February 3rd, 2007 by Manila Ryce
Dispelling any remaining doubts over human involvement in global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body comprising 2,500 climate experts convened by the UN, said that the evidence for climate change caused by fossil fuel combustion was �unequivocal�. The report, which took six years to complete, is the most authoritative ever produced on climate change. It predicts a rise in 3 degrees Celsius globally by 2100, and was agreed upon by all UN members, including the US and China.
Chairman of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, said, �You can see [from the report] what the costs of inaction are. Everything is [included in the report] by consensus, so the implication is that it has the stamp of acceptance by all governments in the world.� Yvo de Boer, secretary-general of the UN climate change secretariat, said work should now begin on a successor to the Kyoto treaty. The European Union�s environment commissioner urged governments to agree to the European Commission�s proposal of reducing emissions by 30 per cent by 2020. French President Chirac proposed a new worldwide environmental organization to spearhead action on emissions. However, the world�s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, the US, has failed to take action on mandatory emission cuts since the report came out.
As the IPCC report became public, the British government announced that An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore�s movie about global warming, would be distributed to all secondary schools in England. The film will be part of a global warming information pack. Environment Minister David Miliband said, “The debate over the science of climate change is well and truly over, as demonstrated by the publication of today’s report.” Meanwhile, the British government is drafting a Climate Change Bill to set the self-imposed target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2050.
At least seven Iraqi children have died after their schools were caught up in a day of sustained violence across Baghdad and other parts of Iraq.
Dozens of Iraqi students have protested against Tuesday’s twin bombings at Baghdad’s Mustansiriya university that killed 70 people and wounded nearly 140 others.
Qatar has decided to pay the overdue salaries of 40,000 Palestinian education workers for several months. The US and European Union cut all aid to the Palestinians after Hamas was democratically elected to run the government. In further response to the election, Israeli authorities have been withholding tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues they collect from the Palestinian government, as well as staging a massive 
A Republican students group at Boston University has started a $250 scholarship for white students. “We are trying to convey the absurdity of any race-based scholarship,” claimed Joseph Mroszczyk, president of the College Republicans. “I don’t think race should be part of any scholarship. It should be based on merit or economic need.” The scholarship may already be serving its purpose, as it has sparked a debate on campus about race-based scholarships and affirmative action.
A Republican lawmaker from Wisconsin, Frank Lasee, has the perfect solution to end school shootings – allow teachers and school staff to pack heat. “When you can make someone think twice about doing something like that or be very concerned about ‘Gee, I don’t know what classroom is going to have someone who’s armed and who may return fire’ I think that’s a good thing,” says Lasee.