News

This year is shaping up to be a record year for hurricanes or typhoons. “NASA’s Terra satellite saw Hurricanes Kilo, Ignacio, and Jimena, all Category Four Hurricanes, lined up across the Central and Eastern Pacific Ocean on August 29 at 22:25 UTC (6:25 p.m. EDT). This is the first time there have been three active hurricanes in the Eastern or Central Pacific Ocean this season, and they’re all major hurricanes” (NASA, August 30, 2015).

Tensions between Britain and Argentina continue to grow over the fate of the Falkland Islands, also known in Argentina as the Malvinas. “Britain has ordered £47 million of new mobile air defence radars to protect the Falkland Islands against possible attack by Argentine jets.

“Archaeologists think they may have discovered in Israel the home of biblical giant Goliath. The… Bar-Ilan University Expedition, led by Professor Aren Maeir, located the lost city of Gath during excavations of an area now divided between... Palestine and Israel… The recent discovery of the entrance gate of the biblical city has been the biggest finding” (The Daily Telegraph, August 13, 2015).

The New Yorker recently discussed the potential of a major earthquake in the Cascadia Subduction Zone—between northern California and Vancouver Island (July 20, 2015). The Zone packs far greater energy than the famous San Andreas Fault to the south. The author writes “An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when” (ibid.). This overdue quake could range in magnitude from 8.0-9.2.

“The deadline set by Pyongyang for South Korea to halt propaganda broadcasts over the border passed without incident on Saturday evening, although tensions remain high on both sides of the Demilitarised Zone. North Korea… issued an ultimatum that its forces would conduct ‘military operations to destroy’ the South’s loudspeakers unless they were withdrawn by 5pm local time.