1 UNITED STATES
China accuses Washington of spy balloon 'overreaction'
China accused the US of “overreaction” and the “indiscriminate use of military force” in shooting down a Chinese balloon that traversed US airspace, saying that the move has damaged bilateral relations.
The Pentagon described the high-altitude balloon as a surveillance aircraft able to manoeuvre and a US warplane shot it down on last Saturday over the Atlantic Ocean after it had crossed the entire US. China said it was a weather balloon that had been blown off course.
China’s vice-foreign minister, Xie Feng, lodged a formal complaint with the US embassy over the incident, accusing Washington of overreacting to an accident “caused by force majeure”, according to a statement . He accused Washington of “dealing a serious blow” to progress in stabilising China-US relations since Joe Biden’s summit with Xi Jinping in November.
The incident came amid tensions in US-China relations over issues including Taiwan, trade and human rights. It also prompted Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, to postpone a visit to Beijing.
2 UNITED STATES
Blast from Arctic pushes mercury to record -78C
Arctic air in the north-east last Saturday brought dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills, including a record-setting -78C on the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire.
Authorities in Massachusetts took the unusual step of keeping the South Station transit hub open so homeless people had a place to sleep out of the elements. High winds brought down a tree branch on a car in western Massachusetts, killing an infant.
Denne historien er fra February 10, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra February 10, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Finn family murals
The optimism that runs through Finnish artist Tove Jansson's Moomin stories also appears in her public works, now on show in a Helsinki exhibition
I hoped Finland would be a progressive dream.I've had to think again Mike Watson
Oulu is five hours north from Helsinki by train and a good deal colder and darker each winter than the Finnish capital. From November to March its 220,000 residents are lucky to see daylight for a couple of hours a day and temperatures can reach the minus 30s. However, this is not the reason I sense a darkening of the Finnish dream that brought me here six years ago.
A surplus of billionaires is destabilising our democracies Zoe Williams
The concept of \"elite overproduction\" was developed by social scientist Peter Turchin around the turn of this century to describe something specific: too many rich people for not enough rich-person jobs.
'What will people think? I don't care any more'
At 90, Alan Bennett has written a sex-fuelled novella set in a home for the elderly. He talks about mourning Maggie Smith, turning down a knighthood and what he makes of the new UK prime minister
I see you
What happens when people with acute psychosis meet the voices in their heads? A new clinical trial reveals some surprising results
Rumbled How Ali ran rings around apartheid, 50 years ago
Fifty years ago, in a corner of white South Africa, Muhammad Ali already seemed a miracle-maker.
Trudeau faces 'iceberg revolt'as calls grow for PM to quit
Justin Trudeau, who promised “sunny ways” as he won an election on a wave of public fatigue with an incumbent Conservative government, is now facing his darkest and most uncertain political moment as he attempts to defy the odds to win a rare fourth term.
Lost Maya city revealed through laser mapping
After swapping machetes and binoculars for computer screens and laser mapping, a team of researchers have discovered a lost Maya city containing temple pyramids, enclosed plazas and a reservoir which had been hidden for centuries by the Mexican jungle.
'A civil war' Gangs step up assault on capital
Armed fighters advance into neighbourhoods at the heart of Port-au-Prince as authorities try to restore order
Reality bites in the Himalayan 'kingdom of happiness'
High emigration and youth unemployment levels belie the mountain nation's global reputation for cheeriness
