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☆ German government rejects Bavaria's request for nuclear power comeback
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, April 16 (Reuters) - Germany's Environment Ministry on Sunday rejected a demand from the state of Bavaria to allow it to continue operating nuclear power plants, saying jurisdiction for such facilities lies with the federal government. Germany pulled the plug on its last three nuclear power stations on Saturday, ending a six-decade programme, as Berlin enacts a plan to move to fully renewable electricity generation by 2035. The state is home to Isar II, run by German utility E.ON (EONGn.DE), which is a 1,400 megawatt (MW) plant, able to power the equivalent of a metropolis. Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said the authorisation for Isar II had expired and restarting its reactor would require a new license. "It is important to accept the state of the art in science and technology and to respect the decision of the German Bundestag," Lemke said in a statement sent to Reuters.

Fear that another tragedy could strike forced her to leave Istanbul because she couldn't afford a new apartment there, she said. However, seismologists said the February disaster has not changed the likelihood of an Istanbul quake, with the two areas on different faultlines. Any disaster in Istanbul would stagger Turkey's economy given the broader Marmara region accounts for some 41% of national GDP. Some 1.5 million homes are considered at risk in the city, Urban Planning Minister Murat Kurum said this week. According to official data, an average of more than three people live in each household, meaning up to 5 million live in these properties.

☆ 35 Ways Real People Are Using A.I. Right Now
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Francesca Paris | Larry Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +24 min

People are using ChatGPT and other A.I. Here’s how 35 real people are using A.I for work, life, play and procrastination. People are using A.I to …Plan gardens. Chris Norn Researcher at the University of Washington Two years ago researchers cracked the code on using A.I. When you run a Dungeons & Dragons game, Mr. Green says, you have to be creative, but that almost always means pulling from existing fantasy literature.

☆ Opinion: How the battle for Bakhmut exposed Russia’s ‘meat-grinder’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Michael Bociurkiw | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

It will also be recorded in history as a battle that exposed more than anywhere the meat-grinder approach of Russian fighting. Taking Bakhmut would be the first Russian gain since it captured (and later lost) the key southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in November. That Ukrainian forces have demonstrated such endurance in the battle for Bakhmut should come as little surprise. Like the current battle for Bakhmut, it too became emblematic of Ukraine’s tenaciousness to defend itself against Russia’s aggression – particularly considering the Ukrainian Armed Forces were far less prepared and equipped. “The battle for Bakhmut in winter-spring 2023 will surely enter the history books as the bloodiest battle in Europe since World War II,” said Masliychuk.

☆ Sustainability Is the Focus of Building Refurbishment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Kone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Both are mostly high-rise communities, growing fast and densely populated, but they represent two very different realities from a climate and sustainability perspective. One way is to focus on modernizing the buildings we already have, to create neighborhoods that adapt to the individual needs of residents. In a climate-aware, post-COVID-19 world, with an aging and tech-savvy population, the focus is now on the needs of connected micro-communities within livable cities." Data, including information from KONE elevators, can provide insights into people's movement in cities, and their changing behavior and needs. Kone"Modernizing an elevator, in an existing building, means we can reduce energy consumption by up to 70%, and a KONE elevator today is up to 90% more energy-efficient than its 1990s counterpart.

☆ Sandstorms, dangerous pollution return to Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A woman poses for pictures near the Forbidden City, as the city is shrouded in smog amid a sandstorm, in Beijing, China March 10, 2023. The capital Beijing has seen regular air pollution and an unseasonal number of sandstorms over the past few weeks. On Tuesday morning, smog and misty grey clouds could be seen enveloping Beijing and the city's real-time air quality index was at a serious pollution level, according to the website of the Beijing Municipal Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Center. The concentration of fine particulates in the air in Beijing is currently 46.2 times the World Health Organization's annual air quality guideline value, according to IQAir, a website that issues air quality data and information. Beijing has regular sandstorms in March and April as it is near the large Gobi desert.

☆ Why Paris is one of the few cities in the world banning rental e-scooters
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Transportation experts say the Paris ban doesn't necessarily mean much for the growth of micromobility. The diverging approaches to rental e-scooters by major cities around the world reflects the technology's chaotic rollout over the last few years and an inability for cities to keep up with sufficient regulations, experts say. Either way, experts say the regulatory environment in Paris and many other places just hasn't been able to keep up. Transportation experts say Paris' ban isn't necessarily reflective of how the public in that city — or any — feels about e-scooters. Despite the setback in Paris, transportation experts say electric vehicles of all sorts, from e-scooters, to e-bikes, to electric buses, are the future of transport in cities around the world.

☆ This Philly suburb is the No. 1 best place to live in America for the fourth year in a row
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Celia Fernandez | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The best place to live in the U.S. isn't a major metropolis such as New York City or Los Angeles, but a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to Niche's 2023 ranking. The best places to live were decided based on the following factors: AffordabilityLocal housing marketNeighborhood diversityArea public schoolsWalkabilityTop 10 best places to live in the U.S. 2023Chesterbrook, Philadelphia, Pa. Colonial Village, Arlington, Va. Ardmore, Philadelphia, Pa. Hyde Park–Spanishtown Creek, Tampa, Fla. Penn Wynne, Philadelphia, Pa. City Center, Santa Monica, Calif. Cambridgeport, Mass. North Quarter, Orlando, Fla. Devon, Philadelphia, Pa. Great Neck Gardens, Long Island, N.Y. Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania, is the No. 1 best place to live in America for the fourth year in a row. The Philadelphia suburb is known for its high-ranking education system.

☆ Xpeng expands assisted driving tech coverage to Shanghai, something Tesla doesn’t offer in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI — Chinese electric car company Xpeng announced Friday it will be rolling out its latest assisted driving software to users in the metropolis of Shanghai, something its U.S. rival Tesla does not offer in China. Previously the technology was only available for Xpeng drivers in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The company already offers assisted driving on highways in China. But the company has tried to make its assisted driving technology a selling point for consumers. "Tesla doesn't really pump Autopilot in China and they don't offer Full Self Driving (FSD) in China, whereas Xpeng really leaned into its NGP as a difference maker for the China market," said Tu Le, founder of Beijing-based advisory firm Sino Auto Insights.

☆ In Egypt's 'Garbage City', a charity teaches children to recycle
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Now 34, she runs a charity that encourages children in the area to make creative and positive use of their environment by exploring the space and recycling. [1/3] Teresa Saeed, 34, founder of charity "Mesaha" known as "Space" in Arabic, works with children to collect materials from rubbish to recycle in Cairo's Zabaleen known as "Garbage City", in Manshiyat Nasser, Cairo, Egypt March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Hana Habib 1 2 3Saeed's charity Mesaha, the Arabic word for space, runs weekly recycling activities for 150-200 children aged 6-15. "These activities help children connect with their environment and think outside the box," Saeed said. "I dream that those children will grow to be leaders of change in their future professions or wherever they go" she said.

☆ Conservatives scoff at Trump's 'leftist plan' to build 10 new American cities featuring flying cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Trump recently announced a plan to build up to 10 new American cities on federal land. But some right-wing critics have attacked it as a "leftist plan" to create walkable "15-minute cities." Fox News left its in-house comedian, Greg Gutfeld, to handle the coverage of Freedom Cities. A conservative member of the UK parliament recently called 15-minute cities an "international socialist concept" that "would take away your personal freedoms." But Freedom Cities don't sound like 15-minute cities at all.

☆ A 50% rent increase? Record property demand in Dubai is creating a nightmare for some residents
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Beyond the property market, Dubai's economic boom is evident in everyday life. The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) area of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with the Burj Khalifa in the backdrop, Sept. 16, 2022. Property prices have, too — CBRE says that selling prices are up 11.5% on average in the year to February 2023. Christopher Pike | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAccording to CBRE's research, in the year through February 2023, average Dubai rents increased by 27.7%. In the meantime, no one expects property prices to ease up anytime soon.

☆ A Locals’ Guide to Tokyo: The Must-See Stops Most Tourists Miss
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Suryatapa Bhattacharya | Photographs Andrew Faulk For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

THE SPRAWLING metropolis of Tokyo can overwhelm visitors with its giddy mix of the old and the fantastically futuristic. Take Ghibli Museum, a must-stop for anime fans. Set within the lush grounds of Inokashira Park, an imperial gift to the city in the Edo era (1603–1867), the candy-colored structure resembles a modernist villa with a kooky robot peeping over its rooftop. During the pandemic, this cosmopolitan city slowed but did not close down, from its super-efficient metro to the eclectic bar scene and revitalized districts, where delicious food awaits the adventurous. “If I had to eat only in one city for the rest of my life, Tokyo would be it,” said Anthony Bourdain in his series “Parts Unknown.” Our four locals agree, and offer their favorite hot spots to explore for dining and much more.

☆ Bidding wars no more: Regular people have a better shot at scoring a home as investors flee once-hot cities from Phoenix to Atlanta
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Aj Latrace | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But investors have backed off, especially in formerly hot areas like Phoenix, Redfin found. The significant drop in investor purchases means less competition for regular homebuyers. Investors purchased approximately $31 billion worth of properties — equivalent to 48,445 homes —nationwide in the last three months of 2022. They include Las Vegas, Phoenix, the New York City suburb of Nassau County, Atlanta, and Charlotte, all of which saw investor purchases fall over 60% year-over-year, the report said. But the drop in home prices and investor purchases last year could signal even more dire conditions in 2023, some analysts and experts predict.

☆ Three Years Into Covid, We Still Don’t Know How to Talk About It
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jon Mooallem | Photographs Ashley Gilbertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +53 min

It will play out and reverberate for years or decades, Hagen told me. “The pathological normal,” Hagen calls it: a patchwork of homespun, bespoke realities, each one invested in a different story about what exactly happened when Covid ruptured the story of our lives. garb.”More than once, life seemed to be attaining “an uncanny resemblance to normal life,” as one man put it. But because we don’t totally understand where that experience has delivered us, we don’t know the right gloss to give it. “The days are strange,” one public-school teacher told Milstein toward the end of his first interview, in May 2020.

☆ Explainer: What we know about China's medical reform protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Laurie Chen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

WHAT ARE THE MEDICAL INSURANCE REFORMS? Beginning Feb. 1, personal medical insurance benefits for Wuhan retirees were slashed from about 5% of the average basic pension to 2.5%, or 83 yuan ($12) per month, according to the Wuhan Healthcare Security Administration. In an essay published Thursday that did not refer to the protests, Finance Minister Liu Kun vowed to "deepen the reform of medical insurance payment methods". Following initial protests in Wuhan last week, the hashtag "Major adjustment in Wuhan medical reform" was viewed over 100 million times before being blocked. Since January, similar insurance reforms have been rolled out in provinces and regions including Jiangxi, Gansu，Shanxi, Qinghai, Sichuan and Guangxi.

☆ The Phoenix housing bubble spectacularly popped in 2008. Countless signs point towards a similar struggle now. Here's how bad it really is.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Phoenix's housing market is quickly deteriorating as a pullback in demand triggers home price declines. And as Phoenix's housing market performs an about-face from the dramatic rise it had witnessed from spring 2020 through summer 2022, experts across the country are debating the possibility of the whole market imploding. And as of January 2023, area home sales are down 74% year-over-year, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. The Phoenix Valley — a sprawling desert metropolis that's home to nearly 5 million people — is no stranger to speculative real estate bubbles. Phoenix's housing market could be on track to normalizingDespite the numerous indicators of a weakening housing market, Phoenix may simply be facing a correction versus a crash, several experts told Insider.

☆ A Rising-Star Gallerist Opens in Art-World Hot Spot Mexico City
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Kelly Crow | Photography Darryl Richardson For Wsj. Magazine | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mariane Ibrahim at the new Mexico City outpost of her namesake gallery. “I love that we’re in this massive metropolis of a city that’s close to the U.S. yet it has an ancient culture and it’s so refined,” she says. Dealer Mariane Ibrahim, one of the art world’s rising tastemakers, has an uncanny ability to sense where the global art scene will pivot next. Over the past decade, Ibrahim has championed artists primarily from Africa and its diaspora in her eponymous galleries, first in Seattle and now in Chicago and Paris. In each locale, Ibrahim has stoked and leveraged the curiosity of local curators and collectors to propel her artists onto the international art stage—particularly Ghana’s Amoako Boafo, whose finger-painted portraits in bright hues have sold for as much as $3.4 million at auction.

☆ Beyoncé, a $100k-a-night suite and a red carpet of influencers: Dubai basks in its booming economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Beyoncé performs on stage headlining the Grand Reveal of Dubai's newest luxury hotel, Atlantis The Royal on January 21, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mason Poole/parkwood Media | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty ImagesDUBAI, United Arab Emirates — It was the talk of the town. "Igniting the next chapter of the Atlantis legacy," Atlantis Dubai wrote in an official tweet along with a promotional video of the opening fireworks. Beyoncé performs on stage headlining the Grand Reveal of Dubai's newest luxury hotel, Atlantis The Royal on January 21, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. "Dubai is also growing in prominence as a financial services hub as underscored by several hedge funds opening up offices there."

☆ People want to move to Florida's more affordable smaller towns, which some brokers predict will be more popular than cities like Miami this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Cities with small-town charm are seen as the places to be in Florida this year. Like many who were moving to the Sunshine State, it wasn't the big, expensive cities like Miami or Tampa that drew the Jones family. Small Southern cities within driving distance of major ones — and suburbs right outside big cities — were some of the most popular ZIP codes to move to in the past year, Opendoor data found. In short, areas like this have usurped big cities like Tampa and Miami as the places to be. But if people are moving to the area for peace and quiet, they might lose that in the future.

☆ Netanyahu fires key cabinet ally amid nationwide protests over judicial reform
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired a key Cabinet ally on Sunday, heeding a Supreme Court ruling commanding him to do so and deepening a rift over the power of the courts. Netanyahu announced he was firing Aryeh Deri, who serves as Interior and Health Minister, at a meeting of his Cabinet. Israel’s Supreme Court decided last week Deri could not serve as a Cabinet minister because of a conviction last year over tax offenses. The court ruling came as Israel is mired in a dispute over the power of the judiciary. Netanyahu’s far-right government wants to weaken the Supreme Court, limit judicial oversight and grant more power to politicians.

☆ Davos 2023: Riyadh city developing fast with eye on Expo 2030 bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, which has bid to host the Expo 2030 world fair, is pushing ahead with plans to turn its capital Riyadh into a major global metropolis, a government official said on Thursday. Should Riyadh win Expo hosting rights it would be ready, but the build-up, which includes an additional 120,000 hotel rooms by 2030, was needed regardless to meet tourism goals, he said. The host country for the 2030 Expo is expected to be selected in November. Asked if alcohol would be allowed in Riyadh by 2030, Al Rasheed said: "No, but I think you can ... consider it a wellness detox." If Saudi Arabia wins its bid it would be the second Arab country to host Expo after the United Arab Emirates.

☆ China reports 3% GDP growth for 2022 as December retail sales, industrial production beat estimates
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | Evelyn Cheng Is A Senior Correspondent With Cnbc. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

BEIJING — China reported GDP growth for 2022 that beat expectations as December retail sales came in far better than projected. The GDP growth number did miss the official target of around 5.5% set in March. Retail sales drop far less than expectedRetail sales fell by 0.2% for the year. Those online sales accounted for 27.2% of total retail sales. and U.S.China’s leaders are set to announce the full-year GDP growth target in March at an annual parliamentary meeting.

☆ China reports 3% GDP growth for 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING — China reported GDP growth for 2022 that beat expectations. GDP grew by 3% in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. In 2021, growth had rebounded by 8.4% from just 2.2% growth in 2020. Fourth-quarter GDP rose by 2.9%, beating expectations from the Reuters' poll of 1.8% growth. In 2022, the metropolis of Shanghai locked down for about two months in an attempt to control a Covid outbreak.

☆ Ancient Maya cities, 'super highways' revealed in latest survey
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It is the latest discovery of roughly 3,000-year-old Maya centers and related infrastructure, according to a statement on Monday from a team from Guatemala's FARES anthropological research foundation overseeing the so-called LiDAR studies. All of the newly-identified structures were built centuries before the largest Maya city-states emerged, ushering in major human achievements in math and writing. LiDAR technology uses planes to shoot pulses of light into dense forest, allowing researchers to peel away vegetation and map ancient structures below. Among the details revealed in the latest analysis are the ancient world's first-ever extensive system of stone "highways or super-highways," according to the researchers. Reporting by Sofia Menchu and David Alire Garcia, editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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