News and Prophecy Staff

Over the weekend, gunmen opened fire on public crowds in both El Paso and Dayton—killing a total of 31 people. On Saturday, a 21-year-old opened fire at a Walmart Supercenter in El Paso, Texas, ultimately killing 22 people and injuring more than two dozen before being taken into police custody. Prosecutors are considering hate crime and domestic terrorism charges and are pressing for the death penalty for the shooter.

A new study published by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research highlighted an interesting finding: Among those who possess a religious affiliation, people who attend church services more regularly are also more likely to seek counsel and advice from their clergy concerning important decisions (APNORC.org, May 2019).

The U.S.-China trade war continues. As China’s largest trading partner, the United States hopes to pressure China into coming to the negotiating table by powerfully impacting its export market, and subsequently its entire economy. Chinese experts and even Chinese president Xi Jinping are clear that this trade war will begin to hurt China’s economy and make things difficult for the Chinese people—at least in the near term (Foreign Affairs, June 19, 2019).

The United Nation’s goal to end world hunger by 2030 is not likely to be met (Deutsche Welle, July 15, 2019). Its recent report estimated that 820 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger. Nearly 150 million of these hungry people are children whose growth is stunted by poor nutrition. A recent U.N.

The year-long Ebola outbreak in the Congo is getting worse, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” (WHO, July 17, 2019). The WHO labeled the outbreak a “level 3” emergency—its most serious designation. According to Dr.