News

President Jacob Zuma resigned last week under pressure from his party, the African National Congress (ANC). ANC leadership threatened to present him with a “no confidence vote” if he failed to voluntarily resign in the wake of numerous corruption charges (Al Jazeera, February 14, 2018). Mr. Zuma has been a part of the ANC since 1958 and spent ten years in prison alongside former South African president Nelson Mandela.

A couple of weeks ago, Angela Merkel was finally able to piece together a coalition government. Although some are happy, her opponents have been critical of the concessions she was forced to make with the opposing Social Democratic party. Now, an increasing number of people, even within Mrs. Merkel’s own party, are calling for an end to her leadership (Financial Times, February 13, 2018). Many are calling for new, younger leadership in Germany.

“The Episcopal church in the Diocese of Washington, D.C., passed a resolution last week to stop using masculine pronouns for God in future updates to its Book of Common Prayer” (LifeSiteNews, February 1, 2018).

“Hamas officials believe there is a 95% probability that a war will break out between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip in the coming days” (Jewish Press, February 4, 2018). Palestinian leaders view current Israeli military exercises in southern Israel as a prelude to invasion. Israeli sources also feel war may be imminent, due to “provocations” emanating from Gaza.

The Canadian Bureau of Statistics recently reported that “Canadians spent $6.2bn (£3.5bn) on marijuana in 2015, almost as much as they did on wine”—and this was when marijuana was illegal (The Independent, December 20, 2017). According to this report, about 13 percent of the entire population reported consuming marijuana in 2015, with two-thirds of users being over the age 25.