News Headlines - 17 February 2019
▽Munich Security Conference Reveals A Growing Rift Between U.S. And Its Allies : NPR
The U.S.-led liberal world order is falling apart, according to the organizers of a gathering of world leaders and defense chiefs in Germany that has met annually since the Cold War.
The Munich Security Conference report said the Trump administration displays an "irritating enthusiasm for strongmen across the globe" and "disdain for international institutions and agreements."
For much of this past week, the growing rift between the U.S. and its traditional European allies has been on display.
▽Heather Nauert Withdraws as Trump's Nominee for UN Ambassador - Bloomberg
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert is withdrawing from consideration as President Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations, according to a statement.
Nauert’s nomination began to falter after the White House was alerted to a problem in her background: She had in the past employed an immigrant nanny who was in the U.S. legally but wasn’t authorized to work, according to two people familiar with the matter.
French schools are to replace the words “mother” and “father” with “parent 1” and “parent 2” under an amendment to a law passed this week... The amendment was passed by MPs on Tuesday night as part of a wider so-called law to build “a school of trust”, which among other things also makes attendance compulsory for all three-year-olds.
▽Climate strike: Schoolchildren protest over climate change - BBC News
Pupils from around the UK went "on strike" on Friday as part of a global campaign for action on climate change.
Students around the country walked out of schools to call on the government to declare a climate emergency and take active steps to tackle the problem.
Organisers Youth Strike 4 Climate said protests took place in more than 60 towns and cities, with an estimated 15,000 taking part.
▽Eerie black snow falls over Siberian region triggering acute pollution concerns from locals
Prosecutors in Kemerovo region are reportedly checking the cause of black snow over three cities in the coalmining region - Prokopyevsk, Kiselyovsk and Leninsk-Kuznetsky... Local media have blamed the gloom on local plants processing coal.
Director general of Prokopyevskaya factory Anatoly Volkov explained to Vesti-KUzbass TV channel that a shield stopped working at his plant protecting the air from coal powder.
