News and Prophecy Staff

“For centuries, Chinese products have wended their way thousands of kilometers across mountains and deserts to the heart of central Asia, Afghanistan. Now, for the first time, the trade is carried by rail. With the first train last week pulling in to Hairatan, northern Afghanistan, China marked another advance in President Xi Jinping’s Silk Road project to deepen his nation’s influence along old trade routes.

“Humans across the globe may be actually speaking the same language after scientists found that the sounds used to make the words of common objects and ideas are strikingly similar. The discovery challenges the fundamental principles of linguistics, which state that languages grow up independently of each other, with no intrinsic meaning in the noises which form words” (The Telegraph, September 12, 2016).

“Modern life is killing children with the number of youngsters diagnosed with cancer rising 40 per cent in the past 16 years because of air pollution, pesticides, poor diets and radiation, scientists have warned” (New Zealand Herald, September 4, 2016). According to a lead researcher, “air pollution was by far the biggest culprit, accounting for around 40 per cent of the rise, but other elements of modern lifestyles are also to blame.

While several EU nations are pushing for a stronger, more unified European military (EU Observer, September 12, 2016), others are pointing fingers and trying to remove other member states.

“Everyone knows you should never go to sleep on an argument, but a new study suggests the old adage might be just as important for a person’s health as [for] their relationship” (Telegraph, August 17, 2016).