Jul 30, 2019

Greta Thunberg to sail across Atlantic for U.S. and Chile climate summits

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Photo: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted Monday that she can attend United Nations climate summits in the U.S. and Chile — after accepting a ride across the Atlantic in a high-speed racing yacht from the U.K.

The big picture: The 16-year-old previously told AP that she wanted to attend the summits in New York in September and Santiago in December, but she was struggling to figure out an environmentally friendly method of travel, as both planes and cruise ships have high emissions.

Thunberg intends to travel by train and bus to the annual UN climate conference in Chile with stops in countries including Canada and Mexic, per the Guardian. The BBC reports that Thunberg plans to stay in the Americas for 9 months and it's not known how she will return to Europe.

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Fadel Allassan

7 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Virginia governor announces removal of Richmond's Robert E. Lee statue

Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced on Thursday that the state will remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond's historic Monument Avenue.

Why it matters: It's a watershed moment for Virginia, which has been at the center of a years-long national debate about whether Confederate monuments should be displayed publicly. That discussion reached a boiling point when protests about a statue of Lee in Charlottesville turned violent in 2017.

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Jonathan Swan, Alayna Treene

41 mins ago - Politics & Policy

RNC expands convention search across the Sun Belt

Donald Trump, Mike Pence and their families on the last night of the Republican National Convention in Ohio in 2016. Photo: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images.

The Republican National Committee is planning site visits over the next 10 days to more than a half-dozen cities — across the South and into Texas and Arizona — as it scrambles for a new convention host, people familiar with the internal discussions tell Axios.

Driving the news: The RNC's executive committee voted Wednesday night to allow most of the convention to move — with only a smaller, official portion remaining in Charlotte — after North Carolina's governor said the coronavirus pandemic would mean a scaled-back event with social distancing and face coverings.

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Ben Geman

2 hours ago - Energy & Environment

Oil faces tough road back from coronavirus

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Oil companies in the battered shale patch are starting to bring back some production as prices climb, but a new report underscores how the pandemic is taking a heavy financial toll despite signs of revival.

Driving the news: Fourteen North American producers have filed for bankruptcy thus far during the second quarter, per a tally from the law firm Haynes and Boone, which closely tracks the sector's finances.

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