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☆ Russia’s war in Ukraine sparked a historic food crisis. It’s not over
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“All the major causes of the food crisis are still with us — conflict, Covid, climate change, high fuel prices,” Cary Fowler, the US special envoy for global food security, told CNN. But high food prices mean that funding can’t go as far, and Russia’s war continues to generate volatility. “The Ukraine crisis has had this ongoing negative impact on world food prices and [added] even more volatility,” said Abby Maxman, CEO of Oxfam America. Russia “is not assisting in alleviating the food crisis in slowing down the grain inspections,” Fowler said. Oxfam’s Maxman, who traveled there in September, said disruptions to food supplies were obvious in markets.

☆ The Bathroom Design Trend That Pumps Up the Luxury
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Nina Molina | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

UNLIKE BACKSPLASHES in kitchens, where slabs of marble or showboat tiles can elicit oohs and ahs, backsplashes behind bathroom sinks “are usually just square rectangles and don’t go past six inches. Why?” asked Brigette Romanek, whose Los Angeles design firm masterminded the powder-room shown here. “There are no rules, so make it a bit more fun and interesting.” Here, a guide to zhuzhing up a prosaic powder room or water closet with a marble wash station. The AppealA pro way to make a décor statement in a powder room? “We love an eccentric splashback for the very reason that they’re often overlooked as a creative device,” said Gillian Khaw, co-director of Handelsmann and Khaw, a design studio in Woollahra, Australia.

☆ 2022 was one of the top 10 hottest years on record and the warmest La Nina year on record, according to government scientists
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

New data from the U.S. government shows that 2022 was one of the top 10 hottest years on record, with data going back to 1880. And of particular note, 2022 was the warmest year on record when there was a La Nina trade winds pattern, which is a weather event that has a cooling effect on global temperatures. According to both NOAA and NASA scientists, global temperatures were about 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit above their respective baseline averages from the 20th century. 2022 had a La Nina weather pattern, which generally lowers global temperatures compared to what they would have been in a normal weather pattern year. El Nino and La Nina refer to opposite weather patterns determined by trade winds that blow in the Pacific ocean.

REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian/File PhotoJan 11 (Reuters) - Failure to tackle climate change and environmental degradation dominate the ranking of top risks facing the planet in the next decade, a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey of global risk specialists found. Failure to mitigate and adapt to climate change; natural disasters; biodiversity loss; natural resource loss and large-scale environmental damage dominate the top-10 ranking of global risks deemed most severe over a 10-year period. The WEF report raised the prospect of risks interacting with each other to form a "polycrisis", which it defines as a cluster of related risks with compounding impacts and unpredictable consequences. It cited big-power resource rivalry as having the potential to generate one such cluster of related risks. (For daily Davos updates in your inbox sign up for the Reuters Daily Briefing here.)

☆ Amid California's stormy weather, it feels like El Niño and La Niña have switched roles
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Dennis Romero | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SAN DIEGO — In a La Niña year, usually associated with dry and warm weather, California has been displaying elements of El Niño: big waves, snowcapped mountains and flooded coastal streets. La Niña this year looks like the El Niño he used to know. "This storm pattern in Southern California is not what we typically expect for a La Niña year," Yu said. "It is more like a winter rainfall pattern we would expect in Southern California during an El Niño year." That's La Niña.

It was also nominated for best TV musical or comedy TV series. Gomez, 30, was nominated for her performance as Mabel Mora in Hulu's true crime satire “Only Murders in the Building." The show was also nominated for best musical or comedy TV series. Also joining the club of first-time Latino Golden Globe nominees are Aubrey Plaza, Diego Calva and Diego Luna. Two other young Latinas, Anya Taylor-Joy and Ana de Armas, landed best performance nominations for their leading movie roles.

☆ Western Australia in grip of 'devastating' flood emergency, Australia PM says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A view of flooding in Fitzroy Crossing, Australia January 3, 2023 in this picture obtained from social media. Callum Lamond/via REUTERSSYDNEY, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday his government was ready to provide whatever support was needed to residents of Western Australia state as record-breaking floods isolated far-flung communities there. Albanese said his Labor government was "working constructively" with the Western Australia government on the crisis in the sparsely populated region that also includes the resort town of Broome. Western Australia emergency authorities said Australian Defence Force aircraft were being used to assist flood-hit communities, and Chinook helicopters were en-route to help relocated impacted residents. The nation's weather forecaster said severe weather was no longer occurring in the state but that "the situation will continue to be monitored and further warnings will be issued if necessary".

[1/3] Donna Heinel (L), former associate athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC) facing charges in a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme, leaves the federal courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., March 25, 2019. Donna Heinel, the school's former senior associate athletic director, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston for helping get about two dozen students admitted as fake athletic recruits in exchange for money. Prosecutors said Heinel also personally pocketed $160,000 after she and Singer entered into "sham" consulting agreement. She has agreed to forfeit that money, though defense lawyer Nina Marino said, adding Heinel did not view it as a bribe at the time. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Why now is the best time for Gen Zers to launch a business, and how they're taking advantage of the opportunity to change the workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Here's why now is the best time for Gen Zers to start their own businesses. It helps that some successful Gen Zers are earning more than America's top CEOs. Here's why now is the best time to start a business for young people and two Gen Z entrepreneurs who have done it. New ventures in copywriting, social media management, and virtual assisting have been among some of the most successful, Mawhinney said. With this in mind, young founders have the opportunity to build brands that new workers resonate with.

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But Argentina is starting in a significant moisture hole given that La Nina, the cool phase of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, is hanging around for a third consecutive season. Monthly precipitation in ArgentinaDrought and heat cut Argentina's 2022 soy and corn yields to four-year lows, but the crops are in worse shape now. GOODBYE LA NINA? The calendar year of 2022 was the driest in Argentina’s grain belt since 2008, which started with a strong La Nina that had begun in mid-2007. Weather will matter for Argentina's soy and corn through at least March given the later development.

☆ Chewy Looks to Open More Automated Fulfillment Centers in Drive to Control Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Nina Trentmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Online pet retailer Chewy Inc. plans to open more automated fulfillment centers in 2023 to control costs and raise efficiency, which could help the company repurpose certain capital spending, its finance chief said. Photo: Chewy Inc.“When we think about the future of our fulfillment network, automation is at the center of that,” Mr. Marte said. The company, which had over 21,000 employees and 13 fulfillment centers in December, usually requires about 1,200 people for a manned distribution center. “Those are real dollars,” Mr. Marte said, adding that Chewy is working to grow profits and taking out costs. Over time, the company could defer or lower some of its capital expenditures, Mr. Marte said.

☆ Flash floods inundate highways in the Bay Area and the Midwest is under winter weather watch as extreme weather hits parts of US to start 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A major highway was shut down in the Bay Area on New Years Eve after heavy rains led to flooding. Meanwhile, the Midwest and Plains region is under a winter weather watch as storm moves east. This is the 2nd major weather event since Christmas, when Winter Storm Elliot tore through the US. Since Saturday morning, about six miles of Interstate 580 in the Bay Area near Oakland has remained closed due to flooding, the San Francisco Gate reports. Another one is expected in the Bay Area on January 2, the San Francisco Gate reported.

☆ Qualcomm CFO Trims Operating Expenses as Industry Faces Down High Inventories
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Nina Trentmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Mr. Palkhiwala: Yes, it’s a combination of those instruments and also our cash balance on our balance sheet. WSJ: Are there any positive effects from higher rates on your business? Mr. Palkhiwala: When you have a significant cash balance, when the rate goes up, we also see the benefit on the cash balance side. If we do end up doing new issuances at higher rates, it might still put us in a reasonable place with increased income on the cash balance. WSJ: How do you think about working capital in the context of higher rates?

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology removes CO2 emissions from the atmosphere and stores them underground. * Smeaheia, a project by Equinor to develop a storage site in the North Sea with a potential to inject up to 20 mtpa from 2027/2028. The project plans to transport CO2 via pipelines to a storage site some 145 km offshore in the southern North Sea. ICELAND* The Coda Terminal will be a cross-border carbon transport and storage hub in Straumsvík, operated by Icelandic carbon storage firm Carbfix. The full capture, transport and storage chain will handle up to 100,000 mtpa of CO2.

In TV, the top 10 list ranges from the indefinable second season of “The White Lotus” to laugh-out-loud comedies and smoldering fantasy shows. “Catch the Fair One” is available on Hulu and various video-on-demand platforms. “Paris, 13th District” is available on Amazon Prime Video and various video-on-demand platforms. “Peter Von Kant” is available on various video-on-demand platforms. “Tár” is available on various video-on-demand platforms.

☆ AllianceBernstein Executive Helps Chart Firm’s Course Overseeing Finances and Operations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Nina Trentmann | Alliancebernstein S Kate Burke | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Ms. Burke took on the responsibilities of chief financial officer this summer, after becoming the financial firm’s chief operations officer in July 2020. Kate Burke, CFO and COO of AllianceBernstein. Photo: AllianceBernsteinWSJ’s CFO Journal talked to Ms. Burke about her dual role, the outlook for the firm’s business and the impact of higher interest rates on markets. We are going to continue to look to the private markets, building out our alternatives, our private credit offerings. Ms. Burke: People still have pretty healthy balance sheets overall, but they’ve been impacted by inflation and so are less healthy than they were a year ago.

☆ Fanatics Hires CFO for Collectibles Business After Topps Deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Nina Trentmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fanatics said this week that Greg Abovsky started as chief financial officer for the collectibles business earlier this month. As CFO, Mr. Abovsky plans to build out the division’s finance team and its trading card business as it looks to expand. Fanatics plans to expand its portfolio into culture and entertainment cards, said Mike Mahan, chief executive officer of the collectibles business. Fanatics expects its collectibles business will fare well in the coming years, despite the threat of a potential downturn. Both Mr. Abovsky and Mr. Mahan declined to comment on if and when Fanatics could list on the public markets.

☆ Democrats run out the clock on a congressional stock-ban bill
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Madison Hall | Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

After months of wrangling over a congressional stock-trade ban, Pelosi is getting that wish. Some government ethics advocates had hoped that congressional stock-ban legislation would be packaged with the 2023 omnibus spending bill. Meanwhile, lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties continue violating the STOCK Act while 11th-hour pleas from Democratic stock-ban advocates go unanswered by Democratic leaders. A ban on members of Congress trading individual stocks and cryptocurrencies will officially die on January 3, when the 118th Congress is seated. Any stock-ban bill introduced next year will therefore require bipartisan support across Congress' two chambers.

Companies could also move their gas trading off energy exchanges, where the EU price cap will apply, and instead conduct private transactions. The EU cap will not initially cover these "over-the-counter" (OTC) trades, although the bloc will review next year if they should be included. The EU price cap applies to EU hubs, but not those outside the bloc, such as Britain's National Balancing Point (NBP) trading hub. Front-month TTF prices met the price level required to trigger the EU cap on about 40 days this year. EU gas demand dropped by 20% in August-November this year, compared with the five-year average for the same period, Eurostat said on Tuesday.

☆ The Year in Pictures 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

Every year, starting in early fall, photo editors at The New York Times begin sifting through the year’s work in an effort to pick out the most startling, most moving, most memorable pictures. But 2022 undoubtedly belongs to the war in Ukraine, a conflict now settling into a worryingly predictable rhythm. Erin Schaff/The New York Times “When you’re standing on the ground, you can’t visualize the scope of the destruction. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25. We see the same images over and over, and it’s really hard to make anything different.” Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 26.

FRANKFURT, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Coal has made a comeback in Germany this year, as Europe's largest economy turns to the dirty fuel to power it through an energy crisis. Gas generation rose slightly, despite high prices, as wind and hydro power output were low, and domestic nuclear output also fell in July-Sept. This has increased coal power generation in the European Union, which is expected to remain at these higher levels for some time," the IEA's annual coal market report said. This includes 1.9 GW of lignite and 4.3 GW of hard coal power plants which are allowed to return to the market until 2024, the IEA report said. The decommissioning of 2.6 GW of hard coal power capacity and 1.2 GW of lignite capacity has been postponed.

[1/2] An excavator sift through dunes of low-grade coal near a coal mine in Pingdingshan, Henan province, China November 5, 2021. High gas prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and consequent disruptions to supply have led some countries to turn to relatively cheaper coal this year. Europe's coal demand has risen due to more switching from gas to coal due to high gas prices and as Russian gas has reduced to a trickle. However, by 2025 European coal demand is expected to decline below 2022 levels, the report said. The three largest coal producers - China, India and Indonesia - will all hit production records this year but despite high prices and comfortable margins for coal producers, there is no sign of surging investment in export-driven coal projects.

☆ Fed Rate Increases Upended Funding Markets in 2022. Here’s What CFOs Can Expect in 2023.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Nina Trentmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

Here’s a look at how different financing instruments fared in 2022 and what’s ahead for 2023. Activity in the convertible debt market has picked up in recent weeks. Still, there could be financing opportunities for deals in 2023 in the form of syndicated loans, bankers said. “CFOs have to be aware of that and focus on cash conversion and margins,” he said, pointing to the increase in financing costs. “We expect deals will continue to get done,” he said, adding that those could however come with more oversight from lenders.

☆ Angelo Badalamenti, ‘Twin Peaks’ composer, dies at 85
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Angelo Badalamenti, the composer behind several beloved soundtracks, including David Lynch’s cult hit “Twin Peaks,” has died at 85. Badalamenti and Lynch worked together for decadesBefore he was a film composer, the Brooklyn-born Badalamenti was a musical jack-of-all-trades. “I tried to make the music have a haunting feeling,” Badalamenti said in 2019 of his “Twin Peaks” score. Film writer Scott Tobias remembered the immediate impact of watching “Twin Peaks” for the first time and recognizing it was something special. “One of the greatest.”Kyle MacLachlan, who played the unusual, coffee-loving Agent Dale Cooper on “Twin Peaks,” called Badalamenti a “brilliant and talented maestro who was a master at setting a mood.

☆ No food in 9 days for 19 Nevada prisoners on hunger strike
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

About a dozen people had gathered to show support for the Ely prisoners on the ninth day of their hunger strike. According to the Department of Corrections, two dozen people were participating in the hunger strike as of Friday morning. Marcus Kelley hugs Nina Fernandez, mother of one of the prisoners participating in the Ely State Prison hunger strike, during a rally in Las Vegas, on Dec. 9, 2022. In a statement released hours after the Las Vegas protest, William Gittere, acting director of the Nevada prison system, announced a policy change to “administrative sanctions” in light of the hunger strike. Prior to the hunger strike, prisoners could be punished with “concurrent” sanctions, meaning multiple privileges might be taken from a prisoner at the same time, the statement said.

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