News and Prophecy Staff

Outbreaks of Epidemic Diseases: “Hong Kong issued a ‘red alert’ advisory on Tuesday against non-essential travel to South Korea, where eight new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) were reported, bringing the total to 95 with seven fatalities... South Korea has the second highest number of infections, after Saudi Arabia, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control...

“German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Jerusalem Sunday, in a trip that highlighted Germany’s dilemma of a great affinity for Israel amid growing unease with Israeli government policy” (Deutsche Welle, June 1, 2015).

“Rescuers searched on Tuesday for more than 400 people, many of them elderly Chinese tourists [ages 50-80], missing after a cruise boat was hit by a freak tornado and capsized on the Yangtze River in what may become China’s worst shipping disaster in nearly 70 years.

A severe heat wave in India has killed over 2,300 in the past week as temperatures have climbed above 47 Celsius (116 Fahrenheit) (CNN, June 2, 2015). “Authorities have cancelled doctors’ leave and advised people not to head outside in the middle of the day to avoid the worst of the heat. However for many Indians, staying indoors is not an option. ‘I get headaches, fever sometimes.

“A deluge of rainfall has burst rivers and brought flood warnings to several southern US states, with Texas and Oklahoma the worst hit so far… Parts of Texas saw up to 10 inches (25cm) of rain over a 24-hour period, with more predicted across the region into next week. An official declared it the ‘largest flood in the history of this region’” (BBC, May 25, 2015).