DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Singapore will end horse racing to make space for housing development
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —The space starved island state of Singapore is bringing the curtain down on more than 180 years of horse racing with its sole racecourse set to be handed back to the government to make way for public housing. The final race at the Singapore Turf Club will be the 100th Grand Singapore Gold Cup on 5th October 2024. The site will be redeveloped to meet the country’s future needs for housing and potentially include venues for leisure and recreation, it added. Jockeys sprint at Kranji Racecourse on May 25, 2019 in Singapore. Lo Chun Kit/Getty ImagesDespite its long history, horse racing in the city state has seen a decline in viewership over the past decade, the club added.

Persons: Chiang Meng, ” Niam, Lo Chun Kit, Queen Elizabeth II Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Singapore Turf, 100th Grand Singapore, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of National Development, ”, Singapore Turf Club, Racecourse Locations: Hong Kong, Singapore, Kranji, New York City

☆ The astonishing underground sounds from the largest organism on Earth, and how they could help soothe your stress away
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Rebecca Strong | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sound designer Jeff Rice recorded what this organism's vast root system sounds like in a rainstorm. What the largest organism on Earth sounds likeRice's work involves recording the sounds of various natural environments and then archiving them on the Acoustic Atlas site. One of the mics that Jeff Rice used to record the sounds of Pando. The sounds of Pando may soothe your stress awayNumerous studies have found that listening to nature sounds can have mood-boosting, pain-relieving, and stress-reducing effects — while even improving cognitive performance. Rice didn't record the sounds of Pando for its potential stress-relieving benefits.

Persons: Pando, Jeff Rice, —, you'll, what's, Rice, Lance Oditt, Jack Straw Organizations: Service, Anadolu Agency, Montana State University Library, The New York Times Magazine, Pando, Jack Straw New Media Locations: Pando, Seattle

New York City’s air quality index was above 200 at one point Tuesday night – a level that is “very unhealthy,” according to IQair. Later Tuesday night, New York City had the second-worst levels of air pollution in the world after New Delhi, India, IQair reported. Air quality alerts were in effect across parts of the Northeast and the Midwest on Tuesday as wildfire smoke spread west into Detroit and Chicago. Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesDetroit was listed in IQair’s top 10 worst locations for air pollution on Tuesday afternoon. Chicago’s air quality was moderate on Tuesday afternoon and is expected to remain moderate for the next couple of days.

Persons: IQair, ”, William Barrett, ” Barrett, Spencer Platt Organizations: CNN, New, Doha, World Health, World Health Organization, American Lung Association, Canadian Interagency Forest Fire, Midwest, National Weather Service, Getty, Detroit, IQAir Locations: New York City, Quebec, York, New Delhi, India, Qatar, Baghdad, Iraq, Lahore, Pakistan, New York, Canadian, Canada, Detroit, Chicago, IQair’s, New England, Massachusetts , Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont, Cities, Baltimore, Boston, Hartford, Providence, Montpelier , Vermont, South Carolina, IQAir North America

☆ Opinion | The Climate Solution That’s Horrible for the Climate
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Michael Grunwald | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

As America rushes to generate more renewable electricity, it has become fashionable to fret that solar and wind farms use too much land. But America is also racing to produce more renewable fuels, and they use much, much more land to displace much, much less fossil fuel. And that’s mainly because they’re inefficient land hogs. That’s a huge waste of precious land the world needs to store carbon that can stabilize our warming climate and grow crops that can help feed the growing population. Like direct payments, countercyclical payments, loan deficiency payments and other U.S. farm programs, biofuel subsidies redistribute tax dollars from the 99 percent of Americans who don’t farm to the roughly 1 percent who do.

Persons: they’re Organizations: Environmental Protection Agency Locations: California, That’s, Washington, America

☆ A hunter paid $100,000 for 4 old grain bins in the middle of nowhere, then transformed them into a secret home. See inside.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

An avid hunter converted four unassuming grain bins into a fully automated smart home. The house, which sits on 386 remote acres in rural Washington, is on the market for $1.6 million. Realtor Anna Van Diest said it would be "heaven" for a doomsday prepper because of its privacy. Loading Something is loading. The property hit the market in late April asking $1.6 million.

Persons: Anna Van Diest, — Organizations: Service Locations: Washington

☆ King Charles is giving up the Welsh country estate that took him 40 years to find. Take a closer look at the 192-acre property.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Lydia Warren | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

King Charles is giving up the lease on his Welsh estate because he's too busy to use it. Since becoming king, he'd been renting the property, which is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. He's handing back the keys of Llwynywermod Estate in Carmarthenshire because he can no longer use it like he has in the past, sources told The Telegraph. As Prince of Wales, Charles oversaw the Duchy, but it was passed down to Prince William upon the Queen's death in 2022. Take a closer look at Llwynywermod Estate, which sits on 192 acres outside the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.

Persons: King Charles, he's, he'd, —, King Charles III, He's, Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince William Organizations: Service, Telegraph Locations: Duchy, Cornwall, Bannau, Wales, Estate, Carmarthenshire

☆ Replanting the Amazon could slow global warming. Here’s why it’s hard
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +24 min

Milton da Costa Junior nosed his pickup through a remote stretch of the western Brazilian Amazon to check on his babies. Local authorities said the September 2021 incident, which Da Costa outlined in a police report that was reviewed by Reuters, is being investigated. Out of dozens of reforestation initiatives in the country, Rioterra and The Black Jaguar Foundation, a Brazilian-European group, are among the largest. Illegal invaders destroy in hours what it takes Rioterra or Black Jaguar a year to plant. In all, Black Jaguar has signed contracts with 26 farms and planted 326 hectares (806 acres) to date.

Persons: Milton da Costa, Da Costa, Carlos Nobre, Alexis Bastos, Rioterra, ”, Nobre, “, Bastos, Jamari, Dejesus Aparecido Ramos, it’s, ” Bastos, Jair Bolsonaro, Germany –, Bolsonaro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Black, Ben Valks, Valks, Leandro Silveira, Silveira, São, ” Valks, aren’t, Cristina Banks, Leite, Marcos Mariani, Araguaia, Mariani, Tânia Irres, ” Irres, Regina Molke, I’ll, Clovis, Black Jaguar, Aquaverde, Renato Franklin, “ Ben, ” Franklin, L’Oreal, da Costa, ” Da Costa, da, Spring, Clare Trainor, Catherine Tai, Lais Morais, Ilan Rubens, Lucy Ha, John Emerson, Marla Dickerson Organizations: Milton da Costa Junior, Toyota, Reuters, Black Jaguar Foundation, National Institute for Space Research, Rioterra, Cultural, Environmental Studies, Petrobras, “, Amazon Fund, Environment Ministry, United, United Arab Emirates, São Paulo, Global, Farmers, Brazil’s Central Bank, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, Imperial College London, Santana, Bolsonaro, United Nations, Space Agency, Copernicus, Sentinel Locations: Machadinho, Rondônia, Brazil, Germany, Brazilian, European, Manhattan, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Bastos, Porto Velho, droves, Rio, Black, Itapuã, Oeste, Norway, United Arab, Pará, Caixa, “, Costa, Syria, Paris, Santana, Araguaia’s, Clovis, Regina, United States, South, Geneva, Rio Preto, da Costa

Production had never exceeded 100 million prior to 2017, though USDA sees the 2024 crop jumping to another new high of 163 million tonnes. Current economics suggest 2024 soybean profitability in Brazil could return to the lower levels of the late 2010s, when the average yearly area expansion was below 3%. Brazilian farmers have been slow to sell the 2023 soy crop amid easing prices, and 2024 may be less exciting. China’s soybean consumption had been rising more than 8% per year in the mid-2010s. Chinese soybean demand: consumption and importsKaren Braun is a market analyst for Reuters.

Persons: Mato, Karen Braun, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture, USDA, Reuters, Thomson Locations: NAPERVILLE , Illinois, China, Americas, Brazil, BRAZIL, United States, Argentina, CHINA

☆ Indonesia pushes tourism to boost mangrove restoration
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JAKARTA, June 2 (Reuters) - Tourists in Indonesia are discovering the benefits of mangroves as the archipelago pushes to replant or conserve carbon-rich coastal areas that have been decimated by human activity. Last year alone, the country lost 700,000 hectares of mangroves, according to Indonesia's Mangrove and Peatlands Restoration Agency (BRGM). "A lot of people and businesses have these mangrove forests levelled down and then build a tourist spot above it by piling sand to make artificial beaches. That contradicts nature preservation," said Muhammad Saleh Alatas, owner of The Mangrove Paddling Centre, which organises tours in the mangroves of Jakarta. Reporting by Tommy Ardiansyah, Johan Purnomo, Zahra Matarani; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Connie Sihombing, I've, Muhammad Saleh Alatas, Muhammad Ilman, Tommy Ardiansyah, Johan Purnomo, Zahra Matarani, Kanupriya Kapoor, Emelia Organizations: Restoration Agency, Nusantara Nature Conservation Agency, Thomson Locations: JAKARTA, Indonesia, Jakarta

Melting snow that continues to fill reservoirs with water will allow the state to fill 100 percent of water requests for the first time in nearly two decades. Even with the spring snow melt, much of the snowpack is expected to last into July or, in some cases, even into August or September, which will help keep Sierra Nevada forests moist and the fire danger lower. For those that don’t want to leave winter behind, several ski resorts are staying open well into the summer. If only for one year, abundant, clear and cold waters will come down from the Sierra Nevada mountains. It’s a breath of fresh air after seemingly endless bad news about water, climate, and natural disasters in the West, one to celebrate.

Organizations: California Department of Water Resources, Southwest Locations: Sierra Nevada, West

☆ ‘California is meant to burn': Experts teach landowners art of prescribed burns
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Nathan Frandino | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Volunteer David Palmer takes part in a broadcast burn in advance of wildfire season near Blodgett Forest Research Station in Georgetown, California, U.S., May 20, 2023. Teaching locals is exactly what Susie Kocher is hoping to accomplish through the El Dorado Amador Prescribed Burn Association. Founded in 2021, the association teaches private landowners about prescribed burns, including how to plan and carry them out safely. California last year launched a strategic plan for wildfire and forest resilience with the aim of expanding prescribed burns to 400,000 acres annually by 2025. The Saturday class for two dozen volunteers – mostly college students and a few private landowners - at the Blodgett Forest Research Station west of Lake Tahoe turned out just as the experts had hoped.

Persons: David Palmer, Loren Elliott GEORGETOWN, Susie Kocher, Amador, it's, Kocher, Sarah Fischbach, haven't, ” Fischbach, we're, ”, Ariel Roughton, Cathy Mueller, we've, ” Mueller, Nathan Frandino, Mary Milliken, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Research, REUTERS, El, Burn, “, Blodgett, Thomson Locations: Blodgett, Georgetown , California, U.S, Loren Elliott GEORGETOWN , California, California, Sierra Nevada, Lake, “ California

☆ UK castle could be yours for $37,000, but there’s a catch
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A sprawling Scottish castle is on sale for offers over £30,000 ($37,000), but there is a catch; its current owners estimate that it requires an additional £12 million ($14.8 million) for restoration. Situated on Fetlar, the fourth largest of the Shetland Islands, Brough Lodge is in one of the most remote parts of the UK. The island is home to around 69 people, according to the Fetlar Community Association website – an increase from its lowest population of 48 in early 2009. Nestled into the hillside, the castle overlooks Fetlar’s grassland and rugged cliffs stretching down to the sea, as well as the surrounding islands. It has been empty since the 1970s, although it was made wind and watertight about 10 years ago by its current owners, the Brough Lodge Trust, following a fundraising campaign.

Persons: Arthur Nicolson, ”, Drew Ratter Organizations: CNN, Fetlar Community, “ Locations: Scottish, Fetlar, Shetland, Brough, Edinburgh, London, Scotland

☆ Raging wildfire empties homes in eastern Canada, pollutes air in US
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Eric Martyn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The fire, which is about 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of downtown Halifax, has already forced 18,000 people to evacuate their homes. No fatalities have been reported but about 200 homes, structures have been damaged, the CBC reported, citing the Halifax Regional Municipality. Forest fires also led to evacuations of about 400 homes in the province of New Brunswick over the weekend, officials said. "The stories and the images we're seeing coming out of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are heartbreaking," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa, pledging federal support for the Atlantic provinces. The Halifax wildfire was expected to cause poor air quality hundreds of miles to the south in parts of the U.S. East Coast and Midwest as smoke drifts across the regions.

Persons: David Steeves, Justin Trudeau, what's, Brendan O'Brien, Ismail Shakil, Sriraj Kalluvila, Marguerita Choy, Deepa Babington Organizations: HALIFAX, U.S, Nova, Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, CBC, CBC News, U.S ., National Weather Service, Thomson Locations: Nova Scotia, Halifax, Canadian, Halifax Regional Municipality, New Brunswick, Ottawa, Atlantic, Bedford , Nova Scotia, West Bedford, Alberta, U.S . East Coast, Midwest, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania , New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago

☆ A farmer who lives near Elon Musk's Texas campus says the state's lack of regulations means it's like the 'Wild West' for developers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Texas' is a "Wild West" for developers like Elon Musk's Boring Company, a farmer told The WaPo. The Boring Company and SpaceX both have built sites in Bastrop, a rural area near Austin. A farmer who lives near Elon Musk's Texas campus around 30 miles east of Austin says that the boom in development in the area means it's like "the Wild West." The Boring Company, Musk's construction company — which builds tunnels under cities to help alleviate traffic congestion — began work on its Bastrop facility in 2021. At the public meeting, however, some local residents did show support for the boost to Bastrop's economy that Musk's investments would bring.

☆ Photos: Inside $33.5 Million Mansion on Long Island's Gold Coast
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Gabbi Shaw | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A $33.5 million home is for sale in Brookville, Long Island. Brookville is the second-most affluent neighborhood in the US, Insider previously reported. One of these properties is a $33.5 million mansion nicknamed "Shangri-La." It's located in the small village of Brookville, which Insider previously named the second most affluent neighborhood in the US. Keep scrolling to see inside this expansive property in one of the country's most affluent neighborhoods.

☆ A couple bought a crumbling 700-year-old medieval farmstead and turned it into a fairytale retreat where guests can stay in treehouses overlooking the English countryside
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Claire Turrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

A classified ad for a dilapidated 12th-century farmhouse with a medieval tithe barn immediately caught her eye. Rainwater running through the roofA farmer had lived in the three-bedroom house until the moment the couple took the keys. "I don't know how, as it was in such a state of disrepair," Nicki Beavan said. Giving a medieval barn a new lease on lifeThe tithe barn before renovations. The tithe barn took four years to complete, and they now hire it out for weddings.

☆ State Farm stops home insurance sales in California, citing wildfire risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —State Farm is stopping new home insurance sales in California, citing wildfire risks and skyrocketing construction costs, the company announced Friday. The insurance giant stopped accepting applications for all business and personal lines property and casualty insurance in California on May 27. “State Farm General Insurance Company made this decision due to historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market,” the company said in a statement. While “insurance companies prioritize their short-term financial goals, the long-term goal of the Department of Insurance is protecting consumers,” California Department of Insurance spokesperson Michael Soller said. “However, it’s necessary to take these actions now to improve the company’s financial strength,” State Farm said, adding it will reevaluate according to market conditions.

☆ An Indian official ordered an entire reservoir drained to find his phone after he dropped it taking a selfie
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

An Indian official was suspended after he drained an essential reservoir to find his phone. Rajesh Vishwas was taking a selfie when he dropped the phone in the water, the BBC reported. Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector, was taking a selfie when he dropped his cell phone into the Kherkatta Dam in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh last weekend, according to BBC News. The official has since been suspended from his position, the BBC reported, after he was criticized for exploiting his position and wasting water. Vishwas denied "misusing" his position, saying the drained water was from an overflow section of the dam and was not "in usable condition."

☆ Flood-Battered Italian Region May See More Violent and Frequent Storms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Elisabetta Povoledo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The floods that submerged the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna this month, killing 15 people, leaving thousands homeless and grinding transportation and businesses to a halt, were not one-off events, warn experts, who predict that there are more similar, frequent and violent storms to come. “The question to ask,” the country’s civil protection minister, Nello Musumeci, told an Italian newspaper, “is not whether a disastrous event” like the deadly flooding will happen again, “but when and where it will occur.”The causes of floods are complex, including land development and ground conditions. But many experts in Italy, including Barbara Lastoria, a hydraulic engineer, have linked the two devastating storms that occurred over two weeks to climate change. The amount of water that fell — about 19.6 inches of rain in 15 days, more than half the average annual rainfall in the region — was extraordinary, experts say, exacerbated by a monthslong drought that had left the terrain struggling to absorb all of that rain. It swelled nearly two dozen rivers and sent billions of gallons of water pouring into streets and untold acres of farmland.

☆ Indian Official Who Drained a Reservoir to Retrieve His Phone Is Suspended
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Sameer Yasir | Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Say you drop your brand-new smartphone into a reservoir while posing for a selfie during a picnic. Would you consider it lost and buy a replacement, or drain the reservoir to retrieve it? An Indian official who chose the latter option has been suspended from his job. Initially, some villagers he knew spent two days diving in the reservoir in an attempt to retrieve the phone, Mr. Vishwas told The Indian Express newspaper. So he rented a diesel pump and drained about three feet of water over another two days — by some estimates, enough to irrigate 1,500 acres of farmland.

☆ Biden Interior advances renewable energy transmission projects in Nevada
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management this week said it has advanced two transmission projects proposed by public utility NV Energy that would facilitate more renewable energy development and delivery in Nevada. Once completed, the projects will connect eight gigawatts of clean energy to the Western power grid. The plans would bolster the Biden administration's goal to deploy 25 gigawatts of renewable energy on public lands and waters by 2025 and achieve a carbon-free power sector by 2035. The announcement comes as Congress debates federal energy permitting overhauls, with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., introducing a measure earlier this month to speed permitting of both fossil fuel and renewable energy projects. Transmission projects involve expanding high-voltage lines that transport renewable energy to populated areas and will play a critical role in accelerating the clean energy transition while meeting growing power demand.

☆ Modi inaugurates controversial new parliament building in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

A cyclist rides past the construction site for the new Parliament building in January 2021. Controversial projectThe new triangular parliament building is part of a major overhaul of New Delhi’s colonial-era administrative center dubbed the Central Vista Redevelopment Project. The rush was widely thought to have resulted from hopes of opening the parliament building by the 75th anniversary of Indian independence in August 2022. Capacity is also limited — a concern magnified by growing calls to increase the number of MPs sitting in India’s parliament. A photo of the parliament's interior taken during a visit to the building by Modi earlier this year.

☆ Kansas farmers abandon wheat fields after extreme drought
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Tom Polansek | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] Romulo Lollato, a wheat agronomist for Kansas State University, examines wheat in a field, as part of an annual crop tour, near Clay Center, Kansas, U.S., May 16, 2023. REUTERS/Tom PolansekWICHITA, Kansas, May 22 (Reuters) - Farmers in Kansas, the biggest U.S. producer of wheat used to make bread, are abandoning their crops after a severe drought and damaging cold ravaged farms. Kansas farmers are expected to abandon about 19% of the acres planted last autumn, up from 10% last year and 4% in 2021, according to the report. Soaring prices for hay also pressure wheat farmers not to harvest their fields for grain so they can be fed to cattle, Gilpin said. Kansas farmers are expected to produce just 191.4 million bushels of wheat this year, the smallest since 1963, according to the latest monthly government forecast.

☆ Southwest states strike landmark deal with Biden to conserve Colorado River water
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Under the agreement, California, Arizona and Nevada will voluntarily conserve 3 million acre-feet of water until 2026, amounting to about 13% of those states' total allocation from the river. The Colorado River supplies water to more than 40 million people and roughly 5.5 million acres of farmland in seven U.S. states. California has the largest allocation of Colorado River water, with roughly 4.4 million acre-feet each year, comprising about 29% of the total allocation. Arizona receives roughly 2.8 million acre-feet per year, or about 18% of total allocation. Nevada's allocation is approximately 300,000 acre-feet each year, representing around 2% of the total allocation.

☆ Why ChatGPT could spark a new bull market
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Phil Rosen here, still poking around OpenAI's new ChatGPT iPhone app. The rise of ChatGPT and subsequent AI boom could solidify the recent strength in stocks as a new bull market, according to market veteran Ed Yardeni. In a recent note, the strategist said equities' strong start to the year isn't just a bear market rally, but that it indeed marks a new bull regime. If the Fed mistakenly pauses and then resumes hiking as inflation persists, the music could stop for high flying AI stocks. Mega-cap tech stocks are "overbought" and their rally could stall out soon.

Search resuls for: "Acres"

25 mentions found