Hello, this is Charles Carroll with the BBC news.
President Obama has unveiled, what he described as, the most important step America has ever taken to combat climate change. He said this generation was the last that could address the issue, and the United States had to take action.
“This is one of those rare issues, because of its magnitude, because of its scope. That if we don't get it right, we may not be able to reverse, and we may not be able to adapt sufficiently. There is such a thing as being too late when it comes to climate change.”
Mr. Obama's plan aims to cut CO2 emissions from US power plants by almost 1/3 before 2030, a steeper reduction than it had been expected. Correspondents say it’s seen as a challenge to other countries ahead of the Paris climate change conference in December. The plan has been welcomed by the United Nations and the European Union. But Republican politicians say they will oppose it fearing it will damage the US economy. And the president of the coal association in the state of West Virginia Bill Rainy described the plans as an assault on the coal industry.
"It paralyzes any expansions or involvement of anybody using coal to make electricity in this country, so it is very devastating, I mean, someone talked about Obama creating his legacy while he’s still on the backs of the coal miners’ Appalachia."
United States has confirmed that it has for the first time used air power to defend American trained forces fighting in Syria. The defense department said US aircraft had helped them during a skirmish with the al Nusra Front and affiliate of Al Qaeda.
The Israeli defense minister says there would be no compromises in the battle against what he called Jewish terrorism. Moshe Ya'alon said that it was a battle for the character of Israeli itself. The comments followed the death of a young Palestinian child in an attack thought to have been carried out by a hardline Jewish nationalist. The security cabinet has already approved the extension of administrative detention imprisonment without trial to Jewish suspects.
The American airline Delta is banning the worldwide shipment of wildlife hunting trophies as freight on its planes. The decision follows a row over the shooting of Zimbabwe’s most famous lion Cecil by an American dentist. Barbara Plett Usher has more details.
“As recently has made, Delta said it would continue to allow the shipment of hunting trophies, but now it has announced it would no longer accept lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros or buffalo remains. Delta flies direct to a number of African cities including Johannesburg and was the subject of online petition to ban such shipments. A number of US lawmakers also wade in recently introducing legislation named after Cecil that would extend protections of the Endangered Species Act.” Barbara Plett Usher with that report.
World news from the BBC.
Parliament in Kosovo has amended the constitution to allow the creation of a special court to investigate alleged war crimes committed by ethnic Albanian fighters during the war in the 1990s. The opposition boycotted the vote, but the Prime Minister Isa Mustafa said that finding the truth about some of the allegations against the now disbanded Kosovo liberation army was a challenge that Kosovans had to deal with. The KLA has been accused of among other war crimes killing Serb captives to remove and sell their organs in the black market.
Jurors at the trial of James Holmes, the man who shot dead 12 people at a cinema in Denver three years ago, have unanimously decided that he could face the death penalty when he's sentenced. The jury has already found him guilty of 165 charges including murder, attempted murder, and explosive offenses.
The leader of the Spanish region of Catalonia has called for early parliamentary elections next month in what is widely seen as a push towards independence. Last year, the Spanish Supreme Court suspended the regional government's efforts to hold a referendum on independence, Catalonia's president Artur Mas explained why he was calling early elections.
“Catalonia is not living under normal conditions, when the emphatic and clear majority of a country wishes to exercise democratically and peacefully its right to decide. But this right has been rejected constantly, dialogue and negotiation become blocked. It means we are facing an exceptional situation that also requires exceptional decisions.”
Police in Brazil has say they have arrested Jose Dirceu who served as chief of staff under the then president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva between 2003 and 2005. He is the most senior member of the governing Worker’s party to be arrested as part of an investigation into alleged corruption at the state-owned oil giant Petrobras.