2024-01-06 20:41
NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Reuters) - New York City's historic, two-year snow drought may not come to an end this weekend, despite the arrival of a winter storm system that began passing through the most populous U.S. city and across the East Coast on Saturday. The city's 8.5 million residents have not seen more than 1 inch (2.54 cm) of snow fall in Manhattan's Central Park since Feb. 13, 2022, a record-long streak of 692 days. But as of 7 p.m. Saturday, only 0.2 inch had been recorded in Central Park, and the National Weather Service was forecasting only 0.8 inch of accumulation before the storm moves out to sea late on Sunday night. Marc Chenard, an NWS meteorologist, said on Saturday evening that the city's long streak of paltry snow looked set to continue. "It's already mixing into rain and it's going to continue to do that," he said. Last winter, just 2.3 inches (5.84 cm) of snow fell in New York City, the least in recorded history in a city where snowfall of more than a foot (30 cm) was, at least until recently, not uncommon. Experts say New York City's lack of snow is another sign of how climate change is affecting weather patterns around the world. The U.S. Southwest, for example, experienced a record stretch of extreme heat last summer. The weather service also warned of minor urban flooding and the possibility of roads being glazed with ice. Beyond the city, as much as 8 inches (20 cm) of snow was forecast in interior portions of New York state, New Jersey and northeast through New England along and just north of Interstate 95. Some areas could see as much as a foot of snow, the weather service said. The agency and state officials urged the 16 million people who were under a winter storm watch across the region to stay vigilant as snow from the storm could cover roads and topple trees and electrical lines, making travel treacherous and knocking out power. Boston, home to about 650,000 people, was expected to get as much as 7 inches (18 cm) as heavier snow moved in on Saturday evening. Mayor Michelle Wu cautioned residents to be careful over the weekend, but said the storm appeared unlikely to disrupt the start of the workweek. Winter weather was also on tap for parts of eastern California and the West Coast, where some communities across the region could get as much as a foot (30 cm) of snow and wind gusts of more than 40 mph (64 kph), causing whiteout conditions on roadways, the weather service warned. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/new-york-city-awaits-winter-storm-that-could-end-two-year-snow-drought-2024-01-06/
2024-01-06 17:46
CAIRO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Six small craft approached a merchant vessel about 50 nautical miles from the Yemeni city of Mocha on Saturday before leaving the area, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organization said. "The vessel and crew were reported safe," UKMTO added in an advisory note on the incident. Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel's war in Gaza. Various shipping lines have suspended operations, instead taking the longer journey around Africa. A drone launched from Yemen was shot down in self-defence by a U.S. ship in the southern Red Sea on Saturday in the vicinity of several commercial vessels, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. The Houthis have vowed to continue attacks until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza, and warned that it would attack U.S. warships if the militia group itself was targeted. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-has-report-6-craft-approaching-vessel-near-yemen-2024-01-06/
2024-01-06 17:22
WARSAW, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Polish farmers have decided to suspend a protest at the border crossing with Ukraine at Medyka after the government agreed to their demands, interia.pl website reported on Saturday citing the local province governor. Polish truck drivers have been blocking several crossings with Ukraine since Nov. 6, demanding that the European Union reinstate a system whereby Ukrainian companies obtain permits to operate in the bloc. They were later joined by farmers who demanded government subsidies for corn and no tax hikes, amid complaints about increased competition from Ukraine. The farmers, who were blocking the crossing at Medyka, suspended their protest for Christmas and resumed the blockade on Jan. 4. On Saturday, they agreed to suspend it again. The Minister of Agriculture agreed to implement all three of their demands regarding subsidies, increased loans for liquidity and maintaining the agricultural tax at the 2023 level, interia.pl said. "Upon signing the agreement, the protest at the border crossing in Medyka is suspended for the period necessary to implement legal ... changes and for the time necessary to implement additional changes," the agreement quoted by the website reads. However, truckers are continuing their protests at three other border crossings. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/polish-farmers-suspend-protest-key-ukraine-border-crossing-2024-01-06/
2024-01-06 16:23
Jan 6 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan on Saturday warned that the U.S. central bank may need to resume raising its short-term policy rate to keep a recent decline in long-term bond yields from rekindling inflation. "If we don’t maintain sufficiently tight financial conditions, there is a risk that inflation will pick back up and reverse the progress we’ve made," Logan said in remarks prepared for delivery at an American Economic Association conference in San Antonio, Texas. "In light of the easing in financial conditions in recent months, we shouldn’t take the possibility of another rate increase off the table just yet." The Fed raised its benchmark policy rate agressively in 2022 and the first part of 2023 to bring down what had been 40-year-high inflation, but since last July has kept it steady in the 5.25%-5.5% range. Policymakers last month signaled they had seen enough progress on inflation to likely be done with rate hikes and to turn to interest-rate cuts this year. Financial markets responded by betting big on steep rate reductions this year. Logan's view marks a pushback on those bets. With the effects of the Fed's past rate hikes mostly behind us, Logan said, the decline in the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note -- from around 5% in mid-October to around 4% now -- could set the stage for a pickup in demand that could undo progress on inflation. "Restrictive financial conditions have played an important role in bringing demand into line with supply and keeping inflation expectations well-anchored," she said, noting that inflation has come down closer to the Fed's 2% target and the labor market, while still tight, is rebalancing. "We can’t count on sustaining price stability if we don’t maintain sufficiently restrictive financial conditions." Her remarks are notable particularly because she was among the first of Fed policymakers, last October, to suggest that the rise in long-term bond yields was doing some of the Fed's work for it, and meant the Fed could leave the policy rate where it was. Logan also signaled she feels it is time to start thinking about slowing the process of shrinking the Fed's balance sheet. "I think it’s appropriate to consider the parameters that will guide a decision to slow the runoff of our assets," she said. "In my view, we should slow the pace of runoff" as overnight reverse repurchase agreement balances approach a low level. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds-logan-should-not-rule-out-another-rate-hike-2024-01-06/
2024-01-06 13:00
HELSINKI, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Finland's record low temperatures this week inspired a tourist on a trip to the Arctic to try a trick that had long intrigued him: throwing boiling water in the air when it's extremely cold outside and seeing it turn into an instant cloud of icy dust. This is not something to try unless the temperatures are at a level of cold that most places on earth rarely, or never, see. Lauri Untamo, a 49-year-old sales manager from southern Finland, was on holiday in Finnish Lapland with friends when the temperature fell to minus 30 degrees Celsius (-22°F) on New Year's Day. "I had seen videos of the trick on social media or YouTube that it was possible to perform but had never had a suitable frost to give it a try at minus 30 degrees or more," Untamo told Reuters. He said he boiled water in his cabin, quickly brought it outside and threw it in an arc over his head - surviving the attempt without burns as the water immediately turned into an icy cloud that drifted away. The Nordic countries have seen extremely cold weather for the past few days, with the lowest temperature in 25 years at minus 44.3 C (-47.74°F) recorded on Friday in Enontekio, further north in the Arctic from Pyhatunturi where Untamo was staying. Despite the icy weather, Untamo and his group of friends have been enjoying outdoor activities such as Nordic skiing and walking in the snow-clad forests. "We even saw the Northern Lights on a few nights so Lapland has really given its best to us this week," he said. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/finlands-extreme-cold-freezes-even-boiling-water-thrown-air-2024-01-05/
2024-01-06 10:40
WAJIMA, Japan, Jan 6 (Reuters) - The confirmed death toll from the New Year's Day earthquake in Japan reached 110 on Saturday as a search for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings entered a sixth day. The magnitude 7.6 quake struck the west coast, destroying infrastructure and snapping power links to 22,000 homes in the Hokuriku region. Rain hampered efforts to sift the rubble for survivors as more than 30,000 evacuees awaited aid. The number of confirmed dead was 110 by 4 p.m. (0700 GMT) on Saturday, up from 94 the previous day, the Ishikawa government website showed. More than 200 people are still missing after the deadliest quake in nearly eight years. "I am keenly aware of the extent of the damage caused," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said as the toll crossed 100. The figure is the highest since a toll of 276 in quakes in 2016 in the southwestern region of Kumamoto, a tally that includes related deaths. Kishida told government officials to speed up emergency efforts to restore trunk roads ripped up by the quake so that rescue and relief activities can be increased. Japan's Self-Defence Forces is set to reinforce the number of rescue staff by 400 to 5,400, with road disruptions among the obstacles hindering delivery of relief supplies. Mudslides, boulders and road cracks left dozens of remote communities in Ishikawa prefecture isolated. In Wajima's Fukamimachi district, helicopters from the Self-Defence Forces airlifted at least 14 residents to safety, according to a Reuters witness. Freelance cameraman Masao Mochizuki, 73, stood in a long queue outside a supermarket in the regional city of Wajima after it re-opened on Thursday, waiting to buy necessities. "It is such a help that they have managed to re-open," Mochizuki told Reuters after buying a box of heat patches, blue plastic sheets to cover broken windows and a pair of shoes to protect against glass shards that litter the floors of his home. "But I don't see the road to reconstruction just yet," Mochizuki added, his voice cracking with emotion. SLEEPING IN CARS While the displaced have packed Wajima's evacuation centres for food, water and other basics, some residents are opting to sleep in their cars. The Jan. 1 quakes destroyed the wooden home of Yutaka Obayashi, 75, and wife Akiko, 73. But after a night spent in a makeshift evacuation spot in a community centre, they decided to go home and sleep in their tiny passenger vehicle. "People's eyes make me very nervous," Obayashi told Reuters, as his wife took a rest in a reclined seat in their car. "I just don't like living with many people around me." Weather officials warned of the chance of heavy snowfall in the region from late Sunday through early Monday, which could trigger secondary disasters, such as landslides. Seismic rumbles continue, with an earthquake of intensity 5 on Japan's seismic scale in the town of Anamizu early on Saturday. Ayuko Noto, a priest at Wajima's Juzo shrine, whose history dates back 1,300 years, has also chosen to sleep in his car along with family members, even though their house withstood the quakes. That way they hope to protect themselves from further major quakes and possible tsunami waves. "Aftershocks are still continuing," said Noto, 47. "We are choosing our car over our house so we can flee right away in case another major one strikes." Asked how long they would continue doing that, she replied: "I just don't have an answer to that." https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-earthquake-death-toll-tops-100-with-hundreds-still-missing-media-2024-01-06/
