Hello! Summer has only just begun across the Northern Hemisphere, and Canada and Greece have already had to battle fierce wildfires, while the United States prepares for extreme temperatures caused by a heat dome over the U.S. Plains. This week, hundreds of firefighters have been struggling to contain wildfires at several locations on the Greek island of Chios for a third day after the island declared a state of emergency. Britain has also been experiencing a heat wave, and a rapid analysis by a team of UK scientists found that the extreme heat could result in hundreds of deaths. Separately, a report by the UK Met Office found that extreme heat was now 10 times more likely to happen as it was decades ago. Earlier this month, smoke from Canada's burning forests in its eastern provinces reached the U.S. East Coast. The fires have engulfed 3.7 million hectares of land so far, the second-largest area for this time of year in decades after 2023, federal officials said. Over in the U.S., potentially dangerous temperatures of 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) and above are expected this weekend in parts of the Midwest, including Chicago, before spreading to the Ohio Valley and much of the East Coast towards the start of next week, according to the National Weather Service. Also on my radar today: |
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Firefighters try to tackle a wildfire burning on Chios island, Greece. REUTERS/Konstantinos Anagnostou |
Eight aircraft and 444 firefighters have been deployed to the Greek island of Chios in the northeastern Aegean Sea to tackle the fires that have torn through swathes of forest and agricultural land, forcing hundreds of villagers to evacuate in recent days. Chios is in the midst of the tourist season, and authorities also want to prevent the fires from reaching areas famous for producing mastiha, a natural resin harvested from mastic trees. Authorities issued a new alert on Tuesday, advising residents of a seaside village southwest of Chios town, the island's capital, to leave as white smoke rose over a nearby beach. Livestream from Greece's public broadcaster showed a helicopter spraying water over the area. "A lot of work is still needed to bring the wildfires under control," a Greek fire brigade official told Reuters. Northerly winds were complicating firefighting efforts, they added. |
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Over in the United States, major cities across the U.S. Plains have been preparing for extreme temperatures caused by a heat dome. But what exactly is a heat dome? Well, a heat dome is a ridge of high-pressure air in the upper atmosphere that stalls and traps hot air, while keeping cooler air away even at night. In preparation, Chicago is opening cooling centers across the city, Mayor Brandon Johnson told a news conference. City workers are also checking on people living in homeless camps, urging them to go to a cooling center. "Chicago knows better than any other city in America of the danger of extreme weather, particularly extreme heat," said Johnson, referring to the upcoming 30th anniversary of a heat wave that killed 700 Chicagoans. New York City Mayor Eric Adams urged residents to locate their nearest cooling center, while the city was working to expand their network and distribute safety information to vulnerable residents. Heat advisories were already in effect across cities in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas on Friday, with temperatures in Denver, Colorado, expected to rise to 100 degrees Fahrenheit by 3 p.m. Health experts urged employers to adjust working hours for outdoor laborers, to ensure they had adequate breaks and opportunities for hydration, and to monitor for signs of heat stroke or exhaustion. |
Venezuelan migrants arrive after being deported from U.S., at Simon Bolivar International Airport, in Maiquetia, Venezuela. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria |
- U.S. deportations: The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for President Donald Trump's administration to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own without offering them a chance to show the harms they could face, handing him another victory in his aggressive pursuit of mass deportations.
- Gaza aid: The U.N. human rights office said that the "weaponization" of food for civilians in Gaza constituted a war crime, in its strongest remarks yet on a new model of aid distribution run by an Israeli-backed organisation. At least 410 people have been killed by gunshots or shells fired by the Israeli military while trying to reach distribution sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since it began work in late May, U.N. human rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told a Geneva press briefing.
- LCAW: Click here to catch up on a LSEG show at London Climate Action Week (LCAW) hosted by Axel Threlfall, Editor-at-Large at Reuters. The show brings together influential voices in climate and nature, finance, policy, economics, and business. LCAW runs between June 23 and June 26.
- Workers' rights: The United Auto Workers' leadership is mired in turmoil over allegations of an investment blunder – when funds were liquidated to pay striking workers in 2023 but weren't reinvested under the union's investment policy for more than a year. That cost the union about $80 million in unrealised gains from its financial portfolio, according to seven UAW officials and employees and union documents reviewed by Reuters. Click here for the full Reuters story.
- 'Ten Commandments' in school case: The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans blocked Louisiana from enforcing a law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in all classrooms of the state's public schools and universities, calling the law "plainly unconstitutional". It is a victory for parents and students who accused Louisiana of trampling on their religious rights, and a defeat for Republicans and conservative groups trying to make expressions of faith more prominent in society.
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Keeping people cool is likely to be a much bigger drain on electricity grids and a more pressing power sector challenge than demand from data centres and artificial intelligence, writes Reuters global energy transition columnist Gavin Maguire. Worldwide, data centres and air conditioners are both projected to triple their electricity use over the coming decade and will severely test utilities that are already under strain from aging grids and lengthy backlogs for new supply. Click here for the full column. Enjoying these columns? Check out Reuters Open Interest (ROI), your essential new source for global financial commentary. |
A banner against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos placed by Greenpeace Italy and UK activist group Everyone Hates Elon in St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. REUTERS/Yara Nardi |
A controversial nuptial ceremony takes the focus in today's spotlight as American tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Laura Sanchez are expected to tie the knot in Venice, Italy, this week. Some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating. "The problem is not the wedding, the problem is the system. We think that one big billionaire can't rent a city for his pleasure," Simona Abbate, one of the protesters, told Reuters. One group has plastered banners on the city's famous Rialto Bridge reading "No space for Bezos!" and threatened peaceful blockades, complaining that the medieval and Renaissance city needs public services and housing, not celebrities and over-tourism. Local authorities, however, welcome the extra business the event is expected to bring and have assured Venetians that it would not disrupt their daily lives. |
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Sustainable Switch was edited by Tomasz Janowski. |
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