Another month, another global heat record broken -- by far

By SETH BORENSTEIN2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Earth dialed the heat up in June, smashing warm temperature records for both the month and the first half of the year.

Off-the-charts heat is "getting to be a monthly thing," said Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. June was the fourth month of 2015 that set a record, she said.

"There is almost no way that 2015 isn't going to be the warmest on record," she added.

NOAA calculated that the world's average temperature in June hit 61.48 degrees Fahrenheit (16.33 Celsius), breaking the old record set last year by 0.22 degrees (.12 degrees Celsius). Usually temperature records are broken by one or two one-hundredths of a degree, not nearly a quarter of a degree, Blunden said.

And the picture is even more dramatic when the half-year is considered.

The first six months of 2015 were one-sixth of a degree warmer than the old record, set in 2010, averaging 57.83 degrees (14.35 Celsius).

The old record for the first half of the year was set in 2010, the last time there was an El Nino — a warming of the central Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide. But in 2010, the El Nino petered out. This year, forecasters are predicting this El Nino will get stronger, not weaker.

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FILE - In this June 29, 2015, file photo, children play as they cool down in a fountain beside the M …

"If that happens, it's just going to go off the charts," Blunden said.

June was warm nearly all over the world, with exceptional heat in Spain, Austria, parts of Asia, Australia and South America. Southern Pakistan had a June heat wave that killed more than 1,200 people — which, according to an international database, would be the eighth deadliest in the world since 1900. In May, a heat wave in India claimed more than 2,000 lives and ranked as the fifth deadliest on record.

May and March also broke monthly heat records, which go back 136 years. Initially NOAA figured February 2015 was only the second hottest February on record, but new data came in that made it too the hottest, Blunden said. Earth has broken monthly heat records 25 times since the year 2000, but hasn't broken a monthly cold record since 1916.

"This is what anthropogenic global warming looks like, just hotter and hotter," said Jonathan Overpeck, co-director of the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona.

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Online:

NOAA June global analysis: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201506

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Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

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This story has been corrected with new data showing June was the fourth record-setting month of 2015, not the third.

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Jerusalem (AFP) - Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Israel of "abusive arrests" of Palestinian children as young as 11 and of using threats to force them to sign confessions.

Israeli authorities failed to inform parents of their children's arrest or whereabouts, the New York-based watchdog added, drawing on accounts of several children detained during intense unrest in east Jerusalem and the West Bank late last year.

HRW's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson urged the United States to pressure its Israeli ally to end what it said were long-standing "abusive practices".

The rights group issued the accusations as US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter began a visit to Israel.

"Israeli security forces have used unnecessary force to arrest or detain Palestinian children," it said in a report giving details of the "abusive arrests" of six children.

"Forces have choked children, thrown stun grenades at them, beaten them in custody, threatened and interrogated them without the presence of parents or lawyers, and failed to let their parents know their whereabouts."

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Malak al-Khatib, a 14-year old Palestinian schoolgirl jailed in an Israeli prison for six week, is s …

Israel's army, when contacted by AFP, had no immediate comment on the report.

HRW said the military and justice ministry responded to its accusations and maintained that "security officials had adhered to the law in all cases, including by informing the children of their rights".

In one case, 11-year-old Rashid S, who was arrested in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem in November, said officers put a bag over his head, kicked him and verbally abused him in Arabic, according to the rights group.

Rashid was accused of throwing stones during the months of unrest that rocked Jerusalem before and after a deadly July-August war in the Gaza Strip.

The Jerusalem riots, where security forces clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians, were accompanied by a spate of killings of both Jews and Arabs.

In the West Bank, 14-year-old girl Malak al-Khatib was violently arrested on suspicion of throwing stones at a road used by Jewish settlers, HRW quoted her mother as saying.

"Four soldiers beat her with something like a baton" during Malak's arrest until she lost consciousness, mother Khoula said.

"While on the ground, they kicked her and one soldier stepped on her neck."

In every case HRW documented, the Palestinian families said Israeli authorities "did not inform parents of the child's arrest and interrogated the children without permitting them to speak to a parent or lawyer prior to the interrogation".

Three children "said they signed confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand, after interrogators threatened them".

Children urinated on themselves out of fear during the arrests, and had nightmares afterwards, it said.

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Raw: Dozens Killed in Turkey Explosion

Ankara (AFP) - A suspected Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 31 people Monday in an attack on a Turkish cultural centre where activists had gathered to prepare for an aid mission in the nearby Syrian town of Kobane.

The blast ripped through the centre in Suruc -- a town just across the border from Kobane, which was itself later hit by a suicide car bombing -- blowing out the windows and starting a fire, witnesses said.

Most of the dead were university students who were planning to enter Syria to help rebuild Kobane, which was occupied by Islamic State for months before being recaptured by Kurdish forces in January.

In addition to those killed, around 100 other people were wounded by the blast.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on a visit to northern Cyprus, condemned the attack as an "act of terror".

"On behalf of my people, I curse and condemn the perpetrators of this brutality," he said. "Terror must be condemned no matter where it comes from."

Television footage showed several people lying on the ground covered in blood and ambulances rushing to the scene.

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People help the wounded after an explosion in the southeastern Turkish city of Suruc near the Syrian …

AFP pictures showed bodies covered in blankets lain out in the centre's garden.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu pointed the finger of blame for what was "clearly a terrorist attack" at Islamic State.

"Preliminary findings point to it being a suicide attack carried out by Daesh," Davutoglu said in Ankara, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "But we are not at a point to make a final judgement."

If confirmed, it would be the first such attack by IS fighters against Turkey, a regional military power and NATO member.

Local resident Mehmet Celik told AFP the town was "in chaos".

Alp Altinors from the pro-Kurdish HDP party said the group of around 300 activists who gathered in Suruc from across the country were from the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations and that most were students.

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The blast took place as Turkish activists were preparing to announce they would cross into the Syria …

"They were planning to build parks in Kobane, hand out toys for children and paint school walls," he told AFP.

Social media images showed the group relaxing over breakfast in the garden a few hours before the noon blast.

A video circulated by the private Dogan news agency showed a spokesman for the activists saying into a microphone: "We, the youth, are here. We have defended Kobane together and now we are setting out to rebuild it together."

Davutoglu said the blast aimed to undermine Turkish democracy.

"This attack targets us all," he said, dispatching three ministers to the southeastern region.

"Daesh threatens not only Syrian people but also Turkey," he added.

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Turkish rescue workers cover the dead bodies with newspaper after an explosion in the border town of …

- 'Targeting Turkey's democracy' -

White House spokesman Josh Earnest condemned the "heinous" attack, as did Russian President Vladimir Putin, who labelled it a "barbaric act" and called for greater international cooperation in fighting terrorism.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also joined in the condemnation.

The attack in Suruc was followed closely afterwards by a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint in Kobane, which killed two members of the Kurdish security forces, according to Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Kobane has been a symbol of resistance against the jihadists since IS fighters were driven out by Syrian Kurdish forces backed by US-led airstrikes.

Turkey's Kurds were frustrated at the time at Ankara's refusal to intervene to rout the insurgents, who have seized large parts of Syria and Iraq over the past year.

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A picture taken from Suruc on June 27, 2015 looking across the border at smoke rising from the Syria …

Ankara's critics accused it of tolerating or even aiding IS, as a useful ally against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom Erdogan wants ousted -- allegations vehemently rejected by Ankara.

In recent weeks, Turkish authorities have stepped up their actions against the jihadists, arresting dozens of suspected IS militants and sympathisers.

"It's now obvious that the Turkish government has upgraded the threat posed by ISIS to among the top ones it is facing," a Western diplomat told AFP last week.

Turkey has also boosted its border defences, stationing tanks and anti-aircraft missiles along its frontier with Syria as well as bolstering troop numbers.

The build-up has fed speculation that the government is planning an intervention to push the jihadists back from the border and halt the advance of Kurdish forces who have made gains in the area.

The government has however ruled out any immediate action in Syria.

- Reluctant coalition member -

Ankara categorises IS as a terrorist group but has been a reluctant member of the US-led anti-IS coalition, refusing to give its NATO ally the use of Incirlik air base in the south for raids on the jihadists.

The Islamists made a surprise raid on Kobane last month, five months after being driven out of the town.

The nearby town of Suruc, once a centre of silk-making, is home to one of the biggest refugee camps in Turkey housing Syrians who have fled their country's bloody four-year conflict.

The camp shelters about 35,000 refugees out of a total of more than 1.8 million refugees taken in by Turkey since 2011.

The anti-Semitism news from Europe in over the past year has been terrible: Jews murdered in Paris and Copenhagen, synagogues attacked by mobs and firebombed, and increasing Jewish emigration attributed to fear of more attacks.

A new poll on anti-Semitic attitudes, however, may offer some reason for optimism amid an otherwise bleak picture.

The Anti-Defamation League poll, a follow-up to our 2014 survey of anti-Semitic attitudes in more than 100 countries and territories, found significant decreases in bigoted views toward Jews in France, Belgium, and Germany, where anti-Semitic violence has been a prominent issue.

The surprising results in these three countries prompted us to look deeper into possible reasons and to confirm the results. The initial results were confirmed and the new data we obtained suggest possible explanations.

What did we find in all three countries? Respondents had heightened awareness and concern about violence against Jews and a stronger sense of solidarity with the Jewish communities. Over half of French respondents had heard political leaders condemn anti-Semitism, and majorities in all three countries noted their governments had been more active in combatting anti-Semitism.

For decades, ADL has urged public figures in America and around the world to denounce anti-Semitism when incidents occur. In the U.S., leaders at all levels of government make such statements and we have seen decreases in anti-Semitic attitudes here in our decades of domestic polling.

Over the past year, we have also seen strong and sustained denunciations of anti-Semitism in France by Prime Minister Manuel Manuel Valls and President Francois Hollande, where the most pronounced drop in anti-Semitic attitudes was found among the European countries surveyed. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkelheadlined a rally against anti-Semitism in September. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, who took office in October, has been outspoken against anti-Semitism and honest about laxity of previous governments.

Such actions should be emulated by all European leaders.

It is certainly possible that people were simply less willing to express agreement with anti-Jewish statements, while still harboring such attitudes. Respondents reported similar levels of anti-Semitism among people they know compared with 2014, a perception which is often a proxy for people holding anti-Semitic views themselves. Even if that is the case, greater reticence to express anti-Semitism would still be a positive development.

The good news must be tempered by the sobering concern that we do not know how deep and lasting these positive shifts will be. The traumatic effects of the recent violence in France, Belgium and Germany may fade and the reluctance to express anti-Semitic attitudes may recede. Additional polling over time will tell us.

Other poll results showed how much anti-bias work remains to be done.

For the first time, the ADL poll measured Muslim attitudes in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. An average of 55 percent of Western European Muslims harbored anti-Semitic attitudes. Acceptance of anti-Semitic stereotypes by Muslims in these countries was substantially higher than among the national population in each country (ranging from 12 to 29 percent), though lower than corresponding figures of 75 percent for Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in ADL's 2014 poll.

The index is made up of 11 classical stereotypes about Jews. In consultation with scholars, ADL set a standard in which respondents had to agree with six or more of these stereotypes in order to be described as harboring anti-Semitic attitudes. To be sure, any one question may be subject to different interpretations.

However, agreeing with at least six of these statements makes clear one's biased attitude toward Jews.

On most conspiracy-related statements, e.g. "Jews have too much control over global affairs," results for European and MENA Muslims showed little difference. However, on negative statements about Jewish character, e.g. "people hate Jews because of the way they behave" and "Jews think they are better than other people," European Muslims scored substantially lower than MENA Muslims.

Reducing violent attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions must clearly be the first priority in the battle against anti-Semitism, but changing attitudes counts. While we do not see a correlation between high numbers of violent incidents and high levels of anti-Semitic beliefs, Jews feel freer to live openly as Jews when they are confident of being accepted in their societies, not just in the absence of security concerns.

The fight against anti-Semitism must be waged in the public square and at schools, as well as by law enforcement. Political leaders must set the tone and devote the political capital to encouraging every sector of society to engage together to combat the scourge of anti-Semitism. Civil society and the business community, educators and journalists, religious leaders and students, parents and children, law enforcement officers, prosecutors and jurists must all join the battle.

Large majorities of respondents in Belgium (68 percent), France (77 percent), and Germany (78 percent) agreed that, "Violence against Jews in this country affects everyone and is an attack on our way of life." We should not settle for less than 100 percent, and that requires clear and consistent reinforcement that threats to Jews are assaults on the well-being and sense of security for the whole society.

Let us hope the improvements found in our poll grow in effect, expand across Europe, and eventually through the rest of the world.

(HUFFINGTON POST)