News and Prophecy Staff

At the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, University of Utah researchers reported new results of their study of the Yellowstone caldera. Dr. Bob Smith stated in a BBC interview, “We’ve been working there for a long time, and we’ve always thought it would be bigger… but this finding is astounding” (New York Post, December 12, 2013).

“A senior High Court judge is stepping down after being reprimanded by the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor for speaking out on the problems of marriage breakdown” (The Times, December 18, 2013). Last December, the judge, Sir Paul Coleridge, wrote an article that criticized “the Government’s plans to allow gay marriage and accused ministers of wasting effort on an issue that affects ‘0.1 per cent’ of the population.

Africa’s newest nation, South Sudan, is on the verge of civil war as two factions fight for power (Agence France-Presse [AFP], December 19, 2013). “Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more terrified civilians have fled their homes” (ibid.).

In an attempt to force better care and treatment of animals, “A US animal rights group is calling on a New York court to recognise a chimpanzee as a legal person, in what is believed to be a legal first” (BBC, December 4, 2013).

On December 1, after years of preparation and hard work, China reported landing a robotic vehicle on the moon (BBC, December 14, 2013). The lander touched down in a lunar region about which little is known (ibid.). Many wonder about China’s lunar ambitions (BBC, November 29, 2013).