secure control over supply chains that underpin economic and military power.
Greek authorities said they have arrested a member of the armed forces on suspicion of leaking highly sensitive military information to foreign handlers allegedly linked to China.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed one of its largest ballistic missiles at a newly unveiled underground base on Wednesday (3 February), just two days ahead of mediated nuclear talks with the United States in Muscat, Oman.
Winter weather has brought air travel in the German capital to a complete halt, stranding thousands of passengers as severe icing conditions make runways and aircraft unsafe for operation and force authorities to shut down one of Europe’s key transport hubs.
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An attacker opened fire at the gates of a Shiite Muslim mosque in Islamabad on Friday before detonating a suicide bomb that killed at least 31 people in the deadliest assault of its kind in the capital in more than a decade.
Ukraine and Russia carried out a rare exchange of 314 prisoners on Thursday as U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi closed with a pledge to resume negotiations soon, offering one of the clearest signs of diplomatic movement in months.
Rivers and reservoirs across Spain and Portugal were on the verge of overflowing on Wednesday as a new weather front pounded the Iberian peninsula, compounding damage from last week's Storm Kristin.
Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Greenland registered its warmest January on record, sharpening concerns over how fast-rising Arctic temperatures are reshaping core parts of the island’s economy.
Storm Kristin has left central Portugal with severe destruction, major power outages and a reconstruction bill that officials say could reach billions of euros.
Storm Kristin has killed at least five people and left more than 850,000 residents of central and northern Portugal without electricity on Wednesday (28 January), as it toppled trees, damaged homes, and disrupted road and rail traffic before moving inland to Spain.
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