In Other News

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.

• 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.

“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.

Last week, the United States State Department approved the nation’s first sale of the Aegis combat system to Germany, an $11.9 billion deal for eight units to be used in upcoming Type 127 frigates. The sophisticated and proven Aegis system integrates advanced radar detection and fire control, enabling simultaneous engagement with numerous targets with minimal human input. By approving sales like these to a presumed ally, the U.S. is actually empowering the very nation that Bible prophecy warns will attack it.

On Thursday, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, accused China and other foreign groups of engaging in “deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns to steal American AI.” The Chinese Communist regime has a long history of stealing American technologies in order to rival American capabilities with minimal cost and delay. This software arms race is part of the larger frenzy to develop AI capabilities without fully considering the implications.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has ordered an investigation after two U.S. Central Intelligence Agency agents died in a car crash in northern Mexico on April 19. The Americans were returning from a joint operation with Mexican agents to destroy illegal drug labs: Two Mexican officials were also killed in the crash. Local officials said this was at least the third time this year that cia agents had worked with Chihuahua State Police on similar missions. President Sheinbaum said the Mexican federal government was not informed about the operation and that any such U.S. operations inside Mexico must be approved by Mexico’s national government and not just state officials. Operations like this by the cia are illegal under Mexican law. The extremely high level of American drug consumption and the resultant drug-related violence in Mexico—around 23,000 killings per year—continues to create a multitude of spin-off crises.

A U.S. Special Forces soldier is in big trouble for allegedly betting on his own secret mission. Yesterday, Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was charged with fraud. Prosecutors say he made more than $400,000 on the prediction website Polymarket by placing 13 bets about capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Van Dyke was part of the planning team for the successful January 3 raid. Officials claim he used secret government information for personal gain, then tried to hide the fact using cryptocurrency. He now faces five federal charges, including wire fraud and theft of classified information. If convicted, he could spend up to 60 years in prison. Gambling continues to rapidly infect all levels of American society.

• President Trump has said he has “no time pressure” for the ceasefire’s expiration date, after previously saying he was only extending the ceasefire to give Iran’s factions a few days to unify their position.
• The U.S. Navy is to “shoot and kill” any Iranian boats laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz and step up mine-clearing operations, Trump ordered. Iran has seized ships, imposed tolls, and refused to reopen the strait while the U.S. naval blockade remains in place.
• The U.S. has used half its Patriot missiles, one of the Army’s most important weapons systems, in just two months of fighting in the Iran war.
• The Department of War submitted a $1.5 trillion budget request to Congress on April 3, an increase of almost half a trillion compared to last year—as the U.S. approaches $40 trillion in national debt.
• Fully clearing the Strait of Hormuz from Iran’s sea mines could take six months, the War Department told Congress.

After four years of fighting in Ukraine and despite a barrage of sanctions, Russia’s military today is stronger than before, according to the Netherlands’ military intelligence agency annual report released on Tuesday. In 2025, Russia expanded its armed forces by increasing recruitment, training, heavy weapons production and strategic ammunition reserves. The report warns that, within a year of the potential end of the war in Ukraine, Russia could initiate a regional conflict with nato members. The fact that the war in Ukraine is strengthening Russia’s military capabilities aligns perfectly with Bible prophecy.

“Magyar wants to put the Austro-Hungarian Empire back on the map,” Politico wrote yesterday. It quoted Péter Magyar, who defeated 16-year autocrat Viktor Orbán, as saying: “We used to share a country, and Austria is a key economic partner of Hungary. I would like to strengthen the relationship between Hungary and Austria for historical but also for cultural and economic reasons.” He also proposed merging regional associations such as the Visegrad Group (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) and the Slavkov Format (Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia). The Austro-Hungarian Empire united the European people under a common culture and religion; however, that same empire suppressed and tortured those who disagreed. Revelation 17 reveals that a modern resurrection of this empire will unite 10 nations or nation-groups. Austria and Hungary are almost certain to be part of this revival.

“The defanging of Germany was an overcorrection,” U.S. tech firm Palantir wrote on X on April 18. The post summarized The Technological Republic, a book coauthored by one of the firm’s founders and its ceo, Alex Karp. The book and the post also condemned the “highly theatrical commitment to Japanese pacifism.” Palantir is a high-tech firm that provides advanced software to complex organizations, including police forces and militaries worldwide. These include nato, Germany and Ukraine, where the company has gained battlefield expertise. Karp studied in Germany, speaks fluent German, and retains strong connections to the country. Considering the Bible’s warning about Germany, Karp’s views on Germany and the technologies his firm wields are alarming.

Yesterday, Germany’s Economics Ministry cut its growth forecast for 2026 in half to 0.5 percent, and for 2027 from 1.3 percent to 0.9 percent. It said that “economic developments in Germany will depend crucially on a resolution of the conflict in the Middle East.” These forecasts highlight the current vulnerability of Germany’s economy to global shocks: Ultimately, an economic crisis will cause Germany and Europe to strengthen and unify against the United States.

Deutsche Welle reported Tuesday that Reinhard Marx, the archbishop of Munich and Freising, wrote in a letter to employees concerning same-sex couples that “the church shows recognition to couples united in love and offers them support.” Though the Bible explicitly condemns sexual perversion, many churches, including parts of the largest on Earth, still cave in to society and sin. If you want to understand true Christianity, read our free booklet Can You Prove Which Church Is God’s?

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front is taking back control of Tigray’s regional government, it announced Sunday. Many fear this will reignite hostilities between the group and the Ethiopian government. The civil war that erupted between the two sides in 2020 is this century’s deadliest conflict yet. The Bible says major changes are quickly coming to Ethiopia’s government. Watch for its politics to grow increasingly volatile.

Residents of the city of Deir el-Balah will vote in municipal elections Saturday, as part of the Palestinian Authority’s wider municipal elections. This is the first time Gazans have been able to vote for their government since 2006. The PA controls much of the West Bank but was violently ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007. The Board of Peace established by United States President Donald Trump to reconstruct Gaza is trying to bring in the PA, but like Hamas, it too is corrupt and actively undermining Israel’s security. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted allowing the PA in, but the upcoming elections indicate the Board of Peace is getting its way.

Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, told cnbc today that member nations have drained their oil reserves by 13 million barrels a day since March 11. Birol called this and other consequences of the Iran war “the biggest energy security threat in history.” The shortages caused by Iran targeting energy shipments have resulted in higher costs for consumers, agriculture, industry and transportation, with airlines canceling tens of thousands of flights.

Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent thinker from the United Arab Emirates, suggested on Sunday that the nation consider closing its bases to U.S. troops. He called the bases “a burden and not a strategic asset.” Bible prophecy says the U.A.E. will soon ally with Germany, not America. Watch for it to push out the U.S. and let Germany in.