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☆ Hundreds of thousands of UK healthcare workers balloted for strikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Health workers are leaving for work that pays better and doesn't take such a toll on them and their families," Unison General Secretary Christina McAnea said in a statement. "If this continues, the health service will never conquer the backlog and treat the millions desperately awaiting care." The number of patients waiting to start treatment shot up to a record 6.8 million at the end of July. The strain on the health service is one of the pressing problems inherited by Sunak, who in his first speech as prime minister promised a "stronger NHS" on Tuesday. Unison, which is balloting workers from over 250 health trusts and boards across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said strikes were "not inevitable."

☆ Top law firm introduces levy of around $200 for lawyers who fly to meetings, as part of efforts to slash its carbon footprint, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Shoosmiths, a large UK law firm, has imposed a £200 levy for lawyers who fly to business meetings. Lawyers won't have to pay out of their own pocket but policy breaches will be recorded, per The Times. The Times reported that the lawyers won't have to pay the penalty directly out of their own pockets. Shoosmiths' new bonus scheme includes a target to reduce travel, a spokesperson told UK legal website Legal Cheek. In September, 150 prominent UK lawyers signed an open letter accusing firms of "greenwashing" by advertising sustainable practices while representing fossil fuel companies and major polluters.

☆ Factbox: What is Rishi Sunak's solution to Britain's problems?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Although some of the challenges have changed since then, what does that campaign tell us about how he would govern? ECONOMIC CHALLENGESRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterBritain is facing an economically toxic combination of recession and rising interest rates. The Bank of England is trying to tame double-digit inflation while consumers face rising costs and falling real incomes. ECONOMIC POLICIESIn a statement issued on Sunday announcing his candidacy, Sunak said the country faced a "profound economic crisis". He also refused to rule out Britain's withdrawal from the European Court of Human Rights.

☆ Anti-Xi protest spreads in China and worldwide as Chinese leader begins third term
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

Obtained by CNNCNN spoke with two Chinese citizens who scribbled protest slogans in bathroom stalls and half a dozen overseas Chinese students who put up anti-Xi posters on their campuses. Chen had tried to share the Sitong Bridge protest on WeChat, China’s super app, but it kept getting censored. But as the widespread anti-Xi posters have shown, the rising nationalistic sentiment is by no means representative of all Chinese students overseas. In the day following the protest in Beijing, Jolie saw on Instagram an outpouring of photos showing protest posters from all over the world. But the extensive censorship around the Sitong Bridge protest also betrays its paranoia.

SYDNEY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Residents in flood-hit Australian towns ramped up efforts to build levees and sandbag homes on Wednesday ahead of more rain, although authorities said the expected storms could be milder than last week's, bringing relief as recovery operations begin. Police said a 65-year-old man was found dead in floodwaters in Victoria's north on Wednesday, taking the death toll to two. Residents in some areas, including the Victorian rural town of Echuca, are facing their second flooding in a week. In the nearby town of Moama, across the state border in southern New South Wales, defence force personnel teamed up with residents to sand-bag homes. "This is a very, very long event ... these floods will continue for a number of months," New South Wales deputy state emergency services commissioner Ken Murphy told ABC television.

☆ Australia PM tours flood-hit Victoria state; evacuations, sandbagging underway
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to media on June 5, 2022. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in Indonesia on Monday to meet its President Joko Widodo and shore-up relations between the two neighbors, in his first bilateral visit since being elected last month. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday toured flood-hit parts of Victoria state, including the city of Melbourne, as three southeastern states continued to grapple with a flood crisis after days of heavy rain. Earlier, the prime minister flew over flood-affected areas of regional Victoria with the state's premier, Daniel Andrews. Victoria State Emergency Service chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch said the state was experiencing "blue sky flooding", with heavy rains having passed.

☆ Australia PM to tour flood-hit Victoria as flood crisis continues
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during the Australia-New Zealand Leaders' Meeting at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices in Sydney, Australia, on Friday, July 8, 2022. Steven SAPHORE/Pool via REUTERSSYDNEY, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he would tour flood-hit parts of Victoria including Melbourne as three states continued to grapple with a flood crisis sparked by days of heavy rain. "This is a very severe weather event that's having an impact in urban communities but also in regional communities right throughout Victoria." In Melbourne, a flood clean-up was under way after the Maribyrnong River burst its banks on Friday, inundating suburbs close to the central business district. In Tasmania, 22 flood warnings were current, with most located near Launceston, the state's second biggest city.

☆ Explainer: Australia floods: why the country is battling weather again
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A home is inundated by floodwaters, following heavy rains and severe flooding in the McGraths Hill suburb of Sydney, Australia, July 6, 2022. Another contributor is the Indian Ocean Dipole - a climate phenomenon that affects rainfall patterns near the Indian Ocean, including Australia. For the coming months, Santoso predicted conditions would ease as the effect of La Nina and Indian Ocean Dipole dissipate, especially over summer. Even so, the country's weather forecaster expects that with another La Nina underway, eastern Australia should experience above-average rainfall in spring and early summer. With rivers high and dams full across much of eastern Australia, any rainfall now has the potential to cause widespread flooding, the forecaster said this month.

Abuja, Nigeria CNN —More than 1.4 million people have been displaced and about 500 people have died in some of the worst flooding Nigeria has seen in a decade, the country’s humanitarian ministry said Wednesday. In parts of Kogi and Anambra, floods had risen as high as rooftops. According to the humanitarian ministry, flooding this year was similar to Nigeria’s last major flooding in 2012, which killed 363 people and displaced 600,000. Images captured by Nasa’s Landsat 9 reveal floodwaters having “inundated numerous communities” along the banks of both rivers and heavy destruction in Kogi state capital, Lokoja. The image further illustrates water having reached southern Kogi and northern Anambra state.

☆ Green hydrogen corridor aims to harness Spanish sunshine and decarbonize Europe's industrial north
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"The co-operation is part of Rotterdam's ambition to supply Northwest Europe with 4.6 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030," it went on to add. "We are therefore setting up multiple trade lanes for green hydrogen, together with exporting countries and private businesses all over the world," he added. If the electricity used in this process comes from a renewable source such as wind or solar then some call it "green" or "renewable" hydrogen. Tuesday's announcement said Cepsa was aiming to "lead green hydrogen production in Spain and Portugal by 2030 with a production capacity of 2GW." It added that it would develop a 7 GW portfolio of renewable energy projects — including solar and wind — to produce the renewable energy required for green hydrogen generation.

☆ More frequent Chinese patrols put 'heavy burden' on aging Taiwan frigates
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Yimou Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TAIPEI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The stepped up intensity of Chinese naval patrols near Taiwan since August is putting a "heavy burden" on the island's aging frigate fleet, which is struggling to maintain combat readiness, the Taiwanese defence ministry said on Tuesday. China had expanded the area in which the ships operate from "time to time" patrols in the Taiwan Strait to regularly sending them into the waters off southwest and northern Taiwan, it said. The Chi Yang-class frigates were built by the United States in the 1970s and commissioned by Taiwan in 1992. The ministry did not say how many such new ships Taiwan is planning to build beyond 2025. It said the new frigates of about 2,000-tonnes would be similar to their Chinese counterparts in size and more adaptable to react to the regular presence of Chinese ships near Taiwan, which include China's Type 056 corvettes and Type 053H3 frigates.

☆ Julia kills 14 in Central America as it churns toward Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Nelson Renteria | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Residents clean a mudslide in a road while Tropical Storm Julia hits with wind and rain, in San Salvador, El Salvador, October 10, 2022. REUTERS/Jose CabezasSAN SALVADOR, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The death toll from Tropical storm Julia rose to at least 14 on Monday, officials said, with victims confirmed in El Salvador and Honduras, as the weakening storm dumped heavy rainfall on a swath of Central America and southern Mexico. Authorities in both El Salvador and Guatemala also canceled classes on Monday. In Nicaragua, Julia left a million people without power and heavy rains and floods forced the evacuations of more than 13,000 families. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; Additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa and Brendan O'Boyle in Mexico City; Editing by Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The gigantic moon hotel that could be built in Dubai
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Francesca Street | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The team behind Moon World Resorts reckon so too – sort of. Courtesy Moon World Resorts Inc. Moon World Resorts is a licensing company, so Henderson envisages licensing each Moon World Resort to licensees with cash to splash. The UAE, and specifically Dubai, has been pinpointed by the company as a “front runner” for the opening of the first Moon World resort. Moon funCofounder Michael Henderson suggests Moon World Resorts could be a more affordable alternative to space tourism.

☆ Philippines' Marcos orders aid for typhoon-struck areas, five reported dead
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BULACAN, Philippines, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Philippine authorities rushed on Monday to distribute aid to thousands of evacuees after typhoon Noru made landfall in the capital and northern provinces, leaving at least five dead and many areas flooded. President Ferdinand Marcos ordered supplies be airlifted and clean-up equipment be provided to most-affected communities. "Many homes were destroyed but all roads are passable and there were no landslides," Quezon province Governor Helen Tan told DZRH radio station. The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, sees an average of 20 tropical storms yearly. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded, killed 6,300 people.

☆ Philippines' main Luzon island braces for Typhoon Noru
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterMANILA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The Philippines' disaster agency was on high alert on Saturday as an approaching tropical storm intensified into a typhoon which is expected to bring moderate to heavy rainfall and severe winds over a swathe of the main Luzon island. Typhoon Noru, with sustained winds of up to 120 km per hour (75 mph), was expected to intensify prior to landfall in Aurora or Quezon province on Sunday, the weather bureau said in its latest advisory. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"The highest emergency preparedness and response protocol has been activated" in several regions, including Metro Manila, the agency said in a statement. The weather bureau said Noru was moving westward and likely to emerge over the South China Sea by late Sunday or early Monday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Clelia Oziel and Mike HarrisonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Britain cuts stamp duty tax on property purchases
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterNew British Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng walks outside Number 10 Downing Street, in London, Britain September 6, 2022. "The steps we've taken today mean 200,000 more people will be taken out of paying stamp duty altogether," he said in a tax-cutting mini-budget designed to spur economic growth. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterStamp duty, payable in England and Northern Ireland, is a graduated tax, which rises in steps to 12% on the portion of the property price above 1.5 million pounds. There was a stamp duty holiday during the COVID-19 pandemic, which initially increased the nil band to 500,000 pounds, stimulating a market which rose to record levels. ($1 = 0.8937 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Paul Sandle, David Milliken and Kylie MacLellan; editing by Alistair SmoutOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The most common crime in UK hotels isn't theft
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

"Violence against another person" is by far the most common criminal offense reported in U.K. hotels, new data shows. 'Magnets for crime'Brian Moore, operations director at hotel security consultancy Global Secure Accreditation, told CNBC that hotels are "magnets for crime." When asked about the U.K. figures, Moore said, "I think most people would be surprised at the volume of crime since the U.K. is relatively safe. Hotel guests should store valuables in room safes, and exercise caution when using a hotel's Wi-Fi. Hotel guests should also ensure they are connecting to the hotel network and not a similarly named, fake one.

REUTERS/Brendan McDermidUNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Britain wants to reach an agreement with the European Union to solve post-Brexit trade to Northern Ireland issues quickly, foreign minister James Cleverly said on Thursday, suggesting a softer approach to what has been an intractable dispute. The stand-off over part of the Brexit agreement which governs trade with Northern Ireland is by far the biggest strain between the EU and Britain, which became the first country to leave the bloc on Jan. 31, 2020. A major irritant is Britain's so-called Northern Ireland Protocol bill, which effectively tears up parts of the Brexit divorce deal. Both sides agreed to the Northern Ireland protocol as a way to avoid reinstating border controls between the British-run province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Britain left the EU, seen as key to protecting peace on the island. But Britain has since accused Brussels of a heavy-handed approach to moving goods between Britain and Northern Ireland, with pro-British communities in the province saying it erodes their place in the United Kingdom.

☆ Liz Truss and King Charles III could be the end of the 'United' Kingdom
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Peter Mcloughlin | World Politics Review | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

King Charles III and Prime Minister Liz Truss now lead a United Kingdom with profound divisions. However, when this ends with the late queen's funeral Monday, the new heads of state and government, King Charles III and Liz Truss, will be left leading a United Kingdom that is profoundly divided. However, the EU, the Irish government and most nationalists in Northern Ireland oppose any unilateral changes to the treaty. Nationalists, who are growing in numbers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, might see this as the moment to unravel the union. Peter McLoughlin is a lecturer at Queen's University Belfast, where he focuses on contemporary political history in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Share this -Link copiedThe full order of service for the funeral at Westminster Abbey The funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II is underway at Westminster Abbey. Police officers patrol outside Westminster Abbey in London on Monday, ahead of the state funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II. The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II leaves Westminster Hall for her funeral service in Westminster Abbey. Around 2,300 police officers will line the route from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle and 1,000 police officers will line the route from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch. Share this -Link copiedBuckingham Palace releases previously unseen portrait of queen Queen Elizabeth II, photographed at Windsor Castle in May 2022.

☆ Queen Elizabeth II funeral live updates: Britain, world say farewell to iconic monarch
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Patrick Smith | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Yuliya-Talmazan-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +20 min

“Today I respectfully join leaders from Britain, Ireland & the international community at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as she is laid to rest,” O’Neill tweeted. “Passengers can use their tickets on Tube and bus services instead,” the Heathrow Airport announced ahead of the queen’s funeral. Around 2,300 police officers will line the route from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle and 1,000 police officers will line the route from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch. Share this -Link copiedBuckingham Palace releases previously unseen portrait of queen Queen Elizabeth II, photographed at Windsor Castle in May 2022. Ranald Mackechnie / PA This previously unseen photo of Queen Elizabeth II was released late Sunday by Buckingham Palace.

☆ Video: Why a mysterious fireball in the skies has scientists puzzled
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

Hundreds of people across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern parts of England spotted an unusual fireball lighting up the night sky. CNN's Kristin Fisher reports on what people think it was.

☆ Prince William just inherited a 685-year-old estate worth $1 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-13 | by ( Anna Cooban | Cnn Business | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The line of succession makes Prince William, now the first in line to the British throne, a much wealthier man. Created in 1337 by King Edward III, the estate is worth around £1 billion ($1.2 billion), according to its accounts for the last financial year. From that, the UK Treasury paid the Queen a Sovereign Grant of £86 million ($100 million). The Sovereign Grant is usually equivalent to 15% of the estate's profits. Income from its investments cover official costs not met by the Sovereign Grant, and helps support other Royal family members.

☆ Kenya: Drought and soaring grain prices fuel insecurity
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-02 | by ( Sam Kiley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Just as in west Africa, Kenya's problems are being deepened by climate change. A malnourished child being measured in Ileret, northern Kenya. Members of Akuagok's tribe, the Daasanach, crowded around her shouting their own stories of loss -- loss of friends to illness perhaps caused by hunger, loss of animals, and how now, even when they make a very little cash, it's never enough to get by. A mother feeding her malnourished child in Ileret, northern Kenya. The combination of drought, soaring food and fuel prices due to a distant war, a burgeoning population, and civil wars on Kenya's doorstep is an incendiary mix.

☆ Atmospheric river of moisture will trigger storms and tornadoes this week
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-11 | by ( Jennifer Gray | Cnn Meteorologist | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

(CNN) You may have heard of atmospheric rivers impacting the West Coast. Apparently, atmospheric rivers also occur in the eastern US, unleashing a river of moisture like what we will see this week. The reason East Coast atmospheric rivers aren't talked about much isn't because they are rare. The West gets about half that number of atmospheric rivers each year, yet they account for double the annual rainfall percentage. It will combine with the available moisture provided by the atmospheric river we talked about and will result in the perfect setup for severe weather.

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