3-DAY PUBLIC FORECAST
GENERAL SITUATION
A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE EXTENDING ACROSS THE AREA WILL CONTINUE TO DOMINATE THE WEATHER PATTERN AROUND THE ISLANDS TODAY…
SPECIAL WARNINGS
BEACHGOERS IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS SHOULD REMAIN VIGILANT ALONG ATLANTIC-EXPOSED BEACHES DUE TO THE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS TODAY…THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR SOME EARLY MORNING PATCHY FOG IN AND AROUND SOME OF THE ISLANDS THEREFORE MOTORISTS AND BOATERS SHOULD USE CAUTION…
ALL AREAS
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY AND WARM TODAY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF A FEW QUICK PASSING SHOWERS…BECOMING MOSTLY FAIR AND MILD TONIGHT…
ADVISORY: SMALL CRAFT OPERATORS IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION DUE TO LINGERING NORTHEASTERLY SWELLS THAT ARE GRADUALLY SUBSIDING IN ATLANTIC WATERS…
WINDS: SOUTHEAST TO SOUTH AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS IN THE NORTHWEST AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND EAST TO SOUTHEAST AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS IN THE SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS…
SEAS: 2 TO 4 FEET BUT BUILDING UP TO 6 FEET IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS MAINLY IN ATLANTIC WATERS…
HIGH-TEMPERATURE TODAY: 81°F 27°C
LOW-TEMPERATURE TONIGHT: 66°F 19°C
SUNRISE: 6:55AM MOONSET: 3:19 PM LOW TIDE: 11:44 AM
SUNSET: 5:44 PM MOONRISE: 5:52 AM FRI HIGH TIDE: 5:27 PM
LOW TIDE: 11:35 PM
HIGH TIDE: 6:07 AM FRI
EXTENDED WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS: A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO DOMINATE THE WEATHER ACROSS THE ISLANDS WHILE SHIFTING EASTWARDS THROUGH FRIDAY…A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE NEAR THE NORTHERNMOST BAHAMAS AND STALL INTO THE WEEKEND…
FORECAST FOR FRIDAY
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY AND WARM WITH THE CHANCE OF A SPOTTY SHOWER OR TWO DURING THE DAY…MOSTLY FAIR AND MILD DURING THE NIGHT…
WINDS: VARIABLE LESS THAN 10 KNOTS IN THE NW BAHAMAS AND EAST TO SOUTHEAST AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS IN THE CNTRL AND SE BAHAMAS…
SEAS: 1 TO 3 FEET IN THE NW BAHAMAS AND 2 TO 4 FEET IN THE CNTRL AND SE BAHAMAS…
FORECAST FOR SATURDAY
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY AND WARM WITH A FEW ISOLATED SHOWERS MAINLY ACROSS THE NORTHWEST BAHAMAS…BECOMING FAIR AND MILD AT NIGHT WITH A STRAY SHOWER OR TWO POSSIBLE…
WINDS: EASTERLY AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS…
SEAS: 2 TO 4 FEET OVER THE OCEAN…
Microsoft to cut 10,000 jobs as spending slows
Microsoft will cut 10,000 jobs in the latest round of staff redundancies to hit the tech industry.
It will affect up to 5% of its global workforce and cost the business $1.2bn (£972m) in severance and reorganization costs.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said that while customer spending had grown during Covid, more people were now choosing to "exercise caution".
He said the firm would continue to hire in key areas.
Breaking the news in a memo to staff, Mr. Nadella said many parts of the world were in a recession or anticipating one, while "at the same time, the next major wave of computing is being born, with advances in AI".
Microsoft is considering a multi-billion-dollar investment in artificial intelligence company OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer), according to the Financial Times.
We didn't have to wait very long for the next round of lay-offs from big tech.
Microsoft is the latest but it won't be the last, as the giants seek to tighten their belts following the boom time of the pandemic, when lockdowns meant people were stuck at home, wanting to spend their cash on digital entertainment and devices.
That's not to say the sector is stagnating, though - reports suggest Microsoft is considering a $10bn investment in the company behind ChatGPT, the chatbot that's not only captivated the millions of people who have tried it out but is also predicted by some experts to be the future of search.
Microsoft knows from its search engine, Bing, that you only need a fraction of that market for it to prove very lucrative.
And let's not forget its proposed acquisition of the games giant Activision Blizzard, which would bring a whole new portfolio of high-profile gaming titles under its wing.
That's small comfort, though, for the thousands of staff facing redundancy in the early days of 2023.
Hundreds of tech firms, including some of the sector's biggest names like Amazon and Instagram-owner Meta, have revealed lay-offs in recent weeks.
At the start of this year, Amazon announced that it planned to cut more than 18,000 jobs because of "the uncertain economy" and rapid hiring during the pandemic.
In November, Meta announced that it would cut 13% of its workforce, a total of 11,000 employees.
But Jason Wong, a tech industry analyst with consultants Gartner, warned against assuming redundancies in "enterprise" businesses like Microsoft and Amazon happened for the same reasons as the cuts by big social media firms, some of which had faced additional challenges because of "where they intend to take the business".
In the case of Twitter, that was moving to "a model away from pure advertising", and for Facebook he pointed to its pursuit of the metaverse.
Like other tech companies, Microsoft's business boomed during the pandemic, fuelled by the increase in remote work and other online activity.
Its workforce grew by roughly 40,000 between June 2021 and June 2022, when it reported having about 221,000 full-time employees, including 99,000 outside the US.
As business slowed last year, the firm embarked on a series of job cuts.
The latest 10,000 are expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2023.
Source-BBC
The race to make diesel engines run on hydrogen
It's a new hydrogen-diesel hybrid engine affectionately known as "baby number two" that could help to decarbonize some of Australia's heaviest industries.
The test rig is large - it has its own room adjoining a lab and looks at first glance like many other large motors, but beneath its metallic skin could lie game-changing technology.
Engineers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) say they have successfully modified a conventional diesel engine to use a mix of hydrogen and a small amount of diesel, claiming their patented technology has cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by more than 85%.
It's the work of Prof Shawn Kook and his team at the university's School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.
"The interest in converting an existing diesel engine into a clean-burning hydrogen engine is extremely high," Prof Kook tells the BBC at his laboratory in Sydney. Inquiries have come from Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Japan, and China.
"We mount the hydrogen direct injection system into existing diesel engines, which can be applied to any conventional engine," he adds.
What makes their system unique, according to Prof Kook, is the way it mixes hydrogen and diesel and then introduces it to the engine cylinder for combustion.
Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen does not produce CO2 when burnt, so it has long been seen as a greener fuel source.
About 90% of fuel in the UNSW hybrid diesel engine is hydrogen but it must be applied in a carefully calibrated way.
If the hydrogen is not introduced into the fuel mix at the right moment "it will create something that is explosive that will burn out the whole system," Prof Kook explains.
He says that studies have shown that controlling the mixture of hydrogen and air inside the cylinder of the engine can help negate harmful nitrogen oxide emissions, which have been an obstacle to the commercialization of hydrogen motors.
The Sydney research team believes that any diesel trucks and power equipment in the mining, transportation, and agriculture sectors could be retrofitted with the new hybrid system in just a couple of months.
Prof Kook doubts the hybrid would be of much interest in the car industry though, where electric and hybrid vehicles are already advanced and replacing diesel cars.
However, he says Australia's multibillion-dollar mining industry needs a solution for all its diesel-powered equipment as soon as possible.
"We have so many established diesel-powered generators, mega-trucks, and underground machines. How do we decarbonize all those existing diesel engines? One way is to shut down everything and get new technology in, which will take decades," he says.
The plan is for the hybrid to run off a hydrogen-diesel mix or, in the absence of hydrogen, it can revert to diesel only.
Prof Kook hopes his new generation engine will become a commercial product within two years.
Tim Buckley, the director at Climate Energy Finance, a public interest think-tank in Sydney, believes the technology has the potential to "transform the Australian mining industry dramatically".
"There's always an element of skepticism in the work I do to evaluate what is hype and hope as opposed to reality. Having said that, this University of New South Wales breakthrough does appear to be pretty material. If they can pull it off it is a huge opportunity," he says.
Source-BBC
Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars return to UK next season
The Buffalo Bills and the Tennessee Titans will play at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next season.
The Jacksonville Jaguars will also return to the UK for the 10th time since playing their first game in 2013 for a fixture at Wembley Stadium.
The Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots will feature in games in Germany in the 2023 season.
While the five 'home' teams have been named, the dates of games and who each team will play have yet to be announced.
The NFL staged its first regular-season game in Germany earlier this season, as part of a four-year deal announced in February 2022, with Munich and Frankfurt as host cities.
Five international games were played last season, with one in Mexico, but an extra game will be played in Germany next season because renovations are taking place at Mexico City's Azteca Stadium.
"We know how important live regular season games are to our global fans," said the NFL's executive vice president Peter O'Reilly.
"Growing the league and our sport internationally is a major strategic priority for the NFL, and we are excited to again be playing five games outside of the United States in 2023."
The Jaguars had already made a multi-year commitment to play one game a season in London, which currently runs up to and including the 2024 season.
Source-BBC
Japan inflation jumps to new 41-year high
Japan's inflation rate has jumped to a fresh 41-year high as businesses pass on higher costs to their customers.
Core consumer prices for last month rose by 4% from a year earlier, double the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) target level.
It puts further pressure on the central bank to put up its interest rates to help ease the rising cost of living.
This week the BOJ surprised investors by announcing that it would keep rates near zero, despite the increasing cost of everything from food to fuel.
"Producer prices have been rising at a much faster pace than consumer prices for some time, but now companies are passing these costs on to consumers," Damian Thong, who heads Japan equity research at Macquarie Group, told the BBC.
"We believe that the BOJ will [eventually] end its negative interest rate policy," he added.
Producer prices are a measure of inflation at a wholesale level, while consumer prices reflect how much is paid by households for goods and services.
Official data released on Friday showed inflation was at its highest since 1981, the ninth month in a row that it has been above the central bank's 2% target.
Even after the jump in prices, Japan still has one of the lowest inflation rates in the world.
As a result, the world's third-largest economy has bucked the trend of many other countries that have raised interest rates sharply over the last year.
On Wednesday the BOJ kept interest rates near zero, which pushed the yen down in value against other major currencies.
Many experts had expected the central bank to start to phase out its economic stimulus program in an attempt to curb rising prices.
The latest official figures showed that inflation in the US stood at 6.5% in December, while it was 9.2% in the eurozone and 10.5% in the UK.
Source-BBC
Biden tours areas ravaged by California storms
President Joe Biden was in California on Thursday touring the damage after those recent devastating storms.
Accompanied by FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and other state and local officials, Biden met with first responders and delivered remarks on supporting the state's recovery. Biden made clear the connection between climate change and recent weather events in California, as he pledged the full resources of the federal government and said it was important to “rebuild better.”
Biden added, "[I]f anybody doubts climate is changing, then they must have been asleep for the last couple of years.” We know some of the destruction is going to take years to full recover and rebuild. But we got to rebuild not just rebuild. We got to rebuild better.
While touring storm-damaged parts of California, and for only the third time since the news broke, President Biden remarked publicly on the situation of the documents.
At first, he bristled at reporters who shouted questions about the documents, saying: "You know what, quite frankly, bugs me is that we have serious problems here we're talking about..." but then went on to say, “I have no regrets,” about the way the situation has been handled by his administration so far.
“I'm following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do. It’s exactly what we're doing. There's no ‘there’ there,” he continued.
Source-ABC
Alec Baldwin, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed charged with involuntary manslaughter in Rust set shooting
On Thursday, Santa Fe First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and special prosecutor Andrea Reeb announced that Rust actor and producer Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter each in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the film's Santa Fe County set on October 21, 2021.
Hutchins, 42, was working as a cinematographer on the Western when she was accidentally shot and killed by the film's star, Baldwin, while he was practicing using a Colt-style .45 revolver on set. Director Joel Souza was also injured in the shooting.
Assistant director David Halls has signed a plea agreement for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. The terms include a suspended sentence and six months of probation, ABC News is reporting.
No charges will be filed related to Souza's shooting, it was also announced.
"After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the Rust film crew," Carmack-Altwies said. "On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice."
Carmack-Altwies' office said in October she would conduct a "thorough review of the information and evidence to make a thoughtful, timely decision about whether to bring charges" following a yearlong sheriff's office investigation into the on-set shooting.
Source-ABC
A$AP Rocky talks new song, album, Rihanna's upcoming Super Bowl performance and survey
Over the years, Rihanna has collaborated with many other artists, from Jay-Z and Maroon 5 to Coldplay, Eminem and Drake. But a new survey reveals that the surprise guest most fans want to see Rihanna bring onstage during her halftime performance is someone who hasn't graced the Super Bowl stage since 2001.
VegasInsider.com polled just over 1,100 people to find out who they'd most want to see Rihanna collaborate with at the big game. The winner, with 22.6% of the vote, was Britney Spears. The two teamed up back in 2011 for a remix of Ri-Ri's single "S&M," which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second-most-wanted guest was Eminem, followed by Rihanna's baby daddy, A$AP Rocky.
Shockingly, Chris Brown tied for fifth place with 11.48% of the vote.
As for the song most people want to hear Rihanna perform, her 2012 number-one hit "Diamonds" topped the list, followed by "Don't Stop the Music," the Kanye West collab "All of the Lights" and, oddly, her 2015 patriotic single "American Oxygen."
As previously reported, one of the musical directors of the show, Adam Blackstone, told Rolling Stone that the halftime show will "be unlike anything you've ever seen before," adding that Rihanna "can do no wrong with the set list because she has massive, massive, massive hits ... it’s just going to be [about] how we execute them."
We'll have to wait until February 12 to find out what Rihanna has up her designer sleeve for Super Bowl LVII. It airs live from Glendale, Arizona, on Fox.
Meanwhile, A$AP Rocky released a new single, "Same Problems," Wednesday. The song is a dedication to hip-hop's fallen soldiers, one he wrote when he was feeling remorseful about the role his music may play in the deaths of the genre's artists.
"I think I was feeling plight. I think I was also feeling a sense of guilt, because every time we lose somebody in our community, we all, especially me, have a habit of just saying things like, 'It's messed up. It's wrong. Why do these kind of things happen?' ... I never took time out to really understand that I was part of the problem because I was contributing those kind of lyrics and whatnot to songs."
"I just kind of wanted to express myself and tell how I felt without preaching," he continued. "And I think we can all relate. We all got the same problems."
"Same Problems" will appear on Rocky's new album, Don't Be Dumb, which he confirms is complete. "We just putting the finishing touches on it. It's coming for sure," he said. "The new stuff is me being vulnerable, and it's just no filter, and just where I'm at, at my stage. My age and how I see things, my peers, the younger kids, the older cats, it's just my perspective."
Rocky's girlfriend, Rihanna, has also been keeping busy. She's performing at the Super Bowl next month and Rocky says he's "more excited than everybody else."
"This is incredible. I'm so glad that my lady's back making music again and whatnot, and getting back out there," he said. "It's just incredible. Especially for both of us, it is a good year for both of us to be more active and be out there ... she [is] going to bring it."
Source-ABC
Jamaica's PM to deliver keynote address at Global Tourism Resilience Conference
Prime Minister Andrew Holness will deliver the keynote address at the Global Tourism Resilience Conference next month.
The conference is being held from February 15 to 17 at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica.
Holness will address a slew of government ministers from several nation states, policy advisors, international travel stakeholders, academics, executives of several international organisations, international business leaders among other key stakeholders.
Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett in highlighting the significance of the conference noted that: “As we exit the COVID-19 pandemic ‘tourism resilience’ has become the epicentre of national development priorities. While travel and tourism have been traditionally considered one of the most resilient segments of the global economy, it has also proven to be simultaneously and disproportionately prone to shocks, due to the impact of disruptive events on perceptions of destination attractiveness and security.”
He added: “Such disruptive events include natural disasters, climate change impacts and bio-diversity loss, food insecurity, political instability and conflicts, the threat of terror attacks, cyber-crime and cyber security issues, economic recessions and indeed epidemics and pandemics, as exemplified by the current crisis.”
The Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC), which is in part piloting the conference, continues to work on building tourism resilience in the Americas, Africa and the Middle East. Through their work in these areas, they have recognised the need to consolidate learnings and build tourism resilience strategies to prepare for the next disruption to the travel and tourism space.
Bartlett noted that Jamaica will once again prove itself a pioneer when it launches the first ever Global Tourism Resilience Institute in February. The Institute’s launch will coincide with the observance of Global Tourism Resilience Day on February 17.
Executive Director of the GTRCMC, Professor Lloyd Waller, indicated that the Institute will provide several offerings.
“We are in the process of establishing an Institute to focus on resilience and not just tourism resilience. We will be offering short certificate courses, diploma courses as well as an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) to provide persons with the skills and knowledge, in terms of methodologies for being resilient,” he stated.
Source-Jamaica Observer
TCIG Will Soon Have New Aerial Imagery of the Islands
The Turks and Caicos Islands Government (TCIG), through the National Security Secretariat and the Attorney General’s Chambers Lands Division has partnered with PLACE, to capture new high resolution aerial and street view images of Providenciales and Grand Turk.
For two weeks, which commenced on January 9th, 2023, a field survey team from PLACE, a USA-based non-profit data trust that creates and stewards hyperlocal mapping data in the public interest, is in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The team will, deliver training in the operation of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), including flight planning, flight repetitions and data processing training to technical officers with the Survey & Mapping Department, PWD, DDME as well also local surveyors.
TCIG will acquire the tools and techniques to continue the acquisition of imagery in all the islands as part of a MOU between TCIG and PLACE. Commissioner of Lands, Mrs. Tatum Clerveaux, stated in a press release quote “The project seeks to address the challenges faced by the Turks and Caicos Islands when it comes to data collection- especially on informal settlements. It focuses on incorporating drones to create detailed, real-time maps of islands to be used in the monitoring and control of in formal settlements. The training and the collected data will improve local authorities’ technical capacity and will ensure that imagery is always available to facilitate change detection, site analysis, site monitoring, morphology analysis, and enabling/ informing enforcement mechanisms to address the reality of informal settlements. The imagery derived from this partnership will also facilitate the monitoring of urban development juxtaposed to physical planning policies and derive geospatial intelligence for the micro and macro-economic ambitions of the Turks and Caicos Islands”. End quote
The Hon. Attorney General, Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles believes that Land is undoubtedly a source of material wealth and is therefore inextricably linked to the developmental ambitions of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Land resources are finite and must be managed to ensure the nation's sustainability.