Forecasters now predict that the coming El Niño—a warming of the Pacific Ocean that deeply affects global weather patterns—is likely to be as severe as the one in 2023-2024, which triggered severe flooding and prolonged heatwaves around the world.
The provisions of the Bahrain-led resolution had been repeatedly pared down in an effort to convince Russia and China to abstain from voting, an effort that ultimately failed as the two nations refused to back down in Tuesday's vote.
[The Trump administration] may have entered the office thinking that they could use their economic leverage to push China in certain policy directions," said Amanda Hsiao, a China studies director at the Eurasia Group consultancy.
When meeting United States President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in September, Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, opened a briefcase with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif standing next to him. Inside were a set of glistening minerals. Their display was part of Pakistan's latest offer to the Trump administration: The country was willing to open up its minerals to US investment.
