Trump ready to ease rules on coal-fired power plants
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is set to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s efforts to slow global warming, the Clean Power Plan that restricts greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.
A plan to be announced in coming days would give states broad authority to determine how to restrict carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
The plan by the Environmental Protection Agency also would let states relax pollution rules for power plants that need upgrades, according to a summary of the plan and several people familiar with the full proposal who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the plan publicly.
Combined with a planned rollback of car-mileage standards, the plan represents a significant retreat from Obama-era efforts to fight climate change and would reverse an Obama-era push to shift away from coal and toward less-polluting energy sources such as natural gas, wind and solar power. President Donald Trump has already vowed to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement as he pushes to revive the coal industry.
Trump also has directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take steps to bolster struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants to keep them open, warning that impending retirements of “fuel-secure” power plants that rely on coal and nuclear power are harming the nation’s power grid and reducing its resilience.
2 detained after shots are fired at US Embassy in Turkey
ISTANBUL — Shots were fired from a moving car at the U.S. Embassy in Turkey before dawn Monday, an attack that came during heightened tensions between the two NATO allies. Officials said two people with criminal records were detained.
There were no casualties in the fleeting attack, in which three of the six bullets fired hit the embassy gate and a reinforced window in the building in Ankara.
The Ankara governor’s office named the suspects as Ahmet Celikten, 39, and Osman Gundas, 38, saying they had confessed. Authorities seized a 9-millimeter gun and a vehicle with Ankara license plates.
Celikten had escaped prison and Gundas had several crimes under his belt, including car theft, drugs and threats, the governor’s office said.
The U.S. Embassy thanked Turkish authorities, tweeting that it appreciated their “fast and professional action” in arresting the two suspects.
Turkish officials are locked in a trade and diplomatic dispute with the United States but they fully condemned the shooting. Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tweeted that it was “an attempt to create chaos.”
A top official in Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party said the attack was a “clear provocation” and that foreign diplomats are guests of the country.
“The utmost sensitivity will be shown to ensure their security,” said the party spokesman, Omer Celik.
The governor’s office said authorities are investigating the suspects’ links.
Born out of the financial crisis, bull market nears record
NEW YORK — The bull market in U.S. stocks is about to become the longest in history.
If stocks don’t drop significantly by the close of trading Wednesday, the bull market that began in March 2009 will have lasted nine years, five months and 13 days, a record that few would have predicted when the market struggled to find its footing after a 50 percent plunge during the financial crisis.
The long rally has added trillions of dollars to household wealth, helping the economy, and stands as a testament to the ability of large U.S. companies to squeeze out profits in tough times and confidence among investors as they shrugged off repeated crises and kept buying.
“There was no manic trading, there was no panic buying or selling,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Cresset Wealth Advisors. “It’s been pretty steady.”
The question now is when the rally will end. The Federal Reserve is undoing many of the stimulative measures that supported the market, including keeping interest rates near zero. There are also mounting threats to global trade that have unsettled investors.
Michigan official faces manslaughter trial over Flint deaths
FLINT, Mich. — A judge on Monday ordered Michigan’s state health director to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in two deaths linked to Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint area, the highest ranking official to stand trial as a result of the tainted water scandal.
Nick Lyon is accused of failing to issue a timely alert to the public about the outbreak. State Judge David Goggins said deaths likely could have been prevented if the outbreak had been publicly known and keeping the public in the dark was “corrupt.”
When the judge announced the decision, a woman in the gallery said, “Yes, yes, yes.”
Some experts have blamed Legionnaires’ on the scandal over Flint’s water, which wasn’t properly treated when it was drawn from the Flint River in 2014 and 2015.
Goggins found there’s probable cause for a trial. The legal standard isn’t as high as beyond a reasonable doubt.
Kavanaugh in memo pushed graphic sex questions for Clinton
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh suggested that attorneys preparing to question President Bill Clinton in 1998 seek graphic details about the president’s sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
The questions are part of a two-page memo in which Kavanaugh advised Independent Counsel Ken Starr and others not to give the president “any break” during upcoming questioning unless he resigned, confessed perjury or issued a public apology to Starr.
He suggested Clinton be asked whether he had phone sex with Lewinsky and whether he engaged in other specific sexual acts that he vividly described.
Kavanaugh worked on Starr’s team investigating Clinton. He said it may not be “our job to impose sanctions on him, but it is our job to make his pattern of revolting behavior clear — piece by painful piece.”
The memo was released Monday by the National Archives and Records Administration as lawmakers seek more details about Kavanaugh’s credentials to serve on the nation’s highest court.
Beating King of Pop, The Eagles have No.1 album of all-time
NEW YORK — The Eagles’ greatest hits album has moonwalked past Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to become history’s best-selling album of all-time.
The Recording Industry Association of America told The Associated Press on Monday that the Eagles’ album — “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975” — is now certified 38x platinum, which means sales and streams of the album have reached 38 million copies.
The album was released in 1976 and pushes Jackson’s “Thriller,” which is 33x platinum, to second place.
RIAA also said that the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” released in 1977, is now 26x platinum and makes it the third best-selling album of all-time.
The last time RIAA tallied sales for the Eagles’ greatest hits album was in 2006, when it said it was 29x platinum. Sales and streams for “Thriller” were last updated last year.