News and Prophecy Staff

Although defense spending has dropped in some nations—mainly in Africa and oil-producing countries—many nations are building up their defense capabilities. Iran’s leadership recently voted to boost missile and other defense spending by over $500 million (BBC, August 13, 2017).

Due to an unusually hot and dry summer, Portugal has requested help from Europe to combat forest fires on a scale not seen in recent memory. Thousands of firefighters are battling hundreds of blazes around the nation (Reuters, August 13, 2017).

U.S. public health officials have discovered fleas infected with the bubonic plague—sometimes called the “Black Death”—in the state of Arizona. This is the same bacterium that killed millions of people in Europe in the fourteenth century.

On September 24, Germans will participate in a federal election to select their chancellor. Many wonder if Chancellor Angela Merkel will be able to retain the office she has held since 2005. Her critics abound.

The meaning of extremism is changing daily and is beginning to mean the opposite of its original intent. In a recent homily, the Bishop of Shrewsbury in the UK, Mark Davies, shared his concerns that, if British law continues in its current direction, belief in Jesus Christ and the Bible may one day be viewed as “extremist” ideology (Catholic Herald, August 1, 2017).