News and Prophecy Staff

Is North Korea planning a major attack on the United States? “North Korea, which conducted its fourth nuclear test last month and launched a long-range rocket on Saturday, could begin to recover plutonium from a restarted nuclear reactor within weeks…” (Reuters, February 10, 2016).

“If almost every mother breastfed her children it could prevent more than 800,000 child deaths a year [according to a recent Lancet article], yet governments are failing to promote and support breastfeeding, with rates remaining far below international targets, new research has found… Children who are breastfed for longer have higher IQs, lower death rates and less risk of infection than those who are breastfed for shorter periods or not at all, the research found.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is becoming increasingly unpopular in Germany due to her handling of the migrant crisis. “A newly published survey found that almost 40 percent of Germans are so angry with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy that they want her to resign… At the same time, 45.4 percent of voters for the left-wing Die Linke party saw Merkel’s refugee stance as cause for her to resign” (The Local De, January 29, 2016).

“Pope Francis held talks with Iran’s president at the Vatican Tuesday [January 26], calling on Tehran to play a key role in stopping the spread of terrorism as Iran tries to improve its image in the global arena” (Associated Press, January 26, 2016).

“The UK is vulnerable to epidemics such as Ebola because of a gaping hole in the country’s ability to manufacture vaccines, a group of MPs has warned… ‘Existing [pharmaceutical] facilities are degraded… leaving the UK in a vulnerable position’” (BBC, January 25, 2016). How likely are Ebola and other new infectious diseases to make their way to the UK and the U.S.?