Israel
Israel should stop settlements, denying Palestinian development: Quartet report reuters
The report by the Quartet entities sponsoring the stalled peace process - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - said the Israeli policy "is steadily eroding the viability of the two-state solution."
Also Quartet report cites violence, settlements and Gaza as barriers to Middle East peace – UN envoy from the UN and The Quartet Report pdf
A Remark on Israel by Jeremy Corbyn Incites Outrage in Britain and Abroad nytimes
Mr. Corbyn’s comment drew instant condemnation from colleagues and Israeli politicians, who initially believed that he had said “Islamic State” rather than Islamic states. But members of his staff insisted that he had been referring to countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia — which are not self-styled and generally are called “Muslim nations” — or to organizations like Hamas. (Israelis would hardly be mollified by the clarification, given that Hamas is a Palestinian group classified as terrorist by Britain and the United States.)
Russia
Putin hints Russia will react if Finland joins NATO reuters
Finnish armed forces "would become part of NATO's military infrastructure, which overnight would be at the borders of the Russian Federation", Putin said after meeting Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. "Do you think we will keep it as it is: our troops at 1,500 (kilometers, 900 miles) away?"
Philippines
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte urges people to kill drug addicts theguardian
Duterte, 71, won last month’s election in a landslide after a campaign dominated by threats to kill tens of thousands of criminals in a relentless war on crime, and tirades against the nation’s elite that cast him as an incendiary, anti-establishment hero.
A picture of the natural outcome when man, whose heart is deceitful and desperatly sick (Jer 17:9), elevates himself to the position of god.
Austria
Austrian presidential election result overturned and must be held again theguardian
The court president, Gerhart Holzinger, announced on Friday that the run-off vote, in which Norbert Hofer of the Freedom party (FPÖ) narrowly lost to Green-backed Alexander Van der Bellen, would have to be repeated across the whole country after an investigation revealed irregularities in the count of the vote in several constituencies.
While the Austrian presidency is a largely ceremonial role, the outcome has been seen as hugely symbolic, with the Freedom party seemingly buoyed by growing anti-refugee sentiment and disaffection with the country’s political establishment.
Society
[OPINION] California's state religion ocregister
Two pieces of legislation introduced in the Legislature last session, but not yet enacted, show the power of the new religion. One is Senate Bill 1146 pdf, which seeks to limit the historically broad exemptions the state and federal governments have provided religious schools to, well, be religious.
The second piece of legislation, thankfully temporarily tabled, Senate Bill 1161 pdf, the Orwellian-named “California Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act of 2016,” would have dramatically extended the period of time that state officials could prosecute anyone who dared challenge the climate orthodoxy, including statements made decades ago. It would have sought “redress for unfair competition practices committed by entities that have deceived, confused or misled the public on the risks of climate change or financially supported activities that have deceived, confused or misled the public on those risks.”
A couple days ago was Time, and today the OC Register. If secularists see the rising anti-Christian bent, you know it's gotta be getting pretty bent :)
The American Church Needs to Get Serious about Religious Liberty, Now nationalreview
America’s Evangelicals are passive, timid, and afraid to defend their own liberties. Doubt me? Let’s consider a counterfactual.
Imagine for a moment that a racist state legislature passed a bill designed to financially cripple historically black colleges. Claiming the need to protect the public from “racial discrimination,” state senators proposed a bill that could deny any and all state funds (including student financial aid) to any university that deviated excessively from the demographic makeup of the state. Compounding the crisis, the racist legislature believed a racist judiciary would uphold the law, giving black colleges a choice — get whiter or close their doors.
I don't know that I agree with this article's call to "demand our rights" in a "take it to the streets and march!" type approach. Ultimately our goal is to proclaim the arrival of the kingdom of God and that all men are commanded to repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15, Matt 3:2, Acts 17:30). We have an unusual situation in history where we live in a nation with religious freedom enshrined in the law, and therefore been granted the freedom to live out that religion. However, though the Lord has allowed us that freedom here for a time, it has hardly been the normative case in history, nor is the freedom to worship an unalienable right endowed on us by our Creator (hardly - He desires to be worshiped in spirit and truth! [John 4:24], and has nothing good to say about any other form or object of worship).
That means that while there are laws in place that should protect us, and there are avenues for us to challenge legally and respectfully when those freedoms are violated, and even that it's good and right to use the paths God has made available to us in our nation (including using lawyers, which the lawyer-author decries as being passive!), keeping religious freedom is not the mission of the Christian! The focus should be all about Christ and making Him known. If He's gracious enough to allow us to continue to live our lives according to the Scriptures publically, then we give Him praise. But that doesn't seem to be the direction things are moving, and for that we also praise Him because we know He will be glorified in His working of history, and that the removal of ease of being a Christian will purify His church.
Abortion
Federal judge blocks Indiana abortion law reuters
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt granted a preliminary injunction sought by Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, which argued that the new state law [prohibiting abortions based on genetic abnormalities] was unconstitutional and violated women's rights. The law was due to go into effect on Friday.
Planned Parenthood: eight states now striving to repeal abortion restrictions theguardian
Lawmakers are formulating specific plans to target similar abortion restrictions in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and they are broadly prepared to repeal laws in Florida, Michigan and Texas. In Tennessee, Planned Parenthood is looking to support litigation by the Center for Reproductive Rights against that state’s building requirement law. They will also target Missouri’s admitting privileges law. Earlier this week, officials with Planned Parenthood of Kansas and mid-Missouri signaled that they were prepared, if necessary, to mount a legal challenge.
Robotics
Anyone who has ever felt underqualified for a job they were applying for just got a new hero. A fearless 10-year-old girl named Eva submitted an application for a summer fellowship program in Paris meant for experienced data scientists and urban designers—and won.
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