Reuters: U.S. lags China on climate change: Europe climate chief

May 13th, 2010 | Environment | | Leave a comment

Europe’s climate chief said Wednesday that the United States is lagging behind countries like China, though European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard said the climate legislation unveiled Wednesday by Senators Kerry and Lieberman was a step in the right direction.

The European Union has long claimed to be leading the pack in sustainability and Hedegaard believes, "This is one of the crucial battlefields over who is going to be the economic leaders of our century."

As China and the United States negotiate back and forth on a global deal to combat climate change, Hedegaard said Beijing was making bold steps against global warming.

READ THIS STORY AT REUTERS.COM

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McClatchy Newspapers: Pentagon rethinking value of major counterinsurgencies

May 13th, 2010 | National Security | | Leave a comment

U.S Military strategists are quietly changing position, saying that large-scale counterinsurgency efforts, like the current engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, cost too much and last too long.

Military spending has risen steadily since September 11th , but the economic downturn is responsible for much of the change in thinking in the Pentagon.

In the current issue of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates echoed the sentiment saying, “The United States is unlikely to repeat a mission on the scale of those in Afghanistan and Iraq anytime soon — that is, forced regime change followed by nation building under fire,” he wrote.

Even after investing thousands of troops and billions of dollars in counterinsurgency, Osama bin Laden is still free.

READ THIS STORY AT MCCLATCHYDC.COM

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ENN: EPA Announces Thresholds for Greenhouse Gas Permitting Requirements

May 13th, 2010 | Environment | | Leave a comment

EPA Assistant Administrator Gina McCarthy held a press conference today regarding the EPA’s final ruling on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG.)

The new rule will be phased in slowly and will affect larger stationary sources that are responsible for 70 percent of GHG’s, such as power plants and oil refineries, while protecting small businesses and farms.

The new rule does not impose new emission reduction requirements, according to McCarthy. Rather, it is a way to get a source’s GHG’s onto their permit. A new rule to be issued by 2012 would reduce thresholds.

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said that the new EPA thresholds will “spark clean energy innovation.”

READ THIS STORY AT ENN.COM

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Washington Post: Holder: Several individuals in custody following raids connected to Times Square investigation

May 13th, 2010 | National Security | | Leave a comment
EricHolderAGNominee
EricHolderAGNominee
Federal agents searched locations in Boston and Long Island in connection with an investigation into the failed Times Square bombing.

Attorney General Eric Holder told a house panel Thursday that several people were taken into federal custody, in connection with those searches, for alleged immigration violations.

Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the failed Times Square bombing and vowed to carry out other U.S. attacks. Holder, however, offered reassurancethat the searches in relation to the bombing “[did] not relate to any known immediate threat to the public or active plot against the United States.”

READ THIS STORY AT WASHINGTONPOST.COM

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