The White House says it will not participate in Wednesday impeachment hearing by the House Judiciary Committee.

Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler invited U.S. President Donald Trump and his counsel to attend the committee’s first hearing as the impeachment inquiry moves into its next phase.

While no one expected Trump to attend – he plans to be at a NATO summit near London this week – White House counsel Pat Cipollone is also declining the invitation.

“We cannot fairly be expected to participate in a hearing while the witnesses are yet to be named and while it remains unclear whether the Judiciary Committee will afford the president a fair process through additional hearings,” Cipollone said in a letter to Nadler late Sunday.

Cipollone said he will reply by the end of the week on whether the White House would appear at future hearings.

Nadler assured Trump and his counsel in his invitation letter last week that he “remains committed to ensuring a fair and informative process.”

He said Trump has the “opportunity to be represented in the impeachment hearings, or he can stop complaining about the process.”

Wednesday’s Judiciary Committee hearing will focus on the constitutional grounds surrounding impeaching a president. The yet-to-be-named witnesses will be legal experts.

The Intelligence Committee, which held a series of public and closed-room hearings last month, will send its findings to the Judiciary Committee, whose members will decide whether to draw up articles of impeachment against Trump.

Possible charges that could lead to his impeachment include bribery and high crimes and misdemeanors.

Trump is accused of holding up nearly $400 million in badly-needed military aid to Ukraine in exchange for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s public commitment to investigate Trump’s 2020 presidential rival Joe Biden for alleged corruption.

Biden’s son, Hunter, sat on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Trump alleges that when Biden was vice president, he threatened to hold up U.S. loan guarantees to Ukraine unless the government fired a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma.

Trump also insists it was Ukraine, not Russia that interfered in the 2016 U.S. election on behalf of Democrats.

No evidence against the Bidens has ever surfaced and the charge against Ukraine was based on a debunked conspiracy theory that originated in Russia.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and calls the impeachment inquiry a hoax.

A passenger bus plunged off a bridge onto a frozen river in Siberia on Sunday, killing 19 of the more than 40 people on board, authorities said.

A tire on the bus burst as it was crossing the bridge over the Kuenga river in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The vehicle, which was traveling from Sretensk to Chita and carried 40 passengers, skidded off the road and onto the ice.

“Nineteen people died and 21 received various injuries,” the office of the governor of the Zabaikalsky region said in a statement.

Two preschool-aged children were reportedly among the dead.

National television broadcast footage of the mangled wreckage of the bus, which lay upside down on the snow-covered ice surrounded by ambulances and fire engines.

Nineteen people including a 12-year-old girl were hospitalized.

More than 70 people and two helicopters with medics were involved in the rescue operation, officials said.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told his deputy Tatyana Golikova to do everything to help the families of the victims, the government said.

“The head of government expressed condolences to the families of those who died,” the government said in a statement.

The Investigative Committee, which probes serious incidents, said it had opened a criminal inquiry into a possible violation of traffic safety rules.

The head of the powerful Investigative Committee, which reports directly to President Vladimir Putin, demanded a “detailed investigation” into the deadly accident.

Officials said the driver — who died in the crash — had years of experience.

Local authorities launched a crowd-funding campaign to help the victims and their families.

Road accidents are common in Russia, often due to alcohol, the poor state of roads and failure to observe traffic rules.

However, the number of road deaths has gone down in recent years, to around 20,000 per year.

New Orleans police say 11 people were wounded in a shooting early Sunday on the edge of the city’s famed French Quarter.

A police news release said two people were in critical condition. No arrests were announced by midday Sunday.

Police Supt. Shaun Ferguson told The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune that a person of interest has been detained, but it was not immediately clear whether the person had any connection to the shooting.

Police said 10 people were taken to two hospitals and another walked in. Further details haven’t been released.

The shooting happened about 3:20 a.m. on a busy commercial block of Canal Street that has streetcar tracks and is near many hotels.

Ferguson said police quickly responded to the scene as patrols were heightened for this weekend’s Bayou Classic, the annual Thanksgiving weekend rivalry football game between Grambling State and Southern University at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Kenneth Culbreth told The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune that he had gone into a CVS pharmacy in the early morning hours to make a quick purchase. Moments later, he walked out to a crime scene.
 “On my way out of the CVS, I heard pops,” Culbreth said. “It was so many, I couldn’t keep count.”

Culbreth spent the rest of the morning watching the scene, with law enforcement and several emergency vehicles moving in and out at a rapid pace.

This week at a summit in Britain, world leaders mark the 70th anniversary of NATO.  President Donald Trump, who has bashed the military alliance and made comments about slashing U.S. backing for it, will attend.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports that, meanwhile, back in the United States, the impeachment inquiry into accusations of presidential misconduct moves to a new phase.

The devastating impact of global warming that threatens humanity is a pushback from Nature under assault, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warned Sunday ahead of a key climate conference.

“For many decades the human species has been at war with the planet, and now the planet is fighting back,” he said, decrying the “utterly inadequate” efforts of the world’s major economies to curb carbon pollution. “We must stop our war against nature, and science tells us we can do it.”

Guterres flagged a U.N. report to be released in a few days confirming the last five years are the warmest on record, with 2019 likely to be the second hottest ever.

“Climate-related disasters are becoming more frequent, more deadly, more destructive,” he said on the eve of the 196-nation COP25 climate change talks in Madrid.

Every year, air pollution associated with climate change kills seven million people, he noted, adding that human health and food security are at risk.

The U.N. chief’s comments were clearly aimed at the handful of countries responsible for more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions, though he did not call them out by name.

President Donald Trump has set in motion the process that would see the United States withdraw from the Paris deal by the end of the year, and other major emitters — China, India, Russia and Brazil — have given scant indication that they will deepen their commitments.

Guterres singled out the European Union as playing a constructive role, saying the 28-nation bloc could help lead the way towards a net-zero global economy by 2050.

The Paris Agreement calls for capping global warming at under two degrees Celsius, and 1.5C if feasible.

But current national pledges — if carried out — would see global temperatures rise by at least 3C, a recipe for human misery, according to scientists.

Despite growing public pressure, the 12-day negotiating session is likely to remain technical in nature, focused on finalizing the “rulebook” for the Paris Agreement, which becomes operation at the end of next year.

Climate change is no longer a long-term problem, Guterres said.

“We are confronted now with a global climate crisis and the point of no return is no longer over the horizon — it is in sight and hurtling towards us.”

Joyous Congolese dancing and singing have enlivened St. Peter’s Basilica, as Pope Francis celebrated a special Mass for Catholics from the violence-wracked African nation and denounced arms suppliers for helping to fuel the conflict.

The whoops of joy and the chorus of rhythmically-swaying Congolese approaching the altar Sunday was a vivid contrast with the usual solemn religious ceremonies at the Vatican basilica.

In his homily, Francis prayed that conflict cease, noting peace was “gravely threatened in the east of the country.” He decried weapon suppliers, lamenting “conflicts fed by those enriching themselves with arms.”

Recently, rebels in eastern Congo have targeted Ebola response workers, compounding difficulties in containing the outbreak.

A Mass’ end, a Congolese nun urged Francis, who has expressed hopes in the past to visit Congo, to come.

Iraq’s parliament voted on Sunday to accept the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, following weeks of violent anti-government protests that have rocked the country.

Abdul Mahdi’s decision to quit on Friday came after a call by Iraq’s top Shi’ite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani for parliament to consider withdrawing its support for Abdul Mahdi’s government to stem the violence.

“The Iraqi parliament will ask the president of state to nominate a new prime minister,” a statement from parliament’s media office said.

Lawmakers said Abdul Mahdi’s government, including the prime minister himself, would stay on in a caretaker capacity following Sunday’s vote until a new government was chosen.

Under the constitution, President Barham Salih is expected to ask the largest bloc in parliament to nominate a new prime minister to form a government, a move expected to trigger weeks of political wrangling.

Iraqi forces have killed nearly 400 mostly young, unarmed demonstrators since mass anti-government protests broke out on Oct. 1. More than a dozen members of the security forces have also died in clashes.

Abdul Mahdi’s resignation, though welcomed by protesters, is not expected to end the demonstrations, which have called for an overhaul of a political system accused of being corrupt and keeping most of the population in poverty, without opportunity.

Demonstrations are continuing in Baghdad and other southern regions and security forces killed one protester and wounded nine others near a key bridge in the capital on Sunday, police and a medical source said.

The unrest poses the biggest challenge for Iraq since Islamic State insurgents seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory in 2014.

It pits mostly young, disaffected Shi’ite protesters against a Shi’ite-dominated government backed by Iran and accused of squandering Iraq’s oil wealth while infrastructure and living standards deteriorate.

A huge crowd took to the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday, some driven back by tear gas, to demand more democracy and an investigation into the use of force to crack down on the six-month-long anti-government demonstrations.

Thousands turned out, from hardened youthful protesters in black outfits and face masks to parents with their children.

Marching near the waterfront on the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbour, they sought to keep the pressure on city leader Carrie Lam after pro-democracy candidates won district council elections a week earlier.

“If we don’t walk out, the government will say it’s just a youth issue, but this is a Hong Kong problem that affects all of us,” Lily Chau said as she pushed her toddler in a stroller. “If we are scared, the government will continue to trample on our rights.”

Many held up a hand to indicate the five demands of the movement and shouted “Five demands, not one less” and “Disband the police force.”

Riot gear and tear gas

Police in riot gear were out in force for the third march of the day — and the one where violence seemed most likely. They fired pepper spray and tear gas in some areas. Protesters dug up paving stones and threw them in the street to try to slow the police down.

Hong Kong’s protests have been relatively peaceful during the two weeks around the Nov. 24 election but could turn violent again if the government doesn’t bend to the demands.

Lam has said she’ll accelerate dialogue but has not yielded any ground since the vote. Her government has accepted one demand — withdrawing extradition legislation that could have sent suspects to mainland China for trial — but not the others.

Elaine Wong, an office worker, called the recent election an empty victory.

“We have in actual fact not won any concessions for our demands,” she said. “We must continue to stand out to remind the government of our unhappiness.”

Early Sunday marches

Earlier marches Sunday appealed to President Donald Trump for help and demanded that police stop using tear gas.

A group dressed in black and wearing masks carried American flags as it headed to the U.S. Consulate to express gratitude for legislation aimed at protecting human rights in Hong Kong that Trump signed into law last week.

Some held banners reading “President Trump, please liberate Hong Kong” and “Let’s make Hong Kong great again” — a riff on his 2016 campaign pledge to make America great again. One showed him standing atop a tank with “Trump” emblazoned on the front and side.

A peaceful crowd of about 200 adults and young children marched to government headquarters in the morning and chanted “No more tear gas.”

“A lot of parents are worried that their children are affected, because their children are coughing, breaking out in rashes and so forth,” said march organizer Leo Kong, a 40-year-old social worker.

A third march was called for late afternoon in the Tsim Sha Tsui district near Polytechnic University, the site of the last fierce clashes with police two weeks ago.

China protests Bachelet remarks

Meanwhile, China accused the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, of emboldening “radical violence” in Hong Kong by suggesting the city’s leader conduct an investigation into reports of excessive use of force by police.

Bachelet wrote in an opinion piece Saturday in the South China Morning Post that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s government must prioritize “meaningful, inclusive” dialogue to resolve the crisis.

She urged Lam to hold an “independent and impartial judge-led investigation” into police conduct of protests. It has been one of key demands of pro-democracy demonstrations that have roiled the territory since June.

China’s U.N. mission in Geneva said that Bachelet’s article interferes in the internal affairs of China and exerts pressure on the city’s government and police, which “will only embolden the rioters to conduct more severe radical violence.”

It said Bachelet made “inappropriate comments” on the situation in Hong Kong and that the Chinese side had lodged a strong protest in response.

Donald Trump faces a process that could end with his removal as president of the United States. Impeachment hearings underway now in the House of Representatives represent the beginning part of what is prescribed by the U.S. Constitution. In today’s installment of American Impeachment, VOA’s Steve Redisch takes you through the responsibilities of the House of Representatives.
 

Environment ministers and experts from nearly 200 countries meet in Madrid Monday for annual United Nations climate talks. Presided by Chile and hosted by Spain, the so-called Cop 25 follows a raft of alarming studies — and real-life evidence — of climate change’s potentially catastrophic fallout. From the Spanish capital, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA this might be the last year the U.S. is part of the talks.
 

China accused the U.N. high commissioner for human rights of emboldening “radical violence” in Hong Kong by suggesting the city’s leader investigate reports of excessive use of force by police. 

The U.N. commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, wrote in an opinion piece Saturday in the South China Morning Post that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s government must prioritize “meaningful, inclusive” dialogue to resolve the crisis. 

She urged Lam to hold an “independent and impartial judge-led investigation” into police conduct in the protests. It has been one of key demands of pro-democracy demonstrations that have roiled the territory since June. 

China’s U.N. mission in Geneva said that Bachelet’s article interferes in the internal affairs of China and exerts pressure on the city’s government and police, which “will only embolden the rioters to conduct more severe radical violence.” 

It said Bachelet made “inappropriate comments” on the situation in Hong Kong and that the Chinese side had lodged a strong protest in response. 

Since the unrest began, protesters have disrupted traffic, smashed public facilities and pro-China shops, and hurled gasoline bombs in pitched battles with riot police, who have responded with volleys of tear gas and water cannons. 

The occupation of several universities by protesters earlier this month after fiery clashes with police capped one of the most violent chapters in the turmoil, which has contributed to the city’s first recession in a decade. 

Lam appealed for the current calm to continue but has refused to bow to protesters’ demands, which include free elections for her post and the legislature as well as the independent probe into police conduct. 

Hong Kong police have arrested 5,890 people as a result of the protests. 

On Saturday, hundreds of silver-haired activists joined young protesters for a unity rally, vowing that their movement will not fade away until there is greater democracy. 

The rally at a park downtown was among several peaceful gatherings by protesters this week to keep up pressure on the government following a local election victory by the pro-democracy bloc and the gaining of U.S. support for their cause. 

“The government is still stubborn. Every one of us, young and old, must contribute in our own way. The movement will not stop,” said a 63-year-old woman who identified herself as Mrs. Tam. 

Some protesters returned to the streets Saturday night, using metal fences, cartons and bricks to block traffic in the Mong Kok area in Kowloon. Dozens had gathered there to mark three months since police stormed a subway car in the area and hit passengers with batons and pepper spray. Most left after police reportedly fired pepper balls and issued warnings. 

More rallies are planned Sunday, including an anti-tear gas protest and a gratitude march to the U.S. Consulate. 

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael party failed to win any of the four by-elections held to fill parliamentary vacancies Saturday, a blow ahead of a general election he plans to hold in the next six months.

The governing center-right party had held one of the seats left empty after four lawmakers successfully ran for European elections in May. Its main rival Fianna Fail captured two of the seats, a gain of one, while left-wing Sinn Fein and the Green Party added a lawmaker each in the 158-seat Irish parliament.

The Fine Gael-led minority government has ruled through a cooperation deal with Fianna Fail that they extended last year as the uncertainty created by Britain’s protracted exit from the European Union kept either side from calling an election.

Both have identified the second quarter of 2020 as their preferred date to go to the polls again and, with the two dominant parties of Irish politics closely matched in most opinion polls, whoever edges it will likely lead another minority government.

A boost for rivals

While a gain was good news for center-right Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein’s win in one of two Dublin contests was also a welcome boost for Ireland’s third-largest party whose political ascent suffered a major setback at local elections in May. 

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail both refuse to govern with Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), meaning the resurgent Greens could decide whether Varadkar or Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin heads up the next minority administration if little divides their parties.

The Green Party’s first-ever by-election win followed a strong showing at European and local polls in May, part of a growing trend for environmental parties around many parts of Europe with climate change becoming a top concern.

Not a fatal day

“All round it’s probably not a good day for the government but not fatal, governments do tend to lose these by-elections but it does call into question the wisdom of having four by-elections possibly just a few months before a general election, because the momentum is with other parties now,” said Theresa Reidy, a politics lecturer at University College Cork.

“In a general election, though, we will still be looking at Leo Varadkar versus Micheal Martin for who will be Taoiseach (prime minister).”
 

EU antitrust regulators are investigating Google’s collection of data, the European Commission told Reuters Saturday, suggesting the world’s most popular internet search engine remains in its sights despite record fines in recent years.

Competition enforcers on both sides of the Atlantic are now looking into how dominant tech companies use and monetize data.

The EU executive said it was seeking information on how and why Alphabet unit Google is collecting data, confirming a Reuters story Friday.

“The Commission has sent out questionnaires as part of a preliminary investigation into Google’s practices relating to Google’s collection and use of data. The preliminary investigation is ongoing,” the EU regulator told Reuters in an email.

A document seen by Reuters shows the EU’s focus is on data related to local search services, online advertising, online ad targeting services, login services, web browsers and others.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has handed down fines totaling more than 8 billion euros to Google in the last two years and ordered it to change its business practices.

Google has said it uses data to better its services and that users can manage, delete and transfer their data at any time.

The U.N. refugee agency plans to cut the number of migrants staying at an overcrowded transit center in Libya’s capital, a spokesman said Saturday.

Libya is a major waypoint for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East to Europe.

“The situation is very difficult, and we do not have the resources” because the center in Tripoli is at about twice its capacity, with some 1,200 migrants, Charlie Yaxley, a UNHCR spokesman, told The Associated Press.

The UNHCR has asked those refugees not registered with the agency to leave the European Union-funded Gathering and Departure Facility, offering an assistance package that includes cash for an initial two months.

“You will not be considered for evacuation or resettlement if you stay at the GDF,” the agency warned the migrants, according to a document obtained by the AP. It added that those seeking registration with the agency could only do so “outside” the facility.

The UNHCR said it would phase out food distribution for the unregistered migrants, including dozens of tuberculosis patients, from Jan. 1.

Yaxley said the agency also offered to facilitate returning the migrants to their home country or to a country they previously registered as asylum-seekers.

Migrants, however, decried the move, fearing they would end up at detention centers or at the mercy of human traffickers.

“The migrants are reluctant and have their concerns about leaving the GDF,” one person seeking shelter at the facility said, who spoke on condition of anonymity for his safety. The surrounding areas of Tripoli have seen heavy fighting between armed factions since April.

The self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, launched an offensive to capture the capital city in April, clashing with an array of militias loosely allied with the U.N.-supported but weak government there.

The fighting has stalled in recent weeks, with both sides dug in and shelling one another along Tripoli’s southern reaches. They have also carried out airstrikes and drone attacks.

In July, an airstrike hit a detention center for migrants outside Tripoli, killing more than 50 migrants held there. The Tripoli-based authorities blamed the LNA for the airstrikes. The LNA, however, said it was targeting a nearby military site, not the detention center.

After the airstrike, hundreds of former detainees made their way into the GDF, the agency said. They were followed by another group of around 400 people from Abu Salim detention center in late October, as well as up to 200 people from urban areas, the UNCHR said.

The gathering point, which was opened a year ago, has capacity for around 600 people.

“We hope that the GDF will be able to return to its original function as a transit facility for the most acutely vulnerable refugees, so we are able to evacuate them to safety,” said UNHCR’s Chief of Mission for Libya Jean-Paul Cavalieri.

There are some 40,000 refugees and asylum-seekers living in urban areas across Libya, some of whom are extremely vulnerable, face abuse in militia-run detention centers, and are in desperate need of support, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Separately, the Libyan coast guard said Saturday it intercepted at least 205 Europe-bound migrants off the western town of Zawiya. The African migrants, who included 158 men, 33 women and 14 children, were given humanitarian assistance and were taken to the detention center in Tajoura.

Libya’s detention centers are rife with abuse and Europe’s policy of supporting the coast guard has come under growing criticism.

Nearly a third of Uganda’s new HIV infections occur among 15-to-25-year-olds, who say that despite progress, stigma is still a problem. To raise awareness ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1, Uganda holds an annual fashion and a beauty pageant for young people infected with HIV and calls them the Young Positives. Halima Athumani reports from Kampala.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said people convicted of terrorism offenses should not be allowed out of prison early after it was revealed the London Bridge attacker was released from jail last year before the end of his sentence.

Wearing a fake suicide vest and wielding knives, Usman Khan went on the rampage on Friday afternoon at a conference on criminal rehabilitation beside London Bridge.

“I think that the practice of automatic, early release where you cut a sentence in half and let really serious, violent offenders out early simply isn’t working, and you’ve some very good evidence of how that isn’t working, I am afraid, with this case,” Johnson said on Saturday.

Dutch police on Saturday continued looking for an attacker who stabbed three teens on a street in The Hague that was crowded with Black Friday shoppers.

The victims, two 15-year-old girls and a 13-year-old boy, were treated in a hospital and released late Friday. Police said in a statement that they did not know one another.

The victims have spoken to detectives.

“We are using all our available means — visible and unseen — to find the suspect in this stabbing as soon as possible,” police said in a statement, as they appealed again for witnesses.

That included studying video footage from the area, where many surveillance cameras are located.

The attack in the Netherlands came hours after a man wearing a fake explosive vest stabbed several people in London, killing two, before he was fatally shot by officers. Police are treating it as a terrorist attack.

Dutch police say the motive for the stabbing in The Hague remains unknown. “We are keeping all scenarios open,” their statement said.

The stabbing occurred around 7:45 p.m. in an area teeming with shoppers and close to the city’s most popular nightlife centers.

Police cordoned off the area until deep into the night as forensics experts combed the street for clues.

The street was opened again Saturday.

Mass protests, a last-minute venue change and talk of climate tipping points are adding some unplanned drama to this year’s international talks on tackling global warming.

Delegates from almost 200 countries had planned to put the finishing touches to the rules governing the 2015 Paris accord, ironing out a few wrinkles left over from last year’s conference in Katowice, Poland, and setting the scene for a major review of their efforts in 2020.

But then Brazil pulled its offer of hosting the talks and stand-in Chile, rattled by anti-government protests, canceled five weeks before the meeting. Next, President Donald Trump served formal notice that the United States was quitting the Paris accord, delivering a symbolic blow to one of his predecessor’s signature achievements.

And scientists? Well, they didn’t have any good news either. Study after study published in recent months has underscored the rapid pace of global warming and the need to cut emissions of greenhouse gases as soon as possible.

Against that backdrop, the Dec. 2-13 meeting in Madrid has gained fresh urgency.

“We have to do more in less time,” said Spain’s environment minister Teresa Ribera, whose country stepped in on short notice to host the talks, saying it wanted to support “constructive multilateralism” in the wake of Chile’s announcement and the U.S. withdrawal.

Organizers expect around 25,000 visitors, including heads of state, scientists, seasoned negotiators and activists to attend the two-week meeting.

Carbon markets

The main items on the agenda include finalizing rules on global carbon markets and agreeing how poor countries should be compensated for destruction largely caused by emissions from rich nations.

Proposals to create a worldwide market for emissions permits have been around for decades. The idea is that putting a price on carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas — and gradually reducing the available permits will encourage countries and companies to cut their emissions, notably by shifting away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy sources.

The European Union and some other jurisdictions already operate limited emissions trading systems, but efforts to roll these out worldwide have been hampered by fears that the lack of robust and transparent rules could corrupt the market.

“It would be great news to finalize this issue,” said Ribera. But she warned that the “solvency and integrity of the system” was a concern. “If we cannot complete it correctly, it’s better to lay the ground for later completion.” 

That view was echoed by Yamide Dagnet, a former EU climate negotiator now with the Washington-based environmental think tank World Resources Institute.

Loss and damage

The question of compensating poor countries for environmental destruction, technically referred to as loss and damage, is also likely to be sensitive, Dagnet said. Attributing specific weather disasters such as hurricanes and floods, or slow but irreversible changes like sea level rise and desertification, to climate change remains a delicate issue given the potential sums involved.

Concerns about the cost of climate change are growing on all fronts. 

Trump cited financial demands on the United States as one of the reasons for quitting the Paris accord; European countries have hesitated to raise fuel prices for fear of sparking yellow vests-style protests like those seen in France; meanwhile, businesses are beginning to consider the price not just of reducing emissions but also of failing to do so.

Scientists say the time to act is now, if the world wants to meet the goal set in Paris of keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), ideally 1.5C by the end of the century. By some measures average temperatures have already increased by one degree Celsius since pre-industrial times, with the sharpest rise occurring in the last few decades.

Tipping points

“Global warming is going faster,” said Johan Rockstrom, co-director of Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “Climate impacts are occurring earlier and we are approaching potentially irreversible thresholds earlier than we previously thought.”

Rockstrom and several colleagues recently warned that the world is heading for several “tipping points” that could sharply accelerate the pace of climate change. They include deforestation in the Amazon and the decline of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.

Ribera, whose formal title is interim minister for ecological transition, indicated that European Union leaders may try to send a strong signal during the meeting that the bloc is prepared to make sharper cuts to its emissions than previously pledged. A recent proposal to aim for “climate neutrality” by 2050 failed to win support from all of the EU’s 28 member states, including the host of last year’s talks, Poland.

A bill originally meant to help law enforcement investigate cold cases of murdered and missing indigenous women that has floundered in Congress for two years may have the missing ingredients to become law — money and muscle.

The money comes from an appropriations subcommittee chaired by Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who told The Associated Press that for the first time funds are being directed specifically to murdered and missing indigenous people. The muscle comes from the White House and specifically the Department of Justice, which last week unveiled a plan that would investigate issues raised in the bill like data collection practices and federal databases.

It adds up to a strong outlook for Savanna’s Act, which was originally introduced in 2017 by Murkowski, Democratic Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro and former North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. Murkowski and Heitkamp, longtime allies on issues affecting indigenous people, also created the Commission on Native Children, which recently held its first meeting.

“The great thing about Lisa’s work has been her willingness to not just pass this law but make sure there’s an appropriation for it,” Heitkamp said Friday.

Savanna Greywind

The bill is named for Savanna Greywind, a Native American North Dakota woman who was killed in 2017 when her baby was cut from her womb. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, chaired by North Dakota Republican John Hoeven, earlier this month advanced another version of bill to the full Senate for consideration.

Gloria Allred, an attorney for Greywind’s family, said they are “encouraged by what appears to be the strong efforts of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s commitment to gather support for this bill in order for it to be signed into law one day.”

Savanna’s Act passed the Senate in 2018 but was blocked in the House by former Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte because he said it would hurt some agencies that have no link to tribal communities. Heitkamp said a new companion piece to the bill, the Not Invisible Act, has helped broaden the scope of the initiative and address concerns raised by Goodlatte.

“We are making some headway,” Murkowski said. “Not fast enough, but I think we’re making the efforts that are going to make a difference in the long haul. The legislative initiatives that we have used have successfully raised the issue of awareness.”

Savanna’s Act was introduced in the House earlier this year. Three of its co-sponsors are Native American — Sharice Davids of Wisconsin and Tom Cole and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.