Here are five of the most important news stories this week, as well as relevant links to the full articles and videos here on theTrumpet.com.

What If Angela Merkel Loses Sunday’s Election?

If incumbent German Chancellor Angela Merkel is defeated in the elections or barely scrapes by, such an outcome would be felt around the world. Germany could get mired in complex coalition negotiations. As Geopolitical Futures founder George Friedman wrote, “If Germany weakens or destabilizes, Europe destabilizes, and it is not too extreme to say that if Europe destabilizes, the world can as well.”

Is the Pope Right on Climate Change?

After Hurricane Irma hit Florida, Pope Francis condemned those skeptical of the notion that greenhouse gas emissions cause hurricanes and other weather disasters. He even paraphrased a chapter from Psalms as saying: “Man is stupid, a stubborn, blind man.” He has also called for a new world political authority empowered to impose economic sanctions against nations that fail to do their part in the fight against climate change.

Are the pope’s views on climate change really biblical? What does the Bible actually say about weather disasters?

Another Deadly Earthquake Shakes Mexico

A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City on September 19, toppling buildings and killing at least 273 people. The disaster came less than two weeks after Mexico suffered its most powerful earthquake in a century on September 7. It also came exactly 32 years after an 8.1-magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City, killing thousands of people and destroying much of the city.

The Economist reported on August 29 that the number of global disasters since 1970 has more than quadrupled to around 400 a year. That spells disaster of biblical proportions.

Venezuela Snubs the ‘Tyranny of the Dollar’

On September 15, Venezuela began to publish prices for its oil in the Chinese yuan rather than in United States dollars, following President Nicolás Maduro’s promise earlier in the month to rid the South American country’s economy of the “tyranny of the dollar,” as part of a response to the United States imposing financial sanctions on him and others in his socialist government for their disregard for the will of the Venezuelan people.

Venezuela now joins Iran and Russia, which already had started letting China buy their oil in yuan rather than dollars. British writer Dan Glazebrook wrote: “If this [trend of switching to the yuan] takes off, this could literally spell the beginning of the end of U.S. global power.”

Europe’s Shady Migrant Deal With Libya

In August, there was an 87 percent drop in new arrivals of African migrants into Italy. Al-Monitor reported on September 12 that monitors and researchers were baffled by that drop in numbers. It turns out that Italy has been working behind the scenes for a couple of months on behalf of the European Union to financially induce Libya to keep the migrants—another attempt at bribe the gatekeeper and a clear sign of Europe’s growing uneasiness about the Middle East and North Africa.

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