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Devastating wildfires linked to climate change have lately become somewhat normal in the American West and beyond. In that sense, the Maui fires are nothing new. The ones on Maui this week are destructive in part because of the island’s isolation, fragile supply chains and dependence on tourism. The winds driving the fires, driven themselves in part by a hurricane passing hundreds of miles away in the Pacific Ocean, were expected to ease on Thursday. Phone service was down in some parts of the island’s west coast, including Hawaii’s former royal capital, Lahaina, where fire has been ripping through weathered wooden storefronts.

Persons: ”, Burgess Harrison, “ Organizations: Fire, U.S . Coast Guard, Hawaii Department of Health Locations: Maui, American, Maui and Minnesota, Minnesota, Hawaii, Lahaina

☆ Hurricane Dora’s High Winds Fuel Wildfires in Hawaii
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Mike Ives | More About Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm hundreds of miles south of Hawaii on Tuesday night, was generating high winds on the islands that fueled brush fires and prompted evacuations. Dora was not expected to make landfall in Hawaii, but the storm was causing high winds after dry conditions had created a particularly high risk of wildfires. On Hawaii’s Big Island, winds fueled by Dora prompted evacuations on Tuesday, and crews battled a wildfire along a highway. Those winds also contributed to several wildfires on the island of Maui, including one that was about 1,000 acres by Tuesday afternoon, the Maui County Emergency Management Agency said. Structures caught fire, and several evacuations were underway, it added.

Persons: Dora Organizations: Emergency Management Agency Locations: Hawaii, Maui

In June, 11 women who work together as sanitation laborers in India pooled their money to buy the equivalent of a $3 lottery ticket because they could not afford the cost individually. Last week, they won. The jackpot was $1.2 million, or more than $700,000 after taxes — an enormous sum for workers who spend their days collecting household waste and building public toilets. Lottery drawings are famous feel-good stories because they make people rich overnight, but these winners may be among the most deserving in history. “I’m swimming in debt, so this money will be a big relief,” said one of the winners, Leela K., 50, a mother of four daughters.

Persons: ”, Leela K, “ Locations: India

A powerful tropical cyclone was approaching islands in southern Japan on Tuesday, days after another one slammed into mainland China and the Philippines and left dozens of people dead or injured across the region. The new storm, Typhoon Khanun, was less than 200 miles southeast of a major United States military base in southern Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture on Tuesday, according to the United States military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii. (Tropical cyclones are called hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the northwestern Pacific.) Japan’s official forecast showed the storm heading northwest toward mainland China later in the week. But the meteorological authorities in China said that it might turn further north and head for Japan’s major islands instead.

Persons: Khanun Organizations: United Locations: Japan, China, Philippines, United States, Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture, Hawaii, Atlantic, Pacific

☆ Our Favorite Magical Creatures Live at Ghibli Park, So We Had to Go
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Mike Ives | More About Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Toe-toe-row!” B said, standing inside the tree, with the same intonation as the movie’s rousing, marching-band-style theme song. Notably, it was forbidden to put children on Totoro’s plush tummy, or to allow them to play inside the cat bus zone for longer than three minutes — even if the zone was not crowded, which it wasn’t. The staff members were friendly, but their rules made little sense for kids as small as ours. I wondered if that was another sign that Ghibli Park was still a bit rough around the edges. We grudgingly agreed to the no-tummy policy, but B wished to play nowhere else but inside the cat bus.

Persons: ”, Children’s, Miyazaki Organizations: Disney

☆ An Anxious Thailand Awaits a New Leader: Here’s What to Know
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Mike Ives | More About Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Move Forward Party, led by Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, is pushing for change in Thailand, and won the most votes in the May general election. But Mr. Pita cannot form a government unless he is elected prime minister by the Thai Parliament. He lost a previous vote last week. If the Parliament again fails to elect a leader by the end of Wednesday, a third vote could be held as soon as Thursday. A protest was planned for Wednesday evening, and some demonstrators wearing his party’s signature orange had already gathered outside the Parliament building by the afternoon.

Persons: , Pita Limjaroenrat, Pita, Pita’s Organizations: Party Locations: Thailand, Thai Parliament

After winning the general election in May, the progressive Move Forward party in Thailand promised to introduce bold democratic reforms in the Southeast Asian nation. Now, as Parliament gathers on Wednesday to vote for prime minister for a second time in less than a week, the fragile coalition that Move Forward has cobbled together is on the verge of falling apart. “Thailand is not ready to change,” said Pongkwan Sawasdipakdi, a political scientist at Thammasat University in Bangkok. “People in the establishment are not going to let change happen.”Opposition parties tend to come and go in Thailand. Each time, they face rough headwinds brought on by the military-appointed Senate and royalist allies that form the bedrock of the country’s conservative political establishment.

Persons: ”, Pongkwan Sawasdipakdi Organizations: Thammasat University Locations: Thailand, Bangkok, “

Powerful monsoon rains swept across South Korea, burying homes, knocking down trees, canceling flights and trains, and cutting power to thousands of residents, officials said on Saturday. The downpour caused flooding and landslides in the country’s central region, leaving at least 22 people dead and 14 others missing as of Saturday evening, the Interior Ministry said, adding that the rainfall was expected to intensify in the coming days. Heavy monsoon rains are typical in South Korea in the summer, and its mountainous topography makes it susceptible to landslides. But the number of casualties reported on Saturday was unusual. “The death toll is surprisingly high,” Cheong Tae Sung, an expert in flooding with South Korea’s National Disaster Management Research Institute, said in an interview, adding that there were a couple of possible reasons for this.

Persons: Cheong Tae Sung Organizations: Interior Ministry, Disaster Management Research Institute Locations: South Korea

The takeaway from Thailand’s general election in May was clear: Voters had dealt a crushing blow to the ruling military junta by supporting a progressive party that challenged not only the generals but also the nation’s powerful monarchy. The generals and their allies responded on Thursday by rejecting the party’s leading candidate for prime minister, tipping the country into a political void and potentially thrusting it further toward autocracy. Parliament failed to elect a new prime minister on Thursday evening after the progressive candidate, Pita Limjaroenrat, was unable to muster enough support in the military-backed Senate, where lawmakers are loyal to the generals who have governed Thailand since seizing power in a coup nearly decade ago. As night fell over a rainy Bangkok, one of Southeast Asia’s most important economies was staring down what looked like another intense period of political unrest and nationwide protests.

Persons: Pita Limjaroenrat Locations: Thailand, Bangkok

Thailand inched closer to political gridlock on Thursday as politicians gathered in Parliament to vote for the next prime minister with no clear victor in sight. The leading candidate, Pita Limjaroenrat, a charismatic young progressive, was dealt a major setback on the eve of the vote when Thailand’s Election Commission asked the Constitutional Court to suspend him from Parliament. Mr. Pita, who scored a major political victory over the ruling military junta and its royalist allies during the general election in May, has been under investigation for allegedly owning undeclared shares in a media company. On Wednesday, the Court also said that it had accepted a complaint against Mr. Pita over his calls to amend a law that harshly penalizes criticism of the Thai monarchy. Neither blow stopped Move Forward, Mr. Pita’s party, and other coalition members from nominating him for prime minister on Thursday morning.

Persons: Pita Limjaroenrat, Pita Locations: Thailand, Thai

☆ How Do ‘Barbie’ and Blackpink Figure in a Dangerous Territorial Dispute?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Mike Ives | More About Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Of all the things that could inflame tensions in a region that could someday be a theater of war between superpowers, the movie “Barbie” was not an obvious catalyst. The authorities in Vietnam this week banned the upcoming Greta Gerwig film over a map in “Barbie” that they said shows a Chinese map of territory in the South China Sea, where the two neighbors have competing claims. The Philippines, another Southeast Asian country that disputes China’s territorial claims in the sea, is now deciding whether to ban the star-studded film as well. And Vietnam said on Thursday that it was investigating a South China Sea map on the website of a company promoting Blackpink, a K-pop band scheduled to perform in Hanoi this month. But Vietnam’s responses make more sense if they are viewed within historical and political contexts.

Persons: Barbie ”, Greta Gerwig Locations: Vietnam, South China, Philippines, China, Hanoi

Two firefighters died while working to extinguish a raging fire Wednesday aboard an Italian cargo ship that was loading automobiles at Port Newark in New Jersey, the authorities said. The firefighters “made an attempt to extinguish the fire and, because of the intense heat, they got pushed back out of the area where the initial fire was,” Chief Rufus Jackson of the Newark Fire Department said in a news conference early Thursday. The firefighters who died on the ship, the Grande Costa d’Avorio, were not immediately identified. “This was a tragedy, and my heart goes out to the family of each of these members and also the Newark Fire Department,” Chief Jackson said. “We’re going to continue to work, and we’re going to continue to pray for the family of the two members who were lost tonight.”Port Authority police officers responded after 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday to a fire on a ship that was docked at Port Newark, said Lenis Valens, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Persons: “, Rufus Jackson of, Jackson, “ We’re, Lenis Valens Organizations: Newark Fire Department, ” Port Authority, Port Authority of New Locations: Italian, Port Newark, New Jersey, Newark, Costa, ”, Port Authority of New York

☆ Bison Return to Native American Lands, Revitalizing Sacred Rituals
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

For years, meals at the summer sun dance ceremonies on the Eastern Shoshone tribe’s lands in Wyoming were missing something that was once a staple of the sacred rituals. There was no presence of homegrown bison, an animal central to the spiritual customs and beliefs of the Shoshone and other Native Americans. Now, meals at the annual ceremonies, which have just begun for this summer, will feature bison meat that, for the first time in 138 years, was harvested from the tribe’s own lands. The multiday sacred ritual involves dancing, fasting and praying, often within a sweat lodge made from natural materials. “It’s in our DNA to have that animal around us again,” said Jason Baldes, 44, a member of the Eastern Shoshone tribe who manages its herd of bison on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.

Persons: ”, Jason Baldes Locations: Wyoming

☆ Are Escalators and Moving Walkways Safe?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Mike Ives | Muktita Suhartono | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Such walkways are known as “moving walks” to government regulators and construction companies. An escalator sits at about 30 degrees, but a moving walk’s incline is typically no more than a tenth of that. Escalators and moving walks ease the movement of billions of people through airports, shopping malls and other public spaces each year. Escalators and moving walks are widely seen as very safe. But even that figure is exceedingly small if you consider the sheer volume of escalator and moving walk trips that people take every day.

Persons: Don, Karant Thanakuljeerapat, Don Mueang Organizations: Don Mueang International, Elevator Industry, Inc, Center for Construction Research Locations: Thailand, Bangkok, United States, Australia, Queensland, Maryland

☆ They Ride and Lasso Like Texans. They Live 8,000 Miles Away.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Jes Aznar | Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A honky-tonk twang echoes across a fairground as cowhands wrangle cattle inside a dirt-floored stadium. The scene would be typical in Texas, but this rodeo is happening about 8,000 miles away, on an island in the Philippines. Nearly every spring for 30 years, the best wranglers in the country have traveled to the island province of Masbate to test their skills at the Rodeo Festival in Masbate City. It’s both a sporting event and a celebration of Philippine cowboy and cowgirl culture. “Where there’s cattle, there’s rodeo,” said Leo Gozum, 51, a livestock farmer who directs the festival’s rodeo events.

Persons: ”, Leo Gozum Organizations: wranglers, Rodeo Locations: Texas, Philippines, Masbate, Masbate City, Philippine

☆ What’s happening in Russia? Here’s what we know.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russian generals on Friday accused a Russian mercenary tycoon of trying to mount a coup against President Vladimir V. Putin. There were reports overnight of military movements in an area of southern Russia near the border with Ukraine. And on Saturday morning, the tycoon, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, claimed to have control of parts of the military command headquarters in southern Russia. But the confrontation already amounted to the biggest challenge to Mr. Putin’s authority since Russia invaded Ukraine 16 months ago. In an address to the nation, Mr. Putin called the Wagner forces’ actions “a stab in the back of our country and our people” and vowed “decisive actions.”

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Wagner, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, ” Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Russia

Image Mr. Prigozhin and President Vladimir Putin at one of Mr. Prigozhin’s factories in St. Petersburg in 2010. Mr. Prigozhin accused the Russian military of attacking his forces, vowed to retaliate, on Friday. In an earlier videotaped speech, Mr. Prigozhin did not explicitly impugn Mr. Putin, instead casting him as a leader being misled by his officials. But, during the battle for Bakhmut, Mr. Prigozhin also emerged as a populist political figure, excoriating Russia’s military leadership for corruption. Others theorized that the Kremlin had orchestrated Mr. Prigozhin’s tirades against Mr. Shoigu, the defense minister, to deflect blame from Mr. Putin himself.

Persons: Yevgeny V, Vladimir V, Putin, Prigozhin, Wagner, Mr, ” Gen, Vladimir Alekseyev, ” Mr, Prigozhin’s Wagner, Russia’s, ’, “, ”, GOH, Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, Adam Hodge, Vladimir Putin, —, Sergei K, Shoigu, Dmitri S, diatribes, excoriating, Prigozhin’s, Igor Girkin, Girkin, ” Julian E, Barnes, Cassandra Vinograd Organizations: Russian, ., Reuters, Russian Defense Ministry, Russia’s, Defense Ministry, Telegram, Twitter, National Security, Associated Press, Bakhmut, Kremlin Locations: Ukraine, Moscow, Rostov, Don, Russia, White, St . Petersburg, St, Petersburg, Syria, Africa, Ukrainian, Bakhmut, Prigozhin, Russian, Ukraine’s, “

☆ Canada Forces Google and Facebook to Pay News Outlets for Linking to Articles
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Canadian Parliament has passed a law that will require technology companies to pay domestic news outlets for linking to their articles, prompting the owner of Facebook and Instagram to say that it would pull news articles from both platforms in the country. With some caveats, the new Canadian law would force search engines and social media companies to engage in a bargaining process — and binding arbitration, if necessary — for licensing news content for their use. The law, the Online News Act, was modeled after a similar one that passed in Australia two years ago. It was designed to “enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news marketplace and contribute to its sustainability,” according to an official summary. Exactly when the law would take effect was not immediately clear as of Friday morning.

Organizations: Facebook, Google Locations: Australia

This week’s attempt to rescue the five individuals trapped in the submersible, includes both the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard. But, she said, when the cost of search and rescue efforts “crosses a certain threshold, funds may be diverted from N.P.S. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to questions about the expense of past extensive search and rescue efforts. Credit... U.S. Coast Guard, via Associated PressMr. Derreumaux said he was thankful to the Coast Guard for saving his life, along with the lives of many others in need of its help. “I would not have called the Coast Guard if it weren’t a life-threatening situation,” he said.

Persons: ”, Chris Boyer, —, Boyer, Cynthia Hernandez, Peter Anderson, Cyril Derreumaux, kayaker, Derreumaux, “, ” Claire Fahy Organizations: U.S . Navy, Coast Guard, National Association for Search, National Park Service, OceanGate Expeditions, Abercrombie, Kent, The Coast Guard, San Francisco Chronicle, Coast Guard helicopter, . U.S . Coast Guard, Associated Press, Guard Locations: United States, New Hampshire, N.P.S, California, Hawaii, Marin County, Calif, . U.S

A powerful storm struck the northern Texas town of Matador on Wednesday night, killing at least four people, damaging about a dozen buildings and prompting a search for residents who might have been injured or trapped by debris, the authorities said. At least nine people were hurt. The storm swept through the small town of about 600 residents as thousands of people across the region were sweltering in a triple-digit heat wave that may not ease until the Fourth of July, and as other storms earlier in the week spawned deadly tornadoes and punishing hail across the South. A tornado warning was issued for Matador, roughly 300 miles northwest of Dallas, as the storm barreled through around 8 p.m., said William Iwasko, a National Weather Service meteorologist. He said the damage suggested there was “most likely” a tornado, but that had not been confirmed as of early Thursday morning.

Persons: William Iwasko Organizations: Matador, National Weather Service Locations: Texas, Matador, Dallas

But Titan, the lost submersible from the company OceanGate, is a technological maverick based on novel concepts that differ from standard designs. “I’ve had three people ask me about making a dive on it,” he said in reference to the lost submersible. Private vessels — those used on superyachts, exploratory craft, tourists jaunts — are not formally regulated by any governmental or intergovernmental agency. Nor do they meet the rigorous standards that are applied to deep-sea craft used by the United States Navy and other government agencies. “We are proud that every submersible delivered remains in active service and certified to its original design depth,” it says on the company’s website.

Persons: ”, Bruce H, Robison, Alfred S, McLaren, Navy submariner, “ I’ve, ‘, OceanGate, submersibles, jaunts, Jennifer, Dr Organizations: Aquarium Research, Explorers Club of New, United States Navy, Lloyd’s, American Bureau of Shipping, ” Triton, Triton Locations: Monterey, California, Navy, Explorers Club of New York City, British, Everett, Wash, Houston, American

The U.S. Navy’s deep-diving rescue vehicle can reportedly reach depths of just 2,000 feet. The missing Titan submersible was aiming to go far deeper into the North Atlantic. Numerous complications could hinder the effort to rescue the five people aboard the deep-diving submersible Titan, which failed to return from a dive on Sunday to the wreck of the Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. Navy has one submarine rescue vehicle, although it can reportedly reach depths of just 2,000 feet. That vehicle, called CURV-21, can reach depths of 20,000 feet.

Persons: — Organizations: U.S, U.S . Navy Locations: South, Newfoundland

☆ Tornadoes Kill at Least 4 Across the South
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Livia Albeck-Ripka | Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

States across the South were assessing storm damage on Friday after a series of tornadoes swept across the region, leaving at least four people dead, including three in Texas, the authorities said. He told CNN that one person died in the trailer park and two others died downtown, and that one person was missing. About 200 homes and the town firehouse were destroyed, and infrared-equipped drones were surveying the damage, he said. Officials in Perryton, about 115 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas, could not immediately be reached for comment. The Perryton Fire Department said on Facebook late Thursday that the fire station “took a direct hit,” but that its trucks and ambulances were still operable.

Persons: Paul Dutcher, “ Organizations: Texas Panhandle, NBC News, CNN, Fire, Facebook Locations: Texas, Perryton, Amarillo , Texas

☆ Tornado Kills 3 in Texas and Injures Dozens
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Livia Albeck-Ripka | Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It’s not unusual for officials in Texas to issue heat advisories around this time of year, said Monte Oaks, a meteorologist at the Weather Service’s San Antonio office. They typically do so when high temperatures combine with other factors, including high humidity and westerly winds that blow hot air from high-altitude deserts, he added. In this case, Mr. Oaks said, the humidity is high because Texas had a wetter and stormier spring than usual. But it also means that the hot ground is “cooking a lot of the moisture” and releasing it into the air. But there is enough supply to meet the demand, the company added, and it does not expect an “energy emergency.”Global warming is making dangerously hot weather more common, and more extreme, on every continent.

Persons: Oaks, Cindy Barkley Organizations: Texas, Electric, of Texas, Climate Central, Texas Department of Public Safety, Sheriff’s Locations: Texas, Oaks, Antonio, Mexico

☆ Fox News Chyron Calls Biden a ‘Wannabe Dictator’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Fox News chyron appeared to refer to President Biden as a “wannabe dictator” during footage of his remarks from the White House on Tuesday, the same day that former President Donald J. Trump was charged with federal crimes in a Miami courtroom. The onscreen text appeared briefly at the bottom of a split-screen broadcast that showed President Biden and former President Trump speaking from respective podiums, at the White House and a Trump golf club in Bedminster, N.J.“Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested,” the chyron read. It did not refer to Mr. Biden by name, but the implication was clear. The alert appeared at the end of the 8 p.m. broadcast of “Fox News Tonight,” a prime-time show that recently replaced one that had been hosted by Tucker Carlson, a popular nightside host who was dismissed by the network in April. The footage of Mr. Biden showed him speaking on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday at a holiday event.

Persons: chyron, Biden, Donald J, Trump, Tucker Carlson, Mr Organizations: Fox, White, Trump, “ Fox News Locations: Miami, Bedminster, N.J

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