Home Blog Page 30

PGA Championship Round 4 Live: Who Will Break Out of Leaderboard Logjam?

0

It’s been a while since a major championship produced a truly dramatic finish. It’s going to take something special for anyone to run away with the 2024 PGA Championship.

Starting Sunday, 15 players will be within five shots of the lead. Colin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele, -15, a shot clear of Sahith Theegala, stood tough on Saturday despite a rough start. Behind them, the traffic.

This makes for a wild final round.

If you are looking for how to watch, click here.

If you are looking for a leaderboard, Click here.

If you are looking for tee times, click here.

And if you’re looking for on-course updates… we’ve got you covered right here…

long live6 updates

  • What score does it take to win?

    With Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa at 15 under, what score is it going to take to win today? David Duvall said on the CBS broadcast that the under-19s are winning. Of all the red numbers on the board to date, the guess here is even lower — under 20.

    That would be 66 from the leaders, plus 63, which includes all 12-year-olds or better:

    Shovel (-15)
    Morikawa (-15)
    Dikala (-14)
    Lori (-13)
    DeChambeau (-13)
    Hovland (-13)
    Rose (-12)
    MacIntyre (-12)

  • Scotty Scheffler is a man

    One day after his first over-par round since last August, Scotty Scheffler started the 4th round home-hum. A bogey first, followed by a missed six-footer for birdie leaves him at 6-under. Who could blame him for coming back down to earth after Friday’s incident, right?

  • We already have 64

    England’s Jordan Smith got out early and showed there were still scores in Valhalla. Behind six birdies, an eagle and a bogey, Smith carded 7-under 6

  • Golf can be brutal

    Brooks Koepka threw a javelin for seventh place … and this happened:

    A chance knock for birdie turned into par. Koepka is 3-under for the round, but at 7-under for the tournament, never again.

  • Driveable on 13th

    Here’s something to watch out for later in the day: The 349-yard par-4 13th is obviously drivable:

    He finishes that short putt for eagle.

    It gets interesting later when the leaders go in there with someone who needs to make a move.

  • The final round is underway

    The final round of the 2024 PGA Championship is underway, and yes, there are scores to be had today. There are already red figures on the leaderboard, including Brooks Koepka, who is 2-under for his round through four holes. If this is any indication, it will be a shootout to win for those on the leaderboard.

NASA’s flyby of Europa suggests stirring “something” beneath the ice

0

Markings on Europa’s surface suggest that the icy crust is at the mercy of the waters below. More importantly, Juno’s recent arrival reveals what plume activity is, which if real would allow future missions to sample the inner ocean without the need to land.

It’s been nearly two years since Juno made its closest approach to Europa, but its observations are still being analyzed. Notably, despite having only orbited Jupiter since 2016, the five images taken by Juno on September 29, 2022 are the first close-up images of Europa since the last visit by the Galileo spacecraft in 2000.

This represents a shocking omission from one of the Solar System’s most enigmatic worlds, but it could have provided a long baseline to see what has changed.

Europa is the softest object in the Solar System, thanks to constant resorption driven by its internal ocean. Nevertheless, it is featureless, and Juno found a few steep-walled craters 20 to 50 kilometers (12 to 31 miles) wide and indicating fracture patterns.True Polar Oscillation”.

“A true polar wave occurs when Europa’s icy shell detaches from its rocky interior, resulting in high stress levels on the shell, leading to predictable fracture patterns,” said Dr Candy Hansen of the Planetary Science Institute. Report.

The idea behind the true polar oscillation is that the shell over Europa’s inner ocean rotates at a different rate than the rest of the moon. It is thought that currents within the ocean affect the movement of the shell, as the water below moves, dragging the shell with it. The currents are driven by heating within Europa’s rocky core as the gravitational pull of Jupiter and its larger moons turns Europa into a giant pressure ball.

In this process, interactions between the ocean and the ice can stretch and contract regions, creating cracks and ridges seen since Voyager 2 visited.

Hansen is part of a team examining Juno’s images of Europa’s southern hemisphere. “This is the first time these fracture patterns have been mapped in the Southern Hemisphere, suggesting that the effect of true polar oscillations on Europa’s surface geology is more extensive than previously identified,” the scientist said.

Not all changes in Europa’s maps are the result of internal ocean currents. Even NASA seems to fall for optical illusions. “The Crater Quern is no more,” Hansen said. “Once thought to be a 13-mile-wide impact crater — one of Europa’s few documented impact craters — the Quern is revealed in Junocom data as a set of intersecting ridges that form an oval shadow.”

However, Juno gives more than it takes. The team is excited by calling the platypus for its shape, rather than its features that shouldn’t go together. Ridge formations on its edge appear to be collapsing into it, and the team thinks the process may be caused by pockets of salt water that have partially infiltrated the ice shell.

A feature named by planetary scientists who have never seen a real platypus outlined in yellow, with the area of ​​the crest in blue.

The feature is named by planetary scientists who have never seen a real platypus, outlined in yellow with the ridge area in blue.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI

Such pockets would be exciting indirect targets for the Europa Clipper probe, but even more interesting are the dark smudges deposited by cryovolcanic activity.

“These features indicate present-day surface activity and the presence of subsurface liquid water on Europa,” said Heidi Becker of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Such activity has been confirmed in the geysers of Enceladus, but there is conflicting evidence as to whether it is currently occurring on Europa.

Such an operation could sample signs of life in the inner ocean without landing, drilling, flying through a plume and collecting some ice.

Currently, the polar tide may cause very modest changes in the locations of features on Europa’s surface, but there is evidence that a change of more than 70 degrees occurred millions of years ago.

CNN political commentator Alice Stewart has died

0



CNN

Alice Stewart, a veteran political consultant and CNN political commentator who worked on several GOP presidential campaigns, has died. She is 58 years old.

Law enforcement officials told CNN that Stewart’s body was found outside in the Belle View neighborhood of Northern Virginia early Saturday morning. No foul play is suspected, and officials believe a medical emergency occurred.

“Alice was a dear friend and colleague to all of us at CNN,” the network’s CEO Mark Thompson said in an email to employees Saturday. “A political veteran and Emmy Award-winning journalist who brought an unmatched spark to CNN coverage, known throughout our bureaus not only for his political acumen but also for his unwavering grace. Our hearts are heavy as we mourn such an extraordinary loss.

Stewart was born on March 11, 1966 in Atlanta.

Stewart began her career as a local reporter and producer in Georgia before moving to Little Rock, Arkansas to work as a news anchor. Harvard International Review. He served as communications director in the office of then-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee before taking on a similar role in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Former Minnesota Rep. Michael Bachmann and former CNN commentator and former Pennsylvania Sen. He also served as communications director for Rick Santorum’s 2012 Republican presidential bid. Most recently, Texas Sen. Stewart was communications director for Ted Cruz’s 2016 GOP presidential campaign.

“Alice is a wonderful and talented and loving friend,” Cruz said A post on X. “She lived every day to the fullest and she will be greatly missed.”



02:56 – Source: CNN

‘I’m really heartbroken’: Jim Acosta gets emotional over Alice Stewart

CNN hired Stewart as a political commentator prior to the 2016 election, and he frequently appeared on the air to provide insight into the political news of the day, including “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”

“We always invited her to come on my show because we knew we’d be a little smarter at the end of that conversation,” Blitzer told Jessica Dean on “CNN Newsroom.” “She helped our audience appreciate what was going on, and that’s why we miss her so much.”

CNN anchor and chief political correspondent Dana Bash, who has known Stewart for nearly two decades after first meeting him when Stewart worked for the Huckabee campaign, recalled him Saturday as “someone who told it straight.”

“One of the many reasons he’s so valuable to us on our political panels … is because he brings that experience,” Bash added. “He brought an understanding of Republican politics, how Republican campaigns work, and he never did anything else without a smile.”

Stewart said, speaking about his role as a commentator for the network Harvard Political Review In 2020 he brings “a perspective that I think CNN appreciates.”

“My position at CNN is to be a conservative voice and an independent thinker,” Stewart said. “I’m not a Kool-Aid drinker; I was never a Trumper and I didn’t check my common sense and decency at the door when I voted (for Trump).

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson remembered Stewart on Saturday as “a man who believed that politics was about making friends and not enemies.”

He shared with CNN that Stewart was “one of the first people to call me and encourage me” after him He suspended his presidential campaign Earlier this year, they spoke just last week about the “confusion we see in our politics today.”

“She’s trying to change that and we’ll miss her,” Hutchinson added.

Stewart was a co-host Podcast “Left to Right Hot Mics,” with fellow CNN commentator Maria Cardona.

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Cardona said on “CNN Newsroom,” where the two are set to record an episode of their podcast on Saturday. “I want everyone to know what a special person she was, especially in this industry. You know, today’s politics can be mean and dirty, and Alice was such a loving, shining light.



04:42 – Source: CNN

Listen to Maria Cardona’s emotional tribute to ‘sister’ Alice Stewart

Stewart also served Senior Advisory Committee Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, where he Formerly a colleague.

In his spare time, Stewart was an avid runner. She frequently posts photos on social media from road races, including the TCS New York City Marathon, which she ran in November, and the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Race, which she ran last month.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Kayla Gallagher contributed to this report.

American missing in Syria in 2017 presumed dead, daughter says

0

A A US citizen who went missing while traveling in Syria seven years ago is presumed dead, the man’s daughter said Saturday.

Maryam Kamalmas told The Associated Press that eight senior U.S. officials had revealed specific and highly reliable intelligence that her father, Majd, a psychotherapist from Texas, was believed to have died earlier this month.

During the meeting in Washington, officials said their level of confidence in her father’s death was a “high nine” on a scale of one to 10. He said he asked if other Americans detained amid such credible reports had ever been successfully rescued and was told no.

“What more do I want? There were a lot of high-ranking officials that we had to confirm that he was really gone. There was no way to beat around the bush,” Mariam Kamalmaz said.

Jan. Maryam Kamalmas holds a photo of her father with his 14 grandchildren in Grand Prairie, Texas on May 17, 2024. US officials have developed specific and highly reliable intelligence. Majd Kamalmaz is an American citizen who went missing seven years ago. Maryam Kamalmaz said on May 18 that the traveler had died in Syria.

Julio Cortez / AP


He said authorities told him they believed the death occurred several years ago, during his father’s captivity. In 2020, officials told the family they had reason to believe he died of heart failure in 2017, but the family remained hopeful and US authorities continued their pursuit.

But “till this meeting, they have not confirmed to us how reliable the information is and the various stages (of verification) it has to go through,” he said.

She did not describe the intelligence she had learned.

The FBI Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell told CBS News on Saturday that “no matter how much time passes,” it is “working on behalf of the victims and their families to recover all American hostages and to support the families of their loved ones held captive. Missing.”

Then Kamalmas The 59-year-old disappeared in February 2017 while traveling to Syria to visit an elderly family member. The FBI said he was stopped at a Syrian government checkpoint on the outskirts of Damascus and has not been heard from since.

Kamalmas immigrated to the United States when he was six years old and became a dual citizen.

“We’re Americans in every way. Don’t let that fool you. I mean, this is your country, and my father always taught us that we’re not going anywhere. We’re all born and raised here,” Mariam Kamalmaz said. CBS News in 2019.

A White House spokesman declined to comment Saturday and spokespeople for the FBI, which investigates kidnappings overseas, did not immediately return an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Kamalmas is one of many Americans who have gone missing in Syria. Including journalist Austin TiceDisappeared in 2012 at a checkpoint in contested territory west of Damascus. Syria has publicly denied holding Americans captive.

In 2020, in the final months of the Trump administration, Senior officials have gone to Damascus For a high-level meeting aimed at negotiating the release of Americans. But the meeting proved fruitless, with the Syrians providing no substantiating life information and making demands that US officials considered unreasonable. US officials say they are continuing to try to bring Dice home.

The New York Times first reported the death of Majd Kamalmas.

The Israeli army found the bodies of 3 hostages, including Shani Louk, in Gaza

0

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Friday that its troops In Gaza Hamas recovered the bodies of three Israeli hostages killed during its October 7 attack, including German-Israeli Shani Luke.

A photo of 22-year-old Luke’s twisted body in the back of a pickup truck went viral around the world, highlighting the extent of the extremists’ attacks on communities in southern Israel. The army identified the other two bodies as those of Amit Buskila, a 28-year-old woman, and Itzhak Gelander, 56.

All three were killed by Hamas while fleeing Nova Music FestivalAn outdoor dance party near the Gaza border where militants killed hundreds of people, military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told a news conference.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu The deaths were called “heartbreaking” and “we will return all our hostages, living and dead.”

The military said the bodies were found overnight, but did not provide immediate details of their whereabouts. Israel is operating in the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, where intelligence says it is holding hostages.

Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 250 others. Half of those hostages have since been freed, most in exchange for Palestinian prisoners captured by Israel during a week-long ceasefire in November.

Israel says 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, along with the bodies of 30 others. Israel’s War in Gaza According to Gaza health officials, more than 35,000 Palestinians were killed in the attack.

Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring back all the hostages, but he has made little progress. He faces Pressure to resign, and America has threatened to reduce its support for the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to end the war and release the hostages, and those who see the hostages as an unfortunate price to pay for eliminating Hamas. On-and-off talks brokered by Qatar, the US and Egypt have yielded little.

Tiger Woods doesn’t make cut at 2024 PGA Championship

0

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After posting his 11th consecutive round of par or worse at a major championship with a 6-over 77 in the second round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on Friday, Tiger Woods is heading home again for the weekend. .

With a 36-hole total of 7-over 149, Woods was over the projected cut line of 1-under 141. In his past 22 starts in the majors, he has missed the cut 10 times and withdrawn twice.

However, the 15-time major champion says he is recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident in February 2021 and hopes his game will improve.

Woods, 48, said he plans to play the next major U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, June 13-16.

“It will happen at the right time,” Woods said of the possibility of improving his game. “I still have to play. Unfortunately, I haven’t played a lot of matches and I don’t have a lot of matches in my schedule. Hopefully everything will come together somehow and be ready in my practice sessions at home. Pinehurst.”

The round couldn’t have started worse for Woods, who made par on the first and then bogeyed the par-4 second. After knocking his drive into the left rough, Woods hit his second shot into the rough and his third into the bunker. He then hit another bunker shot across the green, chipped to 20½ feet and two-putted for triple bogey.

After three-putting for a bogey on the par-3 third, Woods recorded his second triple bogey in three holes on the short par-4 fourth. He was only 75 yards from the hole after the tee — but didn’t reach the green until his fifth shot. His third went into the bunker and he couldn’t get his fourth out of the sand. He 2-putted his ball from 11½ feet. Woods is 7 over after four holes in the round.

It was the first time Woods had multiple triple bogeys in 1,344 rounds in his PGA Tour career, according to ESPN Stats and Information Research.

Coming into Friday, Woods had only one triple bogey in his previous 22 PGA Championship appearances — the sixth hole in the third round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“Well, I got off to a bad start and Ruff caught me by 2 runs,” Woods said. “There was no sand in the bunker either. I made a mistake there. I aggravated the problem at 4. I kept making mistakes and things that you can’t do, not just in tournaments, especially in the majors. I kept doing them. I hung around all day, but unfortunately the damage was done early.”

After that loss, Woods settled for card pars on his next two holes. On the par-5 seventh, he chipped to 8 feet and made a birdie putt. The highlight of the round came when he birdied the par-3 eighth — his ball stopped 4 inches from the cup for another birdie to move him to 5 over.

But Woods’ momentum quickly stalled when he carded back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 11 and 12.

After so much damage early in the round, Woods went 1 under over the final 14 holes. He made a birdie on the par-5 18th after pulling his approach into the fans. He chipped to 4 feet from the rough 98 feet and putt.

“Keep fighting,” Woods said. “Keep pedaling, keep fighting, keep grinding, keep working hard to post the best score I can post today. That’s all I can do. It’s going to be a lot, but I’m going to fight until the end. .”

Woods wasn’t the only star to go home after 36 holes. Defending US Open champion Wyndham Clarke (4 over), Phil Mickelson (4 over), Adam Scott (3 over), Sam Burns (3 over), Matt Fitzpatrick (also), Jon Rahm (also) and Ludwig Aberg (also) also Predicted to miss the cut.

The US military said the first aid ship was sent through a newly built US port inside the Gaza Strip.

0

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel imposed restrictions on border crossings and crossings into the besieged enclave for the first time Friday as trucks carrying much-needed aid to the Gaza Strip passed through a newly built U.S. ship. Fierce fight There was disruption in the supply of food and other supplies.

The ship is the first in an operation that U.S. military officials expect to be able to handle up to 150 truckloads a day as Israel squeezes the southern city of Rafah in its 7-month offensive against Hamas.

But the US and aid groups warn that the floating ship program is no substitute for land delivery. Bring all necessary food, water and fuel In Gaza. Before the war, an average of more than 500 trucks entered the territory per day.

The The success of surgery is also low The Israeli blockade of Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 attack has increased the risk of militant attacks, logistical bottlenecks and fuel shortages for trucks. Militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages in that attack on southern Israel. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, local health officials say, and hundreds more in the West Bank.

Aid agencies say southern Gaza is running out of food and running low on fuel, while the US Agency for International Development and the World Food Program say Famine has already taken hold North of Gaza.

Troops finished installing the flotation vessel on Thursday, and the U.S. military’s Central Command said the first aid had flown into Gaza at 9 a.m. Friday. It said no US troops went ashore in the operation.

“This is an ongoing, international effort to provide additional assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via an entirely humanitarian sea route, and includes aid items donated by many countries and humanitarian organizations,” the command said.

The Pentagon said no backup was expected Distribution processIt is coordinated by the United Nations.

However, the UN said that all fuel supplies brought by land routes had been cut off, making it very difficult to deliver aid to the people of Gaza.

“We desperately need fuel,” said UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq. “It doesn’t matter how the aid comes, whether it’s by sea or by land, without fuel, people can’t get help.”

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the issue of fuel supplies comes up in all U.S. conversations with the Israelis. He said the plan is to start slow on the sea route and increase truck deliveries over time.

Israel fears that Hamas will use the fuel in the war, but insists it does not impose limits on humanitarian aid and has blamed the UN for delays in delivering supplies into Gaza. Under pressure from the United States, Israel has opened a pair of crossings in recent weeks to deliver aid to the region’s hardest-hit north.

It said a series of attacks by Hamas on the main crossing of Kerem Shalom disrupted the flow of goods. The UN says fighting, Israeli fire and chaotic security conditions are hampering the delivery. There have also been violent protests by Israelis that have disrupted aid shipments.

Israel recently seized its main Rafah border crossing from Hamas around the Egyptian border, raising fears for civilian safety while cutting off a key entry point for aid to the Gaza Strip.

US President Joe Biden ordered the shipbuilding project, which is expected to cost $320 million. Aid boats will be docked at an Israeli-built port facility southwest of Gaza City. Distributed by support groups.

U.S. officials said the initial shipment had a total of 500 tons of aid. The U.S. is coordinating closely with Israel on how to protect ships and personnel working offshore.

But there are still questions about the safety of aid workers distributing food, said Sonali Korte, assistant administrator for USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, which is helping with logistics.

“There is a very insecure operating environment,” and aid groups are still struggling to get permission for their planned operations in Gaza, Korte said.

That concern was highlighted during last month’s Israeli attack It killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen whose trip was coordinated with the Israeli authorities. The group has also brought aid by sea.

Pentagon officials have made it clear that security conditions will be closely monitored and could prompt a shutdown of the sea route, even if only temporarily. Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of U.S. Army Central Command, told reporters Thursday, “We are confident in the ability of this security arrangement to protect those involved.”

Already, the site has been targeted with mortar shells during its construction, and Hamas has threatened to target any foreign forces that “occupy” the Gaza Strip.

Biden has made it clear that there will be no US troops in Gaza, so third-country contractors will drive the trucks ashore.

Israeli forces are in charge of security ashore, but two U.S. Navy warships are also nearby that can protect U.S. troops and others.

Seaborne aid is collected and inspected in Cyprus, then loaded onto ships and transported some 200 miles (320 kilometers). Large floating ship On the coast of Gaza. There, the pallets are transferred to trucks, which then move to military barges, which transport the trucks from the pier to a floating causeway anchored on the beach. Once the trucks drop off the aid, they return to the boats.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

As sweltering summer heat rises, cities are looking for new ways to keep people safe and alive

0

The official start of summer is just over five weeks away, but preparations for the intense heat have been underway for months in some parts of the country due to last year’s scorching heat.

“We prepare for year-round heat in Phoenix,” said Mayor Kate Gallego. “It’s something we knew was coming, so even on the coldest day of the year we have to think about it.”

But last summer was particularly severe — Phoenix, for example, endured 31 consecutive days of high temperatures of 110 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, beating the city’s previous record of 18 days set in 1974. At least 645 people in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, will die from heat-related causes in 2023, a 52% increase from the previous year. District Health Department.

The 2023 heatwave revealed how challenging it can be to cope with weeks of extreme temperatures, even in places where residents are accustomed to hot weather. The coming months are expected to be warmer – if not warmer.

Based on global temperatures so far, 2024 will rank among the top five warmest years on record and has a 61% chance of being the warmest on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.

It’s prompted cities across the South and Southwest to reevaluate how to keep people safe and alive this summer. Some have launched new initiatives aimed at increasing shade in public spaces, strengthening health care systems to deal with heatwave victims, and reaching out to outdoor workers, homeless people and other vulnerable communities.

Gallego said Phoenix is ​​creating “cool corridors” by planting trees and repainting pavement with highly reflective coatings to reduce urban heat. The primary focus now is to reduce the high overnight temperatures that plagued the city last summer.

“We’re getting low temperatures that are setting records for how warm they’ve been,” he said. “It really forces us to pay attention to how we design the city — what materials we use and how we protect open spaces, which dissipate heat at night.”

Salvation Army volunteer Francesca Corral hands out water at a Phoenix relief station in July.Matt York / AP File

In Miami-Dade County, Florida, Chief Heat Officer Jane Gilbert said adding resources to protect residents most vulnerable to rising temperatures is a top priority.

“It’s people who can’t stay cool in an affordable home, it’s people who have to work outside, it’s older people, it’s people who have to take a bus on a route where they have to wait over an hour at an unsheltered stop. In that heat,” she said.

To that end, the county’s transportation department installed 150 new bus shelters last year and expects to add 150 more this year, Gilbert says. With a $10 million grant from the Inflation Reduction Act, the office is planting trees along county and state-maintained roads to increase shade.

Gilbert’s team is focused on creating awareness among renters and homeowners about affordable ways to cool their spaces. Her office tries to educate employers about the importance of protecting their workers and conducts training programs for health coaches, homeless outreach workers and summer camp providers.

Nationally, heat kills more people than any other extreme weather event; It is often referred to as the “silent killer” because the effects of heat on the human body are not always obvious.

“When a hurricane hits or a wildfire comes, there’s no doubt about what happened, but the heat is more difficult because our environment doesn’t have the same environmental footprint until it gets really intense.” said Ashley Ward, director of the Center for Heat Policy Innovation at Duke University’s Nicholls Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability.

Ward and his colleagues specialize in “heat governance,” helping local and state governments prepare for extreme heat events. The work includes finding ways to mitigate the heat and developing emergency responses to major heat waves.

Yolanda Magana drinks water as she takes a break from cutting down trees in July in Phoenix.Mario Tama/Getty Images File

In North Carolina, for example, Ward and his colleagues have helped counties design heat action plans to identify their most vulnerable populations.

He said government officials should treat attacks of extreme heat and humidity like typhoons, cyclones and other calamities.

“People in emergency management and public health already have a lot of structures in place for all kinds of other extreme weather events, but not so much for heat,” Ward said.

Last summer was a wake-up call, he added.

“That was our Category 5 heat event,” Ward said. “The extreme nature of what we saw last summer was enough to focus attention on this topic.”

Studies show that climate change is increasing the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves worldwide. Last year was the planet’s hottest on record, and the warming trend continues. It was April Global temperature has been recorded for the 11th consecutive monthAccording to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

For most of the United States, temperatures are expected to be above average over the next three months. According to NOAA.

Ward said it’s good to see cities taking overheating seriously, but stressed that big challenges lie ahead. For one thing, extreme heat requires pre-prepared funding, which is a big challenge, especially for rural communities.

Tactfully dealing with even basic social issues that are magnified during heat waves, such as homelessness, rising energy costs and economic inequality.

Ward is optimistic, however, that last summer’s experience has prompted some local governments to act.

“What we see going forward is a greater emphasis on what we can do to reduce those exposures,” he said, “and we’re not constantly in response mode.”

Chinese electric car maker Neo has launched a rival to Tesla’s Model Y

0
image caption, The L60 will rival Tesla’s Model Y

  • author, Joao da Silva
  • stock, Business Correspondent

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Neo has unveiled the first car from its new low-cost brand Onvo, a direct challenger to Tesla’s best-selling car.

With prices starting at 219,900 yuan ($30,465, £23,990), the L60 SUV is more than 10% cheaper than the world’s most popular EV, Tesla’s Model Y, which costs 249,900 yuan.

This comes in the same week that US President Joe Biden announced a quadrupling of tariffs on electric car imports from China.

Like other EV makers, Tesla has been struggling with declining sales in the face of fierce competition from Chinese brands.

The vehicle was unveiled in Shanghai by Neo’s chief executive William Lee, who said the company will compete with Tesla’s Model Y and the Toyota RAV4.

“As technologies evolve and people’s understanding of smart EVs deepens, it’s time to redefine new standards for family cars,” said Mr Li.

The company has started taking orders for the L60 and aims to start deliveries by September.

Neo executives said they plan to launch one new Onvo model a year as part of efforts to expand the family car market.

The brand could help Neo build its presence outside its home country.

However, it faces 100% tariffs in the US and an anti-subsidy investigation launched by the European Union on EV imports from China.

Electric car brands around the world are facing major challenges as they face sluggish sales and increased competition.

In April, Tesla began laying off more than 10% of its global EV workforce.

Later that month, the company announced that its profit for the first three months of the year fell by more than half compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, China’s BYD said its profit fell as it suffered from weak demand and a price war in the world’s biggest car market.

Biden and Trump agree in debates on June 27 and September

0

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden And Former President Donald Trump Wednesday agreed to hold two campaign debates — the first on June 27 Hosted by CNN and the second was hosted by ABC on Sept. 10 — setting the stage for their first presidential homecoming in less than a month.

A quick agreement on the timetable followed the Democratic Party’s announcement that he would not run in the fall Presidential debates Funded by an impartial commission that organized them for more than three decades. Biden’s campaign instead proposed that the media directly organize the debates Presumptive Democratic and Republican Candidates.

The debate is unusually early in the political calendar, with neither Biden nor Trump formally accepting their party’s nomination.

Hours later, Biden told CNN that he had accepted the call and added, “To you, Donald.” Insisting that he will debate Biden whenever and wherever, Trump said he will also be at Truth Social. After that, they agreed to a second debate on ABC.

“Trump says he’ll arrange his own transportation,” Biden wrote on X, making a jab at the perks of being in office. “I will also bring my plane. I plan to keep it for another four years.

The speed at which the matchups came together reflected how each one was Two unpopular candidates He thinks he can get the better of his opponent in a head-to-head confrontation. Trump and his team hope to fuel voters’ concerns about Biden’s age and qualifications, while Trump’s often incendiary rhetoric will remind voters why they voted him out of the White House four years ago.

Things to know about 2024 elections

The presidential debates, always an important moment on the political calendar, may be especially important in a year when voters are struggling with their choices and expressing concerns about the candidates’ advanced ages — Biden is 81 and Trump is 77.

Openly on social media, the contestants traded barbs — each touting the success of their last face-off in 2020.

“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020 and hasn’t been in a debate since,” Biden said in a post on X. “Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal.”

Trump, for his part, called Biden “the worst debater I’ve ever met — he can’t string two sentences together!”

The June debate will cap off a busy and restless stretch, following a possible outcome Trump’s criminal hush money investigation in New YorkBiden’s foreign trips to France and Italy mark the end of his term on the Supreme Court and the expected start of two criminal trials for the president’s son, Hunter Biden.

CNN said the debate will take place in its Atlanta studios at 9 p.m. ET, a break from recent precedent with no viewers. The judges will be anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, according to CNN. ABC did not provide details on where its event will be held, but the network said it will be moderated by anchors David Muir and Lynsey Davis. Disagreements over moderators and rules were some of the questions that prompted the creation of the Commission on Presidential Debates in 1987.

The two campaigns and television networks have held informal talks about ways to avoid the commission’s grip on presidential debates following years of complaints and perceived slights, said two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Biden’s campaign proposed excluding third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr, from discussions. According to debate commission rules, Kennedy or other third-party candidates are eligible if they have enough ballot access to receive 270 electoral votes and receive 15% or more of the vote in national polls.

Both CNN and ABC announced the same eligibility threshold, stating that candidates must achieve at least 15% of registered or likely voters in four separate national polls that meet their standards.

In response, Kennedy accused Biden and Trump of “trying to keep me out of their debate because they’re afraid I’ll win.” “Keeping potential candidates off the debate floor undermines democracy,” he said.

The debates will be the first televised general election contests carried by separate networks. The 1960 debates, which helped demonstrate the media’s power to influence public opinion, were jointly hosted by the leading networks of the day. Before the commission was created in 1987, the 1976, 1980, and 1984 presidential debates were organized by the League of Women Voters.

Plans for the vice presidential debate have not yet been announced.

Trump has been pushing for more and earlier debates, arguing that voters should get a good look at both faces before early voting begins in September. He has too proposed a debate He is currently on trial outside a Manhattan court. He mocked Biden at some of his rallies with an empty lecture.

In a memo to Biden campaign chairman Jen O’Malley Dillon on Wednesday, Trump’s senior campaign advisers Chris Lacivita and Susie Wiles challenged Biden to agree to at least two more debates. and September, in addition to the vice presidential debate.

“Additional dates will allow voters to maximize exposure to each candidate’s records and future visions,” they wrote.

Trump later posted on Truth Social that he agreed to a third debate hosted by Fox.

“Please allow this fact to represent my acceptance of the Crooked Joe Biden debate on FoxNews. The date will be Wednesday, October 2nd. The hosts will be Bret Baier and Martha McCallum. Thanks, DJT!” He wrote.

O’Malley Dillon responded with a statement that Trump “has a long history of playing with controversy: complaining about the rules, breaking those rules, pulling out at the last minute or not showing up at all.”

“No more games. No more confusion, no more debate about debates. See Donald Trump June 27th in Atlanta – if he shows up,” he wrote.

In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday morning, Trump raised his own doubts about whether Biden would show up and offered his own suggestions. He said the debates “had to go on for two hours” with both men standing, and he pushed for larger spaces.

“It’s still exciting,” he said.

Biden’s campaign has long held grudges against the nonpartisan commission, accusing it of failing to apply its rules evenly during the 2020 Biden-Trump race — especially when it It did not enforce its COVID-19 testing rules on Trump and his entourage.

AP Washington Correspondent Sagar Meghani reports that President Biden and Donald Trump have apparently agreed to host a pair of debates.

O’Malley Dillon sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates on Wednesday saying Biden’s campaign objected to its proposed debate dates in the fall, which would come after some Americans have started voting, repeating a complaint voiced by the Trump campaign. He also expressed frustration over past violations of the rules and the commission’s insistence on holding debates in front of a live audience.

“The debates should be held for the benefit of the American electorate, to be watched on television and at home — not as entertainment for in-person audiences with rowdy or disruptive partisans and donors,” he wrote.

Little love was lost on the commission from Trump, who faced technical issues in his first debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and was upset when the 2020 debate with Biden was canceled after the Republican came down with Covid-19. The Republican National Committee had already pledged not to work with the commission on the 2024 games.

The Trump campaign released a statement on May 1 that said of the commission’s proposed hearing schedule: “This is unacceptable.”

The commission said in a statement Wednesday, “The American people deserve substantive debate from the leading candidates for president and vice president.” Its aim, it said, is to “ensure that such discussions take place authentically and reach a wider television, radio and streaming audience”.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the 2024 elections https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.