The British jets intercepted seven Russian military aircraft

Britain's Ministry of Defence said this week it had scrambled Typhoon fighter jets after four separate groups of aircraft were detected in international airspace near the Baltics by NATO air defenses. The British jets intercepted seven Russian military aircraft that, as Reuters reports, did not file a flight plan and did not use their transponders, making them invisible to civilian air traffic control and a safety hazard to commercial air traffic. "The Russian aircraft were monitored by the RAF Typhoons and escorted on their way," noted the ministry. This follows an event last Thursday when Latvia said NATO fighters had scrambled a record four times after a total of 16 Russian military planes were spotted close to the country’s air space.

As Reuters reports,

Britain said on Wednesday it had scrambled Typhoon fighter jets to intercept seven Russian military aircraft flying near the Baltic states, as tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine remained high.

A NATO official said the Russian aircraft were armed and in the vicinity of NATO airspace.

They did not file a flight plan and did not use their transponders, making them invisible to civilian air traffic control and a safety hazard to commercial air traffic, which was why NATO had intercepted them, he said.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday it had launched the Typhoons on Tuesday after four separate groups of aircraft were detected in international airspace near the Baltics by NATO air defences.

It said the aircraft had been identified as a Russian Tupolev Tu-22 bomber, four Sukhoi Su-27 fighters, one Beriev A-50 early warning aircraft, and an Antonov An-26 transport aircraft.

They appeared to be carrying out routine training, it said.

"The Russian aircraft were monitored by the RAF Typhoons and escorted on their way," the ministry said in a statement.

NATO has been building its forces ever since the troubles began...

The alliance last month tripled the number of fighter jets based in the Baltics as part of measures to beef up its defences in eastern Europe following Russia's annexation of Crimea. Britain contributed four Typhoons to the operation.

And this is not the first time...

NATO planes patrolling the Baltics have scrambled repeatedly in the last week in response to sightings of Russian military aircraft.

Last Thursday, Latvia said NATO fighters had scrambled a record four times after a total of 16 Russian military planes were spotted close to the country’s air space.

Local news agency BNS quoted Latvia's Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma on Monday as saying that the increased activity by Russian military planes was an "intimidation tactic" and a demonstration of power by Russia. "The same tactics are used also in Ukraine and elsewhere," she said.

The incidents may have been connected to military exercises in Russia's Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad that Moscow said last week it was holding in response to drills by NATO allies in parts of eastern Europe.

But with stocks at record highs (and expected volatility at record lows), we are sure this is nothing to worry about - go back to the World Cup.

Credit to Zero Hedge

UK Bans Creationism In Schools

Schools in the United Kingdom are banned from teaching creationism following a clarification of regulations released by the UK government last week.

The new documents make plain that any school receiving public funds, which includes many church-run schools, will violate the Funding Agreement with the government if it teaches creationism as a scientifically valid alternative to the theory of evolution. In addition, schools are required to teach evolution as the current scientific consensus regarding the origin of Earth’s many species.

“The parties further recognize that the requirement on every academy and free school to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, in any case prevents the teaching of creationism as evidence based theory in any academy or free school,” the government’s new documents say.

Elsewhere, creationism is defined as “any doctrine or theory which holds that natural biological processes cannot account for the history, diversity, and complexity of life on earth and therefore rejects the scientific theory of evolution.” Such theories, the agreements say, are roundly rejected by today’s scientists.

“It does not accord with the scientific consensus or the very large body of established scientific evidence; nor does it accurately and consistently employ the scientific method, and as such it should not be presented to pupils at the Academy as a scientific theory,” the government declares.

Creationism may be brought up when studying religion, but instructors may never present it as a scientific alternative to evolution.

A 2012 poll by AngusReid found that only 17 percent of Britons believed humans were created by God in their original form within the last 10,000 years, while 69 percent believe humans arose through millions of years of evolution. The same poll found that only 30 percent of Americans believe in Darwinian evolution while 51 percent believe humans were created in the last 10,000 years.

The announcement is a win for the British Humanist Association, which has been running a “Teach Evolution, Not Creationism” campaign since 2011.

“We believe that this means that the objectives of the campaign are largely met. We congratulate the Government on its robust stance on this issue,” the organization’s spokesman Pavan Dhaliwal said in a statement.

The UK’s decisive prohibition is in stark contrast to the United States. While the Supreme Court has abolished bans on teaching evolution, as well as laws requiring that creationism be taught alongside evolution, private schools have extensive leeway in teaching science and many state legislatures have battled over laws affording varying degrees of protection to public school teachers who wish to question evolution.

Credit to Daily Caller

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/20/uk-bans-creationism-in-schools/#ixzz35L7hCZm2