Hard Numbers: Australia ups its defense game, Biden’s emission limits, deadly blasts in Pakistan, Champagne destroys beer (literally)
19 billion: Following a major defense review, Australia is forking out A$19 billion ($12 billion) to conduct its biggest military overhaul since World War II. With an eye on China’s expansionism in the South China Sea and its increasingly dicey bilateral relations with Beijing, Canberra will procure missiles with longer striking capabilities, with munitions built domestically.
3,400: The Biden administration will soon announce limits on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions coming from existing power plants, compelling the country's 3,400 plants to use carbon-capture technology. Currently, the plants — only 20 of which use the technology — generate a quarter of the country’s planet-warming pollution.
17: At least 17 people were killed in northwest Pakistan on Monday when two explosives went off at a police counterterrorism office in Kabal. It’s unclear who was behind the attack, but there has been an uptick in terrorism in recent months, particularly in border regions.
2,352: Belgian customs authorities crushed 2,352 cans of perfectly good Miller High Life beer after the Comité Champagne – which represents growers and traders of the French bubbly – complained that the American beer behemoth’s use of the “champagne of beers” slogan infringed upon the region’s protected right to the term “champagne.” Belgian customs said the Comité Champagne even covered the bill.