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☆ Fruit harvest faces ruin after floods hit Italy's Emilia-Romagna
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Angelo Amante | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A vineyard is flooded after heavy rains hit Italy's Emilia Romagna region, in San Giorgio near Forli, Italy, May 18, 2023. Coldiretti said the region was Italy's largest producer of pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums, and the second largest producer of cherries and kiwi. In all, it accounted for a third of Italy's total fruit harvest. A Coldiretti spokesperson said the floodwater could rot the roots of almost 15 million fruit trees, killing them. Italian media said the government would initially announce some 100 million euros ($110 million) in spending and tax breaks for Emilia-Romagna.

☆ Beyoncé and Jay-Z smash California real estate records with their purchase of a $200 million concrete compound overlooking the ocean
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The $200 million mansion was created by architect Tadao Ando, who also designed a home for Kanye West. The concrete compound comes with a 40,000 square foot residence and pool just steps from the beach. The concrete compound features an infinity pool just steps from the Pacific ocean. A sky view of 27712 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, purchased by Beyonce and Jay-Z in May of 2023 for $200 million. The 40,000 square foot residence was designed by iconic Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

☆ A family went viral 3 years ago for building a tiny-house village. Their college-age kids live on the property in their own tiny houses.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Ashley Abramson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Brinks went viral three years ago for building a tiny-house village. Ryan Brinks' kids are in college now, but they still live in their own tiny houses on the property. Regardless of public perception, the Brinks family remained confident in their decision — and their kids never got into any trouble. The pair plans to live at Lennox's original tiny house as their new one is built. They've added to the tiny-house village in the past 3 yearsSince 2020, Ryan and Keli have transformed the tiny-house village.

☆ Alberta on high alert for wildfire upsurge over scorching holiday weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Ismail Shakil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A Sky crane helicopter dumps water on the Eagle Wildfire Complex near Fox Creek, Alberta, Canada May 19, 2023. Record-high temperatures and lack of rain this year have led to widespread fires burning nearly 830,000 hectares (2 million acres) of land in Alberta, about 10 times the size of the province's largest city, Calgary, according to Alberta Wildfire. "We will all be on high alert this weekend," Christie Tucker, information unit manager at Alberta Wildfire, said on Friday. The wildfires have tested Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's disaster management skills ahead of a provincial election on May 29. Some 275 houses, businesses and other properties had been damaged, while more than 10,000 people remained evacuated by Friday, according to Alberta government officials.

☆ Rice. Half of Humanity Eats It. And Climate Change Is Wrecking It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Somini Sengupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

Sometimes there’s not enough rain when seedlings need water, or too much when the plants need to keep their heads above water. Rice farmers are shifting their planting calendars. On top of that, there’s climate change: It has upended the rhythm of sunshine and rain that rice depends on. That’s a fraction of the emissions from coal, oil and gas, which together account for 35 percent of methane emissions. His experiment, carried out over seven years, concluded that by not flooding the fields continuously, farmers can reduce rice methane emissions by more than 60 percent.

☆ I charge guests a $400 Airbnb cleaning fee. Here's why I'm OK with charging that and getting less bookings.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Jen Glantz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

We kept our cleaning fee low, around $75 an hour, and we used that money for supplies to clean the property ourselves. There are a handful of reasons why our cleaning fee is so highFirst, it's a large property. How much we pay the cleaning crew variesWe pay the cleaning crew anywhere from $150 to $300 per service, depending on how much cleaning is needed. Having a clean property matters more than anythingBefore most people book an Airbnb, they usually read all of the reviews. The property costs money to maintainThere are a lot of costs that come out of our pockets as Airbnb property owners.

☆ Villagers evacuated as wildfire ravages woodlands in western Spain
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, May 19 (Reuters) - Emergency crews evacuated around 600 villagers in western Spain overnight as a wildfire blamed on arsonists ravaged up to 8,000 hectares (19,800 acres) near the border with Portugal, officials said. "The are very strong gusts of wind ... that make efforts to extinguish it difficult," Military Emergency Unit commander David Barona told state TV channel 24H. "It's a very large attack on vegetation and the area," the head of Extremadura emergency services Nieves Villar told reporters, referring to the suspicions of arson. An unusually dry winter across parts of southern Europe coming after three years of below-average rainfall in Spain have raised the risk of wildfires. A total of 493 fires destroyed a record 307,000 hectares in Spain last year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

☆ A 26-year-old developer whose firm owns 40 acres of land in Richmond explains why he's betting on the capital of Virginia — and why he would personally invest in real estate there
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Kathleen Elkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Meanwhile, "the DC market was considerably faster-moving, especially the condominium market." So I developed single-family homes on those myself and it turned out pretty successful." Thakker bought land in Richmond in 2020 and developed three, single-family homes, including the one pictured, on the lot. Across their three major projects in Richmond, Dorado has acquired 40 acres of land, which is equivalent to over 40 football fields. The interior of one of the single-family homes Thakker built and sold in Richmond.

☆ Exclusive: Staff at top U.S. farm research center file complaint alleging unsafe work conditions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Leah Douglas | Thomson Reuters | Washington-Based Award-Winning Journalist Covering Agriculture | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) near Washington D.C. is the largest research facility owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and has long been the flagship of U.S. farm research. “Our employees’ health and well-being is our top priority," a spokesperson at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), which oversees BARC, told Reuters. STAFF CUTSFounded in 1910, the BARC facility spans nearly 7,000 acres in Prince George’s County, Maryland, near the nation’s capital. The unreliable conditions are affecting research outcomes, making it at times impossible to complete experiments or replicate their findings, said two research employees. On February 22, several BARC employees met with Thomas Shanower, the director of USDA’s Northeast Area, a division that oversees 15 research centers, including BARC.

☆ Why Disney is stuck in Florida
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Disney World sued Ron DeSantis last month to keep control of its self-governing status in Florida. But a top Disney expert said the company is stuck in The Sunshine State. A leading expert on Disney World's history in Florida told Insider that the amusement park is tied to its Florida home, due to its expensive operations and sprawling size. "They're stuck there," Richard Foglesong, the author of the book "Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando," told Insider. Other Republicans are taking DeSantis to task for his dedication to fighting with DisneyRepublican presidential candidate Nikki Haley urged Walt Disney World to consider relocating from Florida to South Carolina.

☆ This $18 million Invisible House is the most expensive listing in Joshua Tree — and it's already a money-maker
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Ray Parisi | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Brian AshbyThe modern glass architecture is situated on 67.5 acres just steps away from the Joshua Tree National Park. Brian AshbyThe home was designed by film producer and current owner, Chris Hanley, and Frank Gehry-collaborator, architect Tomas Osinski. According to co-listing agent Matt Adamo, the highest price ever achieved for a home in Joshua Tree was $3.5 million. The Invisible House in Joshua Tree, California is a mirrored 22-story horizontal skyscraper. The rooftop of the Invisible House is equipped with an array of solar panels that supply the home with electricity, heat and hot water.

[1/4] Military officers assist a person on a dinghy after heavy rains hit Italy's Emilia Romagna region, in Faenza, Italy, May 18. "Climate change is here and we are living the consequences. Last July, an ice avalanche in the Italian Alps killed 11 people following a heatwave that exacerbated the worst drought that Italy has suffered for at least 70 years. "A climate change adaptation policy that goes beyond how to handle emergencies and considers the effects of ordinary planning is increasingly urgent," it said in a statement. Italy's national civil protection agency estimates that 94% of the country's municipalities are prone to natural disasters - making it inconceivable to protect everyone from the dangers of climate change.

☆ Opinion: The banned Russian landmine with a deceptively poetic name
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Opinion Sasha Dovzhyk | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

A great deal of eeriness is due to the highly explosive Russian “petals.” “Petal” — or, “lepestok,” in Russian — is the poetic name of an internationally banned Russian-made anti-personnel landmine. The Russian wish for Ukraine appears to be death: to render Ukrainian land uninhabitable, to maim and kill those who live on it. But as one learns from Kataev’s tale, the Russian petals travel far and know no borders. In November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that 200,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) of Ukrainian land were contaminated with unexploded mines and shells. The rusted remains of a tank in Sviatohirsk, Donetsk region, pictured during a PEN Ukraine trip in April 2023.

☆ Wildfires burn millions of acres in Canada, send oil prices higher
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Wildfires burning across western Canada have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and have prompted some oil and gas companies to curb production as blazes approach pipelines. There were nearly 90 fires burning in the western province of Alberta, a quarter of which are expected to grow larger, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. The fires have had a notable impact on the region's oil industry, as some drillers were forced to halt a small percentage of production as a precautionary measure due to shifting fire conditions. This week, Benchmark Canadian heavy crude prices tightened to multi-month highs over concerns about the blazes. Nearly 2.7 million barrels of daily oil sands production in Alberta is in "very high" or "extreme" wildfire danger zones, according to Rystad Energy, an energy consulting firm.

☆ Opinion | There’s No Escape From Wildfire Smoke
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

This season so far, the total is already more than 1.5 million — which would make it the province’s third-worst annual result, just a few weeks into May, with months more of wildfire season still to burn. In the United States, by contrast, those who live in fear of wildfire are probably breathing a bit easier. Last year was a relatively light one, with fewer than eight million acres burning across the country — close to the two-decade average and well below the damage of several especially scarring recent seasons. But a new lesson from the evolving science of wildfire is about how far its toxic smoke spreads and how widely its noxious impacts are distributed. In fact, according to one not-yet-published study led by Stanford researchers exploring the distribution of wildfire smoke, an estimated 60 percent of the smoke impact of American wildfire is experienced by those living outside the states where the trees are in flames.

☆ Revealed: Vladimir Putin's secret Black Sea bunker
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | Anastasiia Carrier | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

You would think that the architects who designed Vladimir Putin's palace thought of everything. They failed to hide plans showing two elaborate tunnels running beneath the palace complex — plans that any competent state-security apparatus would fight tooth-and-nail to keep secret. The underground complex beneath Putin's palace consists of two separate tunnels connected by an elevator that descends roughly 50 meters below the surface. Gelendzhik is the town closest to the palace complex, a five-hour drive from the resort city of Sochi. "With the war in Ukraine," Kimmage said, "there's speechmaking, there's propaganda, there's exaggeration — there's this performative aspect that plays to Russia's domestic politics.

☆ Archaeologists uncover two new Pompeii victims killed by earthquake
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Archaeologists working at Pompeii have found two new victims that they say were killed by an earthquake that accompanied the volcanic eruption of 79 AD. Archaeologists working at Pompeii found two new victims, believed to have been killed in an earthquake. Italian Minister of Culture“Pompeii is an immense archaeological laboratory that has regained vigour in recent years, astonishing the world with the continuous discoveries brought to light and demonstrating Italian excellence in this sector,” he added. The Roman city of Pompeii was buried under meters of pumice and ash in the calamitous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Archaeologists have uncovered only around two thirds of the 66-hectare (163 acres) site since excavations began 250 years ago, Reuters reports.

BOGOTA, May 16 (Reuters) - Deforestation in Colombia during 2022 is forecast to have fallen by up to 10% versus the previous year, Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said on Tuesday, citing significant decreases in the country's Amazon. Deforestation in Colombia in 2021 rose 1.5% versus the previous year to 1,741 square kilometers (430,218 acres), representing an area twice the size of New York City. A 10% decrease in deforestation would take the total area of forest destroyed during 2022 in Colombia to below the 1,589 square kilometers registered in 2019, the first full year of the administration of former President Ivan Duque. Between 2001 and 2021, more than 31,000 square kilometers of forest were destroyed in Colombia, of which some 18,600 square kilometers were deforested in the country's Amazon. Colombia's government will publish full deforestation figures for 2022 in June, Muhamad said.

☆ Golf legend Vijay Singh is selling his $23 million Hawaiian mansion with stunning views — take a look
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Cork Gaines | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Vijay Singh is selling his Hawaiian mansion for $23 million. The 9,500-square-foot house sits on over 51 acres and includes nearly a mile of oceanfront. Loading Something is loading. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyGolfing legend Vijay Singh is selling his Hawaiian mansion for $23 million. The 9,500-square-foot house sits on over 51 acres and includes nearly a mile of oceanfront and a guest house.

Interior Department on Tuesday removed one of the last remaining obstacles to Lithium Americas Corp's (LAC.TO), Thacker Pass mine project in Nevada by finding nearly all of the site contains the metal used to make electric-vehicle batteries. The opinion from the department's solicitor comes amid an acrimonious debate about whether more U.S. mines should be built to produce lithium and other green energy transition metals. Of the dozens of mining claims at the Thacker Pass site held by the company, the government found fewer than 10 did not contain lithium mineralization, an Interior Department official told Reuters. "They're going to be able to start construction and production without these claims being in the plan of operation," the official said of Lithium Americas. "We're in favor of increasing domestic mineral production when it's being done in the right location and in the right way," the official said.

☆ What’s a President to Do When a Nation’s Capital Is Sinking? Move It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Hannah Beech | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +38 min

A new capital city for a place with such disparities and diversity presents both a challenge and a chance for reinvention. Moving the Seat of Power From Java to Borneo Detail area Malaysia Nusantara Borneo Java Sea Indonesia Jakarta Java Indian Ocean Detail area Malaysia Nusantara Borneo Java Sea Indonesia Jakarta Java Indian Ocean Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, will be about 800 miles from the current capital, Jakarta. It cannot be overnight, it’s not like Aladdin comes with his genie,” said Bambang Susantono, the head of the Nusantara Capital City Authority. We have to prove that this will be a self-propelling city.” — Bambang Susantono, head of the Nusantara Capital City AuthorityCritics of I.K.N. Indonesia’s capital city faces sinking land and rising seas.

Crop Watch farmers have mostly wrapped up their planting except for in North Dakota, where recent rains have already reduced the producers’ corn acreage plans. The North Dakota producer, located in the east central part of the state, has not yet started field work. This issue does not extend throughout the whole state, but the Crop Watch producer estimates roughly half the state faces his same situation. The North Dakota producer needs several sunny and windy days to prepare the fields, which could be in store. Crop Watch planting dates May 15Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters.

☆ Record-breaking heat scorches the western US and Canada as wildfires continue to rage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Jennifer Gray | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Record-breaking temperatures and a heat wave will continue to grip the entire region through much of this week. It has prompted heat alerts for more than 10 million people across the Pacific Northwest and portions of Central California. As the heat continues to build this week, nearly 150 high temperature records will be in jeopardy across the West. Environment Canada has issued heat warnings for northern portions of Alberta and portions of British Columbia, where high temperatures are forecast to reach the mid 80s. Alberta Wildfire/Handout/ReutersThe heat is also having a huge effect on Canada’s active start to the fire season.

☆ English island that inspired Agatha Christie is up for sale, along with its luxury Art Deco hotel
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Lianne Kolirin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —A tiny island that inspired legendary crime novelist Agatha Christie has gone up for sale, complete with its own Art Deco hotel and helipad. Burgh Island, located just off the coast of Britain’s south-westerly county of Devon, is on the market for “offers in excess of £15m” ($18.9 million), according to real estate agent Knight Frank. Each room at the hotel is named after a notable guest, including "Agatha's beach house." Burgh Island HotelOver the years, Burgh has been a popular escape for the rich and famous. In 1927, it was sold to film producer Archibald Nettlefold, who went on to build a more substantial hotel in the Art Deco style fashionable at the time.

☆ This couple paid $200,000 for their 180-year-old rainbow farmhouse and spent just as much on renovations—take a look inside
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Celia Fernandez | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The two sat down together and drew a circle around New York City on a map and started looking for where they could buy land for a farm. The 180-year-old farmhouse originally sat on 40 acres of land. The couple initially bought 16 acres, but was eventually able to buy the entire property back. Two months and 25 viewings later, they saw a 180-year-old farmhouse on 16 acres of land in Kingston, New York. Over time, Katwise and Brown were able to buy the other 24 acres, which brought the property back to its original size.

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