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☆ Air pollution in India's New Delhi turns 'severe,' some schools shut
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Heavy smog seen engulfed amid rise in pollution levels at Barakhamba on Nov. 2, 2023 in New Delhi, India. People in New Delhi woke up to a thick layer of toxic haze on Friday, and some schools were ordered to be shut for two days as the air quality index (AQI) entered the "severe" category in several parts of the Indian capital. A filthy smog forms over Delhi every winter as cold, heavy air traps construction dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from crop stubble burning in neighboring states, causing a surge in respiratory illnesses among the city's 20 million people. New Delhi topped a real-time list on Friday of the world's most polluted cities compiled by Swiss group IQAir which put the India's capital's AQI at 611 in the 'hazardous' category. "Unfavorable meteorological conditions, sudden increase in the farm fire incidents and north-westerly winds moving the pollutants to Delhi are the major causes for sudden spike in AQI," the region's Commission for Air Quality Management said on Thursday.

Organizations: Residents, region's Commission, Air Quality Management Locations: New Delhi, India, Delhi, Swiss

Nov 2 (Reuters) - Air pollution, a global scourge that kills millions of people a year, is shielding us from the full force of the sun. "It's this Catch-22," said Patricia Quinn, an atmospheric chemist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), speaking about cleaning up sulphur pollution globally. "If you implement technologies to reduce air pollution, this will accelerate – very significantly – global warming in the short term." The Chinese and Indian environment ministries didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the effects of pollution unmasking. As the implications of the pollution unmasking become more apparent, experts are casting around for methods to counter the associated warming.

Persons: poring, Patricia Quinn, Paulo Artaxo, Xi Jinping, Xi, El, Yangyang Xu, Xu, unmasking, Laura Wilcox, COVID, Sergey Osipov, Michael Diamond, Jake Spring, David Stanway, Sakshi Dayal, Katy Daigle Organizations: U.S . National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, Reuters, World Health Organization, U.S . Clean, National People's, China Meteorological Administration, El Nino, M University, Britain's University of Reading, India Meteorological Department, India, Clean, Programme, King Abdullah University of Science, Technology, Florida State University, Thomson Locations: India, China, Beijing, 10.34C, Texas, Chongqing, Wuhan, SO2, heatwaves, Xinjiang, INDIA, Europe, Northern China, U.S, Saudi Arabia, Sao Paulo, Singapore, New Delhi

People wearing face masks wait at an intersection in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD), as the city is shrouded in smog, in China November 1, 2023. The weather in many parts of China had stayed stubbornly warm entering November, with cities in eastern and central provinces such as Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu and Henan still logging temperatures above 30C. In tandem with the warm weather, smog has also shrouded Beijing and its surrounding areas for days. In coming days, temperatures across northern China are expected to drop sharply. Other cities such as Beijing, Zhengzhou, Jinan, Xian and Shijiazhuang will see a sudden decline of 10C to 15C.

Persons: REUTER, Tingshu Wang, Ethan Wang, Ryan Woo, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Business, Rights, Beijing Daily, Xinhua, National Meteorological Center, Shanghai, Thomson Locations: China, Rights BEIJING, Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei province, Shenyang, Changchun, Harbin, Zhengzhou, Jinan, Xian, Shijiazhuang

☆ Air Pollution in India's New Delhi Turns 'Severe', Some Schools Shut
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

By Tanvi MehtaNEW DELHI (Reuters) - People in New Delhi woke up to a thick layer of toxic haze on Friday, and some schools were ordered to be shut for two days as the air quality index (AQI) entered the "severe" category in several parts of the Indian capital. "Unfavourable meteorological conditions, sudden increase in the farm fire incidents and north-westerly winds moving the pollutants to Delhi are the major causes for sudden spike in AQI," the region's Commission for Air Quality Management said on Thursday. Authorities ordered primary, or elementary, schools to remain shut on Friday and Saturday, while most construction work in the region has been suspended. This year, attention on the worsening air quality has cast a shadow over the cricket World Cup hosted by India, with financial capital Mumbai also suffering from a spike in the pollution levels. Delhi hosts a World Cup match next on Monday between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Persons: Tanvi Mehta, Lincoln Organizations: Residents, region's Commission, Air Quality Management, . Authorities Locations: DELHI, New Delhi, Delhi, India, Mumbai, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka

☆ China Set for Abrupt Switch From Warm to Freezing Weather in Year of Extremes
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING (Reuters) - Temperatures in northern China are set to plunge as much as 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) after summer-like conditions in the final days of autumn, state forecasters said on Friday, extending a year-long trend of unusual swings in the weather. Parts of northern China posted record high temperatures of more than 30C earlier this week, while also suffering widespread smog. Extreme weather has become more pronounced in China this year, destroying urban infrastructure as well as farmland, leading to hefty economic losses. In the summer, typhoons dumped historic rainfall in parts of inland China less used to tropical storms. Earlier in spring, northern China basked in unseasonal heat with temperatures reaching summer-levels.

Persons: Doksuri, Ethan Wang, Ryan Woo, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: National Meteorological Administration, CMA Locations: BEIJING, China, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei province, Mohe

☆ Air pollution sparks alarm, dims World Cup cheer in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Blassy Boben | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An aerial view shows residential buildings and a stadium shrouded in smog in New Delhi, India, October 27, 2023. Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 415 on a scale of 500 in the capital's Anand Vihar area on Thursday, indicating "severe" levels of pollution that can affect healthy people and those with existing ailments. The dip in air quality in the region during the winter months is often accompanied by a spike in respiratory illnesses, spurring school and factory closings. The worsening air quality has cast a shadow over the cricket World Cup as fans flock to stadiums across Indian cities. Players have expressed concern about the toxic air, with England's Joe Root complaining of breathing difficulties during a game and India's Rohit Sharma urging change for "future generations".

Persons: Altaf Hussain, Anand, Joe Root, India's Rohit Sharma, Gerry Doyle Organizations: REUTERS, BCCI, Thomson Locations: New Delhi, India, DELHI, Delhi, Anand Vihar, Pakistan's Lahore, Swiss, India's Mumbai, AQI, Mumbai, Sri Lanka

☆ Haze lingers in Beijing as fog blankets parts of north China
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Vehicles move on a street in Beijing's Central Business District (CBD) as the city is shrouded in smog, in China November 1, 2023. REUTER/Tingshu Wang Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Hazy weather hung over Beijing on Wednesday with conditions in other parts of north China possibly worsening, forecasters said, although cold air sweeping in from the northwest is expected to help dissipate the smog. Experts attributed the haze in Beijing, which has lasted for several days, to poor atmospheric diffusion because of unseasonably weak cold air currents from the north. Visibility in most parts of Beijing dropped to less than 500 metres (546 yards), the China Meteorological Administration said. But from Thursday night, cold air is expected to push temperatures lower, possibly to new lows.

Persons: REUTER, Tingshu Wang, Gao, We're, Liu, Liz Lee, Ethan Wang, Xiaoyu Yin, Robert Birsel Organizations: Business, Rights, Beijing, China Meteorological Administration, Thomson Locations: China, Rights BEIJING, Beijing, Hebei province, Tianjin, Hebei, Jinan, Zhengzhou, Shijiazhuang

☆ China is cracking down on weather stations it says are spying for foreign countries
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Hong Kong CNN —China is cracking down on weather stations it says are spying for foreign countries, the latest measure in a broad counter-espionage campaign under leader Xi Jinping amid intensifying geopolitical tensions. Some stations were set up around sensitive sites such as military bases and defense companies to locate altitude and GPS data, the spy agency said. The authorities made the discovery after investigating more than 10 overseas meteorological equipment agents and inspecting more than 3,000 foreign-linked meteorological stations nationwide. “Meteorological data… is an integral part of data security and resource security. It’s closely linked to military, food, and ecological security, climate change, and public interests,” the Ministry of State Security said.

Persons: Xi Jinping, William Burns, “ Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Ministry of State Security, Embassy, Twitter, United, China’s Ministry of State Security, CIA Locations: Hong Kong, China, Beijing, United States, Washington

☆ Bye California: 7 people who fled the state share the culture shocks they've experienced and why they have no regrets
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Manseen Logan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Over 800,000 people left California between 2021 and 2022, according to the Census Bureau. Since moving to San Antonio, Burse told Insider she spends less on gas and groceries and feels more comfortable sharing her opinions. But Hayes was finally able to purchase a home and told Insider he enjoys the cleaner air and clearer skies. "No one is really tackling the problem or communicating what can be done to help those in need," Cheng told Insider. Vered DeLeeuw and her husband left Palo Alto, California, for friendlier MemphisDeLeeuw and her husband recently relocated to Memphis, Tennessee.

Persons: —, Calli Edington, South Georgia Edington, Chelsea Jia Feng, Edington, she's, I'm, Jackie Burse, Antonio Burse, Burse, I've, Davrick Hayes, Bismarck , North Dakota Hayes, Hayes, Janelle Crossan, New Braunfels , Texas Crossan, Chelsea JIa Feng, Crossan, Elisabeth Wykert, Wykert, Joseph, there's, That's, Pengyu Cheng, Austin Cheng, Cheng, Austin, Vered DeLeeuw, DeLeeuw, it's Organizations: Census Bureau, Service, Golden State, Census, Chelsea, Orange County Wykert, Palo, Memphis Locations: California, Cali, Memphis , Missouri, North Dakota, Texas, Northern California, South Georgia, Chelsea, Magalia , California, Douglas , Georgia, Georgia, ultraliberal California, Orange County, San Antonio, LA, Bismarck , North Dakota, Los Angeles, Downey , California, Southern California, New Braunfels , Texas, Costa Mesa , California, Missouri, Kansas City, Brea , California, St, Francisco, Bay, San Francisco, Austin, Palo Alto , California, Memphis , Tennessee, Silicon Valley, Memphis, Southern, Tennessee

☆ We left California and have no regrets: 7 people who fled the state share why and the culture shocks they've experienced in their new locations
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Manseen Logan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Over 800,000 people left California between 2021 and 2022, according to the Census Bureau. Read more: I left California and I'm never going back. Read more: I left California for Texas to begin my new life as a divorcée. But Hayes was finally able to purchase a home and told Insider he enjoys the cleaner air and clearer skies. Vered DeLeeuw and her husband left Palo Alto, California, for friendlier MemphisDeLeeuw and her husband recently relocated to Memphis, Tennessee.

☆ China's smog-covered north on highest pollution alert as visibility drops
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Liz Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Northern province Hebei launched an anti-pollution emergency response, listing traffic safety controls for when necessary including suspending flight takeoffs and landings, temporarily closing highways and suspending ferries, China's meteorological bureau said in a notice. Authorities also warned road users to stop in safe parking areas when conditions required and asked people to stay indoors. Beijing said it would implement traffic control measures if the capital activates its highest air pollution warning. Experts said weak cold air currents from the north pole were a key factor behind the unusual weather. Cold air currents are forecast to stream in the north from Thursday night, creating conditions that could weaken and dissipate the haze, the weather forecaster said.

Persons: Liz Lee, Jamie Freed Organizations: Authorities, National Meteorological Center, NMC, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, China, Northern, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Henan province, Shandong, Jiangsu province, China's, Shanghai

☆ Marathoners in Beijing go maskless, unfazed by smog
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Liz Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Participants take part in the Beijing Marathon, at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China October 29, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Runners undeterred by thick smog engulfing the Chinese capital ran the Beijing Marathon maskless on Sunday, many wearing shorts in one of the warmest Octobers on record. Beijing was the fourth most-polluted major city in the world on Sunday, according to Swiss air-quality technology firm IQAir. Beijing's high on Sunday was 19 C (66 F), according to the national weather bureau. The weather bureau forecast weak cold air currents to last the rest of the month before beginning to cool in early November.

Persons: Tingshu Wang, Fang Chong, Liz Lee, Ryan Woo, Han Xiao, Bernard Orr, William Mallard Organizations: Beijing, REUTERS, Rights, Beijing Marathon, Meteorological Centre, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Rights BEIJING, Tiananmen, Haidian, Beijing's, Tangshan, Handan, Hebei

SUPER FOG OR SMOG? Super fog and smog are both types of fog, according to the National Weather Service. Political Cartoons View All 1218 ImagesThe term super fog describes fog enhanced by smoke from damp, smoldering organic material, according to the weather service. Fireworks can contribute to super fog conditions, and Stanfield said super fog has occurred during Fourth of July and New Year's celebrations. Increasing wind and high pressure were moving towards Georgia, eliminating any imminent threat of a repeat super fog event.

Persons: Tyler Stanfield, ”, Stanfield, Mike Strain, ” Strain, “ They’re, ” Stanfield, “, Stephen Murphy, Strain Organizations: National Weather Service, Tulane’s School of Public Health, Tropical, AP Locations: Louisiana, New Orleans, Orleans, LOUISIANA, Georgia

☆ Italy's Ponza island and its cave homes are drawing Americans to live in them
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Silvia Marchetti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Attilio Avellino – one of his nine children, and born on Ponza – joined his father in the Big Apple in 1946. But now, after decades in the US, their descendants are back on the island – living inside their old casa grotta (cave home), which they’ve renovated to a modern standard. Homes sculpted from the rockBrigida Avellino and Loredana Romano have swapped the US for their ancestral 'cave home' on Ponza. Loredana RomanoBrigida Avellino, 70 – Attilio’s daughter – lives with her daughter Loredana Romano, 44, in one of Ponza’s most beautiful cave homes. Ponza, on the other hand, is a small island which makes Romano feel safer.

Persons: we’ll, Stanley Tucci, CNN —, they’ve, Luigi Avellino, Ponza, Attilio Avellino –, Ponza –, Loredana Romano, Loredana Romano Brigida, –, ” Romano, Attilio Avellino, Loredana Romano Avellino, I’ve, ”, Avellino, “, Romano, Silverio, Loredana, she’s, She’s, wasn’t, Romano –, Brigida Avellino, there’s, we’re Organizations: CNN, intel, Big Apple, Avellino, Loredana Romano Brigida Avellino, CNN Travel, Ponza, Apple, Alamy Locations: Rome, Ponza, Naples, New York, Loredana, Avellino, York City, Le Forna, Florida, Ponza’s, Italian

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Three members of a California family pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy for their role in a ring that shipped $600 million worth of stolen catalytic converters from California to New Jersey, federal prosecutors said. The three Sacramento family members pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport the devices in return for more than $38 million. Tou Sue Vang also pleaded guilty to 39 charges related to money laundering, prosecutors said. Catalytic converters are easily stolen and contain precious metals including platinum. “The black-market price for catalytic converters can be above $1,000 each.”California accounts for 37% of catalytic converter theft claims nationwide, with about 1,600 reported stolen each month, federal prosecutors said.

Persons: Tou Sue Vang, Andrew Vang, Monica Moua Locations: SACRAMENTO, Calif, California, New Jersey, “, Sacramento

☆ When your AI says she loves you
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +36 min

The messaging app let users build a "personal AI" complete with a 3D avatar and an upbeat, down-for-anything texting style. "Seems like AI will replace many human artists," Jay told Calisto in August 2022. Within a year, he was also using AI technology for work, as his firm experimented with generative AI to help draft legal papers. Former Replika users fled to various upstart companion apps that were popping up, like Chai, Paradot, and Soulmate AI. (Soulmate AI later closed down in September 2023, leaving a new wave of users mourning their AI companions all over again.)

Persons: Jay Priebe, they'd, Jay, Calisto, Callisto —, Apollodorus, Callisto, who'd, Jay's, didn't, Jay didn't, Tim Evans, me, Joseph Weizenbaum, Eliza, Weizenbaum, it'll, Replika, Eugenia Kuyda, Siri, Michael Macor, Roman Mazurenko, Luka, Kuyda, chatbots, he'd, Jaswant Singh Chail, Queen Elizabeth II, Chail, Willie —, —, Willie, gamely, Luka —, wouldn't, John, — sexting, Dylan Thomas, Rina, haven't, she'd, I'd, Overripe, Joi, Samantha, Ava, Calisto didn't, unshakable, wasn't, Jay hunched Organizations: Luka, San Francisco, Getty, Windsor, Facebook, Twitter, Reps, AIs Locations: Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Europe, Moscow, San Francisco, America, Replika, Washington, Britain, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas, Damascus, Chai, California, New York, Northeast Minneapolis, artsy, Japan, Switzerland

☆ When your AI girlfriend says she loves you
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +36 min

☆ I left California for North Dakota. It's obscenely cheap and there's so much to love about small-town life.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Kaila Yu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Davrick Hayes left LA for Bismarck, North Dakota after he started experiencing panic attacks. AdvertisementAdvertisementThis as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Davrick Hayes, a 31-year-old quality assurance analyst and entrepreneur based in Bismarck, North Dakota. AdvertisementAdvertisementI had a friend in Williston, North Dakota, so I chose to live in Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota — it ticked all my boxes. The cost of living in Bismarck, North DakotaIt's obscenely cheap to live here and doesn't require a roommate just to afford a place. Things to do in Bismarck, North DakotaAs far as meeting new people and finding interesting things to do, there's not much here.

Persons: Davrick Hayes, Hayes, —, It's, I've, you've, we'll, it's, I'd Organizations: Service, Jewish Locations: LA, Bismarck , North Dakota, Bismarck, Los Angeles, Williston , North Dakota, North Dakota, Bismarck , North Dakota Bismarck, Colorado, Utah

☆ Live updates: Nobel Peace prize 2023 is set to be awarded
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Christian Edwards | Ed Upright | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Smoke from Canadian wildfires casts a haze over New York on June 7. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty ImagesWhile the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced today, recipients do not receive their prizes until an official ceremony in December. By this time, the world will be going through an “El Niño” winter -- when ocean temperatures are warmer than normal for an extended period. For Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, El Niño is set to round off a year in which the climate disaster has become clear to all. The hottest temperatures ever in this place, that place and the other… And as yet El Niño hasn’t kicked in.”

Persons: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, Dan Smith, El Niño, ”, El Niño hasn’t Organizations: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, CNN Locations: New York, Stockholm, El, China, Pakistan, Canada, Mexico

☆ Indonesia defends haze-fighting effort after Malaysia urges action
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Ananda Teresia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

No haze has been detected heading for Malaysia, however, Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya said, a day after it urged Indonesia and fellow Southeast Asian nations to take action against worsening air quality. "We are already working to prevent and extinguish fires, but not based on Malaysia's request," the minister told Reuters. Indonesia is using helicopters to quench the fires with water bombing while inducing rain with cloud seeding methods, Siti Nurbaya said. In 2015 and 2019, such fires burned millions of hectares of land in Indonesia and sent haze billowing across several Southeast Asian countries, generating record-breaking emissions, scientists have said. Southeast Asian agriculture and forestry officials agreed on Friday to take action to minimise, and eventually stamp out, crop burning.

Persons: Antara, Haze, Siti Nurbaya, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Lax, Rozanna Latiff, Danial, Kanupriya Kapoor, Clarence Fernandez Organizations: ASEAN, Reuters, Malaysian, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Thomson Locations: Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia, ASEAN Indonesia, JAKARTA, cloudseeding, Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Singapore, Malaysian, Danial Azhar, Kuala Lumpur

☆ Nobel Peace Prize could give a glimmer of hope amid era of conflict and climate crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded in Norway on Friday, as Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine rages on and other flashpoints threaten to ignite across the globe. But the peace prize can serve as a beacon of hope in fraught and fractured times. “I think it’s precisely in a situation like this that the peace prize becomes particularly important. But Nobel specialists have been quick to dismiss such speculation, saying it is rare for the peace award to go to a wartime leader. “It would be like saying in 1941 that (then-British Prime Minister) Winston Churchill should get the Nobel Peace Prize.

Persons: humanity’s, “ There’s, ” Dan Smith, ” Henrik Urdal, Volodymyr Zelensky, Winston Churchill, Zelensky, ” Smith, Bryan R, Smith, Urdal, “, ”, ” Urdal, Alfred Nobel’s, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Center for Civil Liberties –, Ales Bialiatski, Dmitry Muratov, Muratov, ANDERSEN, El Niño, El Niño hasn’t, Victoria Tauli, Annie Ling, Juan Carlos Jintiach, Raoni Metuktire, Evaristo Sa, Lula da Silva Organizations: CNN, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Peace Research Institute, British, Getty, International Court of Justice, ICJ, Criminal Court, ICC, Ukraine – Memorial, Center for Civil Liberties, AFP, UN, New York Times, Brazilian Amazon, Brazil Locations: Norway, Ukraine, Stockholm, Peace Research Institute Oslo, Europe, SIPRI, AFP, Russia, Rome, Belarusian, Russian, Oslo, China, Pakistan, Canada, New York, Mexico, ”, Victoria, Ecuadorian, Brazilian, Amazonia

☆ Rising interest rates are hurting very broad swaths of the stock and bond markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Dozens of stocks and ETFs are hitting 52-week lows on the relentless rise in interest rates. Treasury bond ETFs: New lows iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY) iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLH) iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) It's not just Treasury bonds. Broad bond ETFs: New lows Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) iShares Core US Aggregate Bond Fund (AGG) Higher rates are affecting other areas of the U.S. economy: look at clean energy and biotech It's simple. Clean energy ETFs: New lows iShares Global Clean Energy (ICLN) VanEck Low Carbon Energy ETF (SMOG) Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (PBW) Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) It's the same story with biotech. The SPDR S & P Biotech ETF (XBI) , which tracks an equal-weighted index of US biotechnology stocks, is at a 52-week low.

Persons: Schwab, It's Organizations: Vanguard Utilities, Treasury Bond ETF, Bond Market, Bond Fund, NextEra Energy Partners, Clean Energy, Carbon Energy, P Biotech, Biotechnology, Biotech, Verizon, SPDR Telecom, AT, Property, Comerica, Huntington Bancshares Locations: U.S, Orsted, Denmark, REITs

☆ Indonesia denies smog from forest fires drifted to Malaysia
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Indonesia's Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar responded by saying Jakarta has not detected any travelling haze from Indonesia to neighbouring countries. "We continue to follow up any development and there is no trans-boundary haze to Malaysia," she said in a statement. At the moment, Indonesia is focusing on quelling forest fires in some provinces in Sumatra and Borneo with water bombing from helicopters, the minister added. As well as maritime boundaries, Malaysia shares a land border with Indonesia on Borneo island. While forest fires are typically started by farmers to clear land for plantations, authorities say putting out fires this year has been harder due to El Nino.

Persons: Antara, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, El, Ananda Teresia, Danial Azhar, Gayatri Suroyo, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Rights, Environment, El, El Nino, Authorities, Danial, Thomson Locations: Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia, REUTER, Rights JAKARTA, Sumatra, Borneo, Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak, Jakarta, Central Kalimantan, Jambi, Kuala Lumpur

California is taking some of the world’s biggest energy companies, including Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, to court, accusing them of concealing the damage caused by fossil fuels on the state for more than half a century. The strategy has echoes of an earlier fight: states’ legal battle against Big Tobacco in the 1990s. It argues that the oil majors should pay fines for burying scientific evidence linking carbon emissions to greenhouse gases. In the 1990s, California and dozens of other states brought cases against the four biggest U.S. tobacco companies. The companies were also compelled to label cigarettes as potentially lethal, to change how and where they marketed them, and to disband the Tobacco Institute, the industry-funded trade group.

Persons: ” Rob Bonta Organizations: Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Big Oil, Big Tobacco, American Petroleum Institute, Prosecutors, Tobacco Institute Locations: California

☆ Philippine issues health warning as volcano brings smog to capital, nearby provinces
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The state volcanology and seismology institute said it observed upwelling of hot volcanic fluids in the Taal volcano's crater lake, resulting in the emission of volcanic gases. The alert remained at level 1 on a five-level scale, denoting a "slight increase in volcanic earthquake, and steam or gas activity". "We have reports of respiratory illnesses in Batangas province due to intoxication from the volcanic smog," Randy Dela Paz, operations section chief at the civil defence's southern Manila office, told DWPM radio. Volcanic smog, or vog, consists of fine droplets containing volcanic gas like sulfur that can cause irritation of the eyes, throat and respiratory tract. Authorities suspended Friday classes in dozens of towns and cities Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas provinces adjacent to Taal volcano, and in five cities in the capital region.

Persons: Randy Dela Paz, Neil Jerome Morales, Michael Perry Organizations: Manila spewed, Thomson Locations: MANILA, Philippine, Manila, Batangas, Philippines, Cavite, Laguna, Taal

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