A driver said he had to break his Tesla’s window to climb out as his vehicle shut down before catching fire in North Vancouver, British Columbia, on May 20.James Lester filmed a video that shows a Tesla car with a broken window at the intersection of Mountain Hwy and Hunter near his distillery. The driver says to Lester that he smelt smoke and that the car’s battery had died before he got out.Moments later, the car catches fire and the firefighters extinguish the flames.“I had to smash the window, I kicked through the window because everything was stuck,” the driver says to an onlooker as he watches the vehicle burn. "The power didn’t work, the door didn’t open, the window didn’t go down. "According to CTV News, Tesla didn’t respond to their request for comment on the incident. Credit: James Lester via Storyful
Heavy rainfall brought flooding to portions of central North Carolina on Monday, May 23.The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a hazardous outlook for the region through Monday night and forecast up to 3 inches of rain.Minor flooding in urban areas would also be possible, the NWS said.This video taken by Kate Gunther Bowers in Burlington shows floodwaters pushing trash cans down a roadway. Credit: Kate Gunther Bowers via Storyful
STORY: At a cemetery outside Mariupol, the Ukrainian port city captured by Russia last week after a brutal three-month siege, a grief-stricken mother is inconsolable.Natalya Voloshina’s only son, Vladimir, was killed on March 26 as he was heading to the basement in the family’s home.NATALYA: “He fell, legs in the air. When the forensic physician examined him, there was a shrapnel wound to his head from a shell.”Vladmir’s Godmother, with Natalya at his grave, also stood in disbelief.“Someone just took aim and fired. Aiming at private residential blocks.”Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Russian forces of targeting civilians, something that Moscow denies.Vladimir, who was 28, had recently graduated from a local naval academy.NATALYA: “He was meant to set sail in February. [FLASH] And then the war started – and for no good reason."Mariupol, a once-bustling port city in southeastern Ukraine, quickly became a target after Russia invaded the country on February 24, in what it calls a special military operation.After a siege that Ukraine says killed tens of thousands, the city fell into Russian hands… and now lies in ruins.An exception being its rows and rows of makeshift wooded crosses, and freshly-dug graves.
Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, addressed an assembly of the World Health Organization by video on May 23, outlining efforts to tackle the psychological impact of war in her country.Zelenska, who was hidden in an undisclosed location for safety after Russia’s invasion began, returned to public view recently when she attended the funeral of Ukraine’s first president, Leonid Kravchuk, in Kyiv on May 17, alongside her husband, current President Volodymyr Zelensky. The two since appeared in a joint television interview, during which Zelenska spoke about being separated from him.On Monday, Zelenska delivered a video address to the World Health Assembly, telling delegates that the war would stay with Ukrainians for years, impacting their mental health.“None of the Ukrainians, neither an adult nor a child, can be sure that they will wake up tomorrow,” said Zelenska. “That the missile will not fly into his house. The doctor cannot be sure that his ambulance will not be bombed on the way to the patient.” Credit: Olena Zelenska via Storyful
STORY: Wall Street rallied on Monday as gains from banks and recently battered tech giants helped U.S. stocks rebound after their longest streak of weekly declines since the dotcom bubble burst.The Dow and S&P 500 each ended nearly 2% higher, while the Nasdaq finished up more than one and a half percent.Some strategists said Monday's rally felt more like a relief rally than a fundamental change in investor sentiment.Omar Aguilar is CEO and chief investment officer of Schwab Asset Management."The market is taking a little bit of a breather from several weeks of high levels of volatility and selling pressure. Investors seem to be a little more calm today and we've seen a little bit of a rally in areas, as companies and the economy starts to just get a little bit more stable and people are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. If you can actually say that.”Tech stocks made the most of Monday's jump, with shares of Apple ending 4% higher, while Microsoft gained more than 3%.Shares of interest rate-sensitive banks shot higher after the largest U.S. lender, JPMorgan Chase, raised its current year interest income outlook. Shares of VMWare rose nearly 25% following reports over the weekend that chipmaker Broadcom was in talks to acquire the cloud service provider. Broadcom's stock dropped 3% on the news.On Friday, the S&P 500 closed dangerously near bear market territory – down 18.7% below its record closing high reached on Jan. 3. If the index closes 20% below the record, that would be the end of the bull market that has dominated Wall Street since the global health crisis began two years ago.
A semi-truck lost its four back wheels after struggling to complete a turn around safety barriers in Doral, Florida, on May 20.Video shared by Jorge L Alvarez documents the large truck struggling to turn as a safety bollard was caught beneath its container, blocking its back wheels. After several attempts to readjust, the driver eventually plows forward, and the truck dramatically loses its hind four wheels in the process.Alvarez told Storyful the incident occurred when he and his coworker arrived to the office in the morning. He added that it took the whole day for the vehicle’s remains to be removed and towed away. Credit: Jorge L Alvarez via Storyful
STORY: Starbucks will exit Russia after nearly 15 years, the company announced on Monday, joining a wave of American companies pulling out of that country in response to the war in Ukraine.Seattle-based Starbucks has 130 stores in Russia, with nearly 2,000 employees in the country.In March, Starbucks shuttered its stores and suspended all business activity in Russia, including the shipment of its products to the country.Monday's decision makes that suspension permanent.Christian Ledoux, the director of investment research at Captrust in San Antonio says with the move unlikely to significantly impact Starbucks' bottom line, the company had no choice."A company in America cannot afford to have a good chunk of its customer base either rebelling or protesting against the company simply because it has less than one percent of its revenues in a country that is going against American values."Starbucks' move comes a week after an even more iconic American company, McDonalds, pulled the plug on its Russian restaurants.On Monday, its trademarked Golden Arches were removed from a store near Moscow.That exit was a far more significant business decision."McDonalds had a much longer history in Russia. Starbucks had only been there for fifteen years, and McDonalds was there basically at the falling of the Berlin Wall. So this is a much bigger investment that McDonalds has made. McDonalds owned the stores in Russia, as well. It was a much more difficult extraction. And it was a much larger percentage of sales. I think it was somewhere in the nine percent range of sales came from Russia. So this is a bigger deal for McDonalds than it was for Starbucks."Starbucks did not provide details on the financial impact of the exit. McDonald's had said it would take a primarily non-cash charge of up to $1.4 billion.
STORY: Tatiana and her fiance, Nikolay, wanted to travel to Turkey after their wedding in June. But like many in Russia - they changed their plans..."We went to a tour agent to book a tour to Turkey. But the tour agent talked us out of it, because now there are a lot of difficulties. Many people return (from package tours), and many of those who travelled there for vacation came back unhappy.""She told us directly that many Ukrainian women work at the hotel (in Turkish resort), and there could be trouble."Russia's invasion of Ukraine - which has killed thousands and displaced 14 million people- has not only prompted international sanctions, but has Russians fearing they could face growing anti-Russian sentiment abroad...Add to that logistical issues and soaring prices ... and it's all made travel abroad for Russians seem next to impossible. Tatiana and Nikolay will now plan to take their holiday in Crimea.In fact, many Russians this summer are expected to opt for domestic travel.MOSCOW RESIDENT, ANASTASIA: "In general, it's a pity that plans to travel abroad, to Europe, and visit a dream city, have been ruined. However, it's always possible to find a great alternative in our country, because we have many beautiful places".In the aftermath of the war in Ukraine- which three months in, Russia still calls a "special military operation" - international sanctions have, among other things, cut into the country's travel industry. Airspace was closed to Russian planes. Travel to Europe is no longer an option for many Russians because of a lack of direct flights. Even when flights are available, the cost of air travel has skyrocketed.And MasterCard and Visa credit cards issued in Russia stopped working abroad.Marina and her husband canceled a trip to London in May, citing increased prices, difficulties with booking and a feeling that she might be confronted with "Russophobia.""In March we saw what was happening, in the first place, with prices; in the second place, it was impossible already to book through Airbnb, because the service was denied. So, it became much harder to find and book apartments. And to be honest, I already felt anxious about what might happen to planes a nd flights in general."She and her husband spent their May holidays in the southwest city of Kazan, and travelled there by car.
STORY: Aguilar said there has been a material shift in consumption from goods to services and that a rebound in travel demand following the pandemic has presented opportunities for investors, suggesting travel-related stocks could rise in value.
The last public pay phone in New York City was removed on Monday, May 23, according to officials.The phone was located at 7th Avenue and 50th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The city began removing the last remaining pay phones in 2015 and replacing them with LinkNYC kiosks, which provide free high-speed Wi-Fi, domestic calling, mobile device, 911, and 311 access, according to official information.On Twitter, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine called it the “end of an era,” adding, “No more fishing in your pockets for quarters.” Credit: LinkNYC via Storyful
STORY: Markets have been roiled in recent weeks by worries about persistently high inflation and aggressive attempts by the Federal Reserve to rein it in while the global economy copes with fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.Market participants could get a hint of the Fed's state of mind when the minutes from its most recent policy meeting are release on Wednesday.
STORY: Schreiber, best known as the star of the Showtime series "Ray Donovan", said that he had been "overwhelmed" by the resilience of the Ukrainian people on visits to the country and that they are "going to win" the war.Schreiber said that "because a lot of people in my industry know that I'm Ukrainian, they were calling me and asking me how they could help or where to donate. And I didn't have a good answer, so I got together with some friends ... and we developed BlueCheck whose concept really is to identify, vet and fast-track financial support to NGOs on the ground in Ukraine, preferably Ukrainian, so that they can get the money where it's needed most."
STORY: Location: Annapolis, MarylandThis is the Navy’s annual Herndon Monument ClimbFreshmen form a human pyramid around the 21-foot granite obeliskwhich is greased with a thick layer of vegetable shorteningThey work together to replace the underclassman’s hat atop the monumentwith an upperclassman’s hatAfter successfully completing the climbthe freshmen are no longer called “plebes”but “fourth class midshipmen”
Strobing lightning illuminated a cloudy night sky above Louisiana, footage recorded from an airplane on May 21 shows.Video recorded by Rachel Nutter captures lightning illuminating an ominous overcast sky as the plane she was on flew over Cotton Valley, Louisiana. The National Weather Service extended a severe thunderstorm watch along the Texas and Louisiana border that night.“The lightning was constant for the entire time we were near the storms,” Nutter told Storyful. Credit: Rachel Nutter via Storyful
A mix of wintry weather included large, fluffy snowflakes in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Monday, May 23, the National Weather Service (NWS) reported.Video released by the NWS shows snow falling at the agency’s office in Cheyenne on Monday morning.“Dynamic precipitation changes this morning here in Cheyenne going from graupel to rain to large snowflakes,” the NWS tweeted.On May 22, NWS Cheyenne reported record low temperatures for several areas including the city of Cheyenne. Credit: NWS Cheyenne via Storyful
STORY: The countries that announced new packages included Italy, Denmark, Greece, Norway and Poland, Austin told reporters following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. Denmark would provide a harpoon launcher and missiles to defend Ukraine's coast, Austin said.The top U.S. military officer, General Mark Milley, told the same press conference that the U.S. was still "a ways away" from any reintroduction of U.S. forces into Ukraine.
A dust storm swept across Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East on Monday, May 23, reducing visibility.Kuwait’s national weather service said that dusty weather and wind speeds exceeding 37 miles per hour were expected on Monday. The dust storm conditions were forecast to continue into the early hours of Tuesday.This timelapse video taken by Twitter user @Ftma_kuw, who said she took it in Kuwait City, shows the dust storm. Credit: @Ftma_kuw via Storyful
STORY: Political and business leaders gathering for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos said the global economy faces a growing list of threats, with some warning of a worldwide recession.Germany's economy minister and vice chancellor Robert Habeck detailed the issues, and said the world should brace for the fallout."I think we have at least four problems or crises right now that are all interwoven. We have high inflation in some of the countries in Europe, in the U.S. and a lot of other countries. We have an energy crisis, you must call it this way. We have food poverty, and we have the climate crisis. And we can't solve the problems if we're only concentrating on only one of the crises. But if none of the problems are solved, I'm really afraid that we are running into a global recession with a tremendous effect not only on climate protection and climate action, but of the global stability at all." The International Monetary Fund last month cut its global growth outlook for the second time this year, citing the war in Ukraine and singling out inflation as a "clear and present danger" for many countries. But key emerging markets, including China, India and Brazil, are still expected to see growth this year, according to the New Development Bank, even if that growth is at a slower pace than previously estimated.
A US Air Force transport plane was called into service on May 22 to deliver 39 tons (78,000 pounds) of baby formula from Europe, part of White House efforts to stanch a domestic supply shortage.This video, released by the US military, shows personnel offloading the C-17 Globemaster III at Indianapolis International Airport on Sunday. The shipment was the first to be sent under “Operation Fly Formula,” which the Biden Administration outlined last week. Alongside the importation plan, the White House also involved the Defense Production Act to prioritize the manufacturing of baby formula in the US. Credit: US Air Force via Storyful
STORY: The World Health Organization said it expects to identify more cases of monkeypox as it expands surveillance in countries where the disease is not typically found.“As surveillance expends, we expect that more cases will be seen,” the WHO's emerging diseases and zoonoses lead and technical lead on COVID-19, Maria van Kerkhove told a social media event.Rosamund Lewis, head of the smallpox secretariat which is part of the WHO Emergencies Program, told the same event that mutations are typically lower with this virus, although genome sequencing of cases will help inform understanding of the current outbreak.The more than 100 suspected and confirmed cases in the recent outbreak in Europe and North America have not been severe, Van Kerkhove, said."This is a containable situation," she said.The outbreaks are atypical, according to the WHO, as they are occurring in countries where the virus does not regularly circulate. Scientists are seeking to understand the origin of the cases and whether anything about the virus has changed.
STORY: She added that, among the major threats to economic growth, the conflict in Ukraine could escalate: "You could have sanctions and counter sanctions."Gopinath said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos that the other challenges included a tightening of interest rates by central banks and a slowdown in Chinese growth."Financial conditions could tighten much more rapidly than we've already seen. And growth in China is slowing," she added.The U.S. Federal Reserve is leading the charge among the largest central banks, with two rate hikes so far this year.Its second, at half a percentage point, was the largest in 22 years. At least two more of that size are expected at coming meetings.International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva also said on Monday said she does not expect a recession for the world's major economies but also cannot rule one out.Asked at a panel at the World Economic Forum whether she expected a recession, Georgieva said: "No, not at this point. It doesn’t mean it is out of the question."The global economic outlook has darkened in the month since the IMF downgraded its 2022 growth outlook because of the war in Ukraine, China's slowdown and global price shocks, particularly for food, she said."In a short period of time...the horizon has darkened."
The last public pay phone in New York City was removed on Monday, May 23, according to officials.The phone was located at 7th Avenue and 50th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The city began removing the last remaining pay phones in 2015 and replacing them with LinkNYC kiosks, which provide free high-speed Wi-Fi, domestic calling, mobile device, 911, and 311 access, according to official informationOn Twitter, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine called it the “end of an era,” adding, “No more fishing in your pockets for quarters.” Credit: Dan Levitan via Storyful
STORY: Infantino made the comments during a World Cup-themed session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.The TV audience for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was a record-breaking 3.5 billion people.The 2022 tournament will be the first held in the Middle East.Infantino added that while soccer had a global gross output of $200 billion, 70% of that was generated in Europe, which illustrated an imbalance with the wider world.Amnesty International and other rights groups last week called on FIFA to set aside $440 million to compensate migrant workers in Qatar for "human rights abuses" during World Cup preparations.In a letter to Infantino, the groups said world soccer's governing body should also work with the host nation to protect the rights of migrant workers in the future.The Qatar government, which has denied the accusations, said it had introduced various reforms in the last five years, including a new national minimum wage and the removal of exit permits.The World Cup will take place between November 21 to December 18 - a marked change to the June-July scheduling for previous editions.
James Kagambi, the first Kenyan to climb Mount Everest and a member of the first all-black group to reach the summit, was welcomed home to his native country on Monday, May 23.Video shows the 62-year-old at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on Monday.Local media reported Kagambi reached the peak on May 12. He was the only non-American member of the team. Credit: @betikake via Storyful
STORY: Lithium mining could be endangering flamingos in ChileThe Atacama desert is home to the bright pink birdswho find much needed hydration from blue pools in the areaThe desert is also rich in lithium the metal used to make batteries for electronic devices and electric vehiclesFlamingo numbers have been fallingA new study links this to the water extracted by lithium mining firms (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CO-AUTHOR OF STUDY IN THE ROYAL SOCIETY'S PROCEEDINGS B JOURNAL, CRISTINA DORADOR, SAYING: “It is the first investigation showing that endemic flamingo populations in the Atacama desert have been affected by lithium extraction, especially considering it in the context of the salt flats’ evaporation, so that flamingo populations have dwindled to around 12% in the last ten years. It is quite relevant because it shows that such an industry lithium exploitation is not sustainable, damaging the ecosystem. In this case, it can be seen in the reduction of flamingo populations."Miners contend their operations do not affect flamingo herds and say the studies are based on unreliable dataThe stand-off underscores growing tensions in Chile over mining's impact on local communities and the environment