While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Aug 9
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US President Joe Biden speaks during a briefing on extreme heat conditions in the US.
PHOTO: AFP
Biden’s carbon proposal unworkable, US power sector warns
US power plant owners warned the Biden administration on Tuesday that its sweeping plan to slash carbon emissions from the electricity sector is unworkable, relying too heavily on costly technologies that aren’t yet proven at scale.
Top utility trade group the Edison Electric Institute asked the US Environmental Protection Agency to scrap the proposed power plant standards, which hinge on the widespread commercial availability of carbon capture and storage and low-emissions green hydrogen. They said the agency’s vision was “not legally or technically sound”.
Resistance from the EEI and other energy-related groups poses a potentially big challenge to the Biden administration’s climate agenda.
Mr Biden has a goal to achieve net-zero emissions in the US power sector, the source of a quarter of the nation’s climate warming gases, by 2035.
Deal struck to send Leopard 1 tanks from Belgium to Ukraine
REUTERS
Dozens of second-hand Leopard 1 tanks that once belonged to Belgium have been bought by another European country for Ukrainian forces fighting Russia’s invasion, the arms trader who did the deal said on Tuesday.
The German-made Leopards were at the centre of a public spat earlier this year after Belgian Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder said the government had explored buying back tanks to send to Ukraine but had been quoted unreasonable prices.
The clash highlighted a predicament faced by Western governments trying find weapons for Ukraine after more than a year of intense warfare – arms they discarded as obsolete are now in high demand, and often owned by private companies.
Colombian cartel leader sentenced to 45 years in US prison
PHOTO: NYTIMES
The leader of a prominent Colombian criminal group who pleaded guilty to US drug trafficking charges was sentenced on Tuesday to 45 years in prison by a judge in Brooklyn who called him “more prolific” than the late kingpin Pablo Escobar.
In sentencing Dairo Antonio Usuga David, better known as Otoniel, US District Judge Dora Irizarry called the nearly 100,000 kilograms of cocaine he shipped to the United States while leading the Clan del Golfo cartel “extraordinary.”
She dismissed a defence claim that prosecutors engaged in “hyperbole” by likening Otoniel, 51, to Escobar, the former Medellin cartel leader who was killed in 1993 in a joint US-Colombia operation.
Five killed in South Africa’s Cape Town amid taxi strike
REUTERS
Five people have been killed in the South African city of Cape Town, as a strike by mini-bus taxi drivers that began last week turned violent, authorities said on Tuesday.
The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) announced a one-week provincial shutdown last Thursday after failing to resolve various issues with the local government in Cape Town.
The grievances arose after a new municipal law gave local authorities the power to impound vehicles for violations such as driving without a licence, or registration plates.
Lopetegui quits as coach of Wolves on eve of EPL season
REUTERS
Julen Lopetegui has left his job as Wolves coach just days before the start of the Premier League season after reportedly being unhappy over the club’s recruitment policy.
Former Bournemouth head coach Gary O’Neil, sacked this summer after steering the Cherries to top-flight safety, is reported to be in line to replace Lopetegui.
Former Spain and Real Madrid boss Lopetegui joined Wolves in November, replacing Bruno Lage, with the club bottom of the Premier League and helped them stay in the top flight, finishing 13th.
