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RNZ News
06-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Death toll from Texas floods reaches 67, including 21 children
By Sergio Flores , Rich McKay and Tim Reid , Reuters A volunteer looks for missing people, following severe flash flooding that occured during the 4 July holiday weekend, in Hunt, Texas Photo: RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP The death toll from catastrophic floods in Texas reached at least 67 on Sunday (local time), including 21 children, as the search for girls missing from a summer camp entered a third day. Larry Leitha, the Kerr County Sheriff in Texas Hill Country, the epicentre of the flooding, said the death toll in Kerr County had reached 59, including the 21 children. Leitha said 11 girls and a counselor remained missing from a summer camp near the Guadalupe River, which broke its banks after torrential rain fell in the central Texas area on Friday, the US Independence Day holiday. A Travis County official said four people had died from the flooding there, with 13 unaccounted for, and officials reported another death in Kendall County. The Burnet County Sheriff's office reported two fatalities. A woman was found dead in her submerged car in the city of San Angelo in Tom Green County, the police chief said. Leitha said there were 18 adults and four children still pending identification in Kerr County. He did not say if those 22 individuals were included in the death count of 59. Officials said on Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 38cm of rain across the region, about 140km northwest of San Antonio. It was unclear exactly how many people in the area were still missing. "Everyone in the community is hurting," Leitha told reporters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was activated on Sunday and is deploying resources to first responders in Texas after President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. United States Coast Guard helicopters and planes are helping the search and rescue efforts, DHS said. Trump has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government's role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves. A road sign lays among debris after flash flooding tore through the area on 6 July, 2025 in Hunt, Texas. Photo: JIM VONDRUSKA / AFP Some experts questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by the Trump administration, including to the agency that oversees the National Weather Service, led to a failure by 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 from the National Weather Service's parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , leaving many weather offices understaffed, said former NOAA director Rick Spinrad. He said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of advance warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but that they would inevitably degrade the agency's ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees NOAA, said a "moderate" flood watch issued on Thursday by the National Weather Service had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman from Texas, told CNN's State of the Union that fewer personnel at the weather service could be dangerous. "When you have flash flooding, there's a risk that if you don't have the personnel... to do that analysis, do the predictions in the best way, it could lead to tragedy," Castro said. The 11 missing girls and the counselor were from the Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls camp, which had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood. Katharine Somerville, a counselor on the Cypress Lake side of Camp Mystic, on higher ground than the Guadalupe River side, said her 13-year-old campers were scared as their cabins suffered damage and lost power in the middle of the night. "Our cabins at the tippity top of hills were completely flooded with water. I mean, y'all have seen the complete devastation, we never even imagined that this could happen," she said in an interview on Fox News on Sunday. She said the campers in her care were put on military trucks and evacuated, and that all were safe. More rain was expected in the area on Sunday. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for Kerr County until 1pm local time. The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as nine metres. A day after the disaster struck, the summer camp was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least 1.83 m from the floor. Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside. Some buildings had broken windows, one had a missing wall. Somerville, who attended Camp Mystic as a child, lauded longtime camp director Richard "Dick" Eastland, who died while trying to save girls at the camp, according to local media reports. - Reuters
Business News Wales
04-07-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
UKEF Announces Enhanced Business Support to Improve International Trade
Smaller businesses are set to benefit from extra support to maximise orders from international buyers. UK Export Finance (UKEF) has enhanced its export insurance with a new Small Export Builder option, making export protection more accessible to smaller businesses seeking financial security when trading internationally. The department is also introducing a 'Repeat Order Guarantee' so international buyers can easily keep accessing goods and services from their most trusted UK suppliers of all sizes and in a more streamlined way without the need of repeated applications, reducing red tape for business. It says this will help businesses to plan ahead and give greater assurance to UK-based supply chains. Trade Minister Douglas Alexander said: 'This new hard-headed, data driven, and agile approach to trade policy is guided by our pragmatic patriotism. In this changed and challenging world, we will promote what we can and protect what we must to advance the UK's national interest. 'With its larger £80 billion remit, UKEF takes a central role in helping the government to achieve its trade objectives, and support exporters to fulfil orders, create jobs and get paid.' UK Export Finance CEO Tim Reid added: 'We're focused on delivering measurable impact for our customers, placing their needs at the heart of everything we do. 'UKEF supports businesses through providing financing, guarantees and insurance to support UK exports. We continue to focus on making our products more accessible and easier to use. 'Our updated insurance offer and Repeat Order Guarantee are fantastic additions to our portfolio and underscore our efforts to support long-term export growth.' The measures are announced ahead of UKEF's 2024/25 annual report and accounts which will be published soon. The results will build on the 2023/24 financial year in which UKEF provided over £8.8 billion of support to 650 businesses, supported up to 41,000 jobs in communities around the whole UK and the contribution of up to £3.3 billion to the overall economy.
Daily Maverick
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Immigration raids leave crops unharvested, California farms at risk
By Tim Reid, Pilar Olivares, Sebastian Rocandio and Leah Douglas Tate knows the farms around her well. And she says she can see with her own eyes how raids carried out by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the area's fields earlier this month, part of President Donald Trump's migration crackdown, have frightened off workers. 'In the fields, I would say 70% of the workers are gone,' she said in an interview. 'If 70% of your workforce doesn't show up, 70% of your crop doesn't get picked and can go bad in one day. Most Americans don't want to do this work. Most farmers here are barely breaking even. I fear this has created a tipping point where many will go bust.' In the vast agricultural lands north of Los Angeles, stretching from Ventura County into the state's central valley, two farmers, two field supervisors and four immigrant farmworkers told Reuters this month that the ICE raids have led a majority of workers to stop showing up. That means crops are not being picked and fruit and vegetables are rotting at peak harvest time, they said. One Mexican farm supervisor, who asked not to be named, was overseeing a field being prepared for planting strawberries last week. Usually he would have 300 workers, he said. On this day he had just 80. Another supervisor at a different farm said he usually has 80 workers in a field, but today just 17. BAD FOR BUSINESS Most economists and politicians acknowledge that many of America's agricultural workers are in the country illegally, but say a sharp reduction in their numbers could have devastating impacts on the food supply chain and farm-belt economies. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a Republican and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said an estimated 80% of farmworkers in the U.S. were foreign-born, with nearly half of them in the country illegally. Losing them will cause price hikes for consumers, he said. 'This is bad for supply chains, bad for the agricultural industry,' Holtz-Eakin said. Over a third of U.S. vegetables and over three-quarters of the country's fruits and nuts are grown in California, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The state's farms and ranches generated nearly $60 billion in agricultural sales in 2023. Of the four immigrant farmworkers Reuters spoke to, two are in the country illegally. These two spoke on the condition of anonymity, out of fear of being arrested by ICE. One, aged 54, has worked in U.S. agricultural fields for 30 years and has a wife and children in the country. He said most of his colleagues have stopped showing up for work. 'If they show up to work, they don't know if they will ever see their family again,' he said. The other worker in the country illegally told Reuters, 'Basically, we wake up in the morning scared. We worry about the sun, the heat, and now a much bigger problem – many not returning home. I try not to get into trouble on the street. Now, whoever gets arrested for any reason gets deported.' To be sure, some farmworker community groups said many workers were still returning to the fields, despite the raids, out of economic necessity. The days following a raid may see decreased attendance in the field, but the workers soon return because they have no other sources of income, five groups told Reuters. Workers are also taking other steps to reduce their exposure to immigration agents, like carpooling with people with legal status to work or sending U.S. citizen children to the grocery store, the groups said. ICE CHILL Trump conceded in a post on his Truth Social account this month that ICE raids on farm workers – and also hotel workers – were 'taking very good, long-time workers away' from those sectors, 'with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.' Trump later told reporters, 'Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers.' He added, 'They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be great.' He pledged to issue an order to address the impact, but no policy change has yet been enacted. Trump has always stood up for farmers, said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly in response to a request for comment on the impact of the ICE raids to farms. 'He will continue to strengthen our agricultural industry and boost exports while keeping his promise to enforce our immigration laws,' she said. Bernard Yaros, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics, a nonpartisan global economics advisory firm, said in a report published on June 26 that native-born workers tend not to fill the void left by immigrant workers who have left. 'Unauthorized immigrants tend to work in different occupations than those who are native-born,' he said. ICE operations in California's farmland were scaring even those who are authorized, said Greg Tesch, who runs a farm in central California. 'Nobody feels safe when they hear the word ICE, even the documented people. We know that the neighborhood is full of a combination of those with and without documents,' Tesch said. 'If things are ripe, such as our neighbors have bell peppers here, (if) they don't harvest within two or three days, the crop is sunburned or over mature,' said Tesch. 'We need the labor.'
The National
23-06-2025
- Business
- The National
How UK-Gulf free-trade agreement could transform global commerce
No obstacles are in the way of the UK and GCC negotiations for a free-trade agreement, according to Britain's chief negotiator who said the two sides are "hard at work" on bringing the deal into place. Tom Wintle was speaking at the Arab-British Economic Summit in London on Monday. Three years of deliberations have convinced Tim Reid, chief executive of UK Export Finance, that there are "real opportunities" for more UK collaboration with the Arab world. "There are lots of challenges in the world today, but forgive me, I'm going to focus principally on the opportunities," he told the event at the Hilton London Metropole. The region's big sporting events was one area where Britain could bring "expertise in clean growth and renewable energy", Mr Reid said. The agreement would send a "political signal" for both sides that there is trust in "valued partners". It would also make specific provisions for investors. An FTA would help to "reduce the administrative burden" for travel in both directions between the UK and the Gulf. A former Egyptian trade minister has said a new basis of commerce could lead to a wider transformation of the economic relationship. Khaled Hanafy, currently head of the Union of Arab Chambers, said mutual trust was needed to address the challenges of war, climate change and rapid digitalisation, 'towards a transformative model that focuses more innovation, sustainability and human capital". 'The future needs a different way of understanding, a different way of trust, a different way of mingling in the human capital between the two sides," Mr Hanafy added. "We are here today to say that we need to reconsider our economic relationship, to revisit the model." The event, which drew hundreds of businesspeople operating between the UK and the Arab world, was mired in concerns over the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, which could disrupt trade and shipping routes in the Arabian Gulf. The UK has expressed support for the US's air strikes on Iran but Arab countries are wary of further escalation. Though trade from Arab countries with the UK has reached a about £72 billion ($97 billion), the political uncertainty in the Middle East signals the need for a different model, Mr Hanafy said. 'In our region, in the Arab countries, we believe that we have to change the [economic] model of dealing with others, specifically with the UK,' he said. 'We should not keep just focusing on targeting each other's market. This is the past. The future is different and the last few weeks have shown that we need to do something different. 'We are facing challenges … facing geopolitical realignments that might affect everybody and everybody's business as well."
Straits Times
22-06-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
In Los Angeles' Little Persia, US strikes on Iran met with celebration
A U.S flag hangs in a street of Los Angeles' \"Little Persia\" where about 500,000 Iranian-Americans live, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 21, 2025. REUTERS/Tim Reid A sign calling for the overthrow of the Islamic government in Iran is placed behind glass in a bookstore in an Iranian-American area of Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 22, 2025. REUTERS/Tim Reid In Los Angeles' Little Persia, US strikes on Iran met with celebration - and angst LOS ANGELES - In the cafes and restaurants of Little Persia, a Los Angeles enclave of about half a million Iranian-Americans, hatred for Iran's Islamic government is red hot and widely felt. What's less agreed upon is whether American and Israeli forces should have launched strikes on nuclear and military facilities in Iran, including the dropping of 30,000-pound U.S. bunker-busting bombs ordered by President Donald Trump on Saturday. Within this huge Iranian diaspora in western Los Angeles, the largest Persian community outside Iran, Iranian Jews interviewed by Reuters said they are all in on Israeli and U.S. bombing raids, and want to see more. Iranian Muslims in the area - also called Little Tehran or Tehrangeles - were more ambivalent, with many suspicious of Israel and wary of America getting embroiled in another Middle Eastern conflict. Most of the two dozen people who spoke to Reuters did not want their full names published or their pictures taken, such is their fear of the Islamic Republic led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. All still have relatives there. Reza, a 38-year-old college professor who left Iran 15 years ago, says he received a call from an Iranian official last year from his sister's mobile phone. He was told that if he did not stop publishing anti-Islamic Republic posts on his social media accounts, his sister could be in danger. "It's a very sensitive topic. I am definitely happy Israel and the U.S. are destroying their nuclear program. I don't trust the Iranian regime having access to nuclear technology," said Reza, an Iranian Muslim. "But I'm also sad for my family there. The people are suffering. It's a very scary time. And I do not like the U.S. getting involved in another war." Three blocks away, outside a Starbucks coffee shop, seven men, mostly Iranian Jews, were discussing the war between Israel and Iran, now in its second week, and the bombing of three nuclear sites by the U.S. on Saturday. The world braced on Sunday for Iran's response after the U.S. joined Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution. Outside the Starbucks, the mood was celebratory. "This regime should not exist anymore, they torture their own people, they put their own people in prison. These mullahs are causing problems all across the Middle East and the world," said Shawn, 72, a mortgage broker. Iran has so far not followed through on its threats of retaliation against the United States and has said it will consider all possible responses. Iran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful and its U.N. Ambassador has accused Israel and the U.S. of destroying diplomacy. Sol, 58, who left Iran in 1983 and has relatives in Iran and Israel, said the group outside Starbucks had been celebrating since Israel began striking Iran earlier this month. "Israel is doing a very good job. God Bless them," he said. "We want those mullahs out!" Roozbeh, 48, a mechanical engineer who left Iran in 2007, said he was worried about his parents and two brothers still in Iran and had just spoken to them. "They are in the north. Israel bombed it for the first time yesterday," he said. "I hope the Israeli military action will bring down the regime, of course." Younger Iranian-Americans also expressed their hatred for the Islamic Republic - but were far more skeptical about Israeli and U.S. strikes on the country. Raha, 33, was born in the U.S. Her parents fled Iran during the 1979 revolution, which led to the overthrow of the U.S.-backed government and the creation of the Islamic Republic. Raha has visited relatives in Iran about 10 times. On one visit she says she had an encounter with the "morality police," because her hijab headdress had slipped. She recalled the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian who died in a hospital in Tehran, the Iranian capital, after being arrested for not wearing her hijab in accordance with the Islamic government's standards. Raha said she and her friends celebrated when an Israeli strike killed the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps this month. "That's a good thing. We want them all down," Raha said. "I absolutely want to see the regime in Iran fall." REUTERS Check out ST's Food Guide for the latest foodie recommendations in Singapore.
