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Reuters
6 days ago
- Climate
- Reuters
Sustainable Switch: Devastating Texas floods
July 8 - This is an excerpt of the Sustainable Switch newsletter, where we make sense of companies and governments grappling with climate change, diversity, and human rights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here. Hello, Deadly downpours hit Texas, United States, over the weekend, with a death toll from the catastrophic floods reaching at least 96 people, as the search for girls missing from a summer camp continues. Meanwhile, a powerful typhoon struck southern Taiwan this week, killing two people and injuring more than 630 in a rare hit to the island's densely populated west coast. But before we get into the details of the flooding in Texas, please note that Sustainable Switch will be taking a short summer break, returning on July 24 with all the latest environmental, social, and governance developments. Now, in Texas, as search teams waded through muddy riverbanks and flew aircraft over the state's flood-ravaged central areas on Monday, hopes dimmed of finding survivors among dozens still missing from a disaster that has claimed at least 96 lives, many of them children. Taiwan also experienced extreme downpours as Typhoon Danas lashed the island with record winds and strong rain early on Monday, killing two people and injuring more than 630 in a rare hit to the island's densely populated west coast. The National Fire Agency said one person was killed by a falling tree while driving, and another died after their respirator malfunctioned due to a power cut. What happened in Texas? The flooding in Texas occurred after the nearby Guadalupe River broke its banks after torrential rain on Friday, the U.S. Independence Day holiday. State emergency management officials had warned on Thursday, ahead of the July 4 holiday, that parts of central Texas faced the possibility of flash floods based on National Weather Service forecasts. But twice as much rain, opens new tab as was predicted ended up falling over two branches of the Guadalupe just upstream of the fork where they converge, sending all of that water racing into the single river channel where it slices through Kerrville, City Manager Dalton Rice said. Rice said the outcome was unforeseen and unfolded in a matter of two hours, leaving too little time to conduct a precautionary mass evacuation without the risk of placing more people in harm's way. Among the worst affected was Camp Mystic summer camp, where 700 girls were in residence at the time of the flooding, according to Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Officials confirmed that 27 campers and counselors were among those who had died, while 10 girls and a camp counsellor were still unaccounted for, as search-and-rescue personnel faced the potential of more heavy rains and thunderstorms while clawing through tons of muck-laden debris. Questions over accountability Debates intensified over questions about how state and local officials reacted to weather alerts forecasting the possibility of a flash flood and the lack of an early warning siren system that might have mitigated the disaster. Some experts questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration made it harder for officials to accurately predict the severity of the floods and issue appropriate warnings ahead of the storm. Trump's administration has overseen thousands of job cuts at the National Weather Service's parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, former NOAA director Rick Spinrad said. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Department of Commerce's acting inspector general to investigate whether cuts at the National Weather Service affected its response to central Texas flooding. He asked the watchdog to scrutinize the office's communications with Kerr County officials. On Monday, Patrick vowed that the state would "step up" to pay for installing a flash-flood warning system in Kerrville by next summer if local governments "can't afford it." ESG LENS U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his trade war, telling 14 nations, from powerhouse suppliers such as Japan and South Korea to minor trade players, that they now face sharply higher tariffs from a new deadline of August 1. Trump also threatened leaders of developing nations in the BRICS grouping meeting in Brazil with an additional 10% tariff if they adopt "anti-American" policies. The bloc includes Brazil, Russia, India, and China among others. Click here to sign up for the Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter to keep up with all the latest tariff news. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here.
Reuters
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Sustainable Switch: Europe's rising racism
This is an excerpt of the Sustainable Switch newsletter, where we make sense of companies and governments grappling with climate change, diversity, and human rights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here. Hello, Rising far-right nationalism in Europe and ongoing opposition to diversity policies by U.S. President Donald Trump have fueled a surge in anti-immigration sentiment and acts of racism targeting Black and ethnic communities worldwide. We'll take a look at the shooting in France and the burning of an effigy of a Black player in Spain, which all took place within the same week as an anti-immigration riot in Northern Ireland. Then we will examine the plight faced by teachers in the U.S. who focus on diversity or gender studies, and end with the ongoing legal dispute between a financial watchdog and a mortgage lending company over allegations of racial discrimination. The shooting in France A 45-year-old Tunisian barber Hichem Miraoui was shot by his neighbour at his home in the south of France late in May while chatting on the phone with his mother and sisters. The shooter, Christophe Belgembe, also shot Miraoui's Kurdish neighbour, Akif Badur, in the hand, according to France's anti-terror prosecutor's office, known as PNAT. Belgembe surrendered to police a few hours later and confessed, the PNAT said. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. He posted four videos on Facebook saying that the state was "unable to protect us, unable to send them home", that he had "taken out two or three pieces of shit" and this was only the beginning. Belgembe denied any racist or terrorist motivation, but the PNAT charged him with racially motivated, premeditated murder and attempted murder as part of a terrorist undertaking. The PNAT's move is indicative of a broader shift in France, where the number of jihadist attacks has fallen while racist, xenophobic, or anti-religious crimes are up 11% compared with last year amid growing support for the far-right. The effigy in Spain Four people have received suspended jail sentences of seven to 15 months from a Madrid court after being convicted of a hate crime for hanging an inflatable Black effigy, dressed in the jersey of Black Brazilian soccer star Vinicius Jr., from a bridge before a major soccer match in January 2023. The group also displayed a banner that read "Madrid hates Real." Vinicius Jr. plays for Real Madrid, one of the world's most successful soccer teams, in the country's top professional league. Anti-immigration riots Last week's newsletter included a 'Talking Points' piece on the riots in the Northern Irish town of Ballymena, which first flared after two 14-year-old boys were arrested and appeared in court, accused of a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in the town. The charges were read via a Romanian interpreter to the boys, whose lawyer told the court they denied the charge, the BBC reported. By Thursday, the riots spread to different towns of the British-run province, including Portadown, which is 50 km from the capital, Belfast. Keep scrolling for today's top Talking Points stories on diversity issues in the United States. ESG LENS In keeping with today's theme on migration, the Lens looks at the number of people booked into immigration detention who have been charged only with immigration violations. That number has jumped eightfold since President Donald Trump took office, government data shows, undercutting his anti-crime message. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention statistics show the number of detainees arrested by ICE with no other criminal charges, opens new tab or convictions rose from about 860 in January to 7,800 this month – a more than 800% increase. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here.
Reuters
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Sustainable Switch: The LA protests and the ‘S' in ESG
This is an excerpt of the Sustainable Switch newsletter, where we make sense of companies and governments grappling with climate change, diversity, and human rights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here. Hello, Today's newsletter focuses on the days of unrest seen in California, United States, over President Donald Trump's immigration policies after the White House deployed National Guard troops and 700 Marines to California after days of protests by hundreds of demonstrators against immigration raids. The military and federal enforcement operations have further polarized the United States' two major political parties as Trump, a Republican, threatened to arrest California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, for resisting the federal crackdown. Click here to keep up with all the latest Reuters stories on immigration. California sued the Trump administration to block deployment of the National Guard and the Marines, arguing that it violates federal law and state sovereignty. Los Angeles is also a sanctuary city, which means that it adopts policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, aiming to protect undocumented migrants from deportation. The LA protests intersect with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in several ways – particularly through themes of social justice, human rights, equitable treatment, and workers' rights – all of which are central to the 'Social' pillar of ESG and align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, opens new tab, especially SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions). What happened? For context, the Trump administration sent federal agents who usually hunt down child abusers and diverted them from their regular duties to bolster the president's immigration crackdown, Reuters reported exclusively in March. Click here to re-visit the full story. California National Guard troops and Marines were deployed to the streets of Los Angeles due to the protests which flared up after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers stepped up their raids. Trump pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the U.S.-Mexico border, setting ICE a goal of arresting at least 3,000 migrants a day. Census data suggests a significant number of the population in Democratic-run Los Angeles is Hispanic and foreign-born. The Trump administration's immigration enforcement measures have also included residents who are in the country legally, some with permanent residence, spurring legal challenges. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum criticized the U.S. government over the immigration raids and National Guard deployment. "The phenomenon will not be addressed with raids or violence. It will be by sitting down and working on comprehensive reform," Sheinbaum said at a public event. The last time the military was used for direct police action under the Insurrection Act was in 1992, when the California governor at the time asked President George H.W. Bush to help respond to Los Angeles riots over the acquittal of police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King. Was it legal? Trump has tried to justify the use of the National Guard troops and Marines, saying that the protests interfered with federal law enforcement and framing them as a possible 'form of rebellion' against the authority of the U.S. government. He cited Title 10 of the U.S. Code, a federal law that outlines the role of the U.S. Armed Forces, in his June 7 order to call members of the National Guard into federal service. The law is used if the U.S. is invaded, there is a 'rebellion or danger of rebellion', or the president is 'unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.' Title 10 also says the "orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States." California's lawsuit said the deployment of troops in the state without the governor's consent violates federal law and the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment, which protects states' rights. An 1878 law, the Posse Comitatus Act, generally forbids the U.S. military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to assembly, freedom of speech and the press. Legal experts have said that Trump's decision to have U.S. troops respond to protests is an ominous sign for how far the president is willing to go to repress political speech and activity that he disagrees with or that criticize his administration's policies. ESG Lens Humanitarian crisis: Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel on Tuesday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, the day after the country's navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. The British-flagged yacht, Madleen, which is operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition, had aimed to deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza later on Monday and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis there. Today's Sustainable Switch was edited by Emelia Sithole-Matarise Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here.
Reuters
04-06-2025
- Climate
- Reuters
Sustainable Switch: Deadly floods hit Nigeria, India and Bangladesh
This is an excerpt of the Sustainable Switch newsletter, where we make sense of companies and governments grappling with climate change, diversity, and human rights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here. Hello, Fatal floods have wreaked havoc across Nigeria, India and Bangladesh this week and Romania is dealing with the aftermath of one of its worst floods in 30 years. Meanwhile, in the United States – where hurricane season is underway – the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency left his staff baffled by saying he was unaware that the country has a hurricane season. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security later said the comment was a joke. Countries around the world are experiencing extreme weather events, including in Nigeria, where torrential rains have triggered deadly floods and widespread devastation. Flooding in Nigeria's Niger State this week has killed 151 people and forced several thousand from their homes, an emergency official told Reuters. Ibrahim Audu Hussaini, director of information at the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, said over 500 households had been impacted and more than 3,000 people displaced. Heavy rains in India and Bangladesh In India, at least 34 people have died in the nation's northeastern region after heavy floods caused landslides over the last four days, authorities and media said, and the weather department predicted more heavy rain. More than a thousand tourists trapped in the Himalayan state of Sikkim were being evacuated on Monday, a government statement said, and army rescue teams were pressed into service in Meghalaya state to rescue more than 500 people stranded in flooded areas. In neighbouring Bangladesh, at least four members of a family were killed in a landslide in the northeastern district of Sylhet, while hundreds of shelters have been opened across the hilly districts of Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachhari. Authorities have warned of further landslides and flash floods, urging residents in vulnerable areas to remain alert. Romania's worst floods in 30 years Elsewhere, Romanian officials have been rerouting a stream in central Romania to prevent further flooding of the Praid salt mine, one of Europe's largest salt reserves and a popular tourist attraction, after parts of its floor caved in. Authorities evacuated 45 households near mine areas at risk of collapse after the worst floods in 30 years in the central Romanian county of Harghita. The floods are threatening to destroy the livelihoods of people in the town of Praid who have relied on tourism centred around the salt mine for decades, local authority officials said. FEMA's head unaware of hurricane season And finally, staff of the U.S. disaster agency FEMA were left baffled on Monday after its head David Richardson said he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season, according to four sources familiar with the situation. The remark was made during a briefing by Richardson, who has led FEMA since early May. It was not clear to staff whether he meant it literally, as a joke, or in some other context. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA's parent agency, said the comment was a joke and that FEMA is prepared for hurricane season. The U.S. hurricane season officially began on Sunday and lasts through November. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast last week that this year's season is expected to bring as many as 10 hurricanes. Representative Bennie Thompson, the senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee with oversight of FEMA, issued a statement to Reuters that read: "Suffice to say, disaster response is no joke. If you don't know what or when hurricane season is, you're not qualified to run FEMA. Get someone knowledgeable in there.' ESG Lens Britain needs to cut industrial energy bills that are the highest among major advanced economies if its aspirations for a healthy manufacturing sector are to succeed, industry body Make UK, formerly the Engineering Employers' Federation, said. Britain had the highest industrial energy prices out of any International Energy Agency member country in 2023, reflecting its dependence on gas and its role in setting electricity prices. Today's Sustainable Switch was edited by Alexandra Hudson Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here.
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Sustainable Switch: Trump targets Temporary Protected Status
May 20 - This is an excerpt of the Sustainable Switch newsletter, where we make sense of companies and governments grappling with climate change, diversity, and human rights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here. Hello! Today's newsletter continues to follow the myriad human-rights lawsuits in the United States Supreme Court as President Donald Trump targets migration protections, workers' rights, and diversity, equity and inclusion policies at universities. Let's examine the Supreme Court case in which the justices granted Trump's administration permission to end temporary protected status that his predecessor, Joe Biden, granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States. Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is a program that provides deportation relief and work permits to people already in the U.S. if their home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other extraordinary events. Congress created the program in 1990 after a spike in migrants fleeing civil war in El Salvador. The order from the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, was unsigned, as is typical when it acts on an emergency request. Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole justice to dissent publicly. Restricting birthright citizenship The U.S. Supreme Court also dealt with Trump's attempt to broadly enforce his executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, a move that would affect thousands of babies born each year as the Republican president seeks a major shift in how the U.S. Constitution has long been understood. The court's conservative justices seemed willing to limit the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide, or "universal," injunctions, as federal judges in Maryland, Washington, and Massachusetts did to block Trump's directive. None of the justices, however, signaled an endorsement of Trump's order, and some of the liberals said it violated the Constitution and contradicted the court's own precedents. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she believed Trump's order violated multiple Supreme Court precedents concerning citizenship. Sotomayor said the court should weigh the order's legality "if we are worried about those thousands of children who are going to be born without citizenship papers that could render them stateless" and leave them ineligible for government benefits. Stopping federal workers from unionizing Elsewhere, a federal appeals court lifted an order that blocked the U.S. administration from stripping hundreds of thousands of federal employees of the ability to unionize and collectively bargain over working conditions. The order exempted more than a dozen federal agencies from obligations to bargain with unions. They include the departments of Justice, State, Defense, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services. The union, which represents about 160,000 federal employees, argued the order violates federal workers' labor rights and the Constitution. But the appeals court's majority said the union had failed to show it would suffer the type of irreparable harm that would justify the preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman on April 25. The union and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling. The Trump administration has filed separate lawsuits seeking to invalidate existing union contracts covering thousands of workers. Cracking down on DEI in universities Meanwhile, the United States announced the formation of a new unit that will crack down on federally funded universities that have diversity, equity and inclusion policies using a civil anti-fraud law, the Justice Department said in a memo. The creation of the "Civil Rights Fraud Initiative" marks the latest escalation by the administration of Trump against colleges and universities that it has claimed are pushing antisemitic, anti-American, Marxist, and "radical left" ideologies. Deputy Attorney Todd Blanche wrote in the memo that the new fraud initiative will be co-led by the Civil Division's Fraud Section and the Civil Rights Division. He said that each division would assign a team of attorneys to "aggressively pursue" this work. He also said that each of the country's 93 U.S. Attorneys' offices will be required to tap a prosecutor to contribute to the effort. ESG Lens U.S. tariffs: In keeping with the theme for the Trump administration's executive orders from this year after the U.S. President imposed a blanket tariff of 10% on all global imports. Today's ESG Lens focuses on how global retailers are looking at spreading the cost of U.S. tariffs by raising prices across markets to avoid big hikes in the United States that could hurt sales. Click here for the full Reuters story. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here.
