On 19 July 2014, the UN General Assembly's Group forwarded a proposal: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), officially known as Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The proposal contained 17 goals with 169 targets covering a broad range of sustainable development issues. One of them is climate change: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. The Conference of Paris (COP21) is not the first time conference for climate change. Then what happened in the mean time and what will be a difference in COP21? For example, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol required developed countries to commit to binding greenhouse gas reduction targets-gave governments little flexibility in addressing climate change. China and India, main culprits, were not included in developed countries. United States opted not to participate in the agreement. The 2007 Copenhagen accord fell flat after China and other countries refused to cooperate. In short, leaders of past climate summits tried to build top-down climate agreements in which countries would agree to broad guidelines to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The lesson was that no UN accord ever force countries to make wrenching changes to their energy systems that they didn't want to make. In recent years, the UN climate talks have shifted to a radically new model: the bottom-up approach. Each country will start off by deciding for itself how it plans to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, taking into account its own unique domestic situation. This model has at least led to "universal participation." But we should face reality. Coal isn't going away. In 1973, coal combustion accounted for 35 percent of global carbon dioxide emission. By 2012, that figure had increased to 44 percent. Since the coal is the cheapest way to produce electricity, the high consumption of coal in developing country is unavoidable. So, in order to save the earth, the bottom line will be that they have to agree to fund the research, development, and deployment of energy technologies that can displace coal in the developing world. This time America is trying to give the rest of the world confidence by taking climate seriously. We are delighted to see that wealthy entrepreneurs announced the creation of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition to fight global warming.
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Tuesday was the 60th anniversary of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white man - an action that got her arrested, sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, and arguably kicked off the civil rights movement as we know. (Vox)
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ISIS released video Wednesday showing the beheading of a man it claims joined the terrorist group but was in fact a Russian spy, as well as a message chastising Russian President Vladimir Putin and threatening his country's citizens. (CNN)
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For decades architects have worked to turn shipping containers into homes and mock up cities that are plug and play. Now a startup in Texas is building a luxury studio that would travel when you do. (NPR)
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One ad is part of a high-end collaboration between Barbie and the Moschino fashion brand. It features three precocious little kids. That's nothing new for a Barbie ad - except, for the first time, one of them is a boy. (NPR)
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Psy rides again with bizarre new music video "Daddy." But Jeanne Moos says "Gagnam Style" is hard to beat even with a catchy beat. (CNN)
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7. "테러 의심, 앱으로 신고하세요"
'무언가 보았으면, 보내세요'(See Something, Send Something)라고 명명된 이 앱은 메트로폴리탄교통공사(MTA)의 신고장려 캠페인 '무언가 보았으면, 말하세요'(See Something, Say Something)를 본뜬 것으로 테러로 의심되는 물건이나 사람을 발견했을 때 문자나 사진을 보낼 수 있다. 입력된 사진이나 문자는 곧바로 뉴욕주 기밀센터에 전송되며 필요시 추가 조사가...
한국의 해군 순항훈련전단(단장 김종삼 준장)이 22일 해군 창설 70년 만에 처음으로 맨하탄에 입항해 미 해안경비대와 한인들의 환영을 받았다. 4,400톤급 구축함 강감찬함과 4,200톤급 군수지원함 대청함으로 나눠 승선한 해군사관학교 생도 144명을 포함, 장병 630여명은 총 131일간 15개국 16개 항을 순방중이다. 김종삼 준장과 환영나온 한인 인사들이 함께... 
내년부터는 또 재외국민이 국내에 입국할 때 거쳤던 국내 거소신고제가 오는 2016년 7월부터 폐지되고, 미 시민권을 보유한 재외동포들도 다른 외국인과 마찬가지로 한국에 입국해 90일 이상 체류할 경우 지문정보 제공을 의무화 하는 등 재외동포 관련 일부 제도들이 달라져 주의가 요구.
10. "카톡 송금시대 열린다"한인은행들 긴장
미주 한인들의 환전 및 송금 방식에도 변화가 예상된다. 카카오뱅크는 은행과 지점들이 혼재된 번거로운 송금방식에서 벗어나 카톡으로 송금하는 간편한 방식을 채택할 예정이다. 환전 및 송금 수수료도 낮아질 전망이다. 카카오뱅크는 세계 최대 개인 간 온라인 환전 서비스인 '트랜스퍼 와이즈'와 맺은 제휴를 기반으로 은행을 통해 송금할 때보다 저렴한 수수료를 계획
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