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The nine years spanning 2013-2021 all rank among the 10 hottest on record, according to an annual report a US agency released Thursday, the latest data underscoring the global climate crisis.

For 2021, the average temperature across global surfaces was 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit (0.84 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average, making the year the sixth-hottest in the overall record, which goes back to 1880.

Of course, all this is driven by increasing concentrations of heat trapping gases like carbon dioxide, Russell Vose, a senior climatologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told reporters.

Theres probably a 99 percent chance that 2022 will rank in the top 10, a 50-50 chance, maybe a little less, itll rank in the top five, and a 10 percent chance itll rank first barring an unforeseen event like a major volcanic eruption or a large comet hitting Earth, he said.

Thursday itself saw mercury rise to a sweltering 123.3F (50.7C) in the coastal town of Onslow in Western Australia, making it the countrys hottest day on record.

NOAA uses the 21-year span from 1880 to 1900 as a surrogate to assess pre-industrial conditions, and found the 2021 global land and ocean temperature was 1.87F (1.04C) above the average.

A separate analysis of global temperature released by NASA had 2021 tying with 2018 as the sixth-warmest on record.

Both data sets vary very slightly from the European Unions Copernicus Climate Change Service in their assessment, which had 2021 as the fifth warmest in records tracking back to the mid-19th century.

But the overall convergence of trends increases scientists confidence in their conclusions.

Increases in abundance of atmospheric greenhouse gases since the industrial revolution are mainly the result of human activity and are largely responsible for the observed increases.

Climate scientists say it is crucial to hold end-of-century warming to within a 1.5C (2.7F) rise to avert the worst impacts from mega-storms to mass die-offs in coral reefs and the decimation of coastal communities.

At the present rate of heating, the planet might hit 1.5C in the 2030s.

But its not the case that at 1.4 everything is hunky dory and at 1.6 all hell has broken loose, said NASA climate expert Gavin Schmidt.

The impacts have been increasingly felt in recent years including record-shattering wildfires across Australia and Siberia, a once-in-1,000-years heatwave in North America and extreme rainfall that caused massive flooding in Asia, Africa, the US and Europe.

Last year also saw nearly 700 people die in the contiguous United States due to extreme weather events, such as Hurricane Ida, and a maximum temperature in Sicily of nearly 120F, a European record if verified.

The heat records observed in 2021 came despite the year beginning in a cold phase thanks to an El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) episode across the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

Heating might have also been partly offset by the resumption of activities that created heat-reflecting aerosols, which were lower during the Covid related lockdowns of 2020, said Schmidt.

The Northern Hemisphere land surface temperature was the third highest on record. The 2021 Southern Hemisphere surface temperature was the ninth highest on record.

Land heat records were broken in parts of northern Africa, southern Asia, and southern South America in 2021, while record-high sea surface temperatures were observed across parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

There were no cold records broken for land or ocean areas.

Average annual Northern Hemisphere snow cover was 9.3 million square miles (24.3 million square kilometers), the seventh-smallest annual snow cover extent in the 1967-2021 record.

Meanwhile, with the exception of September and December, each month of 2021 had Arctic sea ice levels in the top-10 lowest levels for those respective months.

Overall, the Arctic is heating around three times faster than the global average adding to sea level rises and the release of more carbon dioxide and methane from the permafrost, an effect known as Arctic amplification.

by Issam AHMED

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Last nine years all among 10 hottest-ever, says US - Macau Business

Top U.S. health authorities have warned that the Omicron variant is so contagious that it is likely most people in the United States will be infected, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

The Omicron variant, which replaced Delta in less than a month, is now responsible for more than 98 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I think its hard to process whats actually happening right now, which is (that) most people are going to get Covid, all right? the British newspaper quoted Janet Woodcock, acting head of the Food and Drug Administration, as saying.

What we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function, Woodcock added.

Omicron, with its extraordinary, unprecedented degree of efficiency of transmissibility, will ultimately find just about everybody, Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the White House, was quoted as saying.

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US health authority says Omicron to dominate infections in America - Macau Business

A remote town in Western Australia has equalled the countrys hottest day on record, reporting a scorching 50.7 degrees Celsius (123.26 degrees Fahrenheit), the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Such temperatures could become commonplace in Australia due to global warming, the countrys Climate Council warned.

The coastal town of Onslow hit the blistering high on Thursday afternoon.

NEW Western Australian maximum temperature record and equal National temperature record! the states Bureau of Meteorology posted on Twitter.

Onslow reached an unprecedented 50.7C which is a WA record and equals Australias hottest day set 62 years ago in Oodnadatta SA.

The country last recorded a temperature of 50.7C on January 2, 1960 at South Australias Oodnadatta Airport, according to the bureaus website.

Climate Council research director Dr Martin Rice said the record was part of a long-term warming trend driven by the burning of coal, oil and gas.

He said extreme temperatures were already having deadly catastrophic consequences in Australia.

Heatwaves are the silent killer in Australia, they cause more deaths than any other extreme weather events, he said.

Australia has experienced a summer with bushfires in the countrys west and deadly flooding on its eastern coast.

Rice said that, without a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, such record temperatures could become commonplace in Australia.

In Sydney and Melbourne, we will see 50-degree summer days by 2030, he said.

The Bureau of Meteorology is expected to confirm the record officially on Friday afternoon after quality control checks are completed.

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Australian town hits record high temperature of 50.7C - Macau Business

The scourge of rising prices now ranks among American business leaders top concerns, according to a survey released Thursday, while Federal Reserve officials indicated the central bank is ready to move against inflation.

Official data showed signs the wave of increases may have peaked at the end of the year, but with inflation at its highest level in nearly four decades, more economists and some Fed officials say the bank might have to be more aggressive to stem the surge.

Inflation is the number-two worry among chief executives, behind labor shortages, and the price pressures could persist into 2023, according to a survey by The Conference Board released Thursday.

Im very concerned about the high level of inflation, Fed GovernorLael Brainard said at her nomination hearing before the Senate Banking Committee.

Brainard, whom President Joe Biden nominated to serve as vice chair of the central bank, said most forecasts show prices are likely to stay high for the first half of the year and come down later in 2022.

But she warned to take these projections with a fair amount of caution.

Brainard told lawmakers the Fed will focus on bringing inflation back down to its two-percent target but will do so consistent with a sustained and strong recovery.

The Feds key inflation-fighting tool is the benchmark lending rate, which was slashed to zero at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many economists expect three rate hikes this year, but St LouisFederal Bank President James Bullard said Wednesday policymakers might have to be more aggressive and raise four times.

Another regional Fed president, Raphael Bostic of Atlanta, said he was open to hiking as early as March.

Inflation has stayed higher for longer than any of us thought it was going to, said Fed governor Christopher Waller, in a Thursday night interview with Bloomberg TV.

Inflation pressures will drop off in the second half of this year, he said, predicting a fall to about 2.5 percent by the end of 2022.

Policy rates had been lowered to a range of 0 to 0.25 percent in March 2020 in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic

Waller said he favored a 0.25-point rate hike in March, but not more because we have not prepared markets for anything that dramatic.

He said he also anticipates three rate hikes in 2022, but if inflation in the second half of the year stays high, there could be four or five hikes.

On the other hand, if inflation falls back in the second half of the year, as many of us think it will, as some of the supply chain issues get sorted out, then you can actually pause, Waller said.

Brainard, however, said the moves would be made in a well communicated way to ensure a measured response by financial markets and allow the economy to continue to recover jobs.

If confirmed, Brainard would replace Richard Clarida, who in a paper released prior to his Friday departure from the Fed argued that the price increases were closer to the banks target than they appear.

The unwelcome surge in inflation in 2021, once these relative price adjustments are complete and bottlenecks have unclogged, will in the end prove to be largely transitory under appropriate monetary policy, he wrote.

The Feds hawkish shift comes after the consumer price index ended the year with a seven percent jump, the highest since 1982, while the producer price index hit a record 9.7 percent.

But the data showed price pressures easing in the final month of the year, with producer prices for energy and food declining.

Producer prices ended the year on an encouraging note, rising less than expectations as both the headline and core PPI moderated in December, said Mahir Rasheed of Oxford Economics.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created shortages of critical goods such as computer chips for cars while transportation snags have further fanned inflation, all as new strains of the virus cause additional business disruptions.

Persistent supply disruptions will pin producer prices near record levels in the near term, especially given a rapidly spreading Omicron variant that will fan inflation pressures, Rasheed said.

The price surge has battered Bidens reputation even as the economy recovers from the damage inflicted by the pandemic, and his White House welcomed signs the pressures might be abating.

Monthly inflation results are always volatile, and this report was driven in large part by a reduction in highly volatile energy and food prices, but also reflects potential improvement in prices for supply-chain related goods and services, said Cecilia Rouse, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

But she said the data underscores the need to continue to work to resolve the supply chain issues.

Even as the economy has had a historic recovery, we continue to face challenges with prices driven by supply chain disruptions around the world.

by Heather SCOTT

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Record US inflation growing concern for Fed, business - Macau Business

Issued on: 06/01/2022 - 03:08Modified: 06/01/2022 - 03:06

Hong Kong (AFP) Macau has announced a two-week ban on any inbound passenger flights from outside of China after three coronavirus cases were found in passengers arriving from overseas.

The move came the same day Hong Kong banned flights from eight nations and ramped up social distancing measures, leaving the two neighbouring Chinese territories even more cut off from the rest of the world.

Like mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau have maintained some of the world's harshest measures throughout the pandemic -- including virtually closed borders, weeks-long quarantines, targeted lockdowns and mass testing.

Macau's Health Bureau announced Wednesday it will prohibit "civil aircraft from carrying passengers from places outside China to Macau" for two weeks starting midnight on Sunday.

Macau bars non-residents from entering the city, while residents returning from outside of China have to quarantine for at least 21 days, similar to Hong Kong.

Health officials on Wednesday identified three imported asymptomatic cases in Macau, related to travellers from the United Kingdom and the Philippines.

The former Portuguese colony turned Chinese gambling hub has only recorded 79 confirmed coronavirus cases -- using the mainland's tallying method that excludes asymptomatic patients -- and no deaths.

In August, Macau ordered compulsory coronavirus testing for all 680,000 residents after a family of four was found to be carrying the Delta variant, breaking the city's 16-month streak of being virus-free.

Macau has also adopted mainland China's health app, which rates infection risk, tracks movement and generates test and vaccination records.

2022 AFP

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Macau bans international passenger flights for two weeks - FRANCE 24

Despite the current upheaval in Macaus junket industry, Edmund Loi Hoi Ngan, Associate Professor of the Social, Economic and Public Policy Research Centre of Macao Polytechnic Institute, believes that recent events do not point to the exclusion of junkets but rather establish a clear line in the sand that VIP gaming promoters must not touch online or cross-border gambling.

Following the arrest and detainment without bail of Sun City Gaming Promotion Company Limiteds sole shareholder, Alvin Chau, who is currently awaiting trial for alleged criminal association, illegal gambling and money laundering, Macaus casino concessionaires recently began terminating contracts with junket promoters. The VIP gaming industry, which once generated the majority of Macaus gambling revenue, is facing an unprecedented crisis.

However, Loi believes the current situation has eliminated some of the gray areas around the VIP segment, ensuring rules will now become clearer with less uncertainty. This in turn is conducive to the healthy development of Macaus gaming industry, he said.

When he previously spoke with IAG in September, Loi said, Due to its positioning as a gaming center, Macau has not been able to reassure the Central Government that it can avoid becoming a loophole of capital outflow.

He now believes one of the ways to reassure the Central Government is by making two key adjustments to its gaming industry: reducing its reliance on the VIP sector and increasing non-gaming elements.

The IRs are here already and as long as the clients are not organized to come [by operators or promoters), it is a normal operation. This way, the line is drawn so that everyone is clearer, Loi said.

For instance, after some concessionaires changed their name to indicate leisure and entertainment (SJMs Chinese name was changed to mean Macau Leisure and Entertainment rather than Macau gaming), they were included in the promotional roadshows of Macau in mainland China (part of the MGTOs Macao Week promotion events). This also shows that such activities are allowed.

Loi also notes that the closure of Macau VIP rooms and cessation of junket activities by the likes of Suncity and Tak Chun is not a declaration of bankruptcy and could be a case of promoters adopting a wait and see approach regarding how they can legally resume operations in future.

After all, Southeast Asia still allows cross-border gambling, he said. Countries like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan are not opposed to cross-border gambling. The ways for junkets are not completely blocked, as long as they stay away from mainland China. I think the bottom line is very clear.

Loi said that although both the Suncity and Dore Entertainment cases accelerated the shrinkage of Macaus VIP segment, there still might be a gradual rebound once amendment to Macaus gaming law are confirmed.

As for development of the gaming industry in the coming year, Loi believes Macau is still the worlds most promising gaming market at present despite the lingering presence of COVID-19.

Although the statistics during the past two years are poor, they are still good compared to other jurisdictions, he explained. For example, despite the fact that Macaus foreign investment dropped by more than MOP$50 billion in 2020, US capital still chose to enter Macau, which means that Macaus gaming market is still the best in terms of the global market.

Although it seems that the scale of Macaus gaming industry will be somewhat limited to a certain extent in the future, on the whole, I think no gaming company would actually want to miss the opportunity to enter or stay.

GGR bottomed out last summer, some uncertainties have now been removed and visitors have stabilized at around 30,000 per day. When things are stable, decisions can be made faster.

The reason Im optimistic about Macau is because I cannot find any better place.

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Macau's line in the sand doesn't need to be fatal blow for junkets: Edmund Loi - IAG - Inside Asian Gaming

An Algiers court on Sunday sentenced an opposition figure to two years behind bars on charges including insulting the president, a prisoners rights group said.

Fethi Ghares, coordinator of the small leftist Democratic and Social Movement party, was arrested in late June and his house was searched.

The 47-year-old was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 200,000 dinars (over $1,400), the CNLD rights group said.

Ghares was prosecuted over charges including harming the person of the president of the republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and spreading information that could harm national unity and public order, it added.

He is expected to appeal.

A figure from Algerias secular leftist opposition, Ghares in 2019 joined the pro-democracy Hirak movement mass protests that swept veteran president Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power.

The long-running movement still demands the overhaul of Algerias political system.

More than 200 people are currently behind bars in relation to the Hirak, according to the CNLD.

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Algerian opposition figure sentenced to two years' jail - Macau Business

Dalian FC, who ranked 15th in the 16-club Chinese Super League (CSL), came on verge of relegation after drawing 1-1 with Chengdu Better City FC in the first leg of their playoffs here on Saturday.

As part of a revamped format, the 15th and 16th CSL teams have to vie against the top two finishers of Chinas second tier League One to keep their status in next seasons top flight.

Dalian broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute through Sun Guowens powerful low drive in the box connecting a precise corner ball which dismantled their opponents defense.

But Sun was fouled out after collecting his second yellow card in the 55th minute, giving Chengdu, the second-placed China League One team, some extra hope to turn the tide as they carried out a fierce attack afterwards.

Feng Zhuoyi drew a foul in the box on 81 minutes and Chengdu forward Felipe de Sousa Silva stepped up to level the game by converting a composed penalty.

The two teams will face each other again next Wednesday.

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Dalian faces threat of relegation from CSL after drawing with Chengdu - Macau Business

Russia and the United States hold talks in Geneva from Sunday focused on tensions over Ukraine but expected to touch on the slew of disputes between the former Cold War adversaries.

Western officials say Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine, where a pro-Moscow insurgency has killed more than 13,000 people.

The United States has warned of severe consequences of an invasion and that progress in other areas is impossible until Russia pulls back.

Russia, which annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, has demanded guarantees that NATO not take in new members or set up further bases in the former Soviet Union.

Moscow says it was promised at the end of the Cold War that the Western-led alliance would not expand.

Russia has also forcefully intervened in Belarus, where strongman Alexander Lukashenko has cracked down on mass protests triggered by wide accounts of rigging in the 2020 elections, and more recently in Kazakhstan where Russian troops were invited to suppress demonstrations.

In Africa, the United States and the European Union have stepped up pressure against the Wagner group, a private security firm close to President Vladimir Putin.

The group has been accused of abuses in the Central African Republic and Libya and has reportedly discussed a major contract with Mali.

Western powers have long been at loggerheads with Russia over its crucial support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, although on another hotspot, Iran, President Joe Bidens administration has largely welcomed cooperation with Moscow.

Bidens victory over the unilateral-minded administration of Donald Trump reopened diplomacy on arms control between the worlds two largest nuclear powers.

The two nations in Bidens early days reached a five-year extension of the New START nuclear reduction treaty.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was ready to discuss new measures to reduce risks in Europe but warned Russia must first withdraw troops from the Ukrainian border.

The Biden administration has vowed to champion democracy against the models of China and Russia and has repeatedly criticised Moscows rights record.

Courts last month shut down Russias most prominent rights group, Memorial, a step that would have been a surprise even a few years ago.

The United States has imposed sanctions over the treatment of Putins most high-profile critic, Alexei Navalny, who was nearly killed in a poisoning in 2020 and then imprisoned on old charges of embezzlement.

The United States has warned its embassy in Moscow could stop functioning this year due to a new ban on hiring local staff.

Washington says Moscow has not been reciprocal in the number of US diplomats permitted in Russia, with former local staff counting against the US allotment.

Among other bilateral issues, the United States has warned Putin to crack down on hackers believed to operate in Russia and has longstanding concerns about Russian disinformation campaigns, most notably during the 2016 election in which Putin backed Trump.

The United States has also sought the release of two citizens jailed in Russia, former marine Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed, who was charged with assaulting police officers while drunk.

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The wide points of friction between US and Russia - Macau Business

The city should buckle up early for vaccinated dining-in, though it remains too early to permit border crossings, a government doctor suggested at yesterdays health press briefing.

Public health doctor Leong Iek Hou, division head for prevention and control of contagious disease at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, disclosed that the government is contemplating the possibility of mandating a vaccine bubble requiring people to provide proof of vaccination status before being permitted to enter catering establishments and other venues.

Concerns over when the measure will take effect were raised at the press briefing. The official did not provide a definitive response to these concerns, merely reiterating that the government is considering it as a possibility.

Leong attributed the need for the measure to the transmissibility of the new Omicron variant, stating that she did not dare say that when there is an infection, there is only a single case.

As such, she said that implementing the vaccine bubble measure only after the detection of new case is likely to be too late to be effective.

We wont wait until there is a case to implement the [vaccine bubble] measure, Leong proclaimed.

However, when asked about the need for vaccination for the purposes of border crossing, Leong did not give a direct answer as to whether measures will be put in place.

She stressed again that measures will be put into place according to the development of the pandemic.

If we see full vaccination across Macau, it will not be explicitly required for border crossing, she said. Otherwise, we wont rule out the possibility of the measure.

Individuals who cannot or do not want to receive the vaccine will, when the vaccine bubble measure takes effect, be required to show evidence of negative SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test results in order to enter venues.

In addition, the public health doctor stated for the first time that the existing guidelines and measures are in effect due to the current pandemic. All our disease control measures are in place as per the situation. If the necessity fades, they will be lifted, of course, Leong said.

Leong was also questioned about the compulsory footprint registration measures by a journalist who said that she was asked to register her attendance upon entering the press briefing venue. The journalist said that she was asked to do so at other public venues.

The Health Bureau has reiterated the voluntary nature of footprint registration.

The public health doctor stressed that footprint registration is completely voluntary, stating that staff at public venues should encourage users to register their attendance but cannot force them to do so.

The transmissibilityof omicron

Many reports have suggested that the Omicron variant is more transmissible but ultimately weaker than previous variants.

At the press briefing, Leong agreed that while this was suggested by some studies, the reality of the situation was that the Omicron variant was still a variant of concern notwithstanding the fact that it is a weaker strain.

Looking at the reality across Europe and the US and their respective medical systems, in many places [health systems] are overloaded, she said. What does this mean? It means that a certain number of people require hospitalization, which indicates the occurrence of severe or even fatal cases.

She added that the new variant may cause weaker symptoms but it doesnt mean that we dont need to care about it. The Omicron variant, she said, may still result in severe complications in the unvaccinated, elderly and patients with chronic diseases.

With such strong transmissibility, even a 1% rate of severe cases will shock society in general, Leong said, adding that for the time being, containment tactics will rely on prevention and control.

With that said, the UK announced yesterday that certain restrictions would be lifted despite the widespread incidence of new cases.

Quarantine hoteladded despite ban

Liz Lam Tong Hou, division head of public relations at the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), announced yesterday that the Regency Art Hotel will resume its status today as a self-selected quarantine hotel.

A self-selected quarantine hotel requires the guests to pay for their accommodation regardless of their residency status or whether it is their first time staying at a quarantine hotel in Macau.

The announcement came after the governments decision to ban incoming passengers from foreign flights from January 9. Government officials yesterday defended the need for an extra quarantine hotel.

All quarantine hotels are reportedly fully booked until the Lunar New Year.

Leong said that, although passengers will not enter Macau directly from jurisdictions outside Greater China by flight, they can still fly into mainland China, quarantine there and enter Macau.

Moreover, she initially said that returnees can also consider flying in via Taiwan. However, the islands main international airport in Taoyuan has suspended transit services since May last year.

The official later clarified at the press briefing that she was referring to Macau residents currently located in Taiwan who may enter Macau, as there are still flights flying between the two jurisdictions.

The Health Bureau, stating that it has followed suggestions by the World Health Organization (WHO), encourages individuals receiving the inactivated vaccines for the first two doses to receive an mRNA jab as their booster shot in order to trigger higher antibody levels, Dr Leong Iek Hou said.

However, the practice of receiving the inactivated vaccine as a booster shot for those who have already received inactivated vaccines as their first and second doses will be nevertheless be accepted by the local authorities.

The interval between receiving the second shot and booster shot will be shortened for individuals with an urgent need to travel, who may now receive the booster shot 12 weeks from their second jab.

Prior to the roll-out of the vaccine, it was initially thought that the vaccine would help prevent infection. It was subsequently thought that the vaccine would be able to prevent onset of the disease. The vaccine is now said to only be effective in reducing the number of severe cases and death.

At yesterdays press briefing, Leong addressed the matter of the evolving understanding of vaccine efficacy, admitting for the first time that the use of the vaccine in reality differs from what scientists had initially expected.

She added that despite this, the vaccine is still very useful in avoiding the need for hospitalization, as well as reducing the severity of infection and death. We should hold this belief firmly, Leong said. AL

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Covid-19 | Vaccine proof or negative NAT for restaurants, entertainment venues on the table - Macau Daily Times