OBAMA TO UNVEIL CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION PLAN
U.S. President Barack Obama is set to unveil what he described as “the biggest, most important step we’ve ever taken” to tackle climate change. The revised Clean Power Plan aims at cutting greenhouse gas emissions by almost one-third over the next 15 years and represents “the administration’s boldest attempt to date to reduce emissions,” The Washington Post writes. “Climate change is not a problem for another generation. Not any more,” the President said in a video released Sunday.
ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE REOPENS
The Athens Stock Exchange opened down 22.87% this morning after a five-week closure that came at the peak of Greece’s debt crisis, Kathimerini reports. Four of the country’s biggest banks were among the biggest losers, with Piraeus Bank and National Bank of Greece sinking 30%.
ON THIS DAY
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La Scala opened its doors for the first time on this day in 1778! Time for today’s 57-second shot of history here.
VERBATIM
When asked about the weight of money in U.S. politics, former President Jimmy Carter replied that America is now “just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president.”
$2 MILLION
Hillary Clinton’s advertising campaign will begin tomorrow in Iowa and New Hampshire, as her lead over her relatively unknown Democratic rival and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is beginning to erode. And with reports that Vice President Joe Biden is still considering entering the race to be the Democratic Party’s candidate for the White House, Clinton is determined to use her campaign war chest to build an insurmountable lead. For five weeks of ad campaigns in the two early voting states, the ex-First Lady is spending $2 million. Read more from Politico.
BOKO HARAM HOSTAGES FREED
The Nigerian army has freed 178 people, 101 of them children, being held hostage by terrorist group Boko Haram in northern Nigeria, AFP reports. The move marks an important step in the fight against the Islamist sect, especially after recent deadly attacks in the country’s northeastern region. In a speech on Sunday, a confident President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria “will defeat Boko Haram by the end of this year.” Read more from Vanguard.
WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO
Pope Francis’ recent encyclical on the climate had a major blind spot: cattle farming and meat consumption. Nowhere is the damage more evident than his native Latin America, writes Klaus Ziegler for El Espectador: “Pope Francis should have cited the harm meat and meat-eating are doing to the planet in his encyclical on the environment. Perhaps Adam was banned from Paradise not for biting into an apple, but for trying his first steak.”
Read the full article, Cattle Farming, A Wretched Environmental Legacy.
ISRAEL VOWS TO TACKLE “JEWISH TERROR”
Jewish terror suspects in Israel will be detained without trial, the cabinet announced in response to the death of a Palestinian toddler in the West Bank on Friday, in a criminal fire caused by Israeli settlers. The attack caused a national and international uproar, coming just one day after a man identified as an Ultra Orthodox Jewish militant stabbed six people during Jerusalem’s gay pride. One the victims, a 16-year-old Israeli girl, died as a result of her wounds. According to Haaretz, the experts who are investigating Friday’s attack said they believed those responsible to be likely linked with radical groups who have been targeting mosques, churches and Palestinian homes over the past year. Their ultimate goal is said to be to overthrow the government and establish a new governing system based on Jewish law.
CALIFORNIA FIRES: 134,000 ACRES AND COUNTING
Photo: Stuart Palley/ZUMA
A wildfire raging through northern California more than doubled in size on its fifth day on Sunday.
According to the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, more than 9,300 firefighters are now battling at least 21 wildfires that have torched more than 134,000 acres over the past weeks. California is in the fourth year of a severe drought that has made the region very vulnerable to brush fires.
DOPING IN RUNNING
Distance running is in a similar state as cycling when a doped Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times, experts concluded after the results of thousands of athletes’ blood tests from 2001-2012 were leaked to British and German media. At least one-third of Olympic and world championship medals are believed to have been won by doped athletes.
SAUDI KING CUTS FRENCH HOLIDAY SHORT
Saudi Arabian King Salman has left the French riviera on Sunday after eight days of controversy, cutting short a planned three-week stay. Some 150,000 citizens had signed a petition against the closure of a public beach outside the monarch’s villa, which officials approved in apparent breach of French law on equality. Also controversial was the king’s request that a female police officer be withdrawn from the beach.
MY GRAND-PÈRE’S WORLD
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THE FORMULA TO CATCH THEM ALL
Thanks to a group of academics, there’s now a formula to find out who the killer is in Agatha Christie’s novels before Poirot or Miss Marple do.
