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☆ Storm Beatriz approaches Mexican Pacific resorts, hurricane expected
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, June 29 (Reuters) - Storm Beatriz formed off Mexico's Pacific coast on Thursday and will likely strengthen into a hurricane by Friday, prompting the government to issue warnings for popular beach resorts as it heads near shore, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The storm is expected to "move very near or along the coast of southwestern Mexico" and is moving west-northwest near 12 mph (19 km/h),the U.S.-based NHC said late Thursday. "Beatriz is likely to become a hurricane on Friday," the NHC said. A tropical storm warning is also in effect from Punta Maldonado in the southwestern state of Guerrero, home to tourist hotspot Acapulco, to Zihuatanejo, another popular beach town in the state. Swells were also forecast along Mexico's southwestern coast, likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

Persons: Storm Beatriz, Beatriz, Cassandra Garrison, Isabel Woodford, Mark Porter, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: MEXICO CITY, National Hurricane Center, NHC, Punta Maldonado, Thomson Locations: MEXICO, Mexico, U.S, Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, Punta, Guerrero, Acapulco, Oaxaca

☆ In Sherry Country, Wines of the Future That Look to the Past
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Eric Asimov | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the best of examples, it can look to the future as well. But in the last decade or so, a small group of winemakers have focused intently on the region’s past. In short: They are producing some of the most exciting wines in the world. But the industry has been declining since the 1980s as consumers in Britain, the biggest market for inexpensive sherry, began to lose interest in those mediocre sweet wines. Many producers went out of business and the land planted to vines dwindled from roughly 70,000 acres to around 15,000.

Persons: Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Sherry Organizations: Jerez de la Frontera Locations: Spain, Jerez de, Sanlúcar, El Puerto, Santa, Britain

☆ These endangered leopards could be about to disappear in Cambodia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —The Indochinese leopard is dangerously close to becoming extinct in Cambodia, according to wild cat conservationists, who spent more than a decade looking for the creatures and found just 35. During that period, they only spotted 35 adult Indochinese leopards, and when they returned in 2021, not a single leopard could be seen. Historically, the Indochinese leopard was found throughout Indochina – spanning Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and parts of southwestern China – but almost all the territory they once roamed has disappeared due to human encroachment. Only 35 adult Indochinese leopards were seen between 2009 to 2021 in Cambodia, conservationist group Panthera found. While leopards are vanishing from Cambodia, their numbers in the wild along the Thailand-Myanmar border are likely less than 900, Rostro-García added.

Persons: Oxford University’s WildCRU, Hun Sen, ”, Susana Rostro, Gareth Mann Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Oxford, Biological Conservation, WWF, FA Cambodia, Global Forest Watch, IUCN Locations: Hong Kong, Cambodia, Indochina, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, China, WWF Cambodia, Malaysia

☆ Ron DeSantis signed a bill that banned direct-to-consumer car sales in Florida — but left an exception for Tesla
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning direct-to-consumer car sales. But the bill leaves a notable exception for electric car companies like Tesla. DeSantis has a cozy relationship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk who hosted DeSantis' presidential campaign launch on Twitter. Ron DeSantis signed a bill this week that keeps automakers using dealerships — with one notable exception for Elon Musk's Tesla. But there's a carve-out in the legislation for electric car companies like Musk's Tesla to continue selling directly to their customers without having to use a dealership.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Elon Musk, —, Elon Musk's Tesla, Tesla, Disney, Hurricane Ian, Musk, Donald Trump —, Joe Biden Organizations: Florida Gov, Tesla, Twitter, Service, Gov, Elon, Musk's SpaceX, Hurricane Locations: Florida

☆ Three die, farmland and trees damaged as storms sweep across China
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, June 11 (Reuters) - Three people died in eastern China after strong winds toppled a shipyard crane, authorities said on Sunday, as storms caused damage across the country, including large swaths of farmland. In Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province in eastern China, large trees were felled on Saturday, crushing vehicles and blocking roads, local media reported. The measures include 275 million yuan for prizes to family farms and cooperatives to encourage high yield, CCTV reported. On Friday, heavy rain hit parts of southwest China, including Guangxi, engulfing roads and partially submerging buildings. ($1 = 7.1273 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Martin Quin Pollard; William MallardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Hailstorms, Ellen Zhang, Martin Quin Pollard, William Mallard Organizations: Twitter, CCTV, Liaoning Meteorological Service Centre, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, China, Wuhu, Nanjing, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Wafangdian, Henan, Guangxi, rainstorms, Guangdong, Hainan, Hubei, Guangzhou

☆ Heavy 'dragon boat water' rains hit southwest China, some cities flooded
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, June 9 (Reuters) - Non-stop heavy rains lashed parts of southwest China on Friday, triggering floods in cities, engulfing roads and partially submerging buildings. A particularly harsh first bout of summer rains known locally as "dragon boat water" saw the city of Beihai in Guangxi log 453 millimetres on Thursday. Rain is forecast to continue in southern China over the coming days while the northeast is also expected to be hit by sudden thunderstorms, the weather bureau reported. China, prone to floods, is increasingly warning of more extreme weather due to climate change. The central province of Henan, the granary of China, was recently struck by heavy rainfall that caused crops to sprout or be hit by blight, triggering concerns about food security.

Persons: Ella Cao, Ryan Woo, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: China Meteorological Administration, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, China, Beihai, Guangxi, Yulin, Henan

☆ Behind a Rare Clash, a Fight Over Faith in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Walking through Nagu, a small town in the mountains of southwestern China, the signs of a vibrant Muslim community are ubiquitous. Loudspeakers broadcast passages from a Chinese translation of the Quran. Towering over it all is the Najiaying Mosque, a white building topped with an emerald dome and four minarets that reach 230 feet into the air. For decades, the mosque has been the pride of the Muslim Hui ethnic minority that lives here. As the officers blocked the mosque and used pepper spray, residents threw water bottles and bricks.

Organizations: Hui, Communist Locations: Nagu, China

☆ 'Relentless' heatwaves scorch southern China, test power grids
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Ryan Woo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Workers of grid operator China Southern Power Grid inspect power cables connecting transmission towers in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer/File PhotoBEIJING, June 2 (Reuters) - Having sweltered through May, southern and eastern China face more weeks of unrelenting heatwaves, putting power grids under strain as demand for air-conditioning soars in mega-cities like Shanghai. Like many parts of Asia, China has been besieged by extreme hot weather in recent weeks ahead of summer proper in the northern hemisphere. But how they are occurring - it's just been week on week on week of these records being shattered. Powerful convection weather has also wreaked havoc in central China in recent weeks, with protracted downpours and even hail devastating the country's ongoing wheat harvest.

Persons: Stringer, I'm, Sarah Perkins, Kirkpatrick, Gao Rong, Ryan Woo, Qiaoyi Li, David Stanway, Michael Perry, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: China Southern Power Grid, REUTERS, University of New, National Climate Centre, Thomson Locations: Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, BEIJING, Shanghai, Asia, Provinces, University of New South Wales, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Henan, Beijing, Singapore

In the next three days, most of southern China is expected to suffer temperatures of more than 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), with temperatures in some areas exceeding 40C, national forecasters said on Friday. Extreme hot weather beset China, like many part of Asia in recent weeks, even before summer arrived. But how they are occurring - it's just been week on week on week of these records being shattered," said Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a climate scientist with the University of New South Wales. ELECTRICITY DEMANDDemand for electricity in southern manufacturing hubs, including Guangdong, has surged in recent days, with China Southern Power Grid, one of the country's two grid operators, seeing peak power load exceeding 200 million kilowatts - weeks earlier than normal and close to historical highs. Powerful convection weather has also wreaked havoc in central China in recent weeks, with protracted downpours and even hail devastating the country's ongoing wheat harvest.

Persons: David Kirton, we've, Zhao, Yang, haven't, heatstroke, I'm, Sarah Perkins, Kirkpatrick, Mei, Gao Rong, Ryan Woo, Qiaoyi Li, David Stanway, Michael Perry, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: heatwave, REUTERS, Reuters, University of New, China Southern Power Grid, National Climate Centre, Thomson Locations: Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, BEIJING, Shanghai, Asia, University of New South Wales, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Henan, Beijing, Singapore

☆ India monsoon advances after stalling for 11 days
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MUMBAI, May 30 (Reuters) - India's monsoon rains advanced into some more parts of southwest Bay of Bengal after stalling for the past 11 days at a far-flung island, weather department said on Tuesday. The monsoon, the lifeblood of the country's $3 trillion economy, delivers nearly 70% of the rain that India needs to water farms and recharge reservoirs and aquifers. Monsoon rains arrived over the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands on May 19, but then didn't make any progress until May 30, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. This year, the onset of the monsoon over Kerala is likely to be slightly delayed. The onset of monsoon rains over the southern Indian state is likely to be on June 4, with a model error of plus/minus 4 days.

HONG KONG, May 10 (Reuters) - China will appoint Li Yunze as the head of a new financial regulator as part of a broader restructuring of its financial regulatory regime, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. Li, 52, a banking veteran and currently vice governor of southwestern Sichuan province, will take the helm of the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), the sources told Reuters. The NFRA is a new government body under the State Council tasked to supervise the multi-trillion dollar financial industry, excluding the securities sector. Li has a relatively low-profile in the sector compared to previous financial regulatory heads. In 2018, he was appointed as vice governor of Sichuan province.

☆ Hurricanes of Data: The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Porter Fox | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +35 min

The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea Shortly after dawn on Sept. 30, 2021, Richard Jenkins watched a Category 4 hurricane overrun his life’s work. That August, a sister ship, SD 1031, successfully entered Tropical Storm Henri, but only in its early stages. Hurricane research, modeling and forecasting requires many terabytes of data for every square mile the storm passes through, including vitally important sea-level data from inside a storm. The next day, the depression was upgraded to a tropical storm and officially given the name Sam. And four months later, Tropical Storm Megi killed more than 150, wiped out several villages with landslides and displaced more than a million people.

☆ New White House proposal could compensate passengers for airline delays
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailNew White House proposal could compensate passengers for airline delaysCNBC's Phil LeBeau reports on the White House's proposal to have airlines offer passenger compensation for lengthy delays and cancellations, the criteria for compensation, and the $1 billion dollar cost of Southwest's December meltdown.

☆ China may have to bail out one of its poorest provinces
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Hong Kong CNN —One of China’s poorest and most indebted provinces has admitted defeat in trying to sort out its finances and is appealing to Beijing for help to avert default. Guizhou, located in a mountainous region of southwest China, has hired a top state-owned distressed debt fund, China Cinda Asset Management, to resolve its “urgent” problems. China’s local governments are struggling with trillions of dollars of debt, after three years of strict pandemic controls and a real estate crash drained their coffers. The Pingtang Bridge links two cities in southwest China's Guizhou province. In China, most local government liabilities are composed of “hidden debt” issued by their financing arms.

The Dallas-based carrier has blamed the hour-long outage on a vendor-supplied network firewall failure, causing a temporary loss of connection to key systems. Southwest told Reuters on Wednesday it opted to halt flights out of caution, adding there were no indications of a cyber attack. It declined to identify the vendor and did not address why this failure was not part of the company's planning. While the exact cause is not clear, some industry experts questioned why Southwest systems did not include more redundancy. Southwest was able to manually launch flights while SWIFT was down but decided to suspend departures at 8:27 a.m. CST.

REUTERS/Jim VondruskaApril 18 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co's (LUV.N) said a technology failure caused a one-hour nationwide stoppage of its flights on Tuesday, another snafu for the carrier after a software problem over the Christmas holiday stranded thousands. The Dallas-based carrier's flights resumed after a vendor-supplied computer network firewall went down Tuesday morning and connection to some operational data was "unexpectedly" lost. Data from flight tracker FlightAware showed 47% of Southwest's flights were delayed as of late afternoon on Tuesday. "This is another demonstration that Southwest Airlines needs to upgrade their systems and stop the negative impacts to individual travelers,” said Senator Maria Cantwell in a statement. The FAA had to halt flights nationwide in January due to a systems outage.

CNN —Hundreds of Southwest Airlines flights were delayed after technical issues that prompted the airline to temporarily halt its operations on Tuesday morning. The Federal Aviation Administration initiated the ground stop at the airline’s request, citing “equipment issues.” The ground stop was soon lifted, and in a tweet at 11:35 a.m. Southwest had delayed 1,820 flights or 43% of its schedule as of just after noon Tuesday, according to FlightAware. Southwest called the latest problem “intermittent technology issues” in a social media post to customers. Several took to social media to complain about delayed flights.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Southwest Airlines, Goldman Sachs, Bellus Health and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

PowerSchool Holdings – The educational technology stock added 3.5% after Goldman Sachs upgraded shares to buy from neutral. Bank of America – The bank stock was about flat even after the firm reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that topped expectations. Goldman Sachs – Shares slid 1.3% after Goldman Sachs reported first-quarter revenue of $12.22 billion, lower than the $12.79 billion forecasted by analysts polled by Refinitiv. The company reported adjusted earnings of $2.68 per share and revenue of $24.75 billion. Bellus Health, GSK – Bellus shares roughly doubled after GSK said it would acquire Canada-based biopharmaceutical company Bellus.

☆ Southwest Airlines briefly pauses departures after reporting technical problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Passengers check in for Southwest Airlines flights at Chicago Midway International Airport on April 18, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Southwest Airlines briefly paused its departures on Tuesday after reporting technical problems, delaying flights around the country. The Federal Aviation Administration said the ground stop had been lifted, but many flights were still delayed. "Early this morning, a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost," Southwest said in a statement. Airlines or the FAA will occasionally pause departures, particularly at certain airports, to avoid bottlenecks for parking on the ground.

☆ Southwest Airlines’ CEO got 75% pay hike ahead of service meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Bob Jordan, who took over as CEO of Southwest Airlines in February 2022, just 10 months before the airline’s epic holiday travel service meltdown, got a 75% pay hike last year. When he took over as CEO, Jordan was moving up from an executive vice president position, and the pay hike was part of his promotion. His predecessor as CEO, Gary Kelly, received $5.1 million in 2022, serving as CEO in January and executive chairman the rest of the year. That’s down from the $5.8 million Kelly received in 2021 and $9.8 million he received in 2020. Jordan is not the only new CEO getting a big raise with his promotion ahead of a costly problem for their company.

☆ Europe drought: This once-thriving lake has all but dried up -- a story repeated across Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

While in the United States, the snow and rain that have pummeled California have helped fill reservoirs and ease unrelenting drought, winter has been far from kind to many parts of Europe. A buoy is seen on the banks of the partially dry Lake Montbel as France faces a record winter dry spell. “Lake Montbel remains at an abnormally low level,” Franck Solacroup, the regional director of the Adour-Garonne Water Agency, which covers the area that includes Lake Montbel, told CNN. Farmers like Rouquet, who rely on the lake, are having to make tough decisions on what to grow. “This is the most extreme winter in terms of low snow cover,” she told CNN.

☆ Five migrants die as boat sinks in the Aegean, Turkish coastguard says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Turkey's coastguard said it had arrived at the scene after learning that a boat was taking in water at 6:20 a.m. (0320 GMT). It rescued 11 people, including a child, and brought them to Didim port to hand them off to health personnel. The Greek coastguard said it was informed by Turkey about those rescued from a "half-sunken dinghy" in Turkish waters. Those rescued said there were a total of 31 people on the boat, the Greek coastguard added. Both the Turkish and Greek coastguards said search and rescue operations were continuing.

☆ The Southwest personal credit cards are offering a rare welcome bonus that includes a Companion Pass, but it's your last chance to apply
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Joseph Hostetler | Credit Cards Reporter | Read More | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

This is a great deal, but the promotional Companion Pass isn't quite as valuable as a standard Companion Pass. But through March 13, 2023, three of Southwest's best credit cards (the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, and Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card) come with a welcome bonus that includes a promotional Companion Pass. Compare Southwest credit cards Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit CardSouthwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit CardSouthwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. The Southwest Companion Pass allows you to change your designated companion up to three times per calendar year. You can achieve the Southwest Companion Pass after earning 135,000 Southwest points in a calendar year.

☆ Chase's popular points-maximizing Pay Yourself Back feature is now available on Southwest credit cards, but most flyers will want to avoid it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Jasmin Baron | Read More | Read Less | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Cardholders can use Southwest points for statement credits to offset eligible purchases, but the redemption rates are mediocre at best. Earn 2X points on Southwest® purchases. SouthwestInsider's points and miles valuations peg Southwest points value at 1.4 cents each, on average. So you'll almost always get a better deal when you redeem Southwest points for award flights. However, if you're swimming in Southwest points and don't have travel plans, the new Pay Yourself Back option could save you a bit of money.

☆ Biotech Founder Vivek Ramaswamy Enters GOP Presidential Race
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( John Mccormick | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Vivek Ramaswamy says the nation faces an identity crisis over what it stands for and where it needs to go. Vivek Ramaswamy , a multimillionaire biotech company founder and investor, said Tuesday that he is entering the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race. The native of southwestern Ohio has criticized what he calls woke capitalism, including investment based on environmental, social and corporate-governance principles. Under ESG, individuals seek to invest in ways consistent with their own values and to benefit from growth in sectors such as renewable energy.

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