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(ESG Today) ESG considerations are increasingly being integrated into the dealmaking process by M&A professionals, according to a new survey by global professional services firm KPMG, which found that over half of respondents reported that they have cancelled deals due to material findings during ESG due diligence, and that nearly two thirds of investors would…

(The Washington Post) Two years after the assassination of Haiti’s president triggered a spiral of mayhem, economic calamity and gang violence, there is a glimmer of hope for the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation. It arrives from the government of Kenya, which has offered to send 1,000 police officers and lead a multinational force that would help Haitian…

(Reuters) A group founded by the conservative activist instrumental in the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision rejecting affirmative action in collegiate admissions on Wednesday sued an Atlanta-based venture capital fund that supports Black women who own small businesses, accusing it of unlawful racial discrimination. The nonprofit American Alliance for Equal Rights, founded by affirmative action foe Edward Blum, said…

(WSJ) Private-equity and hedge funds are bracing for what could be the biggest regulatory challenge in years to their business of managing money for deep-pocketed investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to adopt a rule package as soon as this month aiming to bring greater transparency and competition to the multitrillion- dollar private-funds industry, people familiar with…

(WSJ) Sequoia Capital pared back the size of two major venture funds, including its cryptocurrency fund, as part of a dramatic downsizing the storied venture firm is undertaking amid a broad startup downturn. Sequoia cut the size of its cryptocurrency fund to $200 million from $585 million, according to people familiar with the matter. It…

(Vox) Humans now have left undeniable fingerprints on extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and flooding experienced around the world. As these disasters intensify, they push questions the world has grappled with for over 30 years to the forefront: Who is responsible for that damage? And how much should they pay? Increasingly, people around the world are…

(Bloomberg) For more than a year, Spain has been struggling with drought that has sent water levels in dams below historical averages, prompting local officials to tell residents not to water their gardens and to turn off taps at night to guarantee supply during the day. The situation is particularly hard for farmers. The central…

(WSJ) Two years ago chief diversity officers were some of the hottest hires into executive ranks. Now, they increasingly feel left out in the cold. Companies including Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have recently said that high-profile diversity, equity and inclusion executives will be leaving their jobs. Thousands of diversity-focused workers have been laid off since last year, and…

(Bloomberg) Firms that fail to take ESG seriously face a bleak future in the European Union, as the bloc pushes ahead with the world’s most ambitious set of environmental, social and governance regulations. That’s according to Mairead McGuinness, the EU’s commissioner for financial markets and services. “What the European Union has been doing is quite extraordinary,” McGuinness said…

(WSJ) Social media was more than a decade old before efforts to curb its ill effects began in earnest. With artificial intelligence, lawmakers, activists and executives aren’t waiting that long.  Over the past several months, award-winning scientists, White House officials and tech CEOs have called for guardrails around generative AI tools such as ChatGPT—the chatbot launched…