Biden administration halts new drilling in legal fight over climate costs
The Biden administration is indefinitely freezing decisions about new federal oil and gas drilling as part of a legal brawl with Republican-led states that could impact President Joe Biden’s plans to tackle climate change. The move, which came Saturday, was a response to a recent federal ruling that blocked the way the Biden administration was calculating the real cost of climate change, a figure that guides government decisions on whether to permit oil, gas or coal extraction. The government estimated that the damage from wildfires, floods and rising sea levels was $51 per ton of carbon dioxide generated by burning fossil fuels.
1 dead in shooting at a Portland protest against police violence
A deadly weekend shooting in Portland, Oregon, at a protest against police killings left one person dead and five wounded, raising tensions again among the city’s social justice activists. The Portland Police Bureau said a woman was dead when officers arrived Saturday night at the scene in the neighborhood of Rose City Park. Two men and three other women were taken to a nearby hospital, police said. The shooting, which occurred at the start of a protest, appeared to be “a confrontation between armed protesters and an armed homeowner,” Lt. Nathan Sheppard said Sunday. “That’s what the preliminary investigation is indicating.”
CDC isn’t publishing
large portions of the COVID data it collects
For more than a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has collected data on hospitalizations for COVID-19 in the United States and broken it down by age, race and vaccination status. But it has not made most of the information public. When the CDC published the first significant data on the effectiveness of boosters in adults younger than 65 two weeks ago, it left out the numbers for a huge portion of that population: 18- to 49-year-olds, the group least likely to benefit from extra shots, because the first two doses already left them well-protected.
Newsom’s new COVID plan aims to move California out of ‘crisis mode’
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Sunday described the new pandemic plan he released last week as a “more sensible and sustainable” approach that would lead the state out of “crisis mode” now that omicron cases had dropped significantly. His comments on MSNBC followed an announcement from state officials last week about a “next-phase” plan, which would prioritize strategies like vaccination and stockpiling supplies while easing away from emergency response measures like mask mandates. “We are realizing that we’re going to have to live with different variants and this disease for many, many years,” Newsom said.
Hank the Tank, a 500-pound bear, ransacks California community
Since the summer, a black bear known as Hank the Tank has made a 500-pound nuisance of himself in South Lake Tahoe, California, breaking into over two dozen homes to rummage for food and leaving a trail of damage. Police and officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have tried to “haze” the bear with paintballs, bean bags, sirens and Tasers, but he doesn’t stay away for long. Residents have called police about Hank over 100 times since July as he rampages through Tahoe Keys, a gated community. Authorities are trying to trap Hank and possibly euthanize him.
Queen Elizabeth tests positive for coronavirus
Queen Elizabeth II has been infected with the coronavirus, Buckingham Palace said Sunday, becoming one of the world’s most prominent figures to battle the virus and rattling the country she has led for seven decades. The palace issued few details about the condition of the queen, who turns 96 in April. Several people at Windsor Castle are infected, a palace official said, suggesting an outbreak at the royal residence, where the queen has spent most of her time since the pandemic engulfed Britain in March 2020. Elizabeth met this month with her eldest son, Prince Charles, who was later reported to be reinfected with the coronavirus and went into isolation.
India’s Congress party faces a test of survival as Punjab votes
The vote in the Indian state of Punjab is shaping up as a broader test of whether Congress, which governed India for the majority of its history since independence from British rule, can arrest its steep national decline in recent years after the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nationally, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has established itself as such an undisputed force in consecutive national elections that India’s democracy increasingly feels like a one-party rule, analysts and observers say. The Congress party is a shadow of its former self, with less than 10% of the seats in the Parliament and leading governments in just three of India’s 28 states.
China-Russia bond alarms US, Europe amid Ukraine crisis
Current and former U.S. and European officials say they are alarmed over what is effectively a nonaggression pact between China and Russia that could amount to a realignment of the world order. Portending a new type of Cold War, Biden administration officials say the United States will work to create and bolster its own coalitions of democratic nations — including new Europe and Asia-Pacific strategic groups — and help countries develop advanced military capabilities. John Kirby, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, said last week that the U.S. government was watching the “burgeoning relationship” between China and Russia.
Australia welcomes
back tourists with toy koalas, Tim Tams
International tourists and business travelers began arriving in Australia with few restrictions on Monday for the first time in almost two years after the government lifted some of the most draconian pandemic measures of any democracy in the world. Vaccinated travelers were greeted at Sydney’s airport by jubilant well-wishers waving toy koalas and favorite Australian foods including Tim Tams chocolate cookies and jars of Vegemite spread. All travelers’ vaccination status are checked before they arrived to avoid a repeat of Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic’s visa debacle.
Body is pulled from burning ferry off Greece, 10 missing
Rescuers said Sunday at least one person had been found dead on a ferry that caught fire off the Greek island of Corfu on Friday, the first person known to have been killed in the blaze, although 10 others remain missing. Hundreds have already been taken safely off the stricken ship, the Italian-owned Euroferry Olympia, which had been carrying more than 290 passengers and crew members when the fire broke out a few hours after it left the Greek port of Igoumenitsa, bound for Italy. There were also 153 trucks and 32 cars aboard. The dead man was found when rescuers opened the doors to a truck on the ferry.
By wire sources
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