Freddie Stubbs
Freddie Stubbs's JournalBrown, RIC reject boycott of Israeli academic institutions
Source: Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Brown University and Rhode Island College are among more than a half-dozen New England universities and colleges that have publicly stated their opposition to a boycott of Israeli academic institutions led by a Washington-based organization of U.S. scholars.
Since the American Studies Association announced its boycott Dec. 16 to protest Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, university leaders at Harvard and Yale, among others, have denounced the boycott as a violation of academic freedom.
“Brown University does not support academic boycotts against Israel or any other country,” Brown University President Christina Paxton said in a statement released Christmas evening. “To do so would be antithetical to open scholarly exchange and would inhibit the advancement of knowledge and discovery … .”
Brown’s membership in the American Studies Association expired June 30, 2013, and the university “is no longer a member of the ASA, the statement said.
Read more: http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20131227-brown-uri-reject-boycott-of-israeli-academic-institutions.ece
Japan gets Okinawa approval for U.S. Marine base move
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - The governor of Japan's Okinawa on Friday approved a controversial plan to relocate a U.S. air base to a less populous part of the southern island, but said he would keep pressing to move the base off the island altogether.
The nod from Okinawa, long a reluctant host to the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan, is an achievement for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has promised a more robust military and tighter security ties with the United States amid escalating tension with China.
Skeptics, however, said it remained far from clear whether the relocation - stalled since the move was first agreed by Washington and Tokyo in 1996 - would actually take place given persistent opposition from Okinawa residents, many of whom associate the U.S. bases with crime, pollution and noise.
The approval came a day after Abe visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen in parts of Asia as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, infuriating China and South Korea, and prompting concern from the United States about deteriorating ties between the Asian neighbors.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/27/us-japan-usa-okinawa-idUSBRE9BQ0AC20131227
Yasser Arafat died of natural causes - Russian report
Source: BBC
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died of natural causes, not radiation poisoning, Russian forensic scientists have said.
Their investigation was one of three carried out on his remains and items he had when he died in Paris in 2004.
Last month, Swiss scientists said they had detected high levels of radioactive polonium but could not say if it had caused his death.
A French inquiry is also said to have found he was not a victim of poisoning.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25518813
Jobless claims drop by 42,000
Source: USA Today
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell sharply last week in a possible sign that the job market is continuing to gain strength.
First-time claims for jobless benefits dropped by 42,000 to a seasonally adjusted 338,000 for the week ending Dec. 21, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The four-week average, which smooths out volatility, rose by 4,250 to 348,000.
Jobless claims have been elevated in recent weeks because of the late Thanksgiving holiday, which affected Labor's seasonal adjustments. Many economists expected a sharp downward correction for last week.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/12/26/jobless-claims-extended-unemployment-benefits/4202083/
Captive American Warren Weinstein feels 'totally abandoned and forgotten'
Source: CNN
(CNN) -- Saying he feels "totally abandoned and forgotten," kidnapped U.S. government contractor Warren Weinstein called on President Barack Obama to negotiate for his freedom in a video released by al Qaeda on Christmas.
The 72-year-old Weinstein was abducted from his home in the Pakistani city of Lahore in August 2011.
In the 13-minute video provided to the Washington Post, Weinstein appeals to the President, Secretary of State John Kerry, the American media, the American public and finally his family.
"Nine years ago, I came to Pakistan to help my government and I did so at a time when most Americans would not come here," he said. "And now, when I need my government, it seems I have been totally abandoned and forgotten."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/26/world/asia/pakistan-captured-american/
Obama salutes WTO, says small businesses are big winners
Source: Politico
President Barack Obama praised the World Trade Organization on Sunday morning for striking its first fully multilateral trade deal in its nearly 20-year history. Small businesses would be among those to benefit most, the president said.
The WTO overcame two major challenges from India and a group of Latin American countries led by Cuba before reaching a deal on Saturday, in Bali, Indonesia, that is expected to generate as much as $1 trillion in global economic output.
“This new deal, and particularly the new trade facilitation agreement, will eliminate red tape and bureaucratic delay for goods shipped around the globe,” Obama said in a statement from the White House. “Small businesses will be among the biggest winners, since they encounter the greatest difficulties in navigating the current system. By some estimates, the global economic value of the new WTO deal could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
“The WTO’s Bali agreement also represents the rejuvenation of the multilateral trading system that supports millions of American jobs and offers a forum for the robust enforcement of America’s trade rights. As such, we are proud of the United States’ leadership role in reaching this accord and congratulate WTO Director-General Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo and our fellow WTO members on this achievement.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/obama-wto-says-small-business-100831.html
After denying they had met, White House now says Obama lived with uncle
Source: Washington Post
The White House acknowledged Thursday that President Obama lived with his uncle Omar for a brief period in the 1980s while he was a student at Harvard Law School -- after previously saying the two had never met.
"The President first met Omar Obama when he moved to Cambridge for law school," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement, according to the Boston Globe. "The President did stay with him for a brief period of time until his apartment was ready. After that, they saw each other once every few months, but after law school they fell out of touch. The President has not seen him in 20 years, has not spoken with him in 10."
Omar Obama faced a deportation hearing earlier this week following a drunk-driving arrest. During the hearing, he said that the president had lived with him while he was a student at Harvard.
The White House had previously told the Globe, after Omar Obama's arrest, that the president had never met his uncle, who comes from his father's side of the family and is a Kenyan national. Obama was not close with his father, who left the family when the president was very young.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/12/05/after-denying-they-had-met-white-house-now-says-obama-lived-with-uncle/
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