Congress would send a very damaging signal (for Paris),” said Liane Schalatek, who has attended GCF board meetings on behalf of the Heinrich Boll Foundation North America, where she is associate director. The success of negotiations in Paris “very much depend on the fulfillment of promises that people made,” said Karen Orenstein, a senior analyst at Friends of the Earth who focuses on climate finance. “Everyone, but particularly developing countries and civil society, will be looking to see if the money is realized.” In mid-December, GCF supporters got a glimpse of the funding fight ahead, and it wasn’t encouraging. That’s when Congress passed a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill that covers government funding through September 2015. It included language that at first seemed to prohibit Congress from providing money to the GCF, and it shocked the fund’s backers. “The panic stemmed from the headlines that said things like, ‘Congress Bans Money for Green Climate Fund,’ but they were false,” said Orenstein. She offered her own interpretation of the bill’s language: “It basically says no money is going to be appropriated to the GCF in FY15, because no money has been requested, and if they do want money in FY16, they have to notify the committee on appropriations.” The angst was not entirely misplaced, however. The bill that passed included several provisions that angered environmentalists, including one that prohibited the Environmental Protection Agency from applying Clean Water Act rules to farm ponds and irrigation ditches.
More: Analysis: Global climate fund on GOP’s budget hit list | Congress | McClatchy DC
Trial of final Tokyo gas attack fugitive begins – Yahoo News
View gallery A courtroom sketch shows Katsuya Takahashi, a former member of the doomsday cult Aum Supreme Truth at The murder trial of the final suspect in the nerve gas attack on Tokyo’s subway got under way Friday, almost two decades after a cult killed 13 people and injured thousands more. Katsuya Takahashi, a 56-year-old former member of the Aum Supreme Truth cult, denied being involved in unleashing sarin nerve gas on the underground rail system, in an attack that sparked rush hour chaos in the Japanese capital. “I did not know the thing released was sarin,” Takahashi, who has been charged with murder and other crimes, told Tokyo District Court. “I didn’t intend to kill people,” he said, speaking in a quiet voice while dressed in a dark suit with a blue tie. Police captured Takahashi in June 2012, bringing to an end the hunt for those thought to be behind the coordinated release of the Nazi-developed gas, an incident that sowed panic throughout the heaving metropolis. He is also accused of conspiring with other members to send an explosive to then-Tokyo governor Yukio Aoshima in 1995, an incident that injured a Tokyo government official. View gallery Subway passengers wait to receive medical attention after inhaling Sarin nerve gas in Tokyo’s su Takahashi, who was on the run for more than 17 years, was a one-time guard for Aum leader Shoko Asahara, and allegedly served as a driver when cult members released the gas.
Read More: Trial of final Tokyo gas attack fugitive begins – Yahoo News
911 call released in fatal Daleville stabbing – TheIndyChannel.com
Show Caption Previous Next DALEVILLE, Ind. – A newly released 911 call describes the panic surrounding Tuesday’s attack outside a Daleville truck terminal. Juan Hernandez, 47, was formally charged with murder and felony battery Friday after 55-year-old Mark Hittson was stabbed to death in the parking lot of DSE Services. The urgency could be heard in the 911 callers voice as he watched the scene unfold betweenHittson, his wife Teresa and Hernandez — the man she was apparently having an affair with. PREVIOUS | Police investigate fatal stabbing in Daleville parking lot At first, the caller seems to mistake the victim as Teresa, but that didnt change the violent scene he described. “He’s got a weapon or something, but he’s stabbing her You’ve got to get someone here quick. I can’t tell if he was beating her or the guy next to her, but she’s the one screaming and there’s a guy down right now,” the caller said.
Source: 911 call released in fatal Daleville stabbing – TheIndyChannel.com
Debbie Schlussel 