News
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China population to begin shrinking by 2025
The world's most-populous country has been grappling with a looming demographic crisis as it faces a rapidly ageing workforce, slowing economy and its weakest population growth in decades
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For India's efforts to ban disposable plastic, one state offers a playbook
Tamil Nadu was not the first state in India to try to curtail plastic pollution, but unlike others, it was relentless in enforcing the law. It's far from an outright success but the state's experience offers lessons for the rest of India, where an ambitious countrywide ban on making, importing, and selling and using some single-use plastic took effect this month
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War, climate change, energy costs: How the wheat market has been upended
The price of wheat has tumbled from its peak after Russia invaded Ukraine, but experts say one of the world's most widely consumed foods remains in short supply and warn that a global hunger crisis still looms
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First shipment of Ukraine grain set to leave Odessa: Turkey
Under a deal aimed at relieving a global food crisis following Russia's invasion of its neighbour, the first shipment was set to leave the port of Odessa, and other convoys will soon follow suit
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Smoke without fire? Researchers question heated tobacco products
Heated tobacco products, or HTPs, are often confused with e-cigarettes, which heat liquid that can contain nicotine but do not involve tobacco leaf. HTPs instead use a high heat to decompose tobacco, via a process called pyrolysis, which does not set it on fire or burn it, therefore avoiding creating smoke
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OPEC+ walks 'fine line' between US and Russia
The OPEC+ group of oil exporters are set to hammer out a new strategy at their meeting Wednesday, with all eyes on how they will react to soaring crude prices
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Unearthing the secret superpowers of fungus
Some species of fungi can store exceptional levels of carbon underground, preventing it from heating up the Earth's atmosphere. Others help plants survive brutal droughts or fight off pests. They are "levers" to address the hazards of a warming climate, and yet they remain a mystery
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Why a Vogue cover created a controversy for Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska
Some viewers have a visceral reaction to juxtaposing the idea of "Vogue" — with its historic connections to elitism, fantasy, wealth and frivolity — and the reality of war. It looks, they say, tasteless. Especially given some of the magazine's missteps in the past
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Climate change worsened Britain's heat wave, scientists find
Record temperatures in Britain last week would have been "highly unlikely" without the influence of human-caused climate change, a new report by the Imperial College London has found
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US economy shows another decline, fanning recession fears
News of the back-to-back contractions heightened a debate in Washington over weather a recession had begun and, if so, whether President Joe Biden was to blame
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US tech titans stumble after pandemic boom
As people are freed from pandemic lifestyles that had them relying on the internet for shopping, playing, working and learning, inflation is pushing up prices and Covid-19 is causing temporary shutdowns of factories in China relied on by tech firms