Nine die in Oregon shooting, gun control debate reinvigorated

Last Thursday, a gunman opened fire on a writing class  at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. College students, a teacher and two emergency responders ranging in age from 18 to 67 were killed, according to county officials. The victims were identified as Lucero Alcaraz, 19; Quinn Glen Cooper, 18; Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59; Lucas Eibel, 18; Jason Dale Johnson, 33; Lawrence Levine, 67; Sarena Dawn Moore, 44; Treven Taylor Anspach, 20 and Rebecka Ann Carnes, 18. This mass shooting has, once again, brought the gun control debate to the forefront of American issues. President Obama was quick to speak on the issue. “But as I said just a few months ago, and I said a few months before that, and I said each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough,” Obama said according to whitehouse.gov.  “It’s not enough.  It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel.  And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America — next week, or a couple of months from now.”

Hurricane Joaquin not to directly hit US, causes record flooding

Despite undergoing some weakening and no longer near Category 5 hurricane status, Hurricane Joaquin is a Category 2 hurricane as it tracks northeastward through the western Atlantic Ocean. If Joaquin stays on track it will spare the United States of a direct hit, though historic flooding has still unfolded in South Carolina. Curfews have been ordered, dozens of people are in need of rescue, several interstates are closed and four people are dead in some of the worst flooding South Carolina has ever seen, officials said Sunday. Officials are worried life-threatening impacts will only worsen as the 1-in-1,000-year rain event continues. Authorities said hundreds of people were in need of rescue Sunday as the floodwaters kept rising all over the Palmetto State. Columbia, the state capital, was the hardest hit. At least 5 people have been killed by the flash floods in South Carolina, and officials worry that number will rise.

Violence in Israel continues, actions taken

Under heavy domestic pressure from critics, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel threatened on Sunday to wage a “harsh offensive against Palestinian Islamic terrorism” as he returned to a country battered by a wave of deadly violence.

“We are in an all-out war against terrorism and we will wage it aggressively,” Netanyahu wrote in a Facebook post. Israeli police say they are restricting access to the Old City of Jerusalem after a Palestinian man killed two Israelis on a street in the historic neighborhood. Only Israeli citizens, Old City residents, tourists, businesspeople working in the area and students studying there will be allowed to enter, police said in a statement Sunday. They said they’re also preventing Muslim men under the age of 50 from attending prayers at the holy site in the Old City that Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary.

The U.S. State Department issued a statement Saturday, saying it “strongly condemns all acts of violence, including the ‎tragic stabbing in the Old City of Jerusalem today.”

“We are very concerned about mounting tensions in the West Bank and Jerusalem, including the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount, and call on all sides to take affirmative steps to restore calm and avoid escalating the situation,” the statement said.