What is a heat dome? An atmospheric scientist explains the weather phenomenon baking Texas and forecast to expand

William Gallus, Professor of Atmospheric Science, Iowa State University
Updated Tue, June 27, 2023 

THE CONVERSATION

A heat dome sat over Texas and its neighbors for more than two weeks starting in June 2023, with warm nights providing little relief. National Weather Service

A heat dome occurs when a persistent region of high pressure traps heat over an area. The heat dome can stretch over several states and linger for days to weeks, leaving the people, crops and animals below to suffer through stagnant, hot air that can feel like an oven.

Typically, heat domes are tied to the behavior of the jet stream, a band of fast winds high in the atmosphere that generally runs west to east.

Normally, the jet stream has a wavelike pattern, meandering north and then south and then north again. When these meanders in the jet stream become bigger, they move slower and can become stationary. That’s when heat domes can occur.

Heat domes involve high-pressure areas that trap and heat up the air below. NOAA

When the jet stream swings far to the north, air piles up and sinks. The air warms as it sinks, and the sinking air also keeps skies clear since it lowers humidity. That allows the sun to create hotter and hotter conditions near the ground.

If the air near the ground passes over mountains and descends, it can warm even more. This downslope warming played a large role in the extremely hot temperatures in the Pacific Northwest during a heat dome event in 2021, when Washington set a state record with 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 Celsius), and temperatures reached 121 F in British Columbia in Canada, surpassing the previous Canadian record by 8 degrees F (4 C).
The human impact

Heat domes normally persist for several days in any one location, but they can last longer. They can also move, influencing neighboring areas over a week or two. The heat dome involved in the June 2022 U.S. heat wave crept eastward over time.

On rare occasions, the heat dome can be more persistent. That happened in the southern Plains in 1980, when as many as 10,000 people died during weeks of high summer heat. It also happened over much of the United States during the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s.

A heat dome can have serious impacts on people, because the stagnant weather pattern that allows it to exist usually results in weak winds and an increase in humidity. Both factors make the heat feel worse – and become more dangerous – because the human body is not cooled as much by sweating.

The heat index, a combination of heat and humidity, is often used to convey this danger by indicating what the temperature will feel like to most people. The high humidity also reduces the amount of cooling at night. Warm nights can leave people without air conditioners unable to cool off, which increases the risk of heat illnesses and deaths. With global warming, temperatures are already higher, too.

One of the worst recent examples of the impacts from a heat dome with high temperatures and humidity in the U.S. occurred in the summer of 1995, when an estimated 739 people died in the Chicago area over five days.

This article was updated June 26, 2023, with the heat dome in Texas.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. 

It was written by: William Gallus, Iowa State University.
Read more:

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William Gallus receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

Climate change has sent temperatures soaring in Texas

Erin Douglas, Yuriko Schumacher and Alex Ford
Updated Tue, June 27, 2023

A dust storm blows over cotton fields ahead of a late-summer thunderstorm in Terry County in August 2022. A Texas Tribune analysis shows that extreme heat is becoming more common across Texas due to climate change, but the effects aren’t felt the same everywhere. Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

Record-breaking heat is becoming the new normal in Texas, an analysis of temperature data by The Texas Tribune shows, as climate change steadily warms the planet and shifts the range of typical temperatures higher.

A dangerous heat wave this month has brought three weeks of 100-degree temperatures from the state’s border with Mexico all the way to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The heat wave has shattered records and prompted excessive heat warnings across most of the state.

Such heat waves — and the record-breaking temperatures they bring — are becoming more common and severe due to climate change, scientists told the Tribune.

Over the last 10 years, there were more than 1,600 days when a heat record was matched or broken at one of 22 weather stations across Texas. That’s more than 1,000 more record-breaking days than the 561-day average at those stations in the decades prior to 2013, the Tribune’s analysis found.

Weather data shows that record-breaking cold is occurring less frequently.

Those trends are being driven by climate change, experts said, as the planet warms due to decades of human activities that have pumped huge quantities of heat-trapping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere peaked at 424 parts per million in May, continuing to reach levels that have not been recorded for millions of years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Heat is one of the deadliest consequences of climate change. It’s already the most dangerous type of weather, typically killing more people annually than hurricanes, tornadoes or flooding. A Tribune analysis found that more than 275 people in Texas died from heat-related illness last year, a two-decade high that experts say is almost certainly an undercount.

Heat waves “are so large, they impact a huge swath of area, and they persist for so long,” said Hosmay Lopez, an oceanographer at the NOAA who has studied heat waves. “Heat has so [many] compounding negative effects on human health.”

Extreme heat is presenting new challenges for communities across the state that rely on infrastructure built for a climate of the past.

James Doss-Gollin, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University who has researched adaptation to extreme weather, said the state’s electric grid and dams are two examples of infrastructure that are greatly impacted by increasing temperatures. Just a few degrees of difference, he said, can jeopardize the availability of electricity and the structural integrity of dams.

The grid, for example, is stressed by higher demand when extreme heat causes more people to crank up their air conditioning. At the same time, when high temperatures arrive earlier in the spring and last later into the fall, power plants have smaller and smaller windows to make routine repairs.

“We have a lot of infrastructure that’s very, very sensitive to small changes in the underlying climate,” Doss-Gollin said.

Many dams are small, are privately owned and were built decades ago, when extreme rainfall events like the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 — which dumped as much as 50 inches of rain on some parts of the Gulf Coast over five days — were much less common.

“You don’t know what sort of conditions it’s designed for,” Doss-Gollin said. “It’s a huge challenge.”

But extreme heat isn’t impacting every part of Texas the same. While every county in Texas has seen an average increase in temperatures over the last decade, three areas of the state have seen the biggest jumps in record-breaking temperatures: West Texas, the Panhandle, and the Gulf.

Amarillo, for example, had 100 days of record-setting heat between 2013 and 2022 — the most recent 10 years for which data is available. That’s more than four times the number of record heat days expected for an average decade in Amarillo prior to 2013, according to the Tribune’s analysis.

El Paso saw 113 record hot days in the last decade — more than five times the expected number of records in an average decade in the state’s westernmost city.

As temperatures rise globally, places that have less rain and fewer trees to absorb excess heat are more frequently experiencing record-setting heat, experts said.

“Summers are getting drier faster in West Texas,” said John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas’ state climatologist. “That can contribute to increases in record high temperatures.”

Areas of East and North Texas close to the Louisiana and Arkansas borders, with their forests and abundant rain, have seen comparatively fewer days of record-breaking heat.

For example, in Longview, less than 50 miles west of the Louisiana border, the Tribune’s analysis shows 27 record highs were recorded, slightly below the 30 that would be expected in an average decade there. At a weather station in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, only 35 record hot days were recorded between 2013 and 2022, just slightly higher than the 29 to be expected in an average decade there, according to the Tribune’s analysis.

But Nielsen-Gammon and other climate experts cautioned that precipitation, soil moisture and vegetation can’t explain all the variation in extreme heat trends. Other factors, like whether the weather pattern La Niña or El Niño is in effect and proximity to the Gulf of Mexico can also affect the number of days with extreme heat.

Lopez, the NOAA scientists, pointed out that the rapid growth in areas like Houston and Austin could be exacerbating the urban “heat island” effect, a phenomenon in which large cities tend to see more extreme heat than rural areas as buildings, driveways and roads absorb heat. Still, it’s “virtually impossible” to find a perfect correlation between weather, climate and extremes, he said.

And, as Nielsen-Gammon pointed out, the variation among locations “could just be random.”

Nielsen-Gammon added that the relatively slow pace of warming in wetter and forested regions “is not something that is expected to continue.” In other words, scientists have projected that those ecosystem buffers will not be enough to offset climate change in the future.

Politics still play a major role in perceptions of climate change: Some studies have observed Republicans and Democrats who experience the same extreme weather event characterize the impact of climate change differently. But Jennifer Marlon, a senior research scientist at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, said the program’s surveys show that an increasing number of Americans believe climate change is occurring.

“More people are accepting the problem — and it is a process of acceptance for a lot of people, because originally, they were skeptical,” Marlon said.

Almost three-quarters of Americans think global warming is happening, according to a nationally representative 2023 survey conducted by Yale and George Mason University researchers, compared with 15% who think it is not. And 44% of Americans say they’ve personally experienced the effects of global warming, according to the same survey.

“The weather changes are not the same as what we’ve been seeing in the past,” Marlon said. “The heat waves are hotter, the spring [temperatures] are ending earlier, and nighttime temperatures are higher than they used to be.”

“So experience is starting to play a bigger role,” she said.

Disclosure: Rice University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Go behind the headlines with newly announced speakers at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, in downtown Austin from Sept. 21-23. Join them to get their take on what’s next for Texas and the nation.

PALM OIL KILLS ORANGUTANS

El Niño and US Drought Mean Everything From Candy to Instant Noodles Could Get More Expensive

Anuradha Raghu
Sun, June 25, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Palm oil, found in everything from candy to instant noodles and soap, is likely to get costlier in the second half as a US drought and an intensifying El Niño curb world edible oil supply, a Bloomberg survey showed.

Benchmark futures in Malaysia are set to climb as much as 10% from current levels to a high of 4,000 ringgit ($855) a ton, according to the median of 30 estimates from traders, analysts and plantation executives, who were asked for their highs and lows over the next six months and whether they were bullish or bearish. Eighteen were bullish, seven bearish and the rest gave no direction.

Increasingly frequent bouts of wild weather, such as drought in the US and parts of Europe, and heat waves in China and India, are roiling global farm production. Yet more disruption is expected later this year with the onset of El Niño, which usually brings dry weather to Asia and rains to South America.

Read More: First El Niño in Four Years Adds to Risks of Global Stagflation

Some analysts see bigger price gains on El Niño, even though the hit to yields probably won’t show until next year. Prices could already climb about 20% on a moderate El Niño, but “if it’s a strong one, there’ll be a much bigger impact,” said Hoe Lee Leng, head of regional plantations at RHB Investment Bank.

Still, disappointment over the Biden administration’s plans for biofuel quotas and prospects for yet another record soybean crop in Brazil, the world’s top producer, could damp investor sentiment for edible oils. Asked for estimates of how far prices could fall in the second half, the median of the responses came in at 3,200 ringgit a ton. Palm oil closed at 3,620 ringgit Friday.

Wild Weather

Both bulls and bears cited El Niño as the biggest risk. The key variable is its strength, which will determine the impact not only on palm but also on soy, sunflower and rapeseed crops. Prices of palm, the most-consumed cooking oil, are heavily influenced by these oils as they compete in the global market.

On top of that is the US drought. Soybean crops experiencing moderate to intense drought rose by 6 percentage points in the latest week to 57%, which compares with only 11% at the same time last year. While crop stress is set to continue in many areas, some weather models are now showing a better chance of rains in the next 14 days — a critical time of development.

Without significant disruptions, global inventories of soybeans and rapeseed will end the 2023-24 season higher than a year earlier, said Oscar Tjakra, a senior analyst at Rabobank in Singapore. That will pressure global prices of edible oils and erode the competitiveness of palm oil, he said, adding that an economic recession would also pose a threat to demand.

Palm Yields

Prospects for palm oil production in the second half are also a point of debate. While some expect output to accelerate in coming months because of the crop’s seasonal cycle and the easing of a labor shortage in Malaysia, others said yields and productivity are likely to disappoint as the trees are aging.

Malaysia’s production jumped 27% in May from a month earlier, the biggest increase in the second-largest grower in more than two years. In top producer Indonesia, output may have surged more than 30%, said Anilkumar Bagani, head of research at Mumbai-based Sunvin Group.

“Higher palm oil production in the May-October period will ensure bigger inventories in both Malaysia and Indonesia of around 6.5 million to 7 million tons, keeping any price advance in check,” Bagani said.

The survey was conducted before the weekend, which saw a rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group, finally called off after a deal between its leader and President Vladimir Putin. Traders are keeping a close eye on developments and the outlook for grain and sunflower oil exports from the Black Sea region.

Read More: Putin Faces Historic Threat to Absolute Grip on Power in Russia

--With assistance from Pratik Parija, Eko Listiyorini and Hallie Gu.

1,000-year-old wall in Peru was built to protect against El Niño floods, research suggests


Tom Metcalfe
Updated Mon, June 26, 2023 

We see a bird's-eye view image of the sandy and rocky desert of northern Peru. Running diagonally in the photo is a high stone wall.

An ancient desert wall in northern Peru was built to protect precious farmlands and canals from the ravages of El Niño floods, according to new research.

Many archaeologists had suggested that the wall, known as the Muralla La Cumbre and located near Trujillo, was built by the Chimú people to protect their lands from invasions by the Incas, with whom they had a long-standing enmity. But the latest research affirms a theory that the earthen wall, which stretches 6 miles (10 kilometers) across the desert, was built to hold back devastating floods during the wettest phases of northern Peru's weather cycle.

These phases are now known as El Niño — Spanish for "The Boy," a reference to the child Jesus — because they bring heavy rain to the region around Christmastime every few years.

We see the brownish ground with paper tags marking different layers of flood sediments.

Although El Niño brings drought to some other parts of the world, it brings heavy rains to Ecuador and northern Peru. El Niño floods are thought to have occurred there for thousands of years, and they would have been a serious danger to the Chimú, Gabriel Prieto, an archaeologist at the University of Florida, told Live Science.

"The annual rainfall there in a regular year is very low — almost no rain at all," he said. "So when the rainfall was very high, that caused a lot of damage."

Related: AI identifies 3 more 'Nazca Lines' figures in Peru

Ancient kingdom

We see an excavated inside corner of the stone wall with a measuring stick by it.

The Chimor kingdom of the Chimú people emerged around A.D. 900 in the territories once occupied by the Moche people; as a result, the Moche period is sometimes called "Early Chimú."

According to the "Encyclopedia of Prehistory" (Springer, 2002) the Chimú worshipped the moon — instead of the sun at the center of Inca worship — and they were independent until they were conquered by the Incas in about 1470, a few decades before the arrival of the Spanish in South America.

Today, the Chimú are known mainly for their distinctive pottery and metalwork, as well as for the ruins of their capital, Chan Chan, which are listed by the United Nations as a World Heritage site.

Prieto has examined the 8-foot-high (2.5 meters) La Cumbre wall and found layers of flood sediments only on its eastern side, which suggests it was built to protect the Chimú farmlands to the west, beside the coast. Radiocarbon dates from the lowest layers reveal that the wall was started in about 1100, possibly after a large El Niño flood at that time, he said.

The wall is built across two dry riverbeds that flood during El Niño. Preventing flooding in the farmlands also would have protected Chan Chan, which was connected to them by a network of canals.

"I'd guess, to some degree, that the wall worked like a kind of a dam," Prieto said. The research has not yet been published as a peer-reviewed study.

An aerial view of the wall in the desert.

Human sacrifices

Prieto previously found evidence of mass child sacrifices at Chimú sites, including the remains of 76 victims at Pampa La Cruz near Huanchaco, a few miles northwest of Trujillo. He thinks the El Niño floods that necessitated the desert wall also may have been linked to the sacrifices.

Prieto has used radiocarbon dating to determine that one of the sediment layers along the wall is from about 1450 — a date that corresponds to the sacrifice of more than 140 children and 200 llamas at another Chimú site. He thinks it's likely that the Chimú knew the dangers of El Niño floods, which happened every few years, and that their society's rulers took advantage of the recurring disaster to solidify their authority with sacrifices.

Related stories

—1,400-year-old mural of 2-faced men unearthed in Peru may allude to 'cosmic realms'

—Human spines on sticks found in 500-year-old graves in Peru

—People 'finger painted' the skulls of their ancestors red in the Andes a millennium ago

"The Chimú were the descendants of people who had lived in this region for 10,000 years — they knew exactly what was going on," he said. "This was a kind of political game, I think."

Edward Swenson, an archaeologist at the University of Toronto who isn't involved in the research, told Live Science that Prieto's interpretation made sense.

"The idea at first struck me as incongruous, because I've not heard of walls against water before," he said.

But Prieto's research has changed his mind, although he still thinks the wall also may have served as a defense. "The old idea was that this wall was to protect the Chimú from Inca attacks, and it might have been multifunctional," Swenson said.

ZIONIST OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE

Israel government approves plans for thousands more homes in occupied West Bank

Euronews
Tue, 27 June 2023 

Israel’s far-right government on Monday approved plans to build over 5,000 new homes in the occupied West Bank

The decision raised tensions with Palestinians at a time of rising violence in the occupied territory.

The units are at various stages of planning, and it was not immediately clear when construction would begin. The ministry did not immediately comment.

Hundreds of Israeli settlers torch Palestinian homes and cars after deadly shooting at settlement

The international community, along with Palestinians, considers settlement construction illegal or illegitimate and obstacles to peace.

“The Netanyahu government is moving forward with its aggression and open war against the Palestinian people, whether through a policy of killing or through settlement expansion," said Palestinian official Wasel Abu Yousef.

FILE - This file photo shows a part of new housing projects in the West Bank Israeli settlement of Givat Ze'ev, Monday, June 18, 2023. - AP Photo

Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem – territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state.

Israel’s government, which took office in late December, is dominated by religious and ultranationalist politicians with close ties to the settlement movement.

Israel OK's plans for thousands of new settlement homes, defying White House calls for restraint


JOSEF FEDERMAN
Updated Mon, June 26, 2023

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s far-right government on Monday approved plans to build over 5,000 new homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Israeli media said, a move that threatened to worsen increasingly strained relations with the United States.

The decision defied growing U.S. criticism of Israel’s settlement policies. It also raised tensions with the Palestinians at a time of rising violence in the occupied territory.

Multiple Israeli media outlets said the Defense Ministry planning committee that oversees settlement construction approved some 5,700 new settlement homes. The units are at various stages of planning, and it was not immediately clear when construction would begin. COGAT, the defense body in charge of the planning committee, did not respond to requests for comment.

The international community, along with the Palestinians, considers settlement construction illegal or illegitimate and an obstacle to peace. Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state.

“The Netanyahu government is moving forward with its aggression and open war against the Palestinian people,” said Wassel Abu Yousef, a Palestinian official in the West Bank. “We affirm that all settler colonialism in all the occupied Palestinian territories is illegitimate and illegal.”

Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group, said Israel has now approved over 13,000 settlement housing units this year. That is nearly three times the number of homes approved in all of 2022 and marks the most approvals in any year since it began systematically tracking the planning procedures in 2012.

Israel’s government, which took office in late December, is dominated by religious and ultranationalist politicians with close ties to the settlement movement. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a firebrand settler leader, has been granted Cabinet-level authority over settlement policies and has vowed to double the settler population in the West Bank.

The Biden administration has been increasingly outspoken in its criticism of Israel’s settlement policies. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the settlements “an obstacle to the horizon of hope we seek” in a speech to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC.

On Monday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. was “deeply troubled” by the reported decision to build more settlement homes. “The United States opposes such unilateral actions that make a two-state solution more difficult to achieve,” he said.

Despite the criticism, the U.S. has taken little action against Israel. In a sign of its displeasure, the White House has not yet invited Netanyahu for a visit — as is customary following Israeli elections.

And this week, the U.S. said it would not transfer funds to Israeli institutions for science and technology research projects in the West Bank. The decision restored a longstanding policy that had been canceled by the pro-settlement Trump administration.

Ahead of Monday's vote, Israeli Cabinet Minister Issac Wasserlauf, a member of the far-right Jewish Power party, played down the disagreements with the U.S.

“I think the alliance with the U.S. will remain,” he told the Army Radio station. “There are disagreements, we knew how to deal with them in the past.”

Simcha Rothman, another far-right member of the governing coalition, accused the Biden administration of having a “pathological obsession” with the Israeli government.

Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in Israel’s 75-year history, has made settlement expansion a top priority.

Senior members have been pushing for increased construction and other measures to cement Israel’s control over the territory in response to a more than year-long wave of violence with the Palestinians.

Last week, four Israelis were killed by a pair of Palestinian gunmen who opened fire next to a Jewish settlement. Monday's approvals included 1,000 homes announced by the government last week in Eli, the scene of the shooting.

Israel expanded its military activity in the West Bank in early 2022 in response to a series of deadly Palestinian attacks. Over 135 Palestinians have been killed in fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year. Roughly half of them were affiliated with militant groups, though Israel says that number is much higher. But Palestinian stone-throwers and people uninvolved in violence were also killed. Some 24 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim all three territories for a future independent state.

Israel has annexed east Jerusalem and claims it as part of its capital — a claim that is not internationally recognized. It says the West Bank is disputed territory whose fate should be determined through negotiations, while Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Two years later, the Hamas militant group overran the territory

PROFITEERING

UK
Supermarkets to be questioned by MPs on why their prices are still rising

Carlo Simone
Mon, 26 June 2023 

Supermarket executives will argue that they are not pocketing profit from increased food prices (Image: PA)

Supermarket executives from Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons are set to appear before MPs on Tuesday to face questioning about why food prices are still rising whilst some wholesale costs are falling.

The parliamentary committee will examine the cost of a weekly shop, as the price of goods continues to grow but less steeply than in previous months, according to the latest figures.

The British Retail Consortium has reported that food inflation reached 14.6% in June, a decrease from 15.4% in the year to May.

However, food prices remain a core reason why the overall rate of inflation within the UK remains stubbornly high, and supermarkets are under pressure to defend the high cost of shopping, BBC News reports.

The Argus: The British Retail Consortium suggests it can take a period of time for price cuts to filter through

The British Retail Consortium suggests it can take a period of time for price cuts to filter through (Image: PA)

Supermarkets deny pocketing profit from increased prices

Politicians, trades unionists and the Governor of the Bank of England have all questioned why prices on supermarket shelves have not fallen as rapidly as the cost of some ingredients, such as wheat.

They have suggested that retailers may be pocketing profit instead of passing on savings to customers.

The Competition and Markets Authority is currently examining the issue.

Supermarkets themselves deny profiteering from high prices, claiming that profits are being squeezed, but they are cutting prices wherever possible.

Most of the big chains have recently introduced high-profile price cuts on staples, and Sainsbury's has just announced that it will invest £15m to reduce the cost of basics such as rice, pasta and chicken.

Rhian Bartlett, food commercial director at Sainsbury's, said: "These latest price cuts will help reassure customers that we will continue to pass on savings as soon as we see the wholesale price of food fall."

Other large chains such as Tesco, Morrisons, M&S, Aldi and Lidl have also reduced prices on items like bread, milk and butter.

However, some products, such as milk and eggs, remain relatively expensive compared to pre-Covid prices.

The Argus: Some food items still remain expensive compared to their price before the Covid pandemic

Some food items still remain expensive compared to their price before the Covid pandemic

Supermarket executives will argue that not all commodities have decreased in price, highlighting items such as sugar, potatoes and chocolate, which have risen in cost.

What are the reasons behind the food price rises?

Severe weather has caused lower supplies of potatoes, carrots and onions within the UK, which has required more items to be imported.

Meanwhile, wheat, which has decreased in price on global markets, is largely supplied by UK growers, meaning that food manufacturers will be purchasing last year's crop at the previous year's prices.

Additionally, cheese sold today has been made with milk bought up to a year ago, so will not reflect recent falls in milk prices.

Analysts suggest that executives will point to other costs affecting food retail, from rising wages to added charges related to Brexit, such as veterinary certificates.

The executives also plan to suggest that falls in commodity prices take time to filter through to the consumer, as the British Retail Consortium has previously explained that typically there is a three- to nine-month lag for price falls to be reflected in shops.

UK
Hancock says government was more concerned with counting bodybags than stopping Covid spread

Adam Forrest
Tue, 27 June 2023 

Matt Hancock has admitted that the UK was not properly prepared for the Covid pandemic – claiming officials were more concerned with counting bodybags than preventing the spread of the virus.

Speaking at the Covid inquiry on Tuesday, the former health secretary described the failure to plan as an “absolute tragedy” and repeatedly insisted that the government’s approach had been “completely wrong”.

He conceded that pre-pandemic plans to protect care homes had been “terrible”, saying the care sector was in “nowhere near good enough shape” when Covid struck.

Mr Hancock also revealed that the UK came “within hours” of running out of vital medicines for intensive care units at the height of the pandemic – but said that the planning that had been undertaken in preparation for a no-deal Brexit meant hospitals were able to cope.

It came as Mr Hancock:

Attacked planning that revolved around finding “enough bodybags” and “burying the dead”


Admitted he had not attended any National Security Committee meetings on emergency planning


Said he “wasn’t enthusiastic” about no-deal Brexit robbing resources from health planning


Turned to victims’ families in the gallery to tell them he was “profoundly sorry”


Was heckled as he left the inquiry, with the bereaved shouting “Killer” and “How many have died?”

Mr Hancock apologised directly to the families of Covid victims, dramatically turning to address the bereaved in the public seating area. “I’m profoundly sorry for each death,” he told them. “I understand why, for some, it will be hard to take that apology from me – I understand that. I get it. But it is honest and heartfelt.”

Lorelei King, 69, showed Mr Hancock a poster featuring a picture of her husband, Vincent Marzello, who died in a care home in March 2020 at the age of 72, alongside the former health secretary. “You shook my husband’s hand for your photo op,” the poster was captioned.

At the end of the hearing, Mr Hancock approached the public gallery to attempt to apologise in person – but one woman later said she had turned her back on him. Amanda Herring Murrell, who lose her brother Mark to Covid in March 2020, told Sky News: “I wasn’t having any of it.”

The senior Tory began the hearing by strongly condemning the underlying “doctrine” of the government, which he said was that it “would not be possible to stop a pandemic”, as he revealed that planning had revolved around finding “enough bodybags” and “burying the dead”.

Lorelei King, whose husband died from Covid, protests as Matt Hancock arrives (PA)

Mr Hancock said a “huge error in the doctrine” in place before Covid arrived in early 2020 meant that not enough resources were available for testing and contact-tracing to prevent the spread of a virus.

“The attitude, the doctrine, of the UK was to plan for the consequences of a disaster – can we buy enough bodybags, where are we going to bury the dead. And that was completely wrong,” he said.

“Large-scale testing did not exist, and large-scale contact-tracing did not exist, because it was assumed that as soon as there was community transmission it wouldn’t be possible to stop the spread, and therefore what’s the point in contact-tracing. That was completely wrong,” he told the inquiry.

In written evidence, Mr Hancock told the inquiry that he was advised when he came into the role of health secretary in July 2018 that the UK was “a world leader” in pandemic preparedness.

Hancock was confronted by families as he arrived at the session of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry (PA)

He told the inquiry on Tuesday that the advice was based on a very positive assessment of the UK’s readiness by the World Health Organisation. “When you’re assured by the leading global authority that the UK is the best prepared in the world, that is quite a significant reassurance”, said Mr Hancock. “That turned out to be wrong.”

Challenged on why he did not enforce changes at the Department of Health and Social Care, Mr Hancock pointed the finger at civil servants, telling the inquiry’s lawyer: “There was no recommendation to resolve those problems.”

Mr Hancock admitted that he had not attended any meetings of a subcommittee of the National Security Council that was responsible for pandemic planning. Mr Hancock also revealed that the government’s influenza pandemic strategy was not updated after 2011.

On the period between his arrival in July 2018 and the onset of the Covid pandemic in early 2020, he added: “In hindsight wish I’d spent that short period of time ... changing that entire attitude about how we respond to a pandemic.”

Former health secretary Hancock is grilled by the inquiry lawyer (Covid-19 Inquiry/YouTube)

The former health secretary said he was told by officials that the UK had significant plans in place for the supply of personal protective equipment. “The problem was, it was extremely hard to get it out fast enough when the crisis hit,” he said.

On testing, he said: “We developed a test in the first few days after the genetic code of Covid-19 was published. The problem was, there was no plan in place to scale testing that ... we could execute.”

Mr Hancock also said he had “pushed hard” on the lack of UK vaccine manufacturing before Covid hit. “I thought in a pandemic scenario ... it would be hard to get hold of vaccine doses if they were physically manufactured overseas, no matter what our contracts said,” he told the inquiry.

Mr Hancock won’t be grilled on his handling of the Covid crisis, or his claims to have thrown a “protective ring” around care homes, until the autumn. But he did face questions on the care sector on Tuesday. Asked if planning for care homes was well prepared, Mr Hancock said: “No, it was terrible,” adding that the sector was in “nowhere near good enough shape”.

Pointing the finger at local authorities, Mr Hancock said only two councils had their own plans to deal with the impact of a pandemic. He said that ahead of the pandemic, even basic data was lacking – “for instance, how many care homes are operating right now in the UK – that was a fact that we did not know at that time, and I’m glad to say now there’s far better data”.

The former health secretary also admitted he had signed off on resources being reallocated away from his department to support emergency planning for Boris Johnson’s threatened “hard” exit from the EU in 2019.

Boris Johnson had told the government to prepare for a no-deal Brexit (AP)

Mr Hancock said: “I wasn’t enthusiastic about it, but I signed it off, and the reason that I signed off the overall reshaping of the department is because we [had] a very real and material threat, should a disorganised Brexit happen, that we needed to be prepared for.”

But Mr Hancock said Britain had come “within hours” of running out of medicines required by intensive care units during the pandemic – and added that planning for a no-deal Brexit had helped to prevent the worst-case scenario. He said it “became extremely useful in saving lives during the pandemic”.

Mr Hancock said the whole world had failed to see that lockdowns would be necessary. “It is the single most important thing we can learn [from] as a country,” he added.

Asked if he agreed that planning for the pandemic was “lions led by structural donkeys”, the ex-minister said: “That’s absolutely right, and that was a problem across the Western world.”

When the inquiry’s lawyer put it to Mr Hancock that there had been a “complete systemic failure” in the UK, he replied: “I couldn’t agree more, and it’s an absolute tragedy.”

Mr Hancock was heckled as he left the inquiry, with people shouting “Killer” and “How many have died?”

Members of the campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice told the BBC that they found it ironic that police officers were on hand to protect Mr Hancock “when he didn’t protect our loved ones”.

What is the UK Covid inquiry, and how long will the hearings last?

Charlie Duffield,Beril Naz Hassan and Rachael Davies
Tue, 27 June 2023 

Former health secretary Matt Hancock giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry 

(UK Covid-19 Inquiry/PA) (PA Media)

Former health secretary Matt Hancock is appearing before the Covid inquiry today (June 27), answering questions about his and the government’s response to the pandemic.

The public hearings of the UK Covid inquiry began on June 13. The independent public inquiry is examining the UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, with the intention of improving preparedness for any future pandemic. It is chaired by Heather Hallett, a member of the House of Lords and a former Court of Appeal judge.

Earlier this month, former prime minister David Cameron was sworn in to become the first politician to appear.

The British Medical Association said Mr Cameron and former chancellor George Osborne — who appeared before the inquiry on Tuesday — should be “taken to task” at the Covid Inquiry over austerity-era decisions that “left us so unprepared” for the pandemic.

Fresh evidence of Tory events that broke Covid lockdown rules has also emerged in the form of a video that shows Conservative staff at a Christmas party in 2020.

Government decisions, as well as political reputations and the use of public funds, will all be examined via hundreds of thousands of documents to establish a truthful account of what happened during what was one of the biggest crises the UK has ever faced.

What is the Covid inquiry?

According to its official website, the Covid inquiry “has been set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid pandemic, and learn lessons for the future”.

The inquiry is split into modules, which explore how prepared the UK was for the pandemic, how decisions were made during the pandemic and the impact that it had on the healthcare system and the people that work in it and use it.

When did the Covid inquiry begin?

The first module of the Covid Inquiry, which examines the UK’s preparedness for the pandemic, opened on July 21 last year.

The full hearings for the first stage of the investigation, however, began in London on June 13. For the next six weeks, witnesses will provide evidence.

You can watch the inquiry and hearings via a YouTube channel where they will be live streamed.
How are Boris Johnson’s texts involved?

Mr Johnson handed over his unredacted WhatsApp messages to the inquiry earlier this month. The former PM also called on the Cabinet Office to “urgently disclose” his notebooks to the inquiry.

The Cabinet Office had claimed it did not have access to Mr Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and private notebooks, which were demanded by Lady Hallett.

Ministers have so far objected to the release of “unambiguously irrelevant” material.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said all the material requested by the Covid inquiry had been handed to the Cabinet Office and should be disclosed to Lady Hallett.

The Cabinet Office has now confirmed it has received the information and officials are looking at it.
How long will the inquiry last?

The inquiry has announced it aims to complete the public hearings by the summer of 2026 – although legal experts say it will probably last until 2027. It is expected to cost tens of millions of pounds.

You can find out more about the inquiry here.

Who is speaking at the inquiry?

Several key figures both inside and outside of Westminster are scheduled to speak at the Covid inquiry.

Former PM David Cameron gave evidence to the inquiry on Monday, where he fought accusations that austerity measures negatively affected the UK’s Covid preparedness.

On Tuesday, it was the turn of Oliver Letwin, the former Minister for Government Policy, and former chancellor George Osborne, who served in Cameron’s government from 2010 to 2016.

On Thursday (June 22), the inquiry heard from Sir Chris Whitty, the government’s current Chief Medical Officer, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the former Chief Scientific Adviser. The two were seen regularly on television screens across the country during the pandemic, addressing questions from journalists and the public.

What has the government said?

Housing Secretary Michael Gove apologised after the video surfaced of Conservative HQ staff having a Christmas party during lockdown in 2020.

He said: “The people who were there I’m sure feel contrite, I certainly hope they do.”

He added: “As I say there was a previous investigation into this and we now know more about it, but I can only say I’m very, very sorry that there were people who were working in Government very hard on [the public’s] behalf, not all of whom on every occasion will have made the right decision in policy terms, but all of the time we were thinking about how we could help [the public] and others.

“There’s a Covid Inquiry ongoing at the moment which will look at the decisions that Government made.”

INSTITUTIONS ARE ABUSE

AUSTRALIA

Inquiry to look at allegations of ‘vile’ historical child sexual abuse at Victorian state school

Adeshola Ore

THE GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA
Tue, 27 June 2023 

Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Allegations of “evil and vile” historical child sexual abuse at a Victorian state school in the 1960s and 1970s will be investigated by a special inquiry that will hear the testimonies of victim-survivors.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, announced the board of inquiry on Wednesday morning and pledged to deliver a formal apology to recognise abuse victim-survivors who attended Beaumaris primary school, in Melbourne’s south-east.

The apology will be separate to a wider apology the government is due to deliver later this year that will recognise historical child abuse in institutional care settings like orphanages.


Glen Fearnett, who has fought for government recognition of abuse he and others suffered from paedophile teachers, said he wanted to represent victims who had died before the inquiry was announced.

“Their families are missing loved ones because of events that took place in their childhood,” he said.

Fearnett said he hoped the inquiry and apology would help the public understand the prevalence of child sexual abuse.

“No one wants to talk about it. No one wants to listen to it. It’s uncomfortable,” he said.

Tim Courtenay, a survivor of alleged abuse at the school, said the inquiry was a “milestone” in the lives of all people affected.

The inquiry will be chaired by the Victorian law reform commissioner Kathleen Foley. Guardian Australia revealed in January that in the wake of George Pell’s death, survivors of abuse at Beaumaris primary school in the 1970s were pushing for a formal apology by the state government.

Andrews said there were a number of “vile, evil and incredibly damaging” cases of child sexual abuse at the school.

“School should be a place of love and care and support [and] learning. It should be a community that is safe. Beaumaris primary school most certainly was not during the 60s and 70s,” he said.

Andrews said the government was aware of at least three former staff members of the school who had allegedly engaged in “predatory behaviour,” making the school a “unique case” which deserved a separate apology to that planned for other victim-survivors of abuse in institutional settings like orphanages and missions. He said the inquiry’s scope could be widened to include allegations at other schools if evidence was uncovered.

Andrews also said the government needed to overhaul the way some departments dealt with civil cases, and the resistance to settlements. He said he regretted how some departments and agencies had acted and said work was under way to ensure they were adhering to the best practice model.

Related: Australian Anglican schools left exposed as insurers refuse to indemnify church against child abuse claims

Lawyer John Rule from Maurice Blackburn, who is handling several cases against the department on behalf of alleged Beaumaris victims, previously told Guardian Australia the education department had developed a reputation for being “aggressive” in defending claims.

The premier said it was vital to hear and believe victim-survivors, and acknowledged the bravery of the former Beaumaris students who had come forward to detail their allegations.

“Having your truth recorded forever is a very important thing,” he told reporters.

The state’s shadow treasurer, Brad Rowswell, whose electorate of Sandringham takes in Beaumaris, had been pushing for a parliamentary inquiry into the allegations of abuse in state schools. But Andrews said “the last thing we need is more politicians involved in this”.

The government committed $4.5m for the inquiry and for a support system to be established for victim-survivors and their families. The inquiry is due to report to the government by the end of February.

UBS to cut 35,000 jobs after Credit Suisse rescue: report

AFP
Tue, June 27, 2023 

Credit Suisse had a staff of around 45,000 before it nearly collapsed on investor fears about its solvency, which prompted a massive bailout orchestrated by the Swiss government (Fabrice COFFRINI)

Swiss banking group UBS plans to cut 35,000 jobs at Credit Suisse -- more than half its workforce -- as part of the emergency rescue takeover of its rival in March, according to a report by Bloomberg News on Tuesday.

Credit Suisse had a staff of around 45,000 before it nearly collapsed on investor fears about its solvency, which prompted a massive bailout orchestrated by the Swiss government.

Analysts had warned that huge job losses were likely because of the overlapping activities at two of the world's most important banks.

UBS declined to comment on the reported job cuts when contacted by AFP.

Combined, the two groups had around 120,000 employees at the end of last year, with 37,000 of them in Switzerland.

The Bloomberg report, citing sources close to the companies, said employees had been told of three coming waves of jobs cuts this year -- the first at end-July, the others in September and October.

UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti had warned earlier this month that the coming months were likely to be "bumpy", saying the merger would require "waves" of difficult decisions, particularly regarding employment.

apo/js/fb

Conservationists and tribes urge US appeals court to block Biden-backed Nevada lithium mine

SCOTT SONNER
Mon, June 26, 2023 


Daranda Hinkey, a Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone tribe member, holds a large hand-painted sign that says "No Lithium No mine" at her home, on April 24, 2023, on the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation, near McDermitt, Nev. U.S. Bureau of Land Management has been fighting mining challenges for nearly three years of all sorts, like those of environmentalists, tribal leaders, ranchers and others who want to overturn its approval of a huge lithium mine in the works in northwest Nevada near the Oregon line. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Lawyers for environmentalists and tribes urged a U.S. appeals court on Tuesday to overturn a judge's decision to allow construction to begin on a huge lithium mine in Nevada earlier this year before the plans were in full compliance with federal law.

A lawyer representing four conservation groups seeking to halt the project said a U.S. district judge in Reno illegally exceeded her authority when she refused to revoke the mine's operation plan in March despite her conclusion that federal land managers had violated the law in approving parts of it.

“This is the first time in public land history that we have a major project violating a number of provisions but is allowed to go forward,” Roger Flynn, the director of the Colorado-based Western Mining Action Project, told a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“In the meantime, thousands of acres of public land are essentially being clear-cut,” he said Tuesday about the high-desert sagebrush that serves as critical habitat for the imperiled bird species sage grouse.

The Nevada mine at Thacker Pass near the Oregon line has pitted environmentalists and Native Americans against President Joe Biden’s plans to combat climate change and could have broad implications for mining operations across the West. The mine would involve extraction of the silvery-white metal used in electric-vehicle batteries.

This is the first time the San Francisco-based appellate court has considered the merits of such a case since it blocked construction of an Arizona copper mine last year based on a more stringent interpretation of a Civil War-era mining law regarding the use of neighboring lands to dispose of waste.

Lawyers for the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that approved the mine, and the mining company, Lithium Nevada Corp., denied the mine would cause any serious harm to sage grouse or other species.

They said Tuesday that U.S. District Judge Miranda Du in Reno acted within her authority when she allowed construction of the mine to begin in March while ordering the bureau to provide additional evidence it was in compliance with the so-called “Rosemont decision” that blocked the Arizona mine.

Lithium Nevada, a subsidiary of the Canadian-based Lithium Americas, spent more than $8.7 million on the environmental analysis and permitting process, even altering the original plans to move it outside of environmentally sensitive areas, said Laura Granier, a lawyer for the company. She said investments in mitigation, legal costs and initial construction already have exceeded $150 million.

“There were no short cuts. There was no expense spared, no corners cut when it comes to mitigation," she told the three-judge panel during an hour-long hearing in Pasadena, California.


The bureau approved the mine in 2021 on an accelerated basis under the Trump administration. But the Biden administration has continued to embrace it in an effort to ramp up U.S. production of lithium needed for electric vehicles that are an integral part of Biden's clean energy agenda.

Lithium Nevada officials say the Thacker Pass mine's reserves would support lithium for more than 1.5 million electric vehicles per year for 40 years.

Conservationists say the open pit mine, deeper than the length of a football field, will pollute the groundwater and destroy precious habitat for sage grouse, pronghorn antelope and other species in violation of environmental laws.

Leaders of the Western Shoshone and Paiute tribes have argued with little success to date that the Thacker Pass mine is on sacred lands where dozens of tribal members were massacred in 1865 by the U.S. Cavalry. Tribal leaders say the site cannot be disturbed under laws protecting historical and cultural resources.

The hearing focused primarily on interpretations of mining law but the panel heard brief arguments from a lawyer for the Burns Paiute Tribe, one of several tribes that have a related-but-separate appeal pending before the 9th Circuit that focusses on allegations the government failed to adequately consult with them about the project on their native homeland.

Neither the government nor the mining company dispute that the “tribes consider the entire Thacker Pass area sacred,” Rick Eichstaed said. “It was BLM’s continued responsibility to try to consult with the tribes.”

The appeal is based in large part on the legal landscape that has evolved since the bureau approved the Thacker Pass mine in 2021 and the appellate court’s decision in the Arizona case.

That April 2022 ruling upended the government’s long-held position that established mining claims automatically convey the same mineral rights under the 1872 Mining Law to adjacent lands where tailings and other waste will be buried.

In that case, the 9th Circuit held instead that the company must establish that valuable minerals are present under such lands for the claim to also extend to those lands.

Last month, the BLM submitted to federal court in Reno additional evidence the Thacker Pass mine it says meets that requirement.

Granier told the panel Tuesday the presence of valuable minerals on the land was never in question for a project she said is projected to yield a profit of $1.5 billion annually.

“No one would spend $150 million permitting a project, defending it in federal litigation and now constructing it for something that is not economically developmental,” she said.

Flynn said that regardless of the new mineral samples submitted in May, the bureau originally “approved the entire project based on the erroneous assumption that the company had valid existing rights under the mining law.”

Flynn said that after the judge agreed in March before construction began that the mine didn't comply with the law, she failed to weigh the harm that could result from allowing the mine to go forward. He warned of dire consequences if federal agencies are allowed to skirt the law based on assurances “we’ll fix it down the line.”

“This is a dangerous road to go on if we have massive environmental damage occurring," Flynn said “The only check on government authority is to vacate an illegal decision."

WORKERS CAPITAL

UK Pension Funds Called On to Review $110 Billion Oil, Gas Stake

Alastair Marsh and Frances Schwartzkopff
Tue, June 27, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- UK pension funds are dangerously misaligned with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to limit global warming to the critical threshold of 1.5C, a fresh study has found.

The industry holds more than £88 billion ($110 billion) in bonds and equities issued by fossil fuel companies, according to a report published Wednesday by Make My Money Matter, a climate finance campaign co-founded by Love Actually director, Richard Curtis. That’s roughly 10 times as much as UK pension funds hold in listed FTSE 350 clean energy stocks, it said.

To reach net zero emissions by 2050 and prevent catastrophic overheating, the investment industry needs to allocate four times as much capital to renewable energy as to fossil fuels by the end of this decade, according to an analysis by BloombergNEF. And the International Energy Agency has made clear that halting new fossil fuel expansion is the only way to reach the 1.5C goal.

“As a result, we believe that ongoing investments in fossil fuel companies by the UK pensions industry – without a serious, time-bound and co-ordinated escalation in how investors use their stewardship role – represents a ticking time bomb for both our pensions and the planet,” the authors of the report wrote.

Specifically, Make My Money Matter is urging pension funds to get the fossil fuel companies they hold to rule out new oil and gas expansion, in line with a 1.5C trajectory. Funds should also vote against companies that continue to expand their fossil fuel business. If companies can’t live up to these criteria, public divestment “within set timeframes” should be the next step, according to the authors.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association is “committed to working with members to help them achieve their net zero goals,” Joe Dabrowski, PLSA’s deputy director of policy, said in an emailed comment. “Pension schemes have a significant interest in ensuring that the companies they invest in are fully prepared for a lower carbon future” and can use their votes as shareholders to that end, he said.

He also called on the government to establish clearer guidelines for the industry.

Some firms are already divesting. Last week, the Church of England Pensions Board said it was blacklisting all oil and gas assets, a move that entailed offloading its stake in Shell Plc. That followed an announcement by the oil major that it was stepping up spending on fossil fuels and limiting investment in renewables to projects.

A separate Church investing body, the Church Commissioners for England, made a similar announcement. The two investors represent a combined $17 billion in assets.

The broader UK pensions industry, which manages about $3.7 trillion, remains heavily exposed to Shell, however, the report found. About 70% of the funds analyzed said their biggest holdings included Shell and 60% held BP shares among their top picks, while none had renewable energy stocks among their leading selections.

Continued investment in a growing fossil-fuel industry adds to the risk of “a disorderly transition,” the authors of the report said.

A separate study, published by five nonprofit organizations including Reclaim Finance, found that the 30 biggest asset managers hold at least $3.5 billion in newly issued bonds from companies actively engaged in fossil fuel expansion.

In total, the firms analyzed held almost $600 billion in bonds and stocks in the biggest developers as of January, according to the report. Researchers also noted that the figures likely underestimate actual holdings because asset managers don’t always disclose everything they own.

The holdings reflect unsuccessful efforts to engage with fossil fuel companies, according to the report. It singled out Climate Action 100+, a $68 trillion investor group with a stated goal of working with companies to help them transition to low-carbon business models.

“After five years of intensive dialogue by investors from the CA100+ initiative, only 20% of the companies from the coal mining and oil and gas sectors that have been engaged have even set an ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” the nonprofits said.

British Columbia Pension Grabs ‘Brilliant’ Private Credit Yields

Paula Sambo
Tue, June 27, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- British Columbia Investment Management Corp. deployed almost C$5 billion ($3.8 billion) in private credit investments in the past fiscal year and is seeing more opportunities in credit markets going forward.

“Looking at banks and their capital constraints, the syndicated market is very, very tight, so it leaves a lot of room for investors like us to be lending out,” Ramy Rayes, executive vice-president of investment strategy and risk, said in an interview. “And yields are just absolutely brilliant right now in the private credit space.”

The Victoria, British Columbia-based fund allocated C$4.7 billion toward private debt during the fiscal year ended March 31, bringing total investments to C$13.5 billion, the most since it first began investing in the asset class five years ago, Rayes said. The asset class gained 4.6% during the period, BCI said in its earnings statement Tuesday.

Right now, the best opportunities remain in fixed income, he said. “Even on the corporate bond side, traditional corporate bonds, whether investment grade or high yield, there’s good opportunities. On the real estate debt side, we’re seeing a bit of the same,” Rayes said.

BCI, which invests the retirement savings of British Columbia’s public sector workers, returned 3.5% for the year ended March 31, compared to a 0.3% increase generated by its own internal benchmark, the fund said in the statement. Net assets advanced to C$215 billion.

BCI generated better returns than the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which returned 1.3% during the period ended March 31 as declines in equity and fixed income markets eroded the benefits of a weaker Canadian dollar. Its results trailed those of Canadian pension manager Public Sector Pension Investment Board, which posted a 4.4% return for its most recent fiscal year, with double-digit returns in credit and infrastructure. Chief Executive Officer Deborah Orida in an interview said she sees private credit markets as attractive amid the economic slowdown and persistent inflation, as banks retreat from lending.

Prepared for ‘Storm’

BCI’s results were boosted by a “very defensive” selection of assets, Rayes said. “We started positioning our portfolio a few years back for a storm, not knowing exactly what the storm was going to be,” he said. “We raised liquidity at the end of 2021, we have quite a bit of alternative exposure, private markets.”

Private equity, infrastructure and renewable resources were large contributors to the gains, BCI said in the statement. The pension fund held C$28.3 billion in private equity assets, up 4.7% from the prior fiscal year. Infrastructure and renewable resource investments grew 9.2% to C$22.3 billion.

The fund exited some of its key assets in private equity and took advantage of strong valuations, selling about C$5 billion during the fiscal year, he said.

The pension fund sees signs of stress, as some of the institutional investors it usually partners with on bigger deals have already invested more than what they had targeted.

“In private market particularly it’s not easy to sell and if you want to rebalance, you got to sell at a price that you may not be comfortable with,” he said. “We’re actually seeking opportunities, but right now there’s not a lot of partners at the table trying to make transactions and we don’t typically transact on our own.”


British Columbia Pension Mulls $2 Billion PE Asset Sale

Paula Sambo, Layan Odeh and Hema Parmar
Tue, June 27, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- British Columbia Investment Management Corp. is mulling the sale of $2 billion in private equity assets in the secondary market to raise capital for other investments, according to people familiar with the matter.

The pension fund is close to finalizing the sale of some of its Europe-focused investments and is in the middle of negotiations to reduce some of its US positions, one of the people said, who asked not to be identified due to the confidentiality of the matter.

The primary goal is to rebalance BCI’s portfolio and free up cash from investments through funds to take advantage of potential direct co-investment opportunities, this person said.

A spokesperson for the Victoria, British Columbia-based fund declined to comment.

Some institutional investors hit their allocation limits to private equity after last year’s rise in interest rates caused a swift correction in bonds and stocks. That forces them to weigh disposing of some private equity holdings to create room for new ones. Public pensions saw their share of those secondary-market trades increase 9 percentage points globally — or nearly $2 billion — compared with 2021, as they adjust their portfolios, according to Campbell Lutyens & Co.

BCI, which invests the retirement savings of British Columbia’s public sector workers, returned 3.5% for the year ended March 31, compared to a 0.3% increase generated by its own internal benchmark, the fund said in the statement Tuesday. Net assets advanced to C$215 billion ($163.4 billion).

Private equity, infrastructure and renewable resources were large contributors to the gains, BCI said in the statement. The pension fund held C$28.3 billion in private equity assets, up 4.7% from the prior fiscal year.

The fund exited some of its key assets in private equity and took advantage of strong valuations, selling about C$5 billion during the last fiscal year, Ramy Rayes, executive vice-president of investment strategy and risk, said in an interview.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is also weighing the sale of $3 billion of private assets in the secondary market, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, the country’s second-biggest pension manager, sold $2 billion of private investments on the secondary market in 2022 and is open to another transaction of a similar size this year, one person said.

Apple fails to end lawsuit over CEO Tim Cook's China sales comment

FILE PHOTO: An Apple logo hangs above the entrance to the Apple store on 5th Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City

By Jonathan Stempel

Tue, June 27, 2023 

(Reuters) -A U.S. judge has rejected Apple's bid to throw out a class-action lawsuit that accused Chief Executive Tim Cook of defrauding shareholders by concealing falling demand for iPhones in China.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' decision late Monday night clears the way for shareholders led by a British pension fund to sue over a one-day plunge that wiped out $74 billion of Apple's market value.

The lawsuit stemmed from Cook's comment on a Nov. 1, 2018, analyst call that while Apple faced sales pressure in markets such as Brazil, India, Russia and Turkey, where currencies had weakened, "I would not put China in that category."

Apple told suppliers a few days later to curb production, and on Jan. 2, 2019, unexpectedly slashed its quarterly revenue forecast by up to $9 billion, blaming U.S.-China trade tensions.

The lowered revenue forecast was Apple's first since the iPhone's launch in 2007, and the Cupertino, California-based company's shares fell 10% the next day.

Judge Rogers, based in Oakland, California, said jurors could reasonably infer that Cook was discussing Apple's sales outlook in China, not past performance or the impact of currency changes.

The judge also said that prior to Cook's comment, Apple knew China's economy had been slowing and had data suggesting that demand could fall.

"A reasonable jury could find that failure to disclose these risks caused plaintiff's harm," Rogers wrote.

Apple and its lawyers did not respond on Tuesday to requests for comment.

Shawn Williams, a lawyer for the shareholders, said: "We are pleased with the ruling and look forward to presenting the facts to a jury."

The lead plaintiff is the Norfolk County Council as Administering Authority of the Norfolk Pension Fund, located in Norwich, England.

Apple's share price has approximately quintupled since January 2019, giving the company a market value near $3 trillion.

The case is In re Apple Inc Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 19-02033.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)