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Sydney flights affected by heavy rain, winds and flood alert
The Australian weather bureau has warned that a low-pressure system off the coast could cause flash flooding to occur in certain parts of Australia's southeast. The Sydney Airport website shows that Qantas Airways has cancelled 11 domestic flights from Sydney, and Virgin Australia 12 flights. No international flights were affected. Virgin Australia sent an email to say that the weather conditions in Sydney and Newcastle had affected some services. The Bureau of Meteorology in Australia said that wind gusts of 125 kph, or 78 mph, may be experienced in Sydney's coastal areas later on Tuesday. Rainfall of 120 mm, which is roughly the average for July, can also fall in certain places within six hours. Gabrielle Woodhouse, a weather bureau forecaster, told reporters that the system was "quite dynamic and quite vigorous" and they expected conditions to worsen through the afternoon. This means we are at a higher risk of flash floods and the potential for heavy falls over a short time period. Woodhouse stated that the weather system will shift into the Tasman Sea and then ease off by Thursday. The state's emergency services have reported that more than 1,000 volunteers were mobilised to respond to this weather event. Renju Jose, Sydney; Jamie Freed, editing)
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France and Spain agree to tax private jets and premium flyers
On Monday, a group of countries, including France, Kenya and Spain, pledged to tax private jets and premium-class flights in order to raise money for climate action. Despite the fact that many wealthy nations are reducing their official development assistance to developing countries and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, others have looked for new funding sources, such as taxing polluting industry. The announcement made on the first day of the U.N. Development Summit in Seville, Spain was the first from the "Sevilla Platform for Action", which aims to implement the new global financing framework that had been agreed before the event. In a press release, the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's office stated that "the aim is to improve green taxation as well as foster international solidarity through more progressive and harmonised taxes systems." The Global Solidarity Levies Task Force announced that the European Commission will provide technical support to the initiative. Sierra Leone, Benin and Antigua-Barbuda were also co-signatories. In November 2023, the task force will be launched to investigate new forms of taxation to support developing countries in their efforts to decarbonise themselves and protect themselves from climate change. In a recent task force report, they said that in addition to an aviation tax that could raise billions, other sectors could be taxed, including shipping, oil and gasoline, cryptocurrency, and the super-rich. Kenyan President William Ruto stated that "many of these ideas are not novel, as other countries have had levies like this." What we need is political will. We can't keep on talking about the need for change without actually implementing it. "The world is watching, and it expects real results." Rebecca Newsom, of the environmentalist group Greenpeace, called the move an "important step" towards making sure that those who abuse this sector and are not taxed fairly pay their fair share. She said that it was "obvious", the next step, to hold oil and natural gas companies accountable. Reporting by David Latona from Seville, and Simon Jessop from London; editing by Mark Potter and Paul Simao
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Trump administration sues Los Angeles over immigration enforcement
On Monday, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles over city policies that limit city cooperation with federal authorities. This is part of a larger battle over Republican deportation attempts in a city dominated by Democrats. The U.S. Justice Department filed the lawsuit alleging that city policies prohibiting resources from assisting in immigration enforcement or collecting information on individuals' citizenship status are illegal under federal law. Chad Mizelle said in a social media post that the federal immigration laws will be enforced in Los Angeles regardless of whether the city government or residents are on board. "We will not tolerate interference in the federal government's duty of enforcing the law." The lawsuit was filed just weeks after Trump sent troops from the California National Guard to Los Angeles to quell anti-deportation protests. The demonstrations, which were limited to one section of Los Angeles, included instances of property destruction, looting and attacks against law enforcement. A spokesperson for Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass didn't immediately respond to an inquiry about the lawsuit. California officials, such as Bass, have accused Trump of inflaming tensions, and aggravating a situation that local authorities were able to control. The complaint was the latest example of the Justice Department, under Trump, challenging the so-called sanctuary policies that prohibit local jurisdictions from sharing or participating in raids on immigration. The lawsuit claims that Los Angeles' policies sparked the confrontations which led to this week's protests. This was after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided workplaces throughout the city. Reporting by Jasper Ward, Andrew Goudsward and Sandra Maler; editing by Scott Malone and Sandra Maler
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France, Spain and others agree to tax private jets and premium flyers
On Monday, a group of countries, including France, Kenya and Spain, pledged to tax private jets and premium-class flights in an effort to raise money for climate action. Many richer countries are reducing their official development assistance to developing nations, even though extreme weather events are increasing in frequency. Some of these nations have looked for new sources of funding, such as taxing polluting industry. The "Sevilla Platform for Action", which aims to implement the global financing framework that was agreed upon before the event, made the announcement on the first day of the U.N. Development Summit in Seville, Spain. The office of Spanish Premier Pedro Sanchez released a press release that stated, "The goal is to improve green taxation as well as foster international solidarity through the promotion of more progressive and harmonised fiscal systems." It added that the European Commission will provide technical assistance to the initiative, which has been co-signed by Sierra Leone and Benin, as well as Somalia. The Global Solidarity Levies Task Force was launched in November 2023. Its aim is to investigate new taxation methods that can help developing countries to reduce their carbon footprint and to protect themselves from the effects of climate change. In a recent task force report, it was stated that in addition to an aviation tax that could raise billions, other sectors could be taxed, including shipping, oil and natural gas, cryptocurrency, and the super rich. Rebecca Newsom, of the environmentalist group Greenpeace, called the move an "important step" towards making sure that those who abuse this sector and are not taxed fairly pay their fair share. She said that the next "obvious step" was to hold oil companies accountable. Reporting by David Latona from Seville, and Simon Jessop from London. Mark Potter edited the story.
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US Senate bill's clean-energy cuts spark backlash from business, labor
Since they were announced over the weekend, the U.S. Senate has been criticized for its proposed cuts to clean-energy subsidies and introduction of a tax on wind and sun energy. Elon Musk, a Trump ally, also took a shot at the senators as they began voting on Monday on the long list of possible amendments. This gave renewable energy supporters on both sides of politics a final window to make changes. In a weekend post on X, Neil Bradley, the policy director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said, "Taxing the production of energy is never a good policy. "Electricity consumption is expected to grow at a rapid rate & the tax will raise prices." It should be removed." "This would be incredibly damaging to America!" Musk said in a post on X that the cuts would be detrimental to the development of artificial intelligence, which is energy-hungry. Trump said that he plans to maximize U.S. Energy production with a special focus on fossil fuels. This is partly to ensure that the AI industry has enough power to grow. He has promised to eliminate subsidies for renewables. The Senate bill would repeal incentives for wind, battery, solar and other clean technologies that were created by President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation reduction Act. It would also add a tax to these projects if the companies cannot prove they are not made with Chinese components. These provisions were more harsh on credits than either the Senate version or even the House version. On Monday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright seemed to dismiss warnings of a loss in generation capacity due to soaring demand. He posted the following on social media: "The more intermittent generation we add to our grid, the worse it performs at times of peak demand." The One Big Beautiful Bill is designed to end the wasteful subsidy system and provide more reliable energy for Americans. The grid operator in Texas, ERCOT, said last week at its Board of Directors' meeting that the The grid is in a strong state The new generation of solar energy and batteries has made it possible to be "ready for extreme weather challenges" this summer. JOB LOSSES AND HIGHER BILLS Sean McGarvey of the North America’s Building Trades Unions, which represents more than 3 million construction workers in the United States, has criticized the bill’s impact on the jobs. If passed, it would be the largest job-killing law in the history this country. It is equivalent to terminating 1,000 Keystone XL projects, he said, referring an oil pipeline project that was blocked by Biden’s administration. The bill was also attacked on the Senate floor by Republican Senator Thom Tillis, of North Carolina. He is one of the two Republicans that voted against it. Tillis has said that he will not run for reelection after Trump criticized him for voting against a motion to advance the Bill. He said, "You have created a blip on the power service because there won't be a generator powered by gas anytime soon." Tillis, a consultant in the utility industry, said that the bill ignored the reality of data centers' soaring power demand. Brian Schatz is a Democratic senator from Hawaii who also spoke out against the impact of the bill. This bill will raise prices. He said that the 500-GW of energy we'll need in the next decade to meet the rising demand is exactly what we'll need. He said: "You don't need to be an environmentalist or a fan of clean energy to realize that this is fundamentally a question of supply-and-demand." (Reporting and Editing by Margueritachoy)
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As Europe suffers an early heatwave, thousands of people flee the wildfires in Turkey
Firefighters fought wildfires on Monday in Turkey and France and evacuated more than 50,000 Europeans as a heatwave early this summer hit Europe. France, Spain and Portugal all issued health alerts. Even the Netherlands, which is used to a more mild climate, has issued a warning about high temperatures and high humidity in the next few days. Samantha Burgess is the Strategic Lead for Climate Change at EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. She said: "Large areas of Western Europe experience extreme heat and conditions that normally occur in July or August rather than June." She said that temperatures were 5-10 degrees Celsius higher in some places than what they should have been for this time of year. Ibrahim Yumakli, the Forestry Minister in Turkey, said that wildfires continued to rage for a second consecutive day in Izmir province, which was fanned on by strong winds. Turkey's AFAD emergency response authority reported that more than 50,000 people were evacuated, including 42,000 from Izmir. Scientists say that climate change has caused the summers to become hotter and dryer, resulting in wildfires along Turkey's coast. Wildfires broke out in France on Sunday, when temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius. (104 degrees Fahrenheit). They burned 400 hectares, forcing an evacuation of both a camping and abbey. Authorities said Monday that the fires had been brought under control, but were not yet out. Meteo France, the weather service in France, placed a record number of 84 out of 101 departments under orange heatwave warnings from Monday to midweek. WESTERN EUROPE BAKES Heat was a problem for everyone, from tennis spectators at the All England Club in London to tourists in Rome at the Colosseum and Seville, Spain. Scott Henderson, a tennis fan from Scotland who was attending Wimbledon, said: "I'm sunburnt everywhere." The national weather service AEMET has said that Spain is on track to have its hottest ever June. Ruben delCampo, spokesperson for the weather service, said that intense heat would continue to be felt in Spain over the next few days. Temperatures reached 42 C in Seville, south Spain, where world leaders were gathered to attend a United Nations Conference. Bernabe Rufo, a municipal worker, said "It is awful" as he was cleaning a fountain. We need to look for shade all the time. El Granado recorded the highest temperature of 43.7 C. The Health Ministry in Italy issued red alerts on heatwaves for 16 Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, and Florence. According to its president, the Lombardy Region, which is part of Italy's industrial heartland in northern Italy, plans to ban outdoor work during the hottest time of the day. This follows a union request. CONSUMERS URGED TO REDUCE WATER USE Heat warnings were also in effect on Monday across many parts of Germany's western and southwest regions, with temperatures reaching up to 34 C. Authorities urged consumers to reduce their water consumption. Commodity traders claim that the heatwave has caused the Rhine River to be lower, causing shipping problems and increasing freight costs. The heatwave has led to a spike in German and French baseload electricity prices on Tuesday. Heat can have a variety of health effects, but experts are particularly concerned for the elderly, babies, outdoor workers, and those who are struggling financially. Swiss Re stated earlier this month that extreme heat deaths worldwide are up to 488,000 people per year, exceeding the total toll of floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes. It also poses increasing risks to infrastructure, economy, and healthcare systems. Scientists believe that the burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of climate changes. The planet was at its hottest ever last year. (Additional reporting by Emma Pinedo, Alvise Armillini, Guillermo Martinez, Nina Chestney, Anthony Deutsch, Rachel More, and Rachel More, in Berlin. Writing by Ingrid Melander, Michele Kambas, and Janet Lawrence.
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Enbridge challenges the venue of Michigan's pipeline case before the US Supreme Court
Enbridge filed a motion on Monday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the location of a Michigan lawsuit that sought to force Enbridge to cease operating a pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac (waterways connecting two of the Great Lakes) due to environmental concerns. The Justices heard Enbridge's appeal against a lower court ruling that rejected the company's request for the case to be moved from state court to federal court. Federal court is generally more favorable to defendants. The Supreme Court will hear the case during its next session, which begins in October. Enbridge, based in Calgary, has been involved in a longstanding dispute with Michigan regarding the Line 5 pipeline. The pipeline, which is aging, transports 540,000 barrels of crude oil and refined products per day from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia (Ontario). Environmentalists are worried about an oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac (which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron). A section of this aging pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac is four miles long. The 6th U.S. The Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that Enbridge waited far too long before attempting to remove the lawsuit brought by Democratic Attorney-General Dana Nessel on June 19, 2019 to federal court. It tried to do this in November 20,21. The lawsuit was filed to stop Enbridge from operating Line 5 due to violations of environmental and public nuisance laws. In court papers, Nessel's Office described the 6th Circuit ruling as the right result in an Enbridge case where the deadline for transferring the litigation from state court to federal court was missed by over two years. Enbridge's attorneys in a petition filed with the Supreme Court stated that the 6th Circuit ruling had added to the split among the regional U.S. appellate courts on whether the judiciary could create exceptions to a 30-day limit for cases filed in state courts to be removed to federal court. Enbridge, in a statement to the Supreme Court, said that this split had created an untenable uncertainty within the law which resulted defendants in certain parts of the nation being subject to a strict deadline whereas others were not. Last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said that it expected to make a final decision on Enbridge's plan to build a pipeline tunnel in this fall. Enbridge's Line 5 Project received an emergency designation in April after President Donald Trump declared that a national energy crisis had occurred. This gave the Army Corps the power to expedite its review of the Line 5 Project. Nessel filed a lawsuit in Ingham County state court. In November 2022, while the case was still being litigated in state court, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (a Democrat) revoked the easement which allowed the pipeline's operation and filed a suit to enforce that revocation. Enbridge was successful in getting this case transferred from the state court to the federal court. They argued that Whitmer’s state-law demands raised federal questions relating to foreign affairs, and that they were potentially preempted under the federal Pipeline Safety Act as well as the Submerged Lands Act. Whitmer's request to have the case remanded to state court for November 2021 was rejected by a federal judge. Enbridge moved a month after that order to transfer Nessel's previous lawsuit to federal court. Enbridge claimed it could transfer the lawsuit 887 days after Nessel filed suit based on a statute that governs case removals. This allows a case be removed 30 day after an order which determines if a case can be heard in federal courts.
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US Supreme Court dismisses American Airlines' appeal of the ruling that bars JetBlue alliance
The U.S. Supreme Court denied on Monday the request of American Airlines that a court decision overturning a ruling that found that American Airlines' now-scrapped U.S. Northeast Partnership with JetBlue Airways had violated federal antitrust laws. The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from American Airlines against a lower-court decision that was made in a case brought by the U.S. Justice Department. This lawsuit led to the demise of the "Northeast Alliance" which would have enabled the two carriers coordinate flights and pool revenues. American Airlines described the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case as disappointing. It had argued the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston's ruling was wrong. Circuit Court of Appeals embraced a hostile attitude towards collaboration between businesses, and invalidated a venture that increased competition in the market. American Airlines released a statement saying that the Northeast Alliance was created to increase competition in the Northeast and to expand the options for customers. It was able to do this during the period it was permitted to operate. American Airlines, the largest airline in the United States, and JetBlue, which is the sixth largest, have teamed up to fly into and out of New York City, Boston and coordinating their schedules, while also pooling revenues. The 1st Circuit's ruling in November came as a result of a lawsuit that the Justice Department, along with six other states, filed in 2021 during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. Under Biden's administration, the Justice Department gave a high priority to boosting airline competition and enforced U.S. Antitrust laws aggressively. The Justice Department, under Republican President Donald Trump, continued to defend government's win in the American Airlines/JetBlue case despite a change of administrations. The alliance was announced by the U.S. Transportation Department in July 2020, and approved just a few days before Trump's first term ended in January 2021. The Justice Department claimed that the alliance would harm consumers by removing incentives for American Airlines to lower prices in order to attract customers away from JetBlue, an historically disruptive competitor with low fares. In Boston, U.S. district judge Leo Sorokin sided with Justice Department in 2023 and found that the alliance was illegal. JetBlue ended the alliance after Sorokin’s ruling. It was trying to gain approval for its now-rejected $3.8 billion purchase of Spirit Airlines. Biden’s Justice Department had also successfully challenged the deal. American Airlines filed an appeal, however, because it said the ruling would prevent them from entering into a similar arrangement in the future, including one with JetBlue. The 1st Circuit, however, upheld Sorokin’s decision. (Reporting and editing by Will Dunham in Boston, with Nate Raymond reporting from Boston)
Panama Canal boss warns MSC ports deal could threaten neutrality
According to the Financial Times, Ricaurte Vasquez, head of the Canal Authority, the sale of two Panama Canal ports to a global group led by Mediterranean Shipping Company threatens the principle of neutrality of the canal.
Vasquez, in a Tuesday report by the FT, said that there is a risk of a concentration of capacity if the deal is structured the way we currently understand it.
If there is a high concentration of terminal operators that are part of a single integrated shipping company or if they belong to merely one, this will affect the competitiveness of Panama on the market. This is incompatible with neutrality.
MSC is one the top container shipping companies in the world. MSC and Panama Canal Authority didn't immediately respond to our request for comments.
CK Hutchison announced last month that MSC was owned by the Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte's family and the group seeking to purchase 43 ports including two in Panama for $22.8 billion.
Clarification comes after weeks of criticism and scrutiny in China regarding CK Hutchison’s plan to sell ports to a group led by U.S. Investment firm BlackRock. BlackRock is still part of the group.
After the announcement, Donald Trump, the U.S. president has expressed his desire for a reduction of Chinese influence in the Panama Canal region and called the proposed sale a "reclaiming of the waterway".
In April, China’s top market regulator stated that it was closely monitoring CK Hutchison’s planned sale. It also said that the parties to the transaction should not attempt to avoid an antitrust investigation.
Vasquez said that the canal could use the deal with the ports to become its own terminal operator by reactivating the project to build a port in Corozal, at the Pacific end of canal. (Reporting and editing by KanjyikGhosh; Muralikumar Anantharaman & Kate Mayberry).
(source: Reuters)