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☆ Wildfire rages near Athens for second day, forcing more evacuations
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ATHENS, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Hundreds of firefighters struggled overnight to contain a wildfire on the outskirts of Athens, forcing more evacuations as authorities warned the risk of new blazes was high across the country on Wednesday. Twenty people have been killed since fires erupted in northern Greece on Saturday and quickly spread, fanned by gale force winds in the second major outbreak of the summer. A fire near the village of Fyli on the foothills of Mount Parnitha, some 25 km (15 miles) north of Athens, spread towards the town of Menidi, where about 150 people had to be evacuated from three nursing homes, a local official said. "We kept the fire away from homes," Stathis Topalidis, deputy mayor of Menidi, told state broadcaster ERT on Wednesday. [1/5]A satellite image shows an overview of wildfires in Alexandroupolis, Greece, August 21, 2023.

Persons: Topalidis, Karolina Tagaris, Philippa Fletcher Organizations: ERT, Maxar Technologies, REUTERS Acquire, Volunteers, European Union, Thomson Locations: ATHENS, Athens, Greece, Fyli, Mount Parnitha, Menidi, Alexandroupolis, Turkey, East, Asia, Italy, Rhodes

☆ Wildfires rage in Greece, Spain and Italy as heatwave spreads
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Alexandros Avramidis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] Flames burn a tree as a wildfire rages in Alexandroupolis, on the region of Evros, Greece. Authorities urged residents to avoid the heat as France, Italy, Spain and elsewhere suffered hot, dry and windy conditions that scientists have linked to climate change. WILDFIRES IN SPAIN, ITALYThe blaze has burned through 15,000 hectares in 12 municipalities forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. In France, four southern regions - the Rhone, Drome, Ardeche and Haute-Loire - were placed under red alert, the most serious warning. Grape-pickers in wine-producing regions of southern France have been advised to start work on the harvest in the early hours of the morning to avoid sweltering in a late summer heatwave.

Persons: Alexandros Avramidis, I've, Nikos Gioktsidis, Vassilis Varthakogiannis, AEMET, Alessandro Vitaliano, ANSA, Karolina Tagaris, Dominique Vidalon, Gisela Vignoni, Crispian Balmer, Ingrid Melander, Janet Lawrence Organizations: Flames, REUTERS, Greece Firefighters, heatwave, University Hospital, ERT, Rio Marina, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Alexandroupolis, Evros, Greece, Spain, Italy, Europe, France, Turkey, Tenerife, SPAIN, ITALY, Elba, Rio, Rome, Milan, Florence, Drome, Ardeche, Haute, Loire, Rhone, Alexandropoulis, Athens, Paris

☆ What Extreme Heat Does to Your Body
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Dana G. Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

What Extreme Heat Does to Your BodyHeat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. While the human body is able to withstand high temperatures, unprecedented extreme heat driven by climate change is challenging our ability to adapt. (A fever can also cause body temperatures this high, especially in children, but it won’t lead to the same cascade of problems.) Heat stroke occurs when the body reaches an internal temperature of 104 degrees and above. The defining characteristic of heat stroke is confusion and delirium as the brain becomes overheated and starved of oxygen.

Locations: United States

A commotion sounded at the entrance of the building, and a shout went up. Soldiers carried in two men on stretchers, one his lined face taut in a grimace, a third, with bloodstained pants, following behind. Within seconds the men were lifted onto operating tables and medics swarmed in, cutting off bloody clothes, hooking up drips, talking to the men in low voices. “Brother, you will make it,” the third soldier, Batya, called out to his friend with a chest wound. “Hold on, we have more to do.”Wounded just 40 minutes earlier on Ukraine’s southern front in the Zaporizhzhia region, the soldiers from the 110th Brigade had arrived at a stabilization point, one of a dozen medical stations set up by the Ukrainian Army within a few miles of the front line to ensure critical, lifesaving care.

Persons: “ Organizations: 110th Brigade, Ukrainian Army Locations: Zaporizhzhia

"We had to wait two weeks," said Lee Bo-mi, a 35-year-old mother with a sick 3-year-old boy, at the Healthy Children's Hospital. By comparison, it costs about A$335 for initial standard consultation with an Australian paediatrician, while observation at Nationwide Children's Hospital in the U.S. costs $208 per hour, according to its website. Data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service shows paediatricians are South Korea's lowest paid doctors, making 57% less than the average doctor's salary. Sowha Hospital, South Korea's oldest children's hospital, recently suspended Saturday afternoon and Sunday treatment for the first time in 77 years due to a lack of staff. "If the number of children's hospitals decreases and the number of doctors falls, it's going to be difficult to get children treated."

Persons: Song Jong, geun, Jung Seung, Kim Hong, Ji, paediatrics, Lee Bo, Dae, it's, Choi Yong, jae, Dr Lim Hyun, I'm, Kim Eun, Lee Ju, yul, there's, Lee, Lim, Joyce Lee, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, Seoul Institute, Reuters, The, of Health, Welfare, Children's, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea Children's Hospital, Korean Pediatric Association, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Health Insurance, Service, Namseoul University, Thomson Locations: Seoul, South Korea, Ji SEOUL, Seoul's, Korea, Australian, U.S

☆ Christina Quarles, the multiracial queer painter transforming the art of the nude
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Victoria Woodcock | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Isla del Rey, Menorca CNN —On the tiny Menorcan island of Isla del Rey, Christina Quarles is sitting under a canopy of olive trees. “Coming in on a boat is like a moment of meditation to prepare yourself to see art,” she added. Christina Quarles' show 'Come In From An Endless Place,' is on at the Hauser & Wirth gallery on the Spanish island of Menorca until October 29, 2023. The new Menorca Hauser & Wirth gallery was once a dilapidated 18th century naval hospital. I’ve found it to be a very beautiful parallel.”“With Christina, it’s difficult to separate the artist from the work,” said Bardaouil.

Persons: Menorca, Isla del Rey, Christina Quarles, Hauser & Wirth Menorca, “ It’s, ”, Quarles, Piet Oudolf, Damian Griffiths, Wirth, “, ” Quarles, givens, ‘, Menorca Hauser, Wirth “ She’s, Sam Bardaouil, Bardaouil, Quarles ’, Mar Rescalvo Pons, Fredrik Nilsen, Wirth Quarles ’, I’ve, there’s, Christina, it’s Organizations: del, Menorca CNN, Hauser &, Hauser, Wirth, ”, Venice Biennale, Sotheby’s, CNN, Hamburger Bahnhof, Hauser & Wirth Locations: Isla del, Los Angeles, Swiss, London, New York, Hong Kong, Menorca, Chicago, Venice, York, Berlin, gesturally

☆ Does It Help With the Regret, Too? Hangovers Meet IV Drips.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Amelia Nierenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Getting an IV at home after a hangover is like a flex,” said Dr. Abe Malkin, the chief executive and founder of Drip Hydration. I don’t need to sit and suffer.’”Many users see the drips as an add-on to a weekend splurge, especially in party destinations. In Miami, Lupo Yachts, a charter luxury tour company, offers a suggestion for an IV drip company to groups. Let’s fix you.’”Hospitals use IV drips regularly to hydrate patients, said Dr. Ali Raja, the deputy chair of emergency medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Raja said that there was only limited scientific research into the treatments.

Persons: ”, Abe Malkin, Lupo, Michael Lupolover, “, ‘ I’m, I’m, ’ ”, Rob McAdams, Ali Raja, Raja Organizations: In Miami, Lupo Yachts, Massachusetts General Hospital Locations: Las Vegas, Coachella, In, Massachusetts

☆ Altitude Meets Adrenaline: Running the Dolomites
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Christopher Solomon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Fog smothers the meadows, pastures and peaks around Val Pusteria — the kinds of views we’ve waited a year to see. Finding the perfect routeTrail running, a sport that takes its participants away from paved roads, often to the hills and mountains, has exploded in popularity. The number of Americans who say they have taken part in trail running tripled between 2007 and 2021, according to the Outdoor Foundation, an arm of the Outdoor Industry Association, a recreation-industry trade group. The Dolomites, an Italian mountain range with staggering limestone pinnacles, great food and an extensive web of trails, have emerged as a top destination. Runners now tackle several of the Dolomites’ Alta Vias (“high ways”) that have traditionally been hiking routes.

Persons: smothers, Pusteria, we’ve, Heidi wobbling Organizations: Outdoor Foundation, Outdoor Industry Association Locations: United States

CNN —Pope Francis has issued a message for the first time since undergoing abdominal surgery, asking the faithful to “keep me in your prayers.”“I sincerely appreciate the prayers and numerous expressions of closeness and affection received in the past few days,” the Pontiff said in a tweet posted Friday. I ask you to keep me in your prayers,” he added. The pope remains in Rome’s Gemelli hospital after undergoing abdominal surgery on Wednesday. On Friday afternoon, the pope “gathered in prayer and devoted himself to work” and in the evening he received the Eucharist, Bruni said. “Pope Francis is touched by the numerous messages that he continues to receive in these hours; in particular he intends to address his thoughts and his thanks to the children currently hospitalized, for the affection and love received through their drawings and their messages,” Bruni said.

Persons: Pope Francis, ” “, “, ”, Matteo Bruni, ” Bruni, Bruni, “ Pope Francis Organizations: CNN Locations: Rome’s Gemelli

☆ Caged and cut open for bile: The fight to free Asia’s farmed bears
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Jessie Yeung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

But international experts say it remains a lucrative industry in China, where domestic sales of bear bile remain legal. “They’ve got massive hair loss, they’ve often got broken teeth from (biting the bars of their cages) in frustration and pain.”But eliminating bile farming has proved difficult. But China is “the biggest market for bear bile products by far,” with roughly 15,000 bile bears in captivity and plenty of demand, he said. Ursodeoxycholic acid, one of the main components in bear bile, has been medically proven to help dissolve gallstones and treat liver disease. And there’s no internationally recognized scientific evidence showing bear bile can cure other ailments promoted in TCM.

Persons: Eve Sevim, Jill Robinson, “ They’ve, they’ve, Robinson, David Garshelis, aren’t, Garshelis, ” Robinson, ”, ” Garshelis, Tan, Qing, it’s Organizations: CNN, Animals Asia, International Union for Conservation, Nature’s, Bear Specialist Group, TCM, Animals, Forestry Administration, Farmers, China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration, State Forestry Administration, Bears, Getty, IUCN Locations: Haiphong, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Asia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hui'an, Animals Asia, Hanoi, “, Tam Dao, Hanoi –, Ma

☆ We Tested Cold-Brew Coffee Makers—Here Are Our 3 Favorites
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Nick Guy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +11 min

And many, including our top pick, the Oxo Brew Cold Brew Coffee Maker, make a brew that easily rivals a barista’s best. Best overallBest for saving spaceBest for coffee on tapOthers you should know aboutHow we pickedBest overallbuy side top pick OXO Brew Cold Brew Coffee Maker $41 at Amazon $ 52 Save $ 11 $52 at OXO Making delicious cold brew does not get much easier than with this OXO coffee maker. Best for saving spaceOXO Brew Compact Cold Brew Coffee Maker $27 at Amazon $ 34 Save $ 7 $35 at Bloomingdales This is the best cold brew maker if space is at a premium and you don’t drink tons of coffee. GrowlerWerks’ uKeg Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Maker is a different kind of cold brew maker, pumping out a brew that has the consistency of a Guinness. Cold Brew Championships–winning baristas to better understand what it takes to make great cold brew coffee.

Persons: Nick Guy, it’s, You’ll, both.We, that’s, There’s, you’re, Takeya’s, there’s, Brew Kit, It’s Organizations: Amazon, System, Brew, Guinness, Cold Locations: Bloomingdales

"The hospitals now serving the wounded are so few, with limited number of doctors, so there's overcrowding of wounded," said Esraa Abou Shama, a doctor at Sudan's health ministry. Over four days of fighting nine hospitals in Sudan have been hit by artillery and 16 forcibly evacuated, the Sudanese Doctors' Union said, with none still providing a full service inside the capital. His hospital's water and cooking gas tanks have been hit, many staff fled, and diesel fuel for the power generator is almost exhausted, he said. Staff cannot access the morgue because of the fighting, so dead bodies are stored in rooms with air conditioning turned up. "We all have the same problems - electricity, water, staff.

☆ I watched Ben Affleck's new 'Air' movie with 72 Nike veterans. Here's what they said the movie got right and what it got wrong about the race to sign Michael Jordan.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The movie also shows how early Nike employees didn't hesitate to break rules. The scene sums up what's right, and what's wrong, with the movie, according to former and current Nike employees. It shows early Nike employees didn't hesitate to take risks. Nike veterans said the movie captures the company's willingness to take risks, especially early executives like Phil Knight, played by director Ben Affleck. Affleck, who also played Knight in the movie, nailed the story's arc, by all accounts.

☆ I went to see Ben Affleck's new "Air" movie with some Nike veterans. Here's what they said the movie got right and what it got wrong about the race to sign Michael Jordan.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

☆ I tried 2 spa treatments that this luxury NYC hotel says will improve sleep—here's how it went
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Equinox Hotel at Hudson Yards has outdoor saunas near one of its pools during the colder months. Renée OnqueThe Equinox hotel also has an offering of spa treatments that are dedicated to better sleep. All-year round they offer services like IV drips, cryotherapy, a wave table and access to an infrared sauna. I started with the infrared sauna that aims to reduce inflammation and remove toxins from the body. I'd say given the headache during, and the grogginess that followed, I'd give the wave table a 5/10.

☆ 'We live in hell': Volunteer bus evacuates wounded Ukrainian troops
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/8] A wounded Ukrainian soldier is evacuated in a converted bus, operated by Ukrainian volunteer medics, from the eastern frontline near Bakhmut to hospitals in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in Ukraine March 15, 2023. Six medics move up and down the narrow corridor between two rows of three beds that run the length of the bus, which is part of Ukraine's Hospitallers Medical Battalion that evacuates troops across Ukraine. "We had no possibility before in Ukraine to deliver casualties in such numbers between hospitals," he told Reuters. The initiative involves teams of volunteers rotating and spending several weeks on call, ready for when soldiers need moving further from the fighting. Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed and wounded on both sides of the conflict since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February.

☆ Markets are still hostage to the Fed, but managing to hang in there
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Starting with the January jobs report released Feb. 3, it has been a relentless stream of bad news on the inflation front. Surprisingly, we are a mere 4% off the recent highs of early January and are flat for the week going into Friday trading . Investor sentiment is awful The AAII Sentiment Survey, a survey of the membership of the American Association of Individual Investors, indicated bearish sentiment remained unusually high, and bullish sentiment unusually low. Bullish: 23.4% (historic average: 37.5%) Bearish: 44.8% (historic average: 31.0%) Neutral: 31.8% (historic average: 31.5%) Source: AAII "The market's between a rock and a hard place," Alec Young, chief investment strategist at MapSignals, told me. Bottom line: the markets are still hostage to inflation and the Fed.

REUTERS/Tingshu WangBEIJING/WUHAN, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Some people in China's key cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan braved the cold and a spike in COVID-19 infections to return to regular activity on Monday, confident of a boost to the economy as more recover from infections. But Monday's one new COVID death - flat with the previous day - among China's population of 1.4 billion does not match the experience of other countries after they re-opened. Cumulative deaths in China since Dec. 1 have probably reached 100,000, with infections at 18.6 million, it said. Airfinity expects China's COVID infections to reach their first peak on Jan. 13, with 3.7 million daily infections. China has said it only counts deaths of COVID patients caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure as COVID-related.

Experts say the elderly in rural areas may be particularly vulnerable because of their vaccine hesitancy and inadequate medical resources. Most patients have the same symptoms suggesting a COVID infection, and most are elderly, she said. "Many elderly people have underlying diseases such as chronic bronchitis and this virus can easily lead to a lung infection." Paxlovid, the Pfizer-made COVID medicine, is in particularly high demand, with many Chinese attempting to get the drug abroad and have it shipped to China. In Lezhi county, Liao, a farmer with two children whose husband is working in a faraway province, bought an oxygen concentrator online to help with her mother's breathing.

☆ COVID travel curbs against Chinese visitors 'discriminatory' -state media
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Bernard Orr | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Global spending by Chinese visitors was worth more than $250 billion a year before the pandemic. China's official death toll of 5,247 since the pandemic began compares with more than 1 million deaths in the United States. UK-based health data firm Airfinity said on Thursday around 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID. Airfinity expects China's COVID infections to reach their first peak on Jan. 13, with 3.7 million cases a day. China has said it only counts deaths of COVID patients caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure as COVID-related.

"More fundamental, and more subtle and more important is the social contract and social trust in China. COVID CZAROver the past three years, Vice Premier Sun, 72, has been the face of China's COVID fight, a mother-like figure who has executed Xi's zero-COVID policy with a firm hand. In April this year, Sun rushed to Shanghai as the city went under lockdown, according to state media reports. During the Shanghai lockdown, while also on an inspection tour, Sun was bombarded by pleas from residents shouting from their windows: "No more rice! How the current infections are tackled remain a key near-term challenge to COVID czars.

☆ Rohingya recount stories of hunger and desperation in escape to Indonesia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

PIDIE, Indonesia — Rohingya Muslims who survived a harrowing 40 days on a boat across the Indian Ocean to end up in Indonesia have recounted stories of hunger and desperation, saying more than 20 of those on board died on the way. Rohingya men resting at a shelter in the Pidie district of Aceh province on Monday. A Rohingya child rests in a temporary shelter in Laweueng on Tuesday. Rohingya attempting sea crossings to Thailand and Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia often set off between November and April when seas are calmer. Indonesia has seen nearly 500 Rohingya reach its shores in the past six weeks, according to the UNHCR.

The country spent big on quarantine and testing facilities over the past three years rather than bolstering hospitals and clinics and training medical staff, these people said. "There is no transition time for the medical system to prepare for this," said Zuofeng Zhang, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. The failure to boost vaccination rates among the vulnerable could imperil China's health system, more than a dozen experts said. The death of a 23-year-old medical student in Chengdu on Dec. 14 fueled public ire at the strain on China's health system. Chen Jiming, a researcher at China's Foshan University, said there was every chance that China's medical system could cope now that the country has ended quarantine for asymptomatic and mild cases.

☆ Nonstop partying, lavish spending, and sexual-harassment accusations: Inside the self-destruction of Pollen, the music startup once worth $800 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Melkorka Licea | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

About 400 Pollen employees were camped out in Mendocino County, California, for five straight days of partying. Two former Pollen employees told Insider that they recalled the assistant telling them about Callum's inappropriate comments at the time. (The Pollen representative said Callum and Bedi didn't date at Pollen or at any other company connected to Pollen. Out of 360 events Pollen announced over the past 12 months, 39 were canceled, the Pollen representative said. (The Pollen representative said that "out of hundreds of thousands of customers, fewer than 100 people were moderated" online.)

☆ Luxury homebuyers want plunge pools, infrared saunas, and 'spiritual concierges,' according to two star brokers who've sold $4 billion of real estate so far this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Real-estate agents Fredrik Eklund and John Gomes said luxury homebuyers want wellness perks at home. More than gyms and swimming pools, they're seeking out extras like infrared saunas and plunge pools. On-demand perks like "spiritual concierges" and IV treatments are becoming more popular. Speaking about the year ahead alongside Eklund Gomes Team CEO Julia Spillman, they said wellness perks remain at the top of the list of must-haves for luxury homebuyers of both condos and single-family residences. The Eklund Gomes Team has big plans for the year aheadThe Eklund Gomes Team plans to grow, even as the real-estate market at large is slowing down.

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