“2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference”

Representatives from 196 nations made a historic pact Saturday, agreeing to adopt green energy sources, cut down on climate change emissions and limit the rise of global temperatures — while also cooperating to cope with the impact of unavoidable climate change. The deal still needs to be adopted by individual governments — but the acceptance by the diplomats gathered in Paris has been hailed as "transformative.” The agreement acknowledges that the threat of climate change is "urgent and potentially irreversible," and can only be addressed through "the widest possible cooperation by all countries" and "deep reductions in global emissions.” While the goals are ambitious and exciting questions such as how deep will those reductions be — and how soon, and who's paying for it still remain. Phase One reads "Holding the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels...” Limiting the rise in temperature to 2 degrees (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) has been discussed as a global goal for several years now but is now laid out and adopted as the expectation. That amount of warming will still have a substantial impact, scientists say, but will be less devastating than allowing temperatures to rise unchecked.

In Other News  A masked man yelled support for ISIS as he stabbed a French kindergarten teacher in the throat Monday morning, authorities said. The teacher, who is hospitalized with nonlife-threatening injuries, was in class in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers when the man attacked, French newspaper Le Parisien reported. It said the unarmed attacker had on a balaclava, and used a sharp item found in class to slash the teacher. The students were not in class at the time, the paper said. "This is a warning, this is only the beginning," the attacker said, according to a statement from Bobigny district prosecutor's office.  Nine candidates will appear in prime-time Tuesday night for the final Republican presidential primary debate of 2015, a critical event that will help shape the contest heading into the Iowa caucuses. Businessman Donald Trump, the front-runner for the nomination, will again be center stage flanked by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson on his right and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on his left. The six remaining participants in the prime-time contest will be Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.