Over 300 British Academics Pledge to Boycott Israeli Academic Institutions

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , , ,

As an act of protest over Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people, over 300 professors and lecturers from several academic institutions in England and Wales, including Oxford and Cambridge, have pledged to boycott Israeli academic institutions.

“As scholars associated with British universities, we are deeply disturbed by Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, the intolerable human rights violations that it inflicts on all sections of the Palestinian people and its apparent determination to resist any feasible settlement,” the academics write in the letter.

While they say they will still work with individual Israeli academics, the pledge states that the academics will not take parts in events organized or funded by them, act as referees for them, or accept invitations to visit their institutions, according the Guardian newspaper.

The letter continues saying that the participants in the pledge are “deeply disturbed by Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, the intolerable human rights violations that it inflicts on all sections of the Palestinian people, and its apparent determination to resist any feasible settlement.”

The Higher Education Statistics Agency reports that there are 194,245 academic staff employed by higher education in the U.K. That would mean that the amount of protestors is less than a quarter of 1% of the overall number of academic staff in the U.K. This is a “statistically insignificant minority” according to director of the Academic Friends of Israel organization, Ronnie Fraser.

Despite the small numbers of protestors, the British and Israeli governments responded to the boycott. The British ambassador to Israel, David Quarrey, stated that the British government would not allow the boycott to affect the relationship between Israel and Britain as the 60 year partnership makes both countries stronger.

The Israeli embassy in London replied with a published response: “The only path to advancing peace between Israelis and Palestinians passes through the negotiation room. Israel has called time and again for the renewal of talks immediately, without any preconditions. Those who call for a boycott against Israel during a month which saw 45 stabbing attacks – in which more than 100 Israelis were wounded, and 10 were murdered – blatantly ignore the lives of Israelis, and the conditions necessary for peace.”

Relief Efforts Intensified as Death Toll in Afghanistan and Pakistan Continues to Climb

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , ,

Monday’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake that struck Afghanistan and Pakistan and sent tremors into India and Tajikistan has now claimed the lives of over 250 people according to multiple news agencies.

The exact number still isn’t clear as various news agencies report anywhere from 260 to 339 people being killed by the earthquake. The quake also injured 2,000 people, damaged around 6,000 homes, cracked walls to other buildings, and shut down power.

According to the Associated Press, relief organizations have finally reached some of the more remote and impoverished areas that were affected by the earthquake. The United States has also offered supplies and aid that has been stored in warehouses around Afghanistan.

Officials believe that the death toll will continue to rise as there are several remote areas and fallen buildings that have not been reached by rescue efforts.

“We believe the exact numbers are much higher because not all people bring the bodies to the hospitals so there are many that are not being counted. And there are still areas we don’t have access to so we are not aware of the situation there,” Qameruddin Sediqi, an adviser to the public health minister, told Fox News.

Reuters reported that the Taliban has also called its people to help out with the relief efforts and to stay out of the way of aid groups.

“The Islamic Emirate calls on our good-willed countrymen and charitable organizations to not hold back in providing shelter, food and medical supplies to the victims,” the group said in a message of condolence to quake victims, using its formal name.

“And it similarly orders its mujahideen in the affected areas to lend their complete help.”

The quake has also caused landslides. The Pakistan Geological Survey reported to BBC News that landslides disrupted the Karakoram highway between Gilgit and Baltistan.

China Condemns U.S. for Sailing Too Close to Man-Made Islands in South China Sea

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , ,

The United States angered China on Tuesday by sailing a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer 12-nautical-miles from their man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea.

A U.S. defense official told Reuters that this was the first in a series of exercises that will test China’s territorial claims. While tensions are rising, the actions of the U.S. are intended to keep the freedom of navigation in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

While the USS Lassen wasn’t met with any resistance, Chinese ships did follow the vessel throughout the South China Sea, and Chinese officials quickly and angrily responded.

“The actions of the U.S. warship have threatened China’s sovereignty and security interests, jeopardized the safety of personnel and facilities on the reefs, and damaged regional peace and stability,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website, according to NBC News.

The “U.S. side [should] think twice, not … take rash moves and stir up troubles,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned in a separate statement.

China has reclaimed approximately 2,000 acres of the three main locations in the Spratly Islands located in the South China Sea over the past 18 months. Officials believe that China is building airstrips with the capability of handling bombers. Other countries fighting with China over the territorial claims of the South China Sea include Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The U.S. has not taken any sides in this dispute.

Washington Football Coach May Be Fired over Prayer

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , ,

Photo Courtesy of the Liberty Institute

Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach in Bremerton, Washington, was told that he could be fired if he continued to lead prayer in front of students on public school property.

The school district told Kennedy in a letter that while the former Marine is allowed to pray at work, he cannot do so in front of students. This includes even bowing his head, taking a knee, or any other action that would indicate that he could be praying.

The issue stems from Kennedy’s tradition of praying in the middle of the football field after every game. While other people can join voluntarily, the district believes it could alienate the students and staff that participate in different religious practices.

“Your talks with students may not include religious expression, including prayer,” Superintendent Aaron Leavall wrote. “They must remain entirely secular in nature, so as to avoid alienation of any team member.”

State Superintendent Randy Dorn backed the district’s decision.

“School staff exercising their right to silently pray in private on their own is fine. But leading a prayer isn’t,” he said. “School officials are role models; leading a prayer might put a student in an awkward position, even if the prayer is voluntary. For students who don’t share the official’s faith, players, the official’s public expression of faith can seem exclusionary or even distressing.”

The school district also state that Kennedy’s religious practices violate federal law that separates church and state, and possibly leaving the school and district open to lawsuits.

The irony of this is that they are already being sued by the Liberty Institute who is representing Kennedy. They state that the district is violating his religious freedom.

“The ball is in their court, the school district’s court,” said Mike Berry, senior counsel with Liberty Institute. “They have the opportunity to make this right, to do the right thing and to follow the law.”

Attorney Hiram Sasser added this: “What they are saying is he cannot pray by himself, he cannot simply take a knee at the 50-yard-line,” Sasser said. “That’s like telling a coach he can’t wear a yarmulke if he’s Jewish, he can’t wear a turban if he’s a Sikh, he can’t pray to Mecca if he’s a Muslim, he can’t wear a cross necklace if he’s a Christian.”

While the suit will be filed by the end of the week, Coach Kennedy will still lead the football team on Friday night, and plans to continue his tradition of praying at the 50-yard-line.

New Study Finds that Persian Gulf Could Become Uninhabitable Due to Extreme Climate Change

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , , ,

By the end of the century, major cities along the Persian Gulf could be too hot for human survival.

On Monday a scientific study published in the journal Nature Climate Change warned that climate change could make the summer days in the Persian Gulf area too hot for “human habitability.” It would be so hot that even the healthiest of people would only be able to be outdoors for just a few hours. Cities such as Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Mecca are at risk if global warming continues at its current rate, according to the Washington Post.

“The threats to human health may be much more severe than previously thought, and may occur in the current century,” Christoph Schaer, a physicist and climate modeler at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Zurich, Switzerland, said in a commentary on the study’s conclusions.

The Washington Post reports that the authors of the study are a pair of scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Loyola Marymount University. Using high-resolution climate models of the Persian Gulf, they were able to view several different scenarios that could affect the area due to climate change over the coming decades. They focused on “wet-bulb temperature,” a key heat measurement that includes evaporation rates and humidity, averaged over several hours to determine when the Persian Gulf would be uninhabitable to humans. They determined that the high temperatures would be so high that the human body would not be able to sweat to ward off the heat.

The scientists predicted that low-lying regions of the Persian Gulf could see temperatures as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit while other cities including Kuwait City and Al Ain would see temperatures above 140 degrees Fahrenheit. In the summer months, they predict the temperatures rising to as high as 165-170 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Washington Post and Fox News.

And while some could stave off the heat with air conditioning, the impoverished areas in the Persian Gulf would see disastrous results.

“People who have resources could use air conditioning and avoid the outdoors during heat waves but, in some corners of that region, there are communities and people who don’t have resources to do that,” Elfatih Eltahir, a co-author of the study, told Fox News. “We pointed to some corners of Yemen along the Red Sea that are not as well off as other parts of the Gulf Region.”

Last Supermoon of the Year Takes Place Tonight

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , ,

Tonight will be the last time stargazers can enjoy a supermoon for the year 2015.

In fact, if you miss tonight’s supermoon, you will not be able to see one again until October of 2016, almost a whole year away. A supermoon is when the moon is at its closest point to Earth in its monthly orbit, making it look bigger and brighter.

Science World Report states that this year’s lunar activity has been unusual due to us seeing three supermoons in a row. They also report it’s very unusual that last month’s supermoon happened to be at the same time as the full lunar eclipse.

Tonight’s supermoon will be the 6th supermoon of 2015.

EU Leaders Vow to Increase Capacity at Migrant Summit

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , , ,

European Union (EU) leaders gathered in Brussels to handle the European refugee crisis, resulting in an additional 100,000 refugees to be welcomed into Greece and the western Balkans.

According to BBC News, the new agreement between the 11 EU countries and the three non-EU states will have Greece opening up its country to an additional 30,000 refugees by the end of the year. Just within the last week, Greece has seen 9,000 refugees a day enter its borders, which is the highest rate so far in 2015. The Associated Press reported that the United Nations will be providing capacity for 20,000 more.

The meeting was held to find a plan of action before the winter months set in, leaving thousands of refugees in camps and out in the open in soon-to-be freezing temperatures.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker conducted an interview with German newspaper Bild am Sonntag saying: “Every day counts…otherwise we will soon see families in cold rivers in the Balkans perish miserably.

“The challenge now is to slow down the flow of migration and to bring our external borders under control. We must also make it clear that people who arrive at our borders who are not looking for international protection have no right to enter the EU,” he added.

“As winter looms, the sight of thousands of refugees sleeping rough as they make their way through Europe represents a damning indictment of the European Union’s failure to offer a forward thinking and coordinated response to the refugee crisis,” John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International director of Europe and Central Asia, told USA Today.

“The EU has the mechanisms and, collectively, the money to ensure adequate reception conditions to all arriving refugees and migrants; these must be used to end the march of misery being endured by hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants,” he added.

The summit was conducted with the current world leaders of Austria, Croatia, Macedonia, Germany, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, and Slovenia present.

Due to the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Eritrea, and Afghanistan, over 680,000 refugees have escaped the areas and came to Europe by sea this year, according to USA Today.

Man with Sword Attacks Swedish School; 2 People Killed

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , ,

Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Bjorn Larsson Rosvall/TT News Agency

On Thursday, a masked man with a sword attacked a Swedish school in Trollhattan, killing one teacher and one student.

USA Today reported that the student died from his injuries at the hospital, and the teacher died at the scene of the crime after being stabbed. Another teacher and student were injured in the attack and reportedly are in serious condition at the local hospital in Trollhattan, according to CNN. The attacker was fatally shot by police and later died in the hospital.

“This is a dark day for Sweden,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said. “My thoughts go out to the victims and their families, pupils and staff, and the entire community that has been affected. There are no words to describe what they are going through right now.”

The incident started in a cafe section of the school that serves around 500 students ranging between the ages of six and fifteen. According to NBC News, students thought the masked man was part of a Halloween-related prank or event; students even took pictures with the man before the attack. Afterward, the man began knocking on doors in the hallway and stabbing whoever answered.

At this time police are investigating a possible motive, and they are not ruling out the possibility of this being an act of terrorism.

Tropical Storm Patricia Strengthens to Hurricane; Hurricane Warning Issued for Mexican Coast

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , , ,

U.S. forecasters reported to the AFP on Thursday that Tropical Storm Patricia was upgraded to a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center located in Miami is warning residents in the area to prepare.

Hurricane Patricia is expected to make landfall on Friday, bringing damaging winds around 100 miles per hour and flash flooding to the area.

The Weather Channel reports, as of 10:00 a.m. CDT, Hurricane Patricia was 240 miles south-southwest of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico and 285 miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico. The storm is moving at a speed of 26 kilometers per hour and is heading west-northwest according to the National Hurricane Center.

The Mexican coastal area between Cabo Corrientes and Punta San Telmo has been issued a hurricane warning, and surrounding areas have been issued a hurricane watch, tropical storm watch, and tropical storm warning.

Forecasters told AFP that Hurricane Patricia is expected to accumulate 6 to 12 inches of rain and some isolated incidents may see up to 20 inches of rain.

ISIS Attacks Jump 42% over the Past 3 Months, According to Latest Study

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , , ,

A recent study published by the IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center stated that the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has increased the amount of attacks by 42% within the last 3 months.

The consulting and analysis firm said that between July and September of 2015, ISIS claimed a total of 1,086 attacks. The new daily average of their attacks increased from 8.3 to 11.8, according to NBC News.

IHS estimates that the numbers are even higher, but their study only includes attacks that have been officially claimed by the Islamic State or were definitively linked to the group by government officials.

The study conducted by the IHS also reports an increase on the average daily death toll. The results showing that there is an average of 32.4 non-militant deaths per day, which is a 65.3% increase from the past 3 months.

“The group’s capacity to wage a territorial-focused insurgency in conjunction with a punitive campaign of terrorist attacks remains undiminished despite an increasingly broad spectrum of armed opposition,” IHS told NBC News.

The report concentrates on the Islamic State’s activity based in areas where it has claimed the territory including: Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Libya, the North Caucasus, Algeria, and parts of Iraq and Syria.