In a move to stem the flow of poor migrants into its nation, “Swiss voters on Sunday (9 February) backed a call to cap migration from EU countries” (EU Observer, February 10, 2014). The vote, backed by 50.3 percent of voters, goes directly against the four fundamental EU freedoms: “free movement of people, goods, capital and services” and has drawn criticism (ibid.).

Earth’s population will grow by 25 percent, to more than nine billion, by 2050 (Deutsche Welle, January 20, 2014). With this increase will come a far greater need for food. “Experts assume that global food production must increase by 70 percent in order to meet the world’s changing dietary habits” (ibid.).

As a huge winter storm was bearing down on the midsection of the United States, the media continually broadcast urgent warnings to be prepared for the worst. Snow, freezing rain, sleet, ice and high winds were predicted. When such warnings are made, it seems certain that every supermarket, neighborhood grocery and convenience store will be quickly sold out of bread and milk. This buying frenzy is so predictable that it is the subject of jokes and comedy sketches. “What do people do with all that bread and milk?”

“A new party that will defend gays and lesbians against violence and persecution will stand in South Africa’s elections this year” (Agence France-Presse, February 1, 2014). Its aim is to protect lesbian women against protective or corrective rape, and reduce bullying against boys “thought to be” homosexual. South African homosexuals “are regularly killed because of their lifestyle” (ibid.).

A European Union study on governmental corruption revealed that it costs the union over €120 billion annually (BBC, February 3, 2014). “In Croatia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, between 6% and 29% of respondents said they had been asked for a bribe, or had been expected to pay one, in the past 12 months. There were also high levels of bribery in Poland (15%), Slovakia (14%) and Hungary (13%),” often in healthcare (ibid.).