10 Things to Know for Today: 7-28
7/28/2014
ADVANCE FOR MONDAY, JULY 28, 2014, AT 12:01 A.M. AND THEREAFTER - This image provided by Trianel on July 24, 2013 shows a crane unloading coal at the Trianel power plant in Luenen, western Germany. The 750-megawatt Trianel power plant relies completely on coal imports, about half from the U.S. Soon, all of Germany’s coal-fired power plants will be dependent on imports, with the country scheduled to halt all coal mining in 2018 when government subsidies end. Coal mining’s demise in Germany comes as the country is experiencing a resurgence in coal-fired power, one which the U.S. increasingly has helped supply. (AP Photo/Trianel, Guenther Goldstein)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. HOW MORE POLLUTION BECOMES A BIG EXPORT AS U.S. AIMS FOR CLEANER AIR
As America tries for a greener approach to energy by relying more on natural gas, energy companies are shipping more and more coal abroad — and with it, tons of carbon dioxide.
2. RELATIVE LULL DESCENDS ON GAZA AS UN CALLS FOR CEASE-FIRE
The brief calm comes as the Eid al-Fitr holiday marks the end of Ramadan — fear and mourning have replaced the usual celebration in Gaza at the end of the Muslim holy month. The international community, in the meantime, intensifies efforts to end the three-week war between Israel and Hamas.
3. DEATH TOLL MOUNTS AS CLASHES INTENSIFY IN UKRAINE
Officials in the country’s rebellion-wracked east say at least eight civilians have been killed by fighting and shelling in two cities held by separatist rebels near to the crash site of Flight 17.
4. WHY HISTORY MAY OFFER LITTLE COMFORT FOR MH17 PROBE
An AP reporter recalls how the Kremlin dodged, weaved and obfuscated after the Soviets shot down Korean Airlines Flight 007 in 1983.
5. WHOSE DRAMA HANGS OVER GOP LAWSUIT
Memories of Bill Clinton and the campaign of 1998 may help explain why Speaker John Boehner and the current party leadership want no part of such talk now, although conservatives increasingly clamor for it.
6. LAWMAKERS REACH INTERIM VA HEALTH REFORM DEAL
The chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees agree on a compromise plan to improve a veterans’ health program plagued by long patient wait times.
7. IN FAR-OFF LANDS, OPPORTUNITY
Prodded by the steadily rising demand for Internet access and online services in developing countries, technology trendsetters Apple, Google, Facebook and Netflix all mine foreign countries to produce earnings or revenue that exceed projections in their latest quarters.
8. CHINESE AUTHORITIES REMOVE CHURCH CROSS AMID CRACKDOWN
Hundreds of police take down the religious symbol in a city known as “China’s Jerusalem” for its many houses of worship in a coastal region where thousands of people are embracing Christianity.
9. A FIST-BUMP FOR THE FIST-BUMP
The president’s greeting of choice transmits fewer germs than the more typical hand-to-hand greeting, a study in the American Journal of Infection Control finds.
10. BASKETBALL TEAM SAGA NEARS FINAL BUZZER
Only final arguments and a ruling remain in the trial to determine whether Donald Sterling’s estranged wife can sell the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.