2015 Event The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to reduce greenhouse gases from oil and gas operations, proposing a rule to cut methane emissions from these sources by 40 to 45 percent of 2012 baseline levels over the next 10 years 2014 Event In a potential attempt to claim sovereignty, China is building an island in the South China Sea in an area claimed by several nations; sources speculate that the island may be used to support an airstrip and military activities 2014 Event The E.U. plans to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990 levels and increase renewables to 27 percent of all energy sources; environmentalists claim larger targets are needed 2014 Event German company Linde begins constructing a facility to convert wind power to hydrogen; the plant will help Germany in its efforts to increase reliance on renewable energy sources 2013 Event Anti-apartheid leader and former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, age 94 is hospitalized for, what sources say, was a routine checkup 1982 Death Maurice Gilliams, Flemish literary (Sources of Insomnia), dies at 82 1950 Death Karl G Jansky, Czechoslovakian discoverer of cosmic radio sources, dies at 44
