NEW YORK — When a heat wave hits, millions of air conditioners switch on at once, straining the electric grid and driving up the risk of outages — and residents’ power bills. To ease that strain, power companies may ask customers to do something many probably won’t: Set the air conditioner a few degrees higher. … Read more
The chaos is already creeping into the balance sheet of large businesses like P.G. Rix Farms, which employs around 40 people some 90 minutes’ drive east of London. It grows mainly onions and potatoes, supplying industry giants such as McDonald’s and Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket chain. It also plants sugar beets, cereals and willow trees, … Read more
A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake has struck in the Molucca Sea region northeast of Indonesia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake, which hit early Thursday local time, had depth of nearly 22 miles and its epicenter was 79 miles west-northwest of Ternate, Indonesia, the USGS said. The U.S. tsunami warning system said tsunami … Read more
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco fire crews rescued a woman Wednesday who had gone over a cliff and was stuck on the rocks with waves crashing below. It was not immediately known how the unidentified woman ended up clinging to the rocks by the Cliff House, a well-known landmark perched above Ocean Beach on the … Read more