Washington
WASHINGTON – Unless it does more, the United States probably will fall short of goals set under last year's Paris agreement to dramatically reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases, according to a new study.
The U.S. pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels. But taking into account current efforts by state and local governments, the nation will only reach about four-fifths of that goal, according to a study in Monday’s Nature Climate Change.
Massachusetts
BOSTON – One of two boaters missing for a week was found alive, drifting on an inflatable life raft off the coast of Massachusetts, but his mother remains missing, U.S. Coast Guard authorities said Monday.
The Coast Guard had suspended its search Friday for Linda Carman, 54, of Middletown, Connecticut, and her son, Nathan Carman, 22, of Vernon, Vermont.
The mother and son disappeared Sept. 18 after leaving a Rhode Island marina to go on a fishing trip in a 31-foot aluminum fishing boat named the Chicken Pox.
The Coast Guard in Boston said Nathan Carman was found Sunday by a freighter about 100 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. He was listed in good condition. Linda Carman’s whereabouts remain unknown.
Syria
BEIRUT – Syria’s foreign minister said Monday that an internationally brokered cease-fire is still viable, as rescue workers in Aleppo sifted through the rubble from the heavy airstrikes on rebel-held areas.
Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem also said the government is prepared to take part in a unity government incorporating elements from the opposition, an offer that has been rejected in the past.
Opposition activists say more than 200 civilians have been killed in the past week under a sustained aerial campaign that U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura called one of the worst of the 5½-year war.
Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia's King Salman is reducing the salaries and benefits of senior officials and the Cabinet cut bonuses for public employees on Monday, as lower oil prices continue to pinch the kingdom’s economy.
The royal decree orders a 20 percent reduction in the salaries of ministers, among them the king’s successors: Crown Prince and Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, and Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman. It also stipulates that ministers pay their own phone bills for personal lines.
Monday’s decree also includes a 15 percent reduction in benefits for members of the country’s highest consultative body, the Shura Council, which is appointed by the king. Those include sums toward housing, a car, its maintenance and fuel during a member's four-year term.
Associated Press
