News and Prophecy Staff

In a quest for beauty at all costs, “Women across the U.S. are risking their lives for black market procedures to make their buttocks bigger, often involving home-improvement materials such as silicone injected by people with no medical training…Whatever the reason, they are seeking cheaper alternatives to plastic surgery—sometimes with deadly or disfiguring results” (Huffington Post, August 5, 2013). Many women “toss caution aside when black market procedures are the only ones they can afford” (ibid.).

Recently a homosexual couple in New York was attacked and beaten by six men and required medical treatment for their injuries (CBS, August 14, 2013).

For weeks, Muslim Brotherhood protesters have camped out in Cairo and demonstrated against the military ousting of President Morsi. On Wednesday, government forces stormed two of the camps, killing 525 people and injuring 3,717 more.

Thirteen players from Major League Baseball were recently charged with violating anti-doping regulations.

Returning from his World Youth Day visit to Brazil, where he was treated like a rock star (The Telegraph, July 27, 2013), Pope Francis held a press conference where he “reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s position that homosexual acts were sinful, but homosexual orientation was not” (BBC, July 29, 2013).