News and Prophecy Staff

President Obama has stated that the EU-U.S. Free Trade Agreement is his top foreign policy priority for his second term in office. Such an agreement would “constitute the largest bilateral economic partnership in the world” (Deutsche Welle, February 26, 2013).

Pope Francis, who is known for his ecumenical perspective, “reached out to Rome’s Jewish community at the very start of his pontificate, pledging to continue to strengthen the increasingly close ties between Catholics and Jews”—and his overtures were received with high hopes (Associated Press, March 16, 2013). As archbishop of Buenos Aires, then Cardinal Bergoglio was known as an “ally” of the Jews.

Two weeks ago, Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, held a press conference “to ‘sound an alarm’ on the advance of CRE, a highly drug-resistant bacteria” (CDC.gov, March 5, 2013; NPR, March 7, 2013). Dr.

“Two trends in the international arms trade, in particular, have caught the attention of Western governments. For one, for the first time since the Cold War, the ranking of the world’s five largest arms exporters has changed. China has pushed Britain out of the Top Five. And secondly, military expenditures in Asia in 2012 exceeded those of the European Union for the first time ever” (Deutsche Welle, March 18, 2013).

Europe’s top trade unionist, Ms. Bernadette Segol, recently stated, “Rising unemployment, bleak economic prospects and continued austerity is making people question the benefits of the EU” (EU Observer, March 14, 2013). Speaking about the negative impacts of austerity measures, Ms. Segol also said “doubts about the benefits of the European Union [are] showing more and more” (ibid.).