News and Prophecy Staff

A new study from Trinity College Dublin reports on the impact of high-temperature sterilization of baby bottles on microplastics (The Guardian, October 19, 2020).

Armed cartels in Colombia have drastically increased their child recruitment activities this year during the COVID-19 pandemic (The Guardian, November 9, 2020). Taking advantage of the increased poverty in some Colombian regions, cartels are offering to pay families up to twice the minimum wage to employ their children in the service of the cartel.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, roughly 45 percent of the continental United States is currently in drought, and the situation is forecast to worsen in the months ahead (New York Times, October 15, 2020). Although much of the drought is concentrated in the normally arid regions of the southwest, parts of the usually lush Ohio Valley and the northeast are also in drought. Climate scientists say this is the worst drought since 2013.

Civil war, famine, and COVID-19 have brought starvation to many in Yemen—especially small children (The Guardian, October, 28, 2020). The United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for the country recently observed, “Yemen is on the brink of a catastrophic food security crisis.

In a television interview recorded last year, Pope Francis made clear comments endorsing same-sex civil unions and called for legislation to protect these unions (Associated Press, October 22, 2020). During his time as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, “Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages.