Denis Staunton

4 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Denis Staunton

John Browne had spent the day at a solar glass panel factory outside Shanghai, making the case for Kastus, a water-based solution that makes solar panels more efficient. China dominates the global solar panel market and eight out of the world’s top 10 producers are based in a couple of provinces in the southeast of the country. “We were down here six months ago and the reception, I would say, was lukewarm,” he says. “Six months later, it’s very warm. “The scale of these things is incredible.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Denis Staunton

When Indian forces launched air strikes against targets in Pakistan this week, world leaders reacted with expressions of concern, urging both nuclear-armed states to avoid further escalation. German chancellor Friedrich Merz and French president Emmanuel Macron said they viewed the clashes with “utmost concern” and Donald Trump described the fighting as “a shame”. “I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Denis Staunton

It was not yet noon on Sunday but the streets around Chater Road in the centre of Hong Kong were already thronged with groups of women sitting on sheets of cardboard as they shared food from plastic containers. Some found positions close to the Prada and Gucci shops near the Mandarin Oriental hotel but more were crammed in to underpasses beneath the multi-lane roads that cut through the city centre.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Denis Staunton

The invitation came with instructions for how to prepare for the party, themed on the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, which classifies everyone as one of 16 four-letter types. Invented after the second World War when it was used by recruiters for office jobs, it had a resurgence in South Korea a few years ago and now it’s inescapable in China. The invitation included a link to the test, telling us to reply with our four-letter type, which would be printed on a badge to be worn during the party.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Denis Staunton

Donald Trump’s suggestion this week that the 145 per cent tariff on Chinese goods would come down substantially and that his team was “actively” talking to Beijing reassured anxious investors and drove a rally on Wall Street. But Beijing on Thursday dismissed the president’s assertion that talks had started as “fake news” and set out its conditions for opening negotiations.