6 automakers, 31 countries say they’ll phase out gasoline car sales
At least six major automakers — including Ford, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and Volvo — and 31 national governments pledged Wednesday to work toward phasing out sales of new gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles by 2040 worldwide, and by 2035 in “leading markets.” But some of the world’s biggest car manufacturers, including Toyota, Volkswagen and the Nissan-Renault alliance, did not join the pledge. And the governments of the United States, China and Japan, three of the largest car markets, also abstained. The announcement, made during international climate talks, was hailed by climate advocates as yet another sign that the days of the internal combustion engine could be numbered.
House Jan. 6 panel subpoenas 10 former White House aides
House investigators issued subpoenas Tuesday to 10 former officials who worked for Donald Trump at the end of his presidency, an effort to find out more about what the president was doing and saying as his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a bid to overturn his defeat. The subpoenas, including demands for documents and testimony from former senior adviser Stephen Miller and former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, bring the House panel tasked with investigating the insurrection even closer inside Trump’s inner circle — and closer to Trump himself. They come a day after the committee subpoenaed six other associates of the former president who spread mistruths about widespread fraud in the election and strategized about how to thwart President Joe Biden’s victory.
Okla. Supreme Court throws out opioid ruling against J&J
Oklahoma’s highest court on Tuesday threw out a 2019 ruling that required Johnson &Johnson to pay the state $465 million for its role in the opioid epidemic. It was the second time this month that a court has invalidated a key legal strategy used by plaintiffs in thousands of cases attempting to hold the pharmaceutical industry responsible for the crisis. The Oklahoma Supreme Court, 5-1, rejected the state’s argument that the company violated “public nuisance” laws by aggressively overstating the benefits of its prescription opioid painkillers and downplaying the dangers. The two rulings could be a harbinger that plaintiffs’ hopes for favorable resolution nationwide will be dashed.
Trump officials illegally campaigned while in office, watchdog finds
Thirteen of former President Donald Trump’s most senior aides campaigned illegally for Trump’s reelection in violation of a law designed to prevent federal employees from abusing the power of their offices on behalf of candidates, a government watchdog agency said Tuesday. Henry Kerner, who heads the Office of Special Counsel, made the assertion in a withering report that followed a nearly yearlong investigation into “myriad” violations of the law, known as the Hatch Act. Investigators in Kerner’s office said Trump administration officials purposely violated the law during the final few weeks of the administration, when they knew that the Office of Special Counsel would not have time to investigate.
GE to end its run as a conglomerate, split into 3 companies
General Electric, the storied American manufacturer that struggled under its own weight after growing to become a sprawling conglomerate, will divide itself into three public companies focused on aviation, health care and energy.The company’s announcement Tuesday is the culmination of an arduous, yearslong reshaping of a symbol of American manufacturing might that could signal the end of conglomerates as a whole. The company has already rid itself of the products most Americans know it for, including its appliances, and last year, the light bulbs that GE had been making since the late 19th century when the company was founded.
Tensions rise
in migrant standoff at Poland-Belarus border
Poland reinforced its border with Belarus with more riot police on Tuesday, a day after groups of migrants tried to storm through a razor-wire fence on the eastern frontier where thousands have camped on the Belarusian side in the tense standoff. The European Union accuses Belarus President
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