Climate change’s knowns and unknowns

November 13, 2013 - Daily News Briefing

Does supertyphoon Haiyan prove global warming exists? Did the dearth of Atlantic hurricanes this year make global warming a fiction?

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Desperately needed food, water, and medical aid were only trickling into Tacloban, the Philippine city that took the worst blow from typhoon Haiyan, while thousands of victims jammed the damaged airport Tuesday, seeking to be evacuated. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said supplies should increase now that the airport and a bridge to the island were open. Tacloban, a city of about 220,000 people on Leyte island, bore the full force of the winds and the tsunami-like storm surges Friday.

Adding pressure to fix the administration’s problem-plagued health-care program, former President Bill Clinton says President Obama should find a way to let people keep their health coverage, even if it means changing the law. Clinton says Obama should “honor the commitment that the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got.”

A court declared that Egypt’s three-month-old state of emergency expired Tuesday, two days earlier than expected, but the military and security officials held off from implementing the ruling and lifting a nighttime curfew amid worries that the measures’ end will fuel protests by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

The US Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it would let the merger of American Airlines and US Airways proceed after the two carriers agreed to give up landing and takeoff slots and gates at key airports, notably Washington’s Reagan National and New York’s LaGuardia. With the agreement, the government hopes to increase access to the nation’s busiest airports for low-cost airlines and to maintain flights to smaller cities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his country will expand its military supplies to Vietnam, as he held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart to boost ties between the former ideological allies. Military and energy cooperation topped the agenda during the talks between Putin and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang. Russia remains the main supplier of military hardware to Vietnam, and plans are being worked out to produce some military equipment in the Southeast Asian country with assistance from Russian companies.

The International Monetary Fund called on Thailand to drop its multibillion-dollar subsidies for rice growers, saying the program is undermining confidence in the country’s finances. The IMF said Tuesday in its annual review of Thailand’s economy that losses in the program will continue if the policy remains unchanged. The rice-buying program, a flagship policy of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government to win support in Thailand’s vote-rich farming regions, has accumulated losses of at least $4.46 billion since it was introduced in 2011.

Czech police say they have opened investigations against 45 people amid nationwide raids on dozens of stores suspected of selling materials that help people illegally grow marijuana. The Czech Republic doesn’t allow the recreational use of marijuana. In a statement Tuesday, police said they have raided about 100 places since the beginning of their unusually large sweep last week.

The new World Trade Center tower in New York will replace Chicago’s Willis Tower as the nation’s tallest building when it is completed next year, an international panel of architects announced Tuesday. The Height Committee of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat said that because the needle atop the New York skyscraper is a permanent spire and not an antenna it can be counted when measuring the structure’s 1,776-foot height.

The US State Department says two American mariners kidnapped last month off the coast of Nigeria have been released. Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the US welcomes the release of the two Americans, but said privacy concerns prevented her from disclosing any details about how they were freed.

Police and justice officials in Kosovo say that six ethnic Albanians suspected of plotting a terrorist attack inspired by radical Islamist ideology have been arrested, and a seventh suspect remains at large. Officials said Tuesday that the arrests took place last week after three months of covert surveillance of a group known for preaching radical Islam.

Atlanta’s mayor said Tuesday that the city will demolish Turner Field after baseball’s Braves leave for a new stadium in the suburbs in 2017. Mayor Kasim Reed said that the stadium will not be left vacant after the team relocates to Cobb County. The Braves unexpectedly announced Monday they are moving to a new 42,000-seat, stadium about 10 miles from downtown, apparently swayed by a lucrative financial deal.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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