News and Prophecy Staff

“For more than a year, secret talks had taken place between U.S. and Cuban officials both in Canada and at the Vatican. The Pope wrote letters to both Obama and Castro inviting them to resolve their situation through humanitarian efforts” (CNBC, December 17, 2014). “In their first-ever meeting at the Vatican in March, President  Barack Obama  and  Pope Francis  devoted a significant portion of their hour together to discussing a country thousands of miles away—Cuba—a fact that wasn’t disclosed until Wednesday.

A recent study reports, “Less than half (46%) of U.S. kids younger than 18 years of age are living in a home with two married heterosexual parents in their first marriage. This is a marked change from 1960, when 73% of children fit this description, and 1980, when 61% did” (Pew Research, December 22, 2014). “At the same time, the share of children born outside of marriage now stands at 41%, up from just 5% in 1960” (ibid.).

China’s Foreign Minister recently was quoted in the China Daily, “China has joined India in helping the Russian economy… ‘If the Russian side needs, we will provide necessary assistance within our capacity’… The Chinese statement comes after India, earlier this month, bought 12 nuclear reactors from Russian firm Rosatom and launched joint production of military helicopters” (EU Observer, December 22, 2014). 

Religious and racial violence continues to erupt around the world. In Nigeria, Islamic militants have killed or kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children and torched homes of people of different faiths. In Syria and Iraq, Shiites and Sunni Moslems are killing and beheading each other. In Canada, Australia and East Africa, Moslem fanatics have mounted attacks on non-believers.

“Research suggests that generosity is hardwired into our brains,” according to new research from Simon Fraser University in Canada (Wall Street Journal, December 24, 2014; NPR, December 24, 2014).