The Guardian’s live climate change coverage: how you can help

In the lead-up to Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States on Friday, the Guardian is running 24 hours of live uninterrupted digital coverage focused on climate change, and what you can do to help the planet. Trump, who is openly skeptical that climate change is caused by humans and has appointed many climate change deniers and sceptics to cabinet positions, comes into office as 2016 was declared the hottest year on record. The Guardian spoke with more than a dozen leading global voices on climate change, who urged the incoming president to make America great again by embracing the trillion-dollar green tech industry. We’ve partnered with Univision who are running a parallel blog in Spanish.

Global warning: the saviour tech that can help turn the tide on climate change

The other inauguration party

Some residents of the upstate New York town of Saranac Lake will be hosting their own inauguration party on Friday – celebrating the defeat of Donald Trump. Liberal-minded people will be gathering to celebrate Hillary Clinton’s win of the popular vote by a margin of 2.9m votes. The residents share the sentiment of national leaders Bernie Sanders and the Rev Al Sharpton that liberal ideas did in fact win in this election. “Mr Trump has got to understand that he does not have a mandate. He lost by almost 3 million votes,” Bernie Sanders told the Guardian. Several leaders are organizing marches to protest about the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency. As far as the official inauguration is concerned, Nicole Puglise has outlined exactly how the day will unfold.

Anti-Trump ‘alternative inauguration ‘ to toast president-elect’s popular vote loss

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Obama: Manning got a tough sentence

In his final press conference as president, Barack Obama said that Chelsea Manning had served a tough sentence and her time spent in prison would still deter potential future leakers of classified information. Obama was defending his decision to commute the remainder of Manning’s 35-year sentence and allow her to walk free on 17 May. “Let’s be clear: Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence,” Obama said. “I feel very comfortable that justice has been served.” Manning, a former intelligence analyst in Iraq, was responsible for one of the biggest government breaches of classified information in US history and was found guilty in a military court in 2013.



Barack Obama: ‘justice served’ by Chelsea Manning commutation



EPA staffers nervous about Pruitt

Staff within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are nervous about attempts to pivot away from renewables and sideline science, the agency’s outgoing head, Gina McCarthy, told the Guardian. Trump’s nominee to run the agency, the Oklahoma attorney general, Scott Pruitt, has sued the EPA 14 times, and has questioned the science surrounding climate change. “I would not be telling the truth if I said there was no sense of nervousness,” McCarthy said. She added that she hopes the world realizes that most people at the EPA recognize the “seriousness of the issue”. Trump has vowed to gut the EPA and dump many of its regulations. McCarthy said she has reached out to talk to Pruitt but has not yet received a response. “Climate change is real, it’s happening, it’s a challenge and I want to talk to him about that,” she said.

Outgoing EPA chief reveals fears Trump administration will halt climate action



China says Taiwan must not come to inauguration

China has called on the current administration and the Trump transition team to not allow Taiwan to attend the inauguration on Friday as it could, “disturb Sino-US relations”. It is the latest in a saga of spats between Beijing and Trump since the president-elect broke with a decades-old diplomatic convention and spoke with the president of Taiwan. Hua Chunying, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, urged “relevant parties” to ensure that no delegation from Taiwan was allowed to attend Friday’s ceremony. China’s US ambassador, Cui Tiankai, will attend the event. A delegation from Taiwan led by Yu Shyi-kun, a former premier and party chairman, will be attending the ceremony. It is customary for Taiwan to send a delegation to inaugurations, but Trump’s recent comments towards China has strained relations.

Trump inauguration: Taiwan delegation could ‘disturb Sino-US relations’

Series of earthquakes hit Italy

Up to 30 people are missing after an avalanche that was triggered by an earthquake buried a ski resort in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. Rescuers braved the blizzard conditions to reach the Rigopiano hotel in the town of Farindola, in the lower Gran Sasso mountain range, where it is believed 20-30 people were staying when the avalanche hit on Wednesday night. A video showed a cascade of snow falling down a stairway into the hotel’s foyer and another showed rescuers digging a man out of the snow. The central Italy region was struck by four earthquakes on Wednesday, measuring between 5.1 and 5.7 magnitude.

Italy earthquakes: many feared dead after avalanche hits hotel



Djokovic shock defeat in Australian Open

Novak Djokovic’s defense of his 2016 Australian Open title ended abruptly on Wednesday as he suffered a shock defeat to world No117 Denis Istomin. The world No2 lost in a five-set thriller over four hours 38 minutes. Istomin had previously taken only one set off Djokovic in their previous five meetings.

Novak Djokovic stunned as Australian Open title defence ends against Denis Istomin

In case you missed it …

The genderless nipple Instagram account was created to challenge sexist double standards on social media. It exclusively features closeups of nipples, making it almost impossible to tell whether they are male or female. The account hopes to expose the hypocrisy of men being allowed to show their nipples while women get banned if they do so.

Male or female? Genderless Nipples account challenges Instagram’s sexist standards

