Washington Post (July 7)
“As the nation faces a pandemic, financial catastrophe and massive social justice protests, it is suddenly also confronting a spike in violence in some of its major cities. Tragedies struck in urban centers thousands of miles apart, with 65 people shot over the weekend in New York and 87 in Chicago, and homicides climbing from Miami to Milwaukee.” Shootings often rise in summer, but “the recent toll has been particularly devastating.”
Tags: Chicago, Cities, Confronting, Financial catastrophe, Homicides, Miami, Milwaukee, New York, Pandemic, Protests, Shootings, Social justice, Tragedies, Violence
New York Times (May 5)
There are merits to “the distance learning the New York City school system instituted when the coronavirus pandemic hit…. I have been doing distance learning since March 23 and find that I am learning more, and with greater ease, than when I attended regular classes. I can work at my own pace without being interrupted by disruptive students and teachers who seem unable to manage them.”
Tags: Classes, Coronavirus, Disruptive, Distance learning, Ease, Merits, New York, Pace, Pandemic, Students
BBC (December 6)
Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, “raised a record $25.6bn (£19.4bn) in its initial public offering in Riyadh. The share sale was the biggest ever, surpassing that of China’s Alibaba which raised $25bn in 2014 in New York.” When trading begins, it will become “the most valuable listed company in the world,” valued at $1.7tn based on the IPO.
Tags: Alibaba, China, IPO, Most valuable, New York, Oil, Record, Riyadh, Saudi Aramco, Share sale
Time (October 16)
“Fresh insight into the physical and emotional toll of ultra-long haul travel should emerge this weekend when Qantas Airways Ltd. flies direct from New York to Sydney. No airline has ever completed that route without stopping. At nearly 20 hours, it’s set to be the world’s longest flight, leaving the U.S. on Friday and landing in Australia during its Sunday morning.”
Tags: Airline, Australia, Emotional, Flight, Insight, Longest, New York, Physical, Qantas, Route, Sydney, Travel, U.S., Ultra-long haul
Financial Times (May 20)
“Today, Hong Kong’s future as a global financial centre looks uncertain as the rival Shanghai Stock Exchange grows in size and credibility…. On the face of it, conditions at the HKEX look fine.” Revenues, profits and new listings were all up in 2017. “Yet Hong Kong was only third when it came to money raised in IPOs. Shanghai and New York were ahead by value, while Shanghai and Shenzhen surpassed the number of Hong Kong listings.”
Tags: HKEX, Hong Kong, IPOs, Listings, New York, Profits, Revenues, Rival, Shanghai, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen
Reuters (April 12)
“At New York’s Trump Tower, condo prices have lost their glitter.” It’s not just because of the recent deadly fire, it’s also “the constant presence of armed guards and Secret Service agents,” as well as the unwanted association with the President. “Since 2015, prices at Trump Tower have dropped 30 percent per square foot compared with an 8 percent fall in comparable properties on Manhattan’s Midtown East Side.”
Institutional Investor (March 1)
New York City “is aiming for full divestment of coal, oil, and gas from its $189 billion retirement system–but could get sued in the process” if such a move is deemed contrary to fiduciary duty. If they successfully divest the roughly $5 billion in assets linked to fossil fuel, however, “New York’s pension funds would be the first major U.S. retirement system to rid itself of fossil fuels.”
Tags: Coal, Divestment, Fiduciary duty, Fossil fuel, Gas, New York, Oil, Pension fund, Retirement
Chicago Tribune (November 1)
“So the pattern established oceans away now visits America,” specifically New York, where “terror by the ton” disrupted what should have been a delightful Halloween. “We don’t know if this suspect was heeding an Islamic State call to attack trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Or if only his own twisted thinking drove him,” but we have “seen enough of these car and truck attacks—in London, Nice, Stockholm, Berlin—to know they are all but impossible to predict or prevent.”
Tags: Berlin, Halloween, London, New York, Nice, Predict, Prevent, Stockholm, Terror, Truck attacks, Twisted, U.S.
New York Times (December 30)
“Glory, glory, hallelujah! New Year’s Day is about to bring New Yorkers what many of their ancestors never lived to see: the opening of the Second Avenue subway.” Though it is set to open on schedule, the line is really “nearly a century overdue. It was dreamed up in the 1920s, was derailed by the Great Depression, by wars overseas and political battles at home, by the 1970s fiscal crisis, by dithering, distractions, diverted funds and the inertia that keeps big infrastructure projects forever on the drawing board.”
Tags: Ancestors, Great Depression, Hallelujah, Infrastructure, New York, Overdue, Subway
New York Times (September 20)
Days after the Chelsea bombing, with an eye to this week’s UN meeting, the mayors of three great cities (Bill de Blasio of New York, Anne Hidalgo of Paris and Sadiq Khan of London) write, “We know policies that embrace diversity and promote inclusion are successful. We call on world leaders to adopt a similar welcoming and collaborative spirit on behalf of the refugees all over the world during the summit meeting this week. Our cities stand united in the call for inclusivity. It is part of who we are as citizens of diverse and thriving cities.”
Tags: Bombing, Chelsea, De Blasio, Diversity, Hidalgo, Inclusion, Khan, London, Mayors, New York, Paris, Refugees, Thriving cities, UN meeting
