News and Prophecy Staff

“Global defense spending has gone up for the first time since 2011. According to the World Military Expenditure Report… countries around the world spent a total of $1.68 trillion (1.56 trillion euros) on arms in 2016” (Deutsche Welle, April 24, 2017). The U.S., China and Russia led the spending. One expert observed, “Today, unlike a decade ago, actors are not relying on diplomacy and international institutions.

In a recent article entitled “Children think it’s normal to be ‘gender-fluid,’” author Alice Thomson observed, “Twenty years ago the average age at which people came out was 25; now it is 16” (The Times, April 12, 2017). She further observed, “Acceptance of gay relationships now spans the generations but the young have distinct views on shifting sexual identity.” Ms.

In a recent BBC story, one author worked hard to make the case that heterosexuality is a recently invented “cultural production.” “But heterosexuality has not always ‘just been there.’ And there’s no reason to imagine it will always be” (BBC, April 16, 2017).

“Venezuela calls ‘mother of all protests’ as opposition and government supporters rally,” according to Deutsche Welle (April 19, 2017). As societal standards erode, poverty increases, inflation explodes, crime erupts, and a once-advanced society continues to decline, many Venezuelans are angry.

Over the last week, “60,000 Turkana pastoralists and 127,000 livestock have moved [from northwest Kenya] to Uganda’s Karamjoa sub-region” in search of vegetation for their livestock (Deutsche Welle, April 18, 2017). “The end of March was supposed to bring rains to Turkana, transforming barren plains into pasture. It still hasn’t happened.