In Other News
A Brazilian study published on Saturday in Nutrition Research found that fathers who consume more chips, soda, fast food and other ultra-processed foods before conception tend to have heavier babies with extra fat in the thighs and waist. Scientists tie this to epigenetics, the process by which a person’s diet and other health choices can switch genes on or off without changing their actual dna. Higher birth weight and early fat may raise later risks of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and reduced motor skills. Mothers who ate the same foods early in pregnancy had the opposite result—smaller, lighter babies. The work shows both parents’ diets matter and gives yet another reason to cut out low-nutrient, high-toxin foods.
Most Germans believe the chancellor won’t last his term, a new YouGov poll suggests. The August 14-17 survey of 2,091 eligible German voters found that 54 percent of respondents think Chancellor Friedrich Merz will resign before the next scheduled elections in 2029, and 18 percent of those believe he will resign before the end of the year.
The United States Postal Service announced new guidelines for mail-in ballots on Friday. The new policy, following a May executive order from President Donald Trump, gives states 60 days before the November 3 midterm elections to inform the usps if they intend to submit lists of voters per citizenship data. The Postal Service will only send out mail-in ballots or absentee ballots with that information. On August 12, Barack Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a ruling to block President Trump’s executive order. The leadership of the usps, which is a federal agency reporting to the president, must now decide whether to mail ballots to people not recorded as citizens, which could produce an electoral and constitutional crisis.
Russian military intelligence agents are recruiting local gang members across Europe to attack weapons factories that contribute to Ukraine’s defenses, the Telegraph reported yesterday, citing Western intelligence agencies. An Italian munitions factory, an Estonian drone manufacturer, a Czech thermal optics firm, a Bulgarian ammunition plant and a Lithuanian scanner complex are among the facilities targeted so far. To understand how Russia’s aggression is helping to bring Europe into the posture foretold in biblical prophecy, read “Russia’s War on Ukraine Is Reshaping Europe.”
- The “toughest sanctions in history” are coming on Iran, United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told cnbc yesterday, saying he will announce these new economic weapons at a press conference on Monday.
- America sneaks 10 million barrels of oil out of the Persian Gulf each night, Axios reported Wednesday. The operation has reportedly brought 15 to 20 oil tankers through a secret route near Oman in the Strait of Hormuz for about two weeks.
- Iran threatens Cyprus: Iranian diplomats told their counterparts in Cyprus yesterday that if two British bases on the island nation, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, are used against Iran, it will treat them as legitimate targets. A day earlier, the Financial Times reported Iran was contemplating attacking Cyprus, among other European countries, if Europe gets more involved in the Iran war.
North Korea fired a volley of ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan yesterday, a day after the regime brushed aside U.S. President Donald Trump’s warm words for Kim Jong-un and his decision to downsize U.S. military drills with South Korea in deference to the North Korean dictator. Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the leader, said: “If the U.S. calculates that it can propagate its recent measure as the one of so-called good faith, they will not get the desired answer.” The volley of missiles further emphasizes that the North Korean regime will not be easily drawn away from its current alignment.
The duke and duchess of Sussex, aka Prince Harry and Meghan, are moving back to the United Kingdom, the British media revealed this week. They will not resume their jobs as working royals, nor will their status as private individuals change. Harry and Meghan’s split with the royal family caused a lot of damage to that family and Britain, particularly the accusations that the royal family is racist. Their return opens the door for more headlines and high-profile embarrassment.
United States President Donald Trump is trying to organize a summit with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un “as soon as this fall,” the Wall Street Journal reported August 18. President Trump has had little success solving crises in Ukraine, Gaza, Iran and elsewhere, so he may be trying to create a foreign-policy success before the November midterm elections. Yet Trump’s foreign-policy problems are bigger than “not speaking with the right guy.”
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Seoul yesterday to ask China to facilitate dialogue between the leaders of South Korea and North Korea. The meeting came as U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly scaled back military drills with South Korea and called for a new summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, touting Kim as “unthreatening and respectful.” Wang is scheduled to meet with South Korea’s president today. The growing distance between America and South Korea, along with warming China-South Korea relations, could help bring about the China-South Korea alignment the Trumpet has long expected.
A Romanian F-16 fighter jet destroyed a naval drone loaded with explosives today. The drone was struck near the Neptun Deep gas field in the Black Sea, Romania’s defense minister announced on social media. Romanian President Nicușor Dan wrote, “I strongly condemn the escalation of such irresponsible incidents on the part of the Russian Federation.” Incidents like this continue to strike fear in Europeans, causing them to unite and militarize.
On Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced the expulsion of two Iranian diplomats after France claimed Iran detained and beat two French Embassy workers in Tehran on July 19. This diplomatic tension foreshadows much greater hostilities described in Bible prophecy.
Major foreign holders of U.S. Treasury debt reduced their holdings in June. Japan, the largest foreign holder, cut its position by 2.3 percent, from $1.14 trillion to $1.12 trillion, while the United Kingdom reduced its holdings by 1 percent, from $948.6 billion to $939.9 billion. China reduced its holdings from $659.3 billion to $633.4 billion, the lowest level since 2008. China has cut its U.S. debt holdings by more than 13 percent over the past year. If foreign investors continue to lose their appetite for U.S. treasuries, the already heavily indebted federal government will face higher borrowing costs and, more significantly, more nations will stop using the dollar as a reserve currency, causing its value to plummet.
The chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales plus three other senior members were arrested for fraud yesterday. If found guilty, they will become a powerful symbol of Britain being hollowed out from within. A few months ago, Mukund Krishna, the chief executive of the federation, was arrested and later sacked over allegations of corruption. Once upon a time, the English “bobby” embodied the epitome of incorruptible, fair law enforcement. This scandal, added to the Henry Nowak arrest, added to arrests for harmless social media posts, added to looking the other way on migrant crime, added to Rotherham and other stark police injustices, reveals that British police leadership is rotten.
Yesterday, Dr. David Morens, a former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, pleaded guilty to conspiring to evade federal public records laws. Morens used personal e-mail accounts rather than government systems to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests regarding Fauci-linked coronavirus research grants and discussions of covid-19 origin. Fauci meanwhile led the government’s effort to place American citizens under an unprecedented lockdown. The felony charge carries a maximum five-year prison sentence: A U.S. district judge will sentence Morens on November 12 in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. Fauci has not been charged in connection with this case or any other, as he enjoys a blanket preemptive pardon signed by Joe Biden, but the plea gives Americans another glimpse at what government officials were doing to hide the truth about covid-19 and to institute unprecedented, widespread and deadly lockdowns and mass injections.
Russian forces have built or expanded at least 10 military bases near the borders of Ukraine and Belarus, intending to deploy swarms of new jet-powered drones at Ukraine, the Telegraph reported Sunday. The strategy is meant to overwhelm and penetrate Ukraine’s air defenses by sending large numbers of drones simultaneously from several locations. The development is yet another sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unyielding ambition for conquest.
Russia’s Admiral Kasatonov frigate, which is known to carry nuclear-capable cruise missiles, was seen near the German island of Fehmarn in the Baltic Sea last week. Russia hasn’t commented on the deployment, but it is a reminder that Europe faces an active and aggressive power to the east.
Brigitte Stegemann was put to death by government workers from the Canadian Medical Assistance in Dying program on July 10. Stegemann had previously refused to be killed by the government, seeing it as a form of suicide, which is against her Christian faith. However, while her granddaughter and “primary contact for all medical and personal care decisions” was on holiday, maid workers met with Stegemann on July 7, assessed that she could make her own decision, and recorded that she wanted to die. Three days later, they came back and killed her, allegedly without the required final verbal consent of Stegemann. Whatever the circumstances, euthanasia is “Medical Murder.”
Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping said Monday that China needs an “indomitable fighting spirit” to achieve its ambitions. His speech also praised the late Chinese ruler Jiang Zemin for his leadership during the Chinese Communist Party’s 1989 ruthless massacre of thousands of pro-democracy advocates in Tiananmen Square. He said that “comrade Jiang Zemin resolutely supported and implemented the Central Committee’s correct decisions, effectively maintaining stability in Shanghai.” Under Xi, the Chinese Communist Party continues to glorify oppression and embrace violence both within China and beyond its borders. Xi’s speech indicates that this will intensify.
An unauthorized drone breached Latvian airspace this morning, prompting nato fighter jets to shoot it down. The drone’s point of origin has not yet been determined, but analysts believe it could be the latest instance of Russia hijacking a Ukrainian drone midflight and redirecting it toward one of Ukraine’s partner nations. As the Telegraph reported in May, “Russia has found a way to commandeer them and use them for its own war goals.” In recent months, Russia has used this high-tech tactic to violate the territory of Estonia, where one drone crashed and nato jets scrambled and destroyed another; Lithuania, where the prime minister was forced to shelter in an underground bunker; and several times in Latvia. To understand how Europe is responding to such provocations, read “Russia Is Redirecting the War Into Europe—One Drone at a Time.”
Hamas-operated Al-Aqsa tv claimed Wednesday that the terror group plans to participate in Palestinian elections on November 28, the first in 20 years. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who belongs to Hamas’s rival Fatah group, has promised elections at least four times before, only to cancel them. Fatah leaders might feel they can politically defeat Hamas in its last strongholds in war-ravaged Gaza, but Zechariah 14:1-2 and other Bible prophecies show that Palestinians in the West Bank will grow so volatile that they will conquer half of Jerusalem. Rather than a Fatah takeover of Gaza, a Hamas takeover in the West Bank appears to be the likelier outcome. Gerald Flurry details what the Bible says about the short-term future of the holy city in Jerusalem in Prophecy.
A new front in Sudan’s civil war has opened. On Tuesday, the Ta’sis coalition in Ethiopia crossed the border into Sudan and overran the capital of the Geisan locality in southeastern Blue Nile State. Although the Ethiopian government did not direct this attack, the coalition’s ability to stage and launch it from Ethiopian territory indicates that the Ethiopian government is indirectly but actively working against the Sudanese government. These worsening tensions could contribute to the violence your Bible says will soon drastically change Ethiopia’s alliances.
On Saturday, Somalia received full control of the Buurhakaba military base from the African Union Stabilization and Support Mission in Somalia. This is one example of the African Union accelerating its withdrawal, originally planned for 2028, after the U.S. withheld anti-terrorism funding in July. The American Enterprise Institute said the move “will jeopardize [Somalia’s] ability to sustain operations after 2026.” This African Union pullout comes soon after U.S. officials met the leaders of the semi-autonomous Somalian states Puntland and Jubbaland in late July and early August, and after Puntland forces forcibly took three government-aligned bases on August 5. The U.S. has worked with Somalia’s central government for decades to counter Somali terrorism, but the calculus in this nation, and in this volatile region as a whole, appears to be changing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning “an additional rapid mobilization of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday, citing a report by his nation’s Main Directorate of Intelligence. This could bring as many as 500,000 additional military personnel into the war, yet another sign of Putin’s unrelenting passion for conquest.
Yemen’s Houthi terror group struck a cargo ship yesterday, killing at least four mariners and two Yemeni Coast Guard personnel. The Yemeni government claimed the ship was carrying food; the Houthis claim it held “Saudi military equipment.”
Russian forces launched a heavy aerial assault on Ukraine early this morning, battering both the capital of Kyiv and the city of Zaporizhzhia. The attack included ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea, Russian Zircon cruise missiles and glide bombs. Zaporizhzhia bore the brunt of the attack, with six people killed and 20 wounded. Biblical prophecy warns of a colossal Asian military power led by Russia that will include China and several smaller Asian nations, including North Korea, which descended from the ancient people of Gomer. North Korea’s deepening military cooperation with Russia offers a striking glimpse of this prophesied Asian bloc taking shape.
Ousted government officials and several politicians from German Chancellor Friederich Merz’s own party are discussing a chancellor swap this fall, Politico reported August 7. According to the rtl/ntv trend barometer published today, satisfaction with Merz’s performance hit a new low of 13 percent. State elections scheduled for September 1 foretell a major win for the Alternative für Deutschland party. Some in Merz’s party believe that the only way to prevent the AfD’s success is by ousting Merz. The Bible reveals that Germany and Europe will ultimately forsake democratic norms altogether in favor of decisive and aggressive authoritarian leadership.
