Temperatures in Alaska are unusually high–on 223 May the temperature reached 86 degrees F while on the same day in Phoenix it was 83 degrees F. Anchorage only recorded 25 inches of snow last winter (while Boston had 109 inches last winter). The temperatures are likely the result of the emerging el Niño and should be a cause of great concern. There truly is something strange going on.

The Turkish election on Sunday brought an end to 12 years of uninterrupted, stable single-party rule by the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi or AK). The AK Party took about 41 percent of the votes leaving it well short of the outright majority President Erdogan had sought as he hoped to make some major constitutional changes. The Kurdish Party apparently won sufficient seats to be represented in the new Parliament, the first time it has achieved such power. The question now is whether Erdogan will accept the outcome or try to subvert it with an alliance with the nationalist party.
Thousands of protesters have assembled outside of the G7 meeting in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The protesters are a mixed bag of anarchists, socialists, communists, and liberals who are opposed to the proposed trade agreements between the EU and the US (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership [TTIP]). The protesters are also concerned about the lack of progress on climate change talks. The meeting is also supposed to deal with the problem of the Islamic State and the continuing sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine.

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