Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.

An earthquake in northwestern China kills at least 127 people

Summary: A series of earthquakes, including one that weighed-in at a magnitude of 6.2, struck a mountainous portion of northwestern China on Monday night and early Tuesday morning, killing at least 127 people, injuring more than 700 more, damaging all sorts of vital infrastructure, and leaving residents to face below-freezing temperatures without shelter.

Context: Emergency workers are still searching for missing people and attempting to help the injured, and aftershocks are still rippling through the region, but this is already the deadliest quake China has suffered in nine years.

—The Associated Press

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Iran petrol stations hit by cyberattack, oil minister says

Summary: The Oil Minister of Iran has announced that a cyberattack has caused disruption at around 70% of petrol stations throughout the country, and that the hacking group responsible apparently has ties to Israel.

Context: That hacking group, Predatory Sparrow, released a statement saying that it carried out the attack in such a way that emergency services wouldn’t be disrupted, and that it was launched in response to the Islamic Republic’s aggression throughout the region; this same group has previously claimed responsibility for cyberattacks on Iranian steel factories, rail networks, and petrol stations, and group representatives recently said that they would be targeting Iran more aggressively because Iran supports Hamas.

—Reuters

US announces new task force to counter Houthi Red Sea threat

Summary: The US Secretary of Defense has announced the formation of a new task force focused on protecting commercial vessels traversing the Red Sea, many of which have recently been attacked by drones and rockets launched by Houthi rebels based in Yemen.

Context: India’s Navy has recently repositioned assets in the region, as well, and seemingly for the same reason, namely that this passage is a vital trade route, especially for energy resources like oil; the Houthis have said they’re attacking vessels intending to do business in Israel in response to the Israeli military’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, though many of the attacked vessels seem to have been destined for non-Israeli ports; the Red Sea carries about 12% of global trade, and several companies, including oil majors like BP, have recently said they won’t be using it for the foreseeable future because of these attacks, which could cause a slowdown in the shipment of such goods.

—Bloomberg

High interest rates have strangled previously burgeoning warehouse construction numbers in the US, causing new industrial property constructions to tumble 48% in the first nine months of 2023, compared to the same in 2022 (the largest such drop since 2009).

—The Wall Street Journal

80,000

Quantity of carbon dioxide (in tons) that Boston Consulting Group has paid to have removed from the atmosphere by Swiss CO2-removal company Climeworks.

That’s the largest purchase of this kind by a corporate customer (so far) and the removal process will span 15-years—also a record, in terms of deal duration.

Climeworks customers typically pay something like $1,300 per ton of CO2 removed, and Climeworks generally uses what’s called direct air capture to conduct this removal, which involves pulling in air using giant fans and sifting CO2 from it using specialized filters.

—Bloomberg

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