China will make its biggest-ever effort to control the weather and prevent rain washing out festivities marking the 60th anniversary of communist rule, state media said yesterday.
China’s air force will deploy 18 aircraft to spray cloud dispersal chemicals into the atmosphere around Beijing, while “48 fog dispersal vehicles” will use similar technology at airports around the capital, the Global Times reported.
“It is the first time in Chinese history that artificial weather modification on such [a] large scale has been attempted,” the paper quoted Cui Lianqing, an air force meteorologist, as saying. “There are still a lot of uncertainties with the weather, and sometimes people can’t work against nature ... but we are trying our best.”
China is planning a massive parade, song and dance performances and fireworks at Tiananmen Square on Oct. 1 to mark the day when Mao Zedong (毛澤東) proclaimed the founding of the state in 1949.
Clear weather is especially important for the military parade, which will include a flyover by the nation’s most advanced fighter jets, the report said.
The capital made similar efforts for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics when over 1,100 “rain dispersal rockets” were fired into the skies to break up clouds around the Bird’s Nest National Stadium.
In addition to air force efforts, the Beijing Weather Modification Office is also preparing to implement similar cloud dispersal measures ahead of Oct. 1, Xinhua news agency has reported.
Remote satellite technology will be employed to help monitor weather changes and adjust modification measures, the report said.
Weather records show that there is a 30 percent chance of rain on Oct. 1, but precipitation has been light on most recent National Days, it added.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
‘MAGA CIVIL WAR’: Former Trump strategist Bannon said the H1-B program created ‘indentured servants,’ but Musk said that he was willing ‘to go to war on this issue’ US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday weighed in on a bitter debate dividing his traditional supporters and tech barons such as Elon Musk, saying that he backs a special visa program that helps highly skilled workers enter the country. “I’ve always liked the [H1-B] visas, I have always been in favor of the visas, that’s why we have them” at Trump-owned facilities, he told the New York Post in his first public comments on the matter since it flared up this week. An angry back-and-forth, largely between Silicon Valley’s Musk and traditional anti-immigration Trump backers, has erupted in fiery fashion, with Musk
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
RSS