Ivory Coast celebrates oil find as west turns away from fossil fuels 　　Ivorians celebrated when Italian energy group Eni revealed that it had discovered up to 2bn barrels of oil in waters off the west African country’s coast — the first big find in two decades.“It’s a great discovery,” said Abdourahmane Cissé, secretary-general of the Ivorian presidency, of last month’s find. “The preliminary results show that, in terms of oil reserves, it is approximately 10 times what we have at the moment,” he said, referring to initial estimates of between 1.5bn and 2bn barrels of oil as well as between 1.8tn and 2.4tn cubic feet of associated gas.Oil could start flowing within four years, boosting exports from a country that is already the world’s biggest grower of cocoa. “This will be good for the country,” said Cissé.But not everyone shares his confidence. Ivory Coast has struck oil just as much of the developed world has begun to call time on fossil fuels and some financial institutions are reluctant to take carbon-emitting projects on to their balance sheets.“People say: ‘We’ve found oil, we’ve found gas, we’re all going to get rich’,” said Kingsmill Bond, an energy strategist at think-tank Carbon Tracker. “But getting involved in extraction of fossil fuels is much riskier than it used to be and much riskier than it is perceived to be.”While Ivory Coast is already pumping small quantities of oil, Bond said the risk was that it would bring more “on stream at a time when the market is already in decline”. As advanced economies made the switch to electric vehicles and moved rapidly to renewable energy, demand for oil would fall and only the lowest-cost producers would survive, he added.Production costs of offshore African oil, especially in deep water, were relatively high, Bond said. Ivory Coast’s discovery is at about 1,200 metres. Despite the surge in oil and gas prices this autumn, many analysts argue that declining demand will eventually force prices down, making higher-cost oil uncompetitive.‘We’re not the polluters, the others are’The Ivorian find also taps into a broader debate about what it is reasonable to expect of developing countries that are reliant on fossil fuels.As the COP26 UN climate change summit in Glasgow approaches and many rich countries accelerate their shift towards clean energy, some governments in Africa — particularly hydrocarbon producers such as Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea — are calling for a “just energy transition” that allows for a slower switch to other fuels.Governments in Africa, which are responsible for at most 3 per cent of global emissions, object to being pressured by banks and donors to abandon the fossil fuels on which they say their industrialisation and development depends. Many, including Ghana, Senegal and Mauritania, are only now gearing up their hydrocarbon production.“We’re going to do what is in the interests of our country,” said Alassane Ouattara, president of Ivory Coast, in an interview, adding that Abidjan intended to exploit its hydrocarbons for the benefit of its people.Countries such as the US, where carbon emissions were nearly 40 times higher per capita than in Ivory Coast, were in no position to lecture, he said. “We are not the polluters. The others are,” he added.Powering the nation: ‘We will need gas’Alessandro Puliti, Eni’s chief operating officer for natural resources, said the Ivorian discovery met the Italian company’s criteria for investment. This was partly because the associated gas could be fed into existing infrastructure that already supplied Ivory Coast with 60 per cent of its electricity, he said.In Ivory Coast, a relatively high three-quarters of people have electricity and it has one of west Africa’s most reliable power grids. It exports electricity to Ghana, Mali, Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso.Energy minister Thomas Camara said that by 2030 the Ivorian government intended to increase the mix of renewable energy — currently entirely hydro — from 40 per cent to 42 per cent of a much larger energy pie.There were plans to add solar, including from a floating solar farm on a lake, as well as biomass energy made from waste in the palm oil and cocoa industries, he said. “But we envisage our energy needs will go up significantly by 2030 and for that we will need gas.”Africa without oil?There was a danger the world was transitioning towards green energy without taking into account the huge development needs in Africa and other poorer regions, said Kenny Fihla, chief executive of wholesale clients at Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest lender.Older petrol and diesel vehicles would be on the road much longer in Africa, where most countries relied on second-hand imports for the bulk of their fleet, he added.　　“It is nearly impossible to talk about Africa without oil at this stage,” he said. “Even in 2050, there will still be some oil utilisation, as other types of fuel will not have developed adequately to be able to replace it.”Bond from Carbon Tracker urged African governments to look with more urgency at developing solar and wind power which, he said, would prove to be both more abundant and cheaper than fossil fuels.“The way I see it, it is really daft to advise people to invest in the dying technology of fossil fuels when we ourselves are moving to far superior renewable technologies,” he said. “Africa missed out on the fossil fuel-driven energy system and all the wealth that flowed from that. But they don’t need to miss out on this one.”Still, in the interim, Ivory Coast was not about to let its big oil find go to waste, said Cissé. Asked if he thought developers would have any difficulty with securing bank lending to develop the oilfield, he said: “Now they’ve found it, trust me, there won’t be any issues of financing.”

Text 1 　In the silent ticket office, beneath the half-moon windows of the booths, a large green sign announces “OKEHAMPTON” to an empty room. On the platform, a faded poster reads "DEVON-Travel by rail". Those reading it have had little chance to do so. The last passenger train left Okehampton on June 3rd 1972. The town turned out to mourn: the mayor stood by, holding a wreath. On the line, between the sleepers, the grass started to grow. 　But Okehampton is changing. New steel tracks gleam beneath the platform; diggers toil in the car park. The station is being reopened as part of the government's "Restoring Your Railway" fund, launched in January last year to keep a manifesto promise. Okchampton is the first to reopen.Eleven miles of track have been laid in four weeks. 　In 1963 a report by Richard Beeching. chairman of the British Railways Board, earmarked 5,000 miles of track and 2,363 stations for closure. To this day, it is seen less as a piece of bureaucracy than as an act of “infamy"; it cuts "a wound that hasn't healed", according to Stewart Francis, a former chairman of the Rail Passengers’ Council. On the Beeching "wound”, Okehampton's 11 miles of shiny new track are a mere sticking plaster. 　But to see this in terms of pure numbers is to miss the point. More than sleepers and steel were lost. "Railways have a strange position in the British mind,” says John Preston. a professor of rail transport at the University of Southampton. “A lot of rural lines disappeared that were representative of a way of life...for which there was a lot of nostalgia," he notes. The new line is less about travelling through Devon than about travelling through time. 　While lots of infrastructure is prosaic, in Britain trains become poctry, their lines not just crossing the land, but running on into the litcrature of Robent Louis Stevenso, John Betjeman and W.H.Auden. Restoring railways nods to this fictional Britain, a place of branch lines and straight backs, railway porters and station masters. 　But poetry, while nice, has never been particularly profitable. There could hardly be a worse time for them to open: in the first COViD-19 lockdown passenger numbers fell by around 90% and "the post-COVID demand path is not yet clear", says Mr. Preston. Stil, in Okchampton the locals seem pleased. Becky Tipper, the Network Rail manager in charge of the rcopening, was surprised when, as her workers started laying the track, “a crowd of people" turned out once again. This time, no wreaths. Instead, says Ms. Tipper, they started clapping.

Decoupling viewed as risky bet for US 　　Economic wager driven by anti-China policies leaves no winners, experts sayThe US government's policies toward China are putting the country on the wrong track, according to China watchers who stress that a decoupling of the top two economies will harm the United States and the rest of the world.The administration of US President Joe Biden has essentially maintained the hawkish stance toward China of his predecessor, Donald Trump, in an effort to deflect criticism by blaming China for the country's economic difficulties, said George Koo, a retired international business adviser in Silicon Valley, and Cyrus Janssen, a US video blogger focusing on China, in an episode on the latter's YouTube channel."They are looking to blame somebody for all the problems that we have, that we're not fixing, and China is the most obvious target to blame, because of the economic growth that is happening in China," said Koo."One single thing that the Democratic and Republican parties can agree on is to bash China and blackmail China's image. That's a very sad thing."Koo said the US government's approach toward China is "self-destructing"."We are insisting on pushing China's head underwater, so we can still be on top," he said. "That's a losing proposition, because sooner or later, they're gonna get out from under and be on top anyway."In the meantime, we've lost all the time and opportunity to create a more competitive position for ourselves."Instead of investing in domestic development, the US government is investing in weapons and increasing the military budget in the name of "promoting democracy all around the world", said Koo.The business figure's comments struck a chord with Janssen, who lived in China for a decade."Our infrastructure just pales in comparison to what is going on in China, and how their infrastructure is developed," he said."And there's this amazing thing where you do see China's government trying to pass policies that are in the best interest of its citizens. You've seen that in its economic rise over the last 50 years," he added.Emotional' responseBy contrast, much of the US' foreign policy is "emotional-based" and "very reactionary", Janssen said. He pointed to the US' moves toward economic decoupling from China, in an effort to combat the rise of an economic competitor.Janssen, who also advises international companies, said many people are concerned about the trend toward decoupling and have asked him if all US factories will pull out of China."It's almost impossible, though certainly some industries have moved out," he said. "For example, textiles have moved to Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia. But we've had so many American companies that have invested tens and hundreds of millions of dollars building these factories."General Motors went to India to try to open up a vehicle plant only to find it didn't work out from the infrastructure and the logistical standpoint, said Janssen."China was just so much better. And it was so much easier to be doing business in China. So they eventually closed that plant in India and moved back to China," he said.Koo said that what the US government is asking the companies to do is like "cutting their noses off to spite the American face".Citing the last quarterly report of Lam Research, a major equipment company based in Silicon Valley, Koo said 31 percent of its business is in China and 8 percent in the US."Ostensibly, we're asking this company to stop selling to China. If you cut yourself off from the 31 percent of the business, you're really asking the company to shut down," he said.Koo said it's important for people in the US to understand that working with China is potentially an all-around win-win situation that benefits everybody, given the integration of the economies and the complementary nature of each country's skills and strengths."But to turn it into a decoupled situation is a lose-lose situation," he said. "I don't think China will benefit from a decoupled situation. But I can certainly say that the US is also going to lose on a decoupled situation."

Typhoon Ma-on lands in Guangdong Storm disrupts traffic, leaves southern areas waterlogged as warnings issuedTyphoon Ma-on, the ninth typhoon of the year, made landfall in the coastal area of Dianbai county of Guangdong province on Thursday morning, bringing heavy rainfall, especially in the west of the province.Ma-on made landfall with gales of around 119 kilometers per hour. After its landfall, the typhoon moved northwest at a speed of about 25 km/h, passing through the city of Maoming in Guangdong. The typhoon entered the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Thursday afternoon, with winds decreasing.Affected by the typhoon, southern Guangxi and western Yunnan province are expected to have high risks of geological disasters, the Ministry of Natural Resources said.Before landfall, the ministry activated a Level IV emergency response, the least severe in a four-tier system, for possible geological disasters triggered by the typhoon.Cities across Guangdong, especially those along the eastern and western coastal areas and the Pearl River Delta region, all issued emergency alerts for flooding.Several sections of expressways in Maoming and nearby Yangjiang and Zhanjiang cities in Guangdong were closed, according to the local traffic police authorities.Flood control and drought relief authorities in Guangdong have dispatched three working groups to Maoming and Zhanjiang cities to guide the flood-control work, with various materials including reinforcement frames and sandbags already being placed in advance in the western areas of Guangdong.A total of 162 reservoirs exceeding their designated water levels during the flooding season had been verified in the province, according to the Water Resources Department of Guangdong.The China Meteorological Administration said typhoon Ma-on arrived at Bobai county of Guangxi at 3 pm on Thursday after it decreased to a severe tropical storm.Railway services linking Guangzhou to northern and southwestern China, as well as Shenzhen to eastern parts of the country, resumed on Thursday morning, as the typhoon waned in the Pearl River Delta region, according to Guangzhou Railway Group.Entry and exit services at Hengqin Port in the city of Zhuhai, which neighbors Macao, also resumed after the typhoon passed.Traffic on the connecting line to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the temporary construction bridge of the artificial island at the Zhuhai port also resumed on Thursday afternoon, according to the local traffic police authority.Urban Haikou saw more than 150 millimeters of rain on Thursday due to the typhoon, which left part of the Hainan provincial capital waterlogged.Ten flights at Haikou airport and two more at Sanya airport in Hainan province were canceled on Thursday.Earlier, ferry services in the Qiongzhou Strait and operations at three ports in Haikou were suspended from 8 pm on Wednesday.