News and Prophecy Staff

Last week, North Korea celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation’s founding president, Kim Il-Sung. The centerpiece of the celebrations was a rocket launch to put a satellite into orbit.  However, the rocket disintegrated a few minutes after lift-off.  South Korean president Lee criticized the launch, and “said the estimated $850 million cost of a rocket launch… could have bought 2.5 million tons of corn” for the starving, food-aid dependent nation. The South also unveiled a “new cruise missile said to be able to reach any target in the North.”

In a recent meeting of the exclusive “EU Club” (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain), the group discussed merging the current positions of President of the European Council (Herman Van Rompuy) and President of the European Commission (José Manuel Barroso).

Just prior to President Obama’s arrival in Colombia for a conference with Latin American leaders, U.S. Secret Service and military personnel apparently held a party in a “secure hotel” with about 20 invited prostitutes.  As the news broke, the primary concern was that critical security details may have been leaked (Associated Press, April 17, 2012).  Sadly, the issue of immorality on the part of U.S. personnel took a “back seat” to concerns about security.

The European financial crisis that began last year has nudged Germany into becoming a more assertive nation intent on pursuing its own course on the world stage.  According to a recent report (csmonitor.com, January 30, 2012), Germany’s postwar romance with Europe is coming to an end as the hard-working Germans are not willing to continue writing checks to bail out other European countries.

“A European team said on Wednesday [March 28] that about 40 percent of red dwarf stars—the most common type in the Milky Way—have a so-called “super-Earth” planet orbiting in a habitable zone that would allow water to flow on the surface.” This could equate to tens of billions of planets! However, these same researchers also caution that “…the rocky worlds spinning around red dwarfs are not necessarily cosy places for alien forms of life.