According to state-conducted research, widespread fracking and fracking wastewater injection have transformed the state of Oklahoma from a place that had an average of two tiny earthquakes a year to the most seismically active area in the United States. In fact, the massive surge in fracking-related quakes has even alerted Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) as to the existence of many formerly stable and dormant underground faults that it didn’t previously know existed. EcoWatch reported, ‘Oklahoma was never big earthquake country but in the last six years their numbers have surged, going from an average of two a year over 3.0 magnitude to 585 last year, surpassing California as the US’s most seismically active state.’ The state of Oklahoma has even set up its own earthquake website, whereon it states this rise in seismic events has the attention of scientists, citizens, policymakers, media and industry. After 35 fracking earthquakes rocked Oklahoma in the first week of July the state has had more pressure than ever on it to put a damper on the cause before things get out of hand.
On Sunday General Nshimirimana's pick-up was hit by two rockets and sprayed with automatic gunfire - days after President Nkurunziza was declared winner of a controversial election and months of fierce government crackdowns on opposition and an attempted coup. General Nshimirimana was behind the crackdown on protests and foiling the coup attempt. A source in the presidency said, ‘The situation is very serious, the general was essential, we are trying to manage a difficult situation. Our boys want to take revenge. You cannot imagine what the General represented for us.’ Another top pro-Nkurunziza general said, ‘They have declared war and they will see what they get. Then a second assassination on Monday of human rights defender Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa (one of the last remaining human rights activists working during the crisis) has increased risks of a new season of war. Targeted killings have been part of the landscape recently, but none as high-profile as these two, and arms are proliferating among civilians, with shooting through the night in many neighborhoods.
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, a leading candidate to head the Labour party, has said former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair should be tried for war crimes over the 2003 Iraq war if evidence shows he broke international law. At the time when Britain joined a US-led invasion of Iraq, despite widespread public opposition, Corbyn organised mass protests against the war. Blair has previously said he had no regrets over the invasion, saying Saddam Hussein was a threat who had to be disarmed or removed. Corbyn said the long-running inquiry into the Iraq invasion needed to tackle unanswered questions about how Blair decided to get involved in the war. Lengthy delays to the publication of the report have frustrated MPs, including David Cameron who on Tuesday urged its independent head, John Chilcot, to set out a timetable for the publication of his findings.
A leading doctor has slammed new guidelines prepared to replace the much-criticised Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP). Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Dr Patrick Pullcino, Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Kent, says the draft guidelines prepared by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) are even worse than the LCP. Christian Voice reported on the NICE guidelines based on a BBC article which was positive about the development. It seems they were wrong and they say, ‘There can be no doubt the BBC article was based on a press release from NICE, who appear to have put a positive spin on their work, claiming that they were calling for basic daily checks to make sure patients are well hydrated and nourished. We observed this was ‘a radical departure from the LCP.’ NICE went on to say that families would be encouraged to be more closely involved in care if appropriate and safe.
Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute has said Ofsted and the Department for Education have given ‘inadequate attention’ to the ‘bullying of Christian pupils’. His remarks follow a recent letter from the schools’ chief inspector addressing the issue of schools caught up in the so-called Trojan Horse scandal, which alleged Muslim groups were seeking to gain control of schools in Birmingham. In a letter addressed to the Education Secretary, Mr Hart said it was ‘striking’ that official reports listed explicit examples of anti-Christian intolerance in several schools involved in the scandal but none of these are noted in the Ofsted reports on those schools. He wrote, ‘You will see they include anti-Christian chanting in assemblies, GCSE pupils who opted to learn Christianity being left to teach themselves and Christians being called ‘ignorant’ or ‘liars’ by teachers.’ He went on to say that it was disturbing to witness a ‘complete lack of any specific plans of action to tackle anti-Christian intolerance’.
Chinese teachers give instruction for 12 hours a day and Chinese schools are at the top of international ratings in maths, sciences and literacy. Recently, five Chinese teachers spent a month teaching in a Hampshire school analysing teaching methods in the UK. The teachers found their group of 50 children, aged 13 and 14, were disruptive and unable to concentrate. Li Aiyun said, ‘When I gave out homework sheets, I expected everybody to be concentrated on the homework. But when I returned to the classroom students were chatting, some were eating and somebody was even putting make-up on her face.’ The Chinese teachers blamed ‘lack of motivation’ on poor performances. Science teacher Yang Jun said, ‘In China we don’t need classroom management skills because everyone is disciplined by nature, by families, by society - whereas here it is the most challenging part of teaching.’ The Chinese methods are to be screened in a BBC Two documentary, Are Our Kids Tough Enough?
Speaking with the backing of the Church, the bishop of Dover accused the Government of forgetting their humanity and attacked the media for propagating a ‘toxicity’ that spread hostility towards migrants. The Right Rev Trevor Willmott urged Mr Cameron to upgrade his rhetoric after he described migrants as a ‘swarm’ and promised to introduce strong-arm tactics in Calais. Willmott said, ‘When we become harsh with each other and forget our humanity we end up in stand-off positions. To put migrants and refugees in that very unhelpful phrase categorises people.’ Save the Children echoed Willmott’s call to remember that the migrants were humans and many were refugees fleeing horrific abuse or extreme danger. The deputy mayor of Calais called the prime minister ‘racist’ and the UN special representative on migration said Britain’s attitude towards the crisis suggested the lessons of Nazism had not been learnt.
The Catholic Church will apply nationally a project that pro-actively approaches sexual abuse by clergy. A recent pilot of the system resulted in doubling the number of people reporting abuse in a nine-month period. A Survivors’ Advisory Panel will assist the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission in England and Wales. A ‘Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors’ spokesperson said allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church and the Church of England should be dealt with independently. ‘Whilst both Churches have improved their policies and guidance there are really strong concerns about how policies are implemented. It’s down to individual bishops to decide when to report allegations to the police and what action to take. The increased number of prosecutions of clergy for abuse suggests this is an ongoing problem and the response of the Churches in the past leads us to believe they cannot be trusted to police themselves.’ See also http://www.worldprayer.org.uk/pa-british-isles-ireland/item/6803-statement-from-the-mill-gathering.