News and Prophecy Staff

The “America First” slogan and actions of President Trump are taking a toll on America’s allies. Recently, a German weekly stated, “Seldom has an American president exploited the country’s economic power to the degree the Trump administration has. Washington appears to be attacking German companies at every opportunity” (Der Spiegel, June 13, 2018).

In recent days, multiple parts of the globe have experienced searing temperatures and devastating fires. Currently, deadly fires have claimed lives, destroyed homes and scorched thousands of acres in California, western Canada, Greece, Sweden, the Netherlands and Britain, and heat is even searing Finnish Lapland above the Arctic Circle.

Contrary to popular belief, the AIDS crisis is still with us. The media seems “comfortable” with the epidemic and thus has paid it little attention over the last decade. In 2016, the most recent year with complete global AIDS statistics, nearly 37 million people were living with AIDS and nearly two million new cases were contracted each year (AIDS.gov).

Like many sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in their early state, Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) usually has no symptoms. This means an infected person can unknowingly transmit his or her disease to other sexual partners (BBC, July 11, 2018). The disease causes pain, fever, and bleeding, and even leads to infertility. Medical professionals are watching this bacteria mutate and develop immunity to certain antibiotics, rendering it untreatable in some cases.

Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted a 13,000 percent annualized inflation rate in Venezuela (Washington Post, July 24, 2018), yet its recent revision makes its earlier prediction seem miniscule.