RIO DE JANEIRO  Cheap Tim Williams Jersey , Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's DiDi Chuxing, the world's largest ride-hailing company, has acquired Brazil's ride-hailing leader 99, the Chinese company announced on Wednesday.

While DiDi did not specify the amount for the transaction, Brazilian media placed the figure at around 300 million U.S. dollars.

The acquisition comes a year after DiDi bought a "strategic" 10-percent stake in 99, which operates in 500 cities throughout Brazil and is considered to be the homegrown rival to Uber  Cheap Chris Wormley Jersey , a U.S. company.

"The investment builds upon the deep existing partnership between DiDi and 99 to further accelerate market growth in Latin America and bring more transportation choices to the region's citizens," the company said.

DiDi has partnerships with seven "major international players" as part of a global network that serves more than 1,000 cities and reaches over 60 percent of the world population, according to the firm.

"Globalization is a top priority for DiDi," company founder and CEO Cheng Wei said of the deal.

"With enhanced investments in AI capabilities and smart transportation solutions, we will continue to advance the transformation of global transportation and automotive industries through diversified international operations and partnerships  Cheap Tyus Bowser Jersey ," Cheng added.

99 CEO Peter Fernandez said "we are confident that being part of DiDi Chuxing will vastly enhance our capability to expand our services throughout Brazil to bring critical value to users, drivers and cities."

DiDi's market value is estimated at some 56 billion U.S. dollars, since buying out Uber's Chinese operations in 2016, and making other acquisitions.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Last year was the hottest yearon record without a warming El Nino event, according to reportspublished Thursday by multiple agencies  Cheap Marlon Humphrey Jersey , revealing a clear signalof continuing, human-caused climate change on our planet.

WARMING WORLD

The U.S. space agency NASA found 2017 to be the second warmestsince modern recordkeeping began in 1880, while the U.S. NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which conducted aseparate, independent analysis, ranked it as the third warmest.

According to NASA  Cheap Jimmy Smith Jersey , globally averaged temperatures in 2017 were0.90 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1951 to 1980 average. That issecond only to global temperatures in 2016.

Scientists at NOAA found that the average temperature acrossglobal land and ocean surfaces during 2017 was 0.84 degrees Celsiusabove the 20th century average. This was the third highest amongall years in the 1880-2017 record, behind the warmest 2016 and thesecond warmest 2015.

An analysis from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO),which confirmed 2017 was among the top three warmest years onrecord, showed that the global average surface temperature in 2017was approximately 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrialera.

"The annual change from year to year can bounce up and down,there is year to year variability, but the long term trends arevery clear  Cheap Terrell Suggs Jersey , especially since the mid-21th century," Deke Arndt,chief of the global monitoring branch of NOAA's National Centersfor Environmental Information, told reporters during a mediateleconference.

"The overall picture is very, very similar and coherent," echoedGavin Schmidt  Cheap Marshal Yanda Jersey , director of NASA's Goddard Institute for SpaceStudies during the same teleconference. "We are in a long-termwarming trend."

Overall, the five warmest years on record all have taken placesince 2010, NASA and NOAA said.

"DEEPLY CONCERNING"

Phenomena such as El Nino or La Nina, which warm or cool theupper tropical Pacific Ocean and cause corresponding variations inglobal wind and weather patterns, contribute to short-termvariations in global average temperature.

A warming El Nino event was in effect for most of 2015 and thefirst third of 2016. Even without an El Nino event -- and with a LaNina starting in the later months of 2017 - last year'stemperatures ranked between 2015 and 2016 in NASA's records.

NOAA and NASA found the El Nino event spanning 2015 to 2016contributed 0.04 degrees Celsius to the annual average for 2015,and 0.12 degrees Celsius for 2016  Cheap Joe Flacco Jersey , but it had no effect on2017.

If "the effects of the recent El Nino and La Nina patterns werestatistically removed from the record, 2017 would have been thewarmest year on record," they said.

Martin Siegert, co-director of the Grantham Institute atImperial College London, called the fact that 2017 is the warmestnon- El Nino year "unsurprising but deeply concerning."

"Despite our best efforts so far, global warming continuesapace  Cheap Jeremy Maclin Jersey ," Siegert said. "Forget what the sceptics will tell you,climate change is real and is happening right now ... This is yetanother wake-up call -- to develop a zero carbon sustainableeconomy before it's too late."

URGENCY TO ACT

Experts believed that global warming is closely tied to moreintense or frequent extreme events such as storms and droughts,which are now at historical high levels across the world.

In the U.S. alone, last year was officially declared the"costliest" with losses from hurricanes, fires and freezes reachinga record 306 billion U.S. dollars. The United States had 16 weatherand climate disasters in 2017 each with losses exceeding onebillion dollars, another NOVA report said earlier this month.

"Temperatures tell only a small part of the story  Cheap Justin Tucker Jersey ," WMOSecretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement. "The warmthin 2017 was accompanied by extreme weather in many countries aroundthe world. The United States of America had its most expensive yearever in terms of weather and climate disasters, whilst othercountries saw their development slowed or reversed by tropicalcyclones, floods and drought."

Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the GranthamR"

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