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Donald Trump has revoked the scientific finding that allows the federal government to regulate climate-heating pollution, in a move described as a gift to “billionaire polluters” at the cost of Americans’ health.
Since 2009, the endangerment finding, which states that the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere endangers public health and welfare, has given the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the basis to limit heat-trapping pollution from vehicles, power plants and other industrial sources.
Donald Trump called the move “the single largest deregulatory action in American history”. Barack Obama said the repeal will leave Americans “less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change – all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money”. The former secretary of state John Kerry and environmental advocates also condemned the move.
Democrats at Munich security summit will urge Europe to stand up to Trump
Democrats will urge European leaders to stand up to Donald Trump at the security summit this weekend, as they remain divided over how to deal with the volatile US president.
The annual conference will be attended by some of Trump’s most outspoken critics, including the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who has already urged Europeans to realise that “grovelling to Trump’s needs” makes them “look pathetic on the world stage”. Newsom told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month that he “should have brought a bunch of knee pads” for all the world leaders.
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What’s the split in Europe? Some are in the same camp as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who says the continent should employ a more defiant diplomacy with Trump. Others, like the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, have said keeping the president onside is imperative for European security.
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For the latest updates, head to our live blog.
Trump doubles down on racist video, saying no staffer has been disciplined
Donald Trump continued to downplay a racist video posted to his social media account last week, and said that no White House staffer had been disciplined for the offensive post.
The president had previously blamed an unnamed aide for sharing the post, which depicted the Obamas as apes. Asked by Weijia Jiang of CBS News on Thursday whether he had “fired or disciplined that staffer who posted the video from your account that included the Obamas”, Trump said that he had not.
In other news …
Stat of the day: 1,469 Ukrainians were hospitalized with hypothermia in January amid Russia’s attacks on energy
At least 10 people in Ukraine have died from hypothermia and 1,469 were hospitalized last month, as Russia’s attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure continued. With Kyiv facing temperatures of about -18C (-0.4F), 45% of the capital’s schools are closed because of a lack of central heating.
Culture pick: ‘We thought Midnight Cowboy might end everybody’s career’
Midnight Cowboy is director John Schlesinger’s most renowned movie, but the queer classic was a risky film to make in 1969: at one preview screening, “people walked out in droves”. “We thought this could end everybody’s career,” Dustin Hoffman said. Instead, Midnight Cowboy won the Oscar for best director and became the first X-rated film to take home the best picture prize. Here, the people who knew Schlesinger best, including his husband, reflect on the late director’s varied body of work.
Don’t miss this: Thundercat on funk, lost friends and being fired by Snoop Dogg (possibly)
Thundercat is probably the only person in history to have played with both Ariana Grande and Herbie Hancock. The genre-hopping bass virtuoso, whose real name is Stephen Bruner, once tried to interest Snoop Dogg in the mid-70s oeuvre of Frank Zappa. It didn’t go too well: “Yeah, I hit him with the rollercoaster,” Bruner chuckles. “He was smoking, and he almost ate his blunt, saying: ‘What the hell is going on?’” Bruner talks about his eclectic musical interests and the grief of losing his best friend, the rapper Mac Miller.
Climate check: National security plans must adapt to avoid ‘new world disorder’, says UN climate chief
Countries must account for the national security impacts of the climate crisis, the UN’s climate chief has said, warning that failing to do so exposes them to “a new world disorder”. Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said: “Security is the word on most leaders’ lips, yet many cling to a definition that is dangerously narrow. For any leader who is serious about security, climate action is mission critical, as climate impacts wreak havoc on every population and economy.”
Last Thing: ‘A great wee place’ – the small Scottish factory crafting Olympic curling stones
Curling stones for the Winter Olympics all come from one small factory in Scotland. Kays Scotland is a family company, founded in 1851 and employing just 15 staff to fashion the stones from ancient granite. “It takes 60m years and about six hours to make a curling stone,” the operations manager, Ricky English, told Scotland correspondent Libby Brooks over the whine of the lathes.
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