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☆ ‘The Fires Here Are Unstoppable’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Norimitsu Onishi | Renaud Philippe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An out-of-control fire was advancing rapidly toward a logging road on Tuesday afternoon, tearing through Canada’s immense — and highly flammable — boreal forest with a force and intensity bewildering to a team of French firefighters. Surrounded by thick smoke, a handful of them headed into the forest to search for water. A veteran knelt down and used his right finger to sketch a plan on the gravel road, pressing to attack the fire head-on. The fire, he said, was of an immensity unimaginable in France. Trying to douse this tiny patch would be “pointless.”

Locations: France

Rey Steve Mabiala and his wife, Liz Gouari, taking refuge at the Roberval emergency center after being ordered to evacuate Chibougamau, Quebec, as a fire approached. Of the more than 400 fires now burning in Canada, more than one-third are in Quebec, which has already registered its worst wildfire season on record. Credit... Carlos Osorio/Reuters“We are facing some unprecedented events, including droughts, accelerated fires and heat waves, and there will be more over time, especially forest fires,” Ms. Mohsin said. But perhaps most surprised were newcomers to Chibougamau, like Mr. Mabiala, from the Republic of Congo, who came to work in logging. “They were asking, “Oh, is there such a thing in Canada?’ ’’ Ms. Cabrera said.

Persons: Rey Steve Mabiala, Liz Gouari, Gouari, Mabiala, Prince Edward Island, ” Mr, “ It’s, ”, Josée Poitras, Tanzina Mohsin, Carlos Osorio, Ms, Mohsin, Poitras, “ I’ve, I’ve, Francis Côté, “, Chibougamau, Renaud Philippe, Côté, Guy Boisvert, Winters, Boisvert, Shirley, Jonathan Mattson, Mr, Mattson, Ruth Cabrera, Anna Huerte, —, Cabrera, Huerte Organizations: Wildfire, University of Toronto, ., Reuters, The New York Times, “, Credit Locations: Chibougamau, Quebec, Africa, Canada, North America, Republic of Congo, Prince, Nunavut, Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Toronto, Val, Montreal, Roberval, East Coast, United States, Philippines

☆ France's Macron seeks to show he's no lame duck as pension discontent rumbles on
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on in a meeting with JP Morgan CEO during the 5th edition of the "Choose France" Business Summit, in Versailles, southwest of Paris, on July 11, 2022. Around 8,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Toulouse, France, on June 06, 2023, protesting against the government. "They know Macron has no alternative than to rely on them, making it almost impossible to develop the centrist domestic project," he said. This is largely attributable to Macron's agenda," Schmieding said, adding France was replacing Germany was the most dynamic major European economy. French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at a Franco-Chinese business council meeting in Beijing, China April 6, 2023.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Morgan, Ludovic Marin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Macron, Renaud Foucart, Foucart, Les Republicains, Mujtaba Rahman, Rahman, Bruno Le Maire, Elon Musk, Holger Schmieding, Schmieding, Xi Jinping Organizations: Business, Afp, Getty, Nurphoto, Lancaster University, Eurasia Group, Macron, Finance, EU, U.S, Elon Locations: Versailles, Paris, Germany, Union, Toulouse, France, China, Ukraine, Europe, Beijing

☆ Arman Soldin: AFP journalist killed in rocket fire near eastern Ukraine's Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A French journalist working for the international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) was killed by rocket fire near the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. “We are devastated to learn of the death of AFP video journalist Arman Soldin in eastern Ukraine today,” AFP said. Their reporting team was with Ukrainian soldiers when they came under fire around 4:30pm local time on Tuesday, according to AFP. “The whole agency is devastated by the loss of Arman,” said Fabrice Fries, CEO of AFP, according to the news agency. In their obituary, AFP wrote that Soldin celebrated his 32nd birthday on March 21 from Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.

☆ Apple and fintechs like Robinhood chase yield-hungry depositors as Fed rate hikes continue
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Last month, the iPhone maker launched its Apple Card savings account with a generous 4.15% APY in partnership with Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs . "It's really a trade-off for consumers, between safety or the appearance of safety, and yield," Laplanche told CNBC. Still, the emerging group of high-yield savings products are much more mainstream than what the crypto platforms were promoting. SoFi launched its high-yield savings account in February of last year. In its annual SEC filing, the company said that offering checking and high-yield savings accounts provided "more daily interactions with our members."

☆ Italian minister Francesco Lollobrigida 'ethnic replacement' claim sparks fury in Italy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Rome CNN —The brother-in-law and close political ally of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has warned that Italy’s low birth rate and an increase in irregular immigration could lead to “ethnic replacement,” sparking anger from the country’s opposition. Francesco Lollobrigida remarks comes in response to a recent report which found Italy has one of the world’s lowest birthrates with fewer than 400,000 births in 2022. Yes to helping births, no to ethnic replacement. Meloni’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and she has yet to make a public statement. Matteo Salvini, a junior partner in Meloni’s coalition of far-right and center-right parties, had previously tweeted about the threat of “ethnic replacement” in 2017, and Meloni had used the term in political speeches in 2016.

☆ French court to rule on pension age rise as nationwide protests rage on
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Riot police guard the Constitutional Council building during a demonstration against pension reform in central Paris, France, on Thursday, April 13, 2023. French unions are held strikes and protests on Thursday against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform, seeking to maintain pressure on the government before a ruling on the law's constitutionality. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesFrance's Constitutional Council will rule on the legality of President Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension system reforms on Friday, as nationwide protests against raising the retirement age rumble on. While some hope the Constitutional Council will fully reject the bill, many commentators say that is unlikely. Demonstrators march along the vieux port during the 12th day of nationwide strike on pension reform on April 13, 2023 in Marseille, France.

☆ The French protests seem to be growing — and that wasn't expected, economics lecturer says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe French protests seem to be growing — and that wasn't expected, economics lecturer saysRenaud Foucart, senior lecturer in economics at Lancaster University, discusses the French protests over pension reform, saying at some point demonstrators will want to return to their ordinary lives.

What’s making the French so angry is a new retirement age that will still be one of the lowest in the industrialized world. Under a new law, pushed through parliament without a vote last week, the retirement age for most French workers will be raised from 62 to 64. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the retirement age is between 66 and 67, depending on the year you were born. Protesters in Bordeaux, western France, on March 23, 2023 Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty ImagesState pensions in France are also more generous than elsewhere. The French government has defended the retirement reform — which includes other changes — as necessary to keep the pension system funded.

☆ 'Let's bring France to a halt': Oil refineries blocked and trains halted by pension reform protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Christophe Archambault | Afp | Getty ImagesStrike action over plans to raise the pension age in France caused widespread disruption on Tuesday, as trains came to a near-standstill, many schools were shut and fuel deliveries were blocked from refineries. Lou Benoist | Afp | Getty ImagesEric Sellini, a representative from the CGT union at TotalEnergies, told Reuters that a strike blocking the Gonfreville refinery in Normandy would run until Thursday. Another at the Donges refinery in western France is set to run until Friday, he added. Sameer Al-doumy | Afp | Getty ImagesThe strikes come as French workers grapple with red-hot inflation, which accelerated unexpectedly in February to hit 6.2% year-on-year. Around two thirds of the public support protests against the pension reforms, according to an Elabe survey.

☆ Sweden's Duplantis breaks own pole vault world record with 6.22m
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Sweden's Armand Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record on Saturday, clearing 6.22 metres to add one centimetre to his previous mark at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting in Clermont-Ferrand, France. He had barely touched the mat before a spray of sparklers went off and meet director Renaud Lavillenie, the Olympic champion in 2012, ran to embrace him. Duplantis had the competition won already when he cleared 6.01 metres on the first try, as Australian Kurtis Marschall finished second with a 5.91 metres leap while the Netherlands' Menno Vloon took third. Duplantis set the previous record on his way to winning gold at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July. Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken FerrisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] Ben & Jerry's, a brand of Unilever, is seen on display in a store in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 24, 2022. Nestle said cutting products saved 1 billion Swiss francs last year ($1.06 billion), while Unilever said the practice saved $2 billion. Food makers tend to cull products without much fanfare. At the consumer products conference they highlighted new offerings, many of them increasingly popular handheld foods that people can eat while scrolling on phones. "You'd be shocked by the loyalty and personal connections people have to food products," he said.

[1/3] Ben & Jerry's, a brand of Unilever, is seen on display in a store in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 24, 2022. Eliminating less popular products is part of a "decomplexity program" underway at Kraft Heinz, its executives said at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference this week. Nestle said cutting products saved 1 billion Swiss francs last year ($1.06 billion), while Unilever said the practice saved $2 billion. At the consumer products conference they highlighted new offerings, many of them increasingly popular handheld foods that people can eat while scrolling on phones. "You'd be shocked by the loyalty and personal connections people have to food products," he said.

Nanoco and Chicago-based litigation funding firm GLS Capital said in a release that the settlement, which includes a license agreement and the "transfer of certain patents," resolves litigation in the United States, Germany and China. Nanoco's quantum dots improve the backlighting of LED displays without the use of toxic heavy metals like cadmium. The Texas lawsuit said Samsung began incorporating Nanoco's technology into high-end QLED TVs launched in 2017. Third-party funding of lawsuits has becoming increasingly common in recent years, though details about specific investments are rarely publicized. The case is Nanoco Technologies Ltd v. Samsung Electronics Co, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No.

MSCI's all-country world index, a gauge of stocks in 47 countries, (.MIWD00000PUS) was up 0.18% after paring gains after hitting a fresh five-month high. The dollar index rose 0.512%. The largely better-than-expected data can help the weakening dollar find a near-term floor, said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Convera in Washington. "On balance, the data being better than expected suggests there's more resilience in the economy than many have given it credit," he said. Oil prices rose more than 1% on Thursday on expectations demand will strengthen as top oil importer China reopens its economy and on positive U.S. economic data.

☆ Hopes of slowdown in rate hikes bolster shares ahead of U.S. GDP
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Oil prices were steady after U.S. crude stocks rose less than expected, while gold hit a 9-month peak. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) climbed 1.1% and was set for its fifth straight day of gains. The report could mark the last quarter of solid growth before the lagged effects of the Fed's jumbo rate hikes kick in. Oil prices were steady after U.S. crude stocks rose less than expected. Gold prices touched a nine-month high, with spot gold at $1,941 per ounce, after hitting $1,949.09 earlier in the day.

[1/2] Visitors queue in front of the Ukraine House during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland, January 16, 2023. It is about creating momentum and giving assurances that even during the war, Ukraine is not closed for business. "Ukraine has shown resilience in war time and business too so we have to find additional tools on how to facilitate Ukraine business to develop and foreign investment to come to Ukraine even now," she said. WAR NOT ENDING SOONZelenskiy addressed BlackRock executives and its clients in Davos via Zoom on Tuesday, a person who attended said. In Davos, an exhibition at Ukraine House reminds visitors of the scale of the destruction.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development expects a record loss in 2022, primarily due to losses from its portfolio holdings in Russia and Belarus, EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso said on Wednesday. The bank earlier reported record investments in 2022 of about 13.1 billion euros ($14.1 billion), and expects to continue investments targeted around food and energy security, Renaud-Basso said. It may make record investments in Tunisia. Renaud-Basso reiterated the bank's commitment to send 3 billion euros to Ukraine by the end of this year, particularly to help rebuild infrastructure. That would mean an expected deployment of around 1.3 billion euros in 2023, following last year's disbursement of 1.7 billion euros.

☆ EBRD president: Up to 3 billion euros to be invested in Ukraine in 2022-23
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailEBRD president: Up to 3 billion euros to be invested in Ukraine in 2022-23Odile Renaud-Basso, president at the EBRD, discusses the organization's investments in Ukraine and its economy.

From September this year, the regular retirement age will increase by three months a year until 2030. The higher retirement age should tackle a pension funding deficit, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne told reporters on Tuesday as she laid out the reforms. Revamping the pensions system has been a key element of French President Emmanuel Macron’s election campaigns. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the retirement age is between 66 and 67, depending on the year in which you were born. An earlier attempt by Macron to revamp the pensions system was met with nationwide strikes in 2019 before being abandoned during the Covid-19 pandemic.

☆ 'Quick and dirty maybe': How Macron may be able to pass a key pension reform
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email'Quick and dirty maybe': How Macron may be able to pass a key pension reformRenaud Foucart, senior lecturer in Economics at Lancaster University, outlines what to expect from French President Emmuanuel Macron's upcoming pension reform.

☆ The Key to Making Cybersecurity More Accessible to Everyone
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Karen Renaud | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Cybersecurity safeguards often aren’t designed with people who have impairments in mind, but websites and designers can be more inclusive. Anybody who is online is advised (and often admonished) to practice good cybersecurity hygiene as a way to protect their information from would-be thieves. What about the people who for physical or cognitive or financial reasons are unable to follow the basic rules of cybersecurity? In short, these people are often out of luck. And the result is that they face an impossible choice: They can either be excluded from essential private and public services or become easy prey to cybercriminals.

Gay men, who have arguably been the lifeblood of “The Real Housewives” fanbase, will finally get a drama-filled reality TV show they can call their own. On Thursday, MTV announced it is launching on Jan. 20 “The Real Friends of WeHo,” which will follow six gay friends living in Los Angeles' premiere gayborhood, West Hollywood. “If you like the wives, don't miss these new house guys,” a narrator says in the trailer, in what appeared to be a nod to Bravo's “Real Housewives” franchise. “Went ahead and preemptively muted 'the real friends of weho' from my timeline,” one Twitter user wrote. '” But, she later added, “I will also be honest and say that I will probably be watching the show.”“The Real Friends of WeHo” premieres Jan. 20 on MTV at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT.

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

Here are 12 of the weirdest and most fascinating animal behaviors scientists spotted in 2022. Here are 12 bizarre and amazing things animals were spotted doing, some of which had never been seen before. It turned out that at least 12 species of primates had been reported doing so, a review published in the Journal of Zoology in October found. A dolphin swallowed 8 venomous sea snakesA sea snake (indicated with pink arrow), moments before it is captured and eaten by a Navy dolphin. Though animals have often been spotted using tools, these usually are used to give the animal a clear survival advantage.

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