Yahoo Finance First Thing: Biden set to unveil plan to save the planet
Good morning.
Joe Biden is expected to lay out his plans for tackling the climate crisis this week, and call on the world’s other major economies to join him in slashing greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade.
Biden and his climate envoy, John Kerry, will host a virtual summit of 40 world leaders to discuss the climate crisis and steps they can take to tackle it. There, the US is set to unveil its own plan for cutting emissions over the coming 10 years. This has the potential to be a turning point in the approach to the climate crisis; if the plan is bold enough, it could encourage other countries to step up their own climate goals.
Coal financing costs have surged over the last decade amid a shift to cleaner energy sources. Investors are demanding returns up to four times as high as the payoff from renewable energy projects in order to justify the risk of investing in fossil fuels.
Around the world in climate commitments: Countries around the world have made pledges to reduce their carbon emissions. From Saudi Arabia to China, our reporters look at some of the most significant.
An ‘active’ shooting in Texas has left three dead
Three people were shot dead in Austin yesterday, and police say the suspect is still at large. However, authorities said it appeared to be an isolated domestic incident and that there was no risk to the general public.
Who were the victims? The victims were two women and a man, according to police. A child was involved but is now safe in police custody. The suspect was named as 41-year-old Stephen Broderick, with local media reporting he was thought to be a former county detective.
The incident is the latest in a spate of mass shootings which have rocked the US in recent weeks. Over the weekend, more details emerged about a shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis on Thursday which left eight people dead.
The victims were identified, with their ages ranging from 19 to 74. Four were members of the Sikh community, but it remains unclear if Sikhs were deliberately targeted, police said. Their families, friends and community shared memories of them, from the golf fan with a “big heart” to the “grandmother of the Indianapolis Sikh community”.
The shooter was identified as 19-year-old Brandon Hole, a former FedEx employee.
He legally purchased the two semi-automatic rifles he used in the attack, only months after a shotgun he owned was confiscated by police amid concerns about his mental health.
He was interviewed by FBI agents last year after his mother reported to police that her son might attempt “suicide by cop”.
Protests against police brutality erupted this weekend
Protesters staged demonstrations against police brutality across the US over the weekend, as the nation awaits the verdict of the landmark trial of the white police officer accused of murdering George Floyd. Closing statements are due today, and further protests are expected if Derek Chauvin is acquitted or found guilty of a lesser charge.
What are the possible outcomes? The most serious charge Chauvin is facing is second-degree murder, but the jury could instead find him guilty of third-degree murder or manslaughter, or acquit him of all charges. Chauvin has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the families of both Floyd and Daunte Wright – the 20-year-old shot dead by police during a traffic stop earlier this month – said a guilty verdict would mark a historic moment in police accountability:
The outcome that we pray for and Derek Chauvin is for him to be held criminally liable for killing George Floyd, because we believe that could be a precedent,” Crump told ABC’s This Week on Sunday. “Finally making America live up to its promise of liberty and justice for all. That means all of us – Black people, Hispanic people, Native people - all of us.”
In other news…
Allies of Kremlin-critic Alexei Nalvany have said he could die “at any minute” and called for mass protests by his supporters to save him. Nalvany is in jail in Russia, and has been on hunger strike for almost three weeks. He demanded an independent medical team be allowed to examine him, but authorities have denied this.
Nasa attempted to fly a miniature helicopter above the surface of Mars in the early hours of this morning. We don’t yet know how it went, but if it was successful, this will have been the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet.
A train accident in Egypt has killed at least 11 people after four train wagons ran off the track just outside of Cairo, authorities said. At least 98 people were injured. One local newspaper said at least 10 railway officials had been detained, but the cause of the crash isn’t yet clear.
Stat of the day: more than 1.4 million long-term care residents and employees got Covid in the US
American care homes have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with 1.4 million long-term care residents and employees contracting the virus and 181,000 of those dying. Many carers report being overworked as they took on extra tasks and attempted to fill staffing gaps caused by colleagues off sick or isolating, and some quarantined from their families to protect those they cared for. Now, they working with labour unions and organisations to push for change.
This industry is broken. Nobody cares about the elderly any more,” said one carer. “We need to improve the way people perceive home care and nursing home work. There needs to be a big reform, and not letting it be about numbers and greed, not worrying about the head count a facility can get, it should be about proper care.”
Don’t miss this: families reunite in New Zealand and Australia as new bubble rules come into force
This uplifting gallery of photographs shows families and friends reuniting in airports, as new rules come into force that allow quarantine-free travel between Australia and New Zealand – including a grandmother meeting her baby grandson for the first time today. A little hope for all of us, this morning.
Last Thing: Madonna takes on gun violence
Madonna has called on social media for greater gun control and urged her fans to join anti-gun violence organisations. The Instagram clip showed Madonna wearing a Pussy Riot-style blue balaclava, shouting “wake up motherfuckers!” and demanding that somebody hand her the glue. In the caption, she said gun control was the “new vaccination”, as regulation would save lives.
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