Review7

  Delhi residents were exposed to air that does not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for more than half of 2020. With Winter coming, air pollution in India is going to once again hit crisis levels soon. At the individual level we can wear masks and use air purifiers in our homes, but more broadly, cities and municipalities have also been installing outdoor air purifiers over several years now — but do these actually work? Have smog towers and outdoor air purifiers made an impact on the air quality in India? Despite the outdoor air purifiers and smog towers, the PM2.5 concentration in India air is currently 5.2 times above the WHO annual air quality guideline. The air quality in India is simply not getting better even after all the money and efforts spent to curb the air pollution problem in the country. We talked to a number of experts to try and understand why this is, and whether there are any better solutions possible. Cities like Mumbai have been deploying Wind A...

  The top US general has said China's suspected hypersonic missile test is close to a Sputnik moment, referring to the Soviet satellite launch that sparked a Cold War arms race. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said in an interview with Bloomberg News that the Chinese military was "expanding rapidly". The Financial Times reports that the test stunned the US military. Beijing denies any missile test, saying instead it was a spacecraft. "What we saw was a very significant event of a test of a hypersonic weapon system. And it is very concerning," Gen Milley told Bloomberg. "I don't know if it's quite a Sputnik moment, but I think it's very close to that. It has all of our attention." His comment is the first official acknowledgement by the US of claims that China conducted two missile tests over the summer. Reports indicate that it was a nuclear-capable missile that could evade US air defence systems. The 1957 Soviet satellite...

Petrol stations in many parts of China have begun rationing diesel amid rising costs and falling supplies. Some truck drivers are having to wait entire days to refuel, according to posts on social media site Weibo. China is currently in the midst of a massive power crunch, as coal and natural gas shortages have closed factories and left homes without power. And this latest issue is only likely to contribute to an ongoing global supply chain crisis, say analysts. "The current diesel shortages seem to be affecting long distance transportation businesses which could include goods meant for markets outside of China," said Mattie Bekink, China Director at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "Depending on the duration and intensity of this crunch, we could well see this contribute to the global supply chain challenges." The global supply chain crisis has been largely driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, with demand surging as economies re-open. In China, trucks are only being al...

Boris Johnson's government has just laid out its annual tax and spending plans with a clear central theme: building back better after the pandemic. The prime minister wants to overhaul the UK economy as it  emerges from a deep recession  by boosting productivity, skills and wages. His task is being made all the more difficult by  skyrocketing inflation , shortages of goods and  fuel , and massive government budget deficits. Business could help Johnson deliver his economic agenda. But analysts and industry leaders worry that Johnson and his finance minister, Rishi Sunak, are more interested in using taxpayers' money to pursue a political agenda that appeals to voters than helping businesses recover and thrive. Johnson's Conservatives are the traditional party of business, yet the prime minister has long had a difficult relationship with corporate interests. In 2018 while serving as Foreign Secretary, it was widely reported in UK media that when ask...