News and Prophecy Staff

This week the World Health Organization (WHO) held the 73rd annual World Health Assembly by teleconference instead of in Geneva, Switzerland. What made this meeting unique is the fact that it was held in the midst of “the worst pandemic in modern history,” which has most of the world locked down in quarantine (NPR, May 17, 2020).

In 2018, the last year for which accurate statistics are available, the marriage rate in the United States dropped to its lowest level since 1900 (Atlanta Journal Constitution, April 29, 2020). Just 6.5 out of 1,000 people got married in 2018, down from 7.0 in 2016. Many experts believe this number will continue to drop in future years.

During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan this year (April 23–May 23), mosques in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and several other American cities are publicly broadcasting the “call to prayer” five times a day (Al Jazeera, April 24, 20202).

The COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on national economies around the world. In contrast to its January 2020 forecast of sizeable global economic growth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) now predicts a 3 percent reduction in global economic output (New York Times, April 14, 2020).

The EU has been struggling, and Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic have added insult to injury. European nations are acting independently in their battle against the virus, and some commentators have declared that this could be the end of the EU as we know it.