In Other News

Two Quebec men caught possessing material showing toddlers being tortured claimed that minimum sentences as a principle were unconstitutional. In a 5-4 decision, Canada’s Supreme Court agreed with them and found that even a one-year sentence should not be imposed. After the court ruled that a ban on euthanasia was unconstitutional in 2015, the Trumpet recognized it as “an illustration of the dangers of rejecting the Bible as an absolute for our moral standards and relying on our own reasoning.” The same can be applied to this ruling.

The Israeli Navy detained 175 activists aboard 22 vessels near Crete on Wednesday, part of the 58-vessel Global Sumud Flotilla, which plans to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza to supply aid to Palestinians, rather than providing it through the Israeli-secured port in Ashdod. Major flotillas like this are designed to portray Israelis as evil, part of the ongoing surge in anti-Semitism worldwide, often disguised as activism.

Britain signed an agreement last week that expands the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Force military cooperation framework to include a Northern Navies initiative aimed at deterring Russia. Gen. Sir Gwyn Jenkins, head of the Royal Navy, called Russia the “gravest threat” to Britain and stated this “multinational maritime force” will “complement” nato and is “designed to fight immediately if required, with real capabilities, real war plans and real integration.”

A Jewish security group warned local authorities of a heightened risk of terrorism six days before Islamist terrorists massacred 15 people and wounded 40 more as they celebrated Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in December. That was the finding of a Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion report released yesterday. The group asked for increased security at the event, but an e-mail to officers three days prior merely instructed them to be visible, stating, “No need to stay the entire duration, but your presence will ensure the community feel safe.” The report says only three officers and one supervisor attended “at various times.” Hearings into the federal and local governments’ security preparedness begin next week. Both this attack and law enforcement’s lackadaisical approach to security highlight a dangerous trend prophesied in the Bible.

Yesterday, Republicans in the Senate blocked Democrats’ attempt to limit the president’s ability to take military action against Communist Cuba. A resolution by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) would have forced the removal of U.S. forces near Cuba and would have required Congress to approve any blockade. A few Republicans joined Kaine and the Democrats, but Republicans stopped the bill from going to a full vote. The controversy over Cuba reflects both the grave divisions within the U.S. government and the threat that Cuba poses. Bible prophecy indicates that Cuba will form a close alliance with Catholic Europe, so President Trump’s actions could prompt Communist Cuba to move away from China and Russia.

• President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian deal yesterday for both sides to open the Strait of Hormuz and defer nuclear talks to a later date. He said his main goal is to end Iran’s nuclear program.
• The president will be briefed today on potential military action against Iran, according to Axios.
• President Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reduce his forcefulness against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, Axios reported yesterday. He said, “He has got to do it more surgically. Not knock down buildings.”

India will receive its fourth Russian S-400 system in mid-May and a fifth in November, the Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday. India’s military used the advanced air defense system in combat with Pakistan last year, and its successes prompted additional procurements. As India and Russia enhance cooperation, the stage is being set for India to join a biblically prophesied pan-Asian military alliance.

The Palestinian Authority has continued its policy of paying stipends to convicted terrorists and their families, the U.S. State Department confirmed Wednesday. Citing Israeli statistics and admissions from Palestinian officials, it claimed that the PA had paid $156 million through 2025 in what are effectively incentives to commit terrorism. The PA claimed early last year to have ended the system to avoid U.S. sanctions; its continuation is another indication that the organization is not a partner for peace.

Nigel Farage’s house was firebombed in early 2025, he said yesterday. He said an ignited incendiary device was pushed through his letterbox and that he found the damage when he returned home. The device had burned itself out before causing a large fire. The growing political violence in the UK and U.S. fulfills prophecies in the Bible.

On Monday, United States President Donald Trump told aides in a meeting that he wants to continue blockading Iran to weaken its economy and force it to negotiate a deal. The next day, according to Axios, he met with executives from major oil and gas companies to discuss the ongoing spike in energy prices, which may continue for weeks to come. The potential for a quick end to the Iran war seems to be perpetually slipping over the horizon, which means the global effects will continue to intensify.

Iran has been selected as one of the 34 vice president nations of the United Nations Nonproliferation Treaty conference that commenced on Monday. This despite the fact that Iran has refused to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and thus violated this same treaty in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Christopher Yeaw, U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control and nonproliferation, said it was “indisputable that Iran has long demonstrated its contempt for the non-proliferation commitments of the npt.” Decisions like this reveal the ineptitude, hypocrisy and corruption of the UN. At its very founding, the late Herbert W. Armstrong warned that the institution would fail to bring unity.

Ali al-Zaidi has been nominated as prime minister by the Coordination Framework, the largest Shiite bloc in Iraq’s legislature. The previous front-runner was former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was widely seen as controlled by Iran and was opposed by the United States. Zaidi, a businessman whose bank is under U.S. sanctions for laundering money for Iran, is hardly a better choice. It appears that although Maliki lost, Iran still won.

Yesterday the British House of Commons rejected a motion 335 to 223 to investigate whether Prime Minister Keir Starmer misled the House about Peter Mandelson, his ambassador to the United States, who was exposed as having links to sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. Notably, 15 members of Starmer’s own party voted for the investigation, indicating that although he remains in power, his grip is growing weaker. This scandal is a clear encapsulation of Britain’s national and political weakness connecting directly to its moral wretchedness, as prophesied in the Bible.

Yesterday, former fbi Director James Comey was indicted on two felony charges for allegedly threatening President Donald Trump. The charges stem from a May 2025 Instagram photo showing seashells arranged as “8647” on a beach. The number “86” is a long-standing slang term referring to eliminating something, and Trump is the 47th president. People used “8645” and “8647” as references to getting rid of President Trump before Comey’s post, but prosecutors say a reasonable person would see the massive amplification of that idea from a man who had stridently opposed the president as a serious threat to harm him. Making a threat against the president and sending it across state lines could result in up to 10 years in prison. Comey, who removed the post the same day, says he is innocent and denies any violent intent. This comes after character-assassination rhetoric has already inspired three actual assassination attempts on President Trump and as political violence in America continues to rise.

• President Donald Trump is reportedly “unhappy with the latest Iranian proposal” for a peace treaty, Reuters reported yesterday. White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said the president has “been clear about our red lines.” The two sides appear deadlocked.
• Qatar is reportedly ending its support of Hamas. Sources speaking with the Free Press claimed, “Doha will no longer play the role of host and negotiator, and most of Hamas’s leadership has already departed the country.” This is apparently because of Hamas’s tepid response to Iran bombing Qatar in the war. Both Qatar and Iran were major sponsors for Hamas; this could push Hamas even closer to Iran.
• Hezbollah refuses to disarm, it announced yesterday. Israel has demanded Hezbollah’s disarmament as a precondition to withdrawing from Lebanon. Though there is technically a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, neither appears ready or willing to draw back.
• Israel lent the United Arab Emirates an Iron Dome unit, Axios reported Sunday. This was apparently to help protect the U.A.E. while it suffered the worst barrage of any country in Iran’s crosshairs. Axios’s sources said: “The countries have been coordinating closely militarily and politically since the war began.” The U.A.E. is quickly becoming Israel’s most important regional ally. Gerald Flurry said five years ago this will backfire for Israel.

Tuareg rebels working with al-Qaeda-linked jihadis conducted significant attacks against Mali’s ruling junta on Saturday. The rebels killed Defense Minister Sadio Camara with a car bomb and perpetrated other attacks on Bamako, the capital. They targeted Russian mercenaries employed by the junta and reportedly seized two major cities. Bible prophecy indicates that Russia’s influence in Africa will diminish and that radical Islam will spread through much of the region—until it is countered by Europe.

“An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday. Speaking to a group of German high school students during a nationwide “EU Project Day” event, he said, “The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result.” Bible prophecy indicates that Germany is learning how not to fight Iran and will confront the Islamist regime and its allies with a much different strategy, producing a much different result.

B’nai Brith Canada, a Jewish advocacy group, claimed in a Monday press conference that its count of anti-Semitic incidents in 2025 has broken records for the third year in a row. B’nai Brith recorded 6,800 anti-Semitic incidents last year, up from 6,219 in 2024. “Anti-Semitism has become so ubiquitous in our society that the word Jew is now commonly used as a slur to disparage and malign non-Jews,” said representative Richard Robertson. “Jewishness itself has become derogatory in contemporary Canada.” These statistics are a fraction of the increasing number occurring around the globe.

Cole Allen’s attempt to kill the U.S. president and other members of the administration at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday highlights a growing trend of political violence in America, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. It cites statistics from the Center for Strategic and International Studies showing domestic anti-government violence to be at its highest rate in more than 30 years, with the majority of perpetrators from the political left, for the first time in about 20 years. The Bible prophesies that America’s political violence will worsen further, to the point of erupting into civil war.

• Iran has proposed a new deal to suspend its terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz and negotiate over its nuclear program separately, according to Axios. The United States has so far insisted that any deal must involve not only its nuclear program but its complete dismantling.
• Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, was forced to resign as lead negotiator with the U.S., according to Iran International, apparently because Ghalibaf’s team offered nuclear concessions without authorization.
• President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social today that while his predecessors’ work with Iran “was a guaranteed road to a nuclear weapon,” this “will not, and cannot, happen with the deal we’re working on.”
• Giving up its nuclear weapons program seems to be Iran’s red line. The world now watches to see if the U.S. will erase its own red lines, again.

South American trade group mercosur is preparing to possibly readmit Venezuela. On April 22, Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said Venezuela is now in a “different moment” after U.S. forces removed dictator Nicolás Maduro in January. The resource-rich nation had been suspended from membership in 2017 for breaking democratic rules and trade promises. Under Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela is rebuilding ties with the United States, the International Monetary Fund, foreign oil companies and mercosur. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in “Germany Unites the World Against America” that mercosur is teaming up with the European Union against the U.S. Bringing Venezuela’s oil, gas, gold, ore and diamonds into the group will make it much stronger.

Emmanuel Macron, president of France, warned Friday that Europe must defend its own interests because the U.S., China and Russia are “dead against” it. In a discussion at Athens with Greece’s prime minister, Macron said he expects EU-U.S. tensions to continue to worsen even after Donald Trump’s presidency. He remarked, “This is the right moment for us to wake up.” The Bible prophesies that animosity from Europe toward the U.S. is an ominous trend for the entire world.

The U.S. is considering initiating a reset on relations with Eritrea, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. This could include reopening high-level diplomatic communications and easing sanctions. Egypt reportedly facilitated talks between the U.S. envoy for Africa and Eritrea’s president and foreign minister. This comes as a reaction to Iran terrorizing shipping in the Strait of Hormuz crisis and Iran-backed Houthis now threatening to attack ships in the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The U.S. is trying to combat Iran’s radical terroristic power in these vital maritime choke points, but the Bible prophesies that these efforts will fail. Eritrea will soon be added to the list of Red Sea nations allied with Iran.

On Friday, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended the signing of a memorandum of understanding concerning partnership on critical minerals. This move comes as part of America’s push to insert itself into the China-dominated rare earth and mineral markets. Regardless of the world trade wins the Trump administration is winning or claiming, Bible prophecy warns Europe will soon ally its economy with China to the devastation of the U.S.

“In a democracy, the majority principle is the norm and unanimity the exception,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Wednesday. “We should make the norm of democracy the norm in the European Union as well.” This and other statements by German leaders come after Hungary vetoed a $105 billion EU loan to Ukraine. Wadephul said that EU member states using their sovereignty in this way is “no longer something we can afford in this world.” He and other German leaders have a reason for emphasizing this: It is much easier for Germany and other powerful European nations to achieve or force a simple majority agreement than unanimity, allowing Europe to act decisively and even aggressively. Smaller nations have resisted this for years, but Bible prophecy states that Germany will take dictatorial control of the rising European superpower.

Italy is set to overtake Greece as the eurozone’s most indebted country by the end of this year, Reuters reported yesterday. Italy’s new budget estimates the national debt to rise to 138.6 percent of gdp, a 1.5 percent increase over last year. Greece’s debt-to-gdp ratio is estimated at 137 percent. Italy is one of the top three EU nations by population, economy, strategic value, culture and religion, but its debt load is one reason it can never challenge France or, especially, Germany to be Europe’s dominant force.