Politics
India’s Cloud Seeding Trials Criticized as ‘Costly Spectacle’
India’s attempt to tackle New Delhi’s toxic air by using cloud seeding appears to have produced disappointing results, with scientists and activists questioning whether the costly experiment was worth it.
Cloud seeding — a process in which aircraft spray particles such as silver iodide or salt into clouds to induce rainfall is intended to help wash pollutants out of the atmosphere.
Authorities in Delhi, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, began the trials last week using a Cessna aircraft over parts of the capital.
However, officials said the initial tests yielded minimal rainfall due to limited cloud cover.
“This will never do the job it’s an illusion,” said environmental activist Bhavreen Kandhari. “We can only control air pollution by addressing its sources, not by chasing clouds.”
Local media reported that the government has spent around $364,000 on the project so far.
Each winter, a thick blanket of smog envelops Delhi and its 30 million residents, as cold air traps emissions from vehicle exhaust, factory smoke, and crop burning in nearby states.
Despite various government efforts including vehicle restrictions, anti-smog towers, and mist-spraying trucks Delhi consistently ranks among the world’s most polluted capitals.
Following the latest cloud seeding attempt, levels of PM2.5 the fine particles linked to heart and lung disease reached 323 micrograms per cubic meter, over 20 times the World Health Organization’s safe daily limit.
A study published in The Lancet Planetary Health last year estimated that 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were associated with air pollution exposure.
Questions also remain about the environmental impact of cloud seeding chemicals.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says limited research suggests silver iodide poses little risk to human health or the environment, but acknowledges that the long-term effects of widespread use remain unclear.
Research process
Environmental activists say even if cloud seeding produces rain, the benefits are short-lived.
Climate scientist Daniele Visioni at Cornell University said it was unclear how efficient it was in heavy polluted conditions.
“It can’t create rain where there is no moisture in the air, but it just ‘forces’ some of the water to condense in one location rather than another,” he told AFP.
“There is only one thing that can sensibly reduce pollution: avoiding the burning of fossil fuels.”
Virendra Sachdeva, from Delhi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said it was too early to dismiss the cloud seeding experiment as a “scientific failure”.
“It is a part of the research process, and success is not always achieved in the first attempt,” he told reporters.
However, two atmospheric scientists at IIT Delhi called the cloud seeding plan “another gimmick”.
“It is a textbook case of science misapplied and ethics ignored,” Shahzad Gani and Krishna Achutarao wrote in The Hindu newspaper.
Mohan George, from the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, said artificial rain was not the answer.
“The levels of pollution will come back almost immediately as rain stops,” the scientist told AFP.
When it does work, it will increase precipitation in one area — while potentially decreasing it for another.
Costly spectacle
Cloud seeding, first developed in the 1940s, has been used in various countries to induce rain, clear fog, and reduce drought, but with mixed results.
China used it during the 2008 Beijing Olympics in an attempt to control the weather.
Gani and Achutarao said Delhi’s pollution causes — unchecked emissions and seasonal crop burning — are well known.
So too are the solutions cleaner fuel, better waste management and stricter enforcement of rules.
“Instead of reinforcing these priorities, parts of the scientific ecosystem researchers, advisors, and institutions — are lending credibility to a costly spectacle that will do little to address the sources of the crisis,” they said.
- Says Christians are being killed in record numbers in Nigeria.
- Vows the US will intervene to bring the violence to an end.
- Threatens military action against North African country.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US military could deploy troops to Nigeria or carry out air strikes to stop what he called the killing of large numbers of Christians in the West African country.
Asked if he envisioned troops on the ground or air strikes in Nigeria, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “Could be. I mean, other things. I envisage a lot of things.
“They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria … They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”
Trump made the comment on Sunday evening as he headed back to Washington after a weekend at his vacation home in Florida.
Trump threatened on Saturday to take military action against Nigeria if Africa’s most populous country failed to crack down on the killing of Christians.
The US president’s threat of military action came a day after his administration added Nigeria back to a “Countries of Particular Concern” list of nations that the US says have violated religious freedoms. Other nations on the list include China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakistan.
No Tomahawks for Ukraine
On Ukraine, Trump said he was not really considering giving Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles. Asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One if he was not considering providing the weapons to Ukraine, Trump responded: “No, not really.”
On October 12, Trump had said he may offer long-range Tomahawk missiles that could be used by Kyiv if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not end the war in Ukraine.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Israel that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed Zelenskiy’s request for weaponry, including Tomahawks.
Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), long enough to strike deep inside Russia, including Moscow.
The Kremlin has warned against any provision of Tomahawks to Ukraine, and Trump said they would be “a new step of aggression” if introduced into the war.
Trump avoids SC tariff arguments
He also said he will not attend the Supreme Court’s upcoming oral arguments concerning the legality of his global tariffs.
Justices have a Wednesday hearing scheduled for arguments on the tariffs case. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that despite his desire to be there, he does not want to create a distraction during the hearing.
“I wanted to go so badly,” Trump said as he flew back to Washington after a weekend in Florida. “I just don’t want to do anything to deflect the importance of that decision. … I don’t want to call a lot of attention to me. It’s not about me, it’s about our country.”
Arguments before the highest US court on Wednesday will centre on the legality of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs in a major test of one of his boldest assertions of executive power, regarding an issue that has been central to his economic and trade agenda.
The Supreme Court took up the Justice Department’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing most of his tariffs under a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The tariffs were challenged by various businesses and 12 US states.
Trump defended his use of tariffs to balance global trade flows, citing years of high duties charged by other countries on US imports. He said his tariffs had increased US revenues and driven the stock markets to a series of record highs.
“If we don’t have tariffs, we don’t have national security, and the rest of the world would laugh at us because they’ve used tariffs against us for years and took advantage of us,” he said.
“We were subject to being abused by a lot of other countries, including China. For years, not anymore. Tariffs have brought us tremendous national security,” he said.
- Tests ensure all parts can function to set up nuclear blast.
- Aim is to confirm that new weapons outperform older designs.
- Trump ordered testing after 33 years, signalling China, and Russia.
The nuclear weapons testing ordered by US President Donald Trump will not involve nuclear explosions at this time, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday.
“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests,” Wright said in an interview with Fox News. “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call non-critical explosions.”
The testing involves all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they are functioning and can set up a nuclear blast, said Wright, whose agency is responsible for testing US nuclear weapons.
The tests will be carried out on new systems to help ensure replacement nuclear weapons are better than previous ones, Wright said on Fox News‘ “The Sunday Briefing.”
Just before he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, Trump said he ordered the US military to immediately restart the process for testing nuclear weapons after a halt of 33 years, a move that appeared to be a message to rival nuclear powers China and Russia.
He reaffirmed his comments on Friday but did not answer directly when asked whether that would include underground nuclear tests that were common during the Cold War.
The United States conducted nuclear test explosions in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Wright said, and collected detailed information and measurements on the blasts.
“With our science and our computation power, we can simulate incredibly accurately exactly what will happen in a nuclear explosion,” Wright said.
“Now we simulate what were the conditions that delivered that, and as we change bomb designs, what will they deliver?”
A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake rattled Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on Monday, the US Geological Survey reported, raising concerns over possible casualties and damage in the mountainous area.
The earthquake hit at a depth of 28km (17.4 miles) and its epicentre was 22.5km from a town called Khulm, which has a population of nearly 65,000, according to USGS.
The country’s national disaster management agency said reports on casualties and damage would be shared later.
Reuters could not immediately verify the extent of damage from the earthquake.
More than 1,000 people died after an earthquake hit Afghanistan in August, according to the Afghan Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian group working in the region.
This is a developing story that is being updated with additional information
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