In Other News

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.

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.

A magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia yesterday, killing at least 132 people and injuring 570. Video footage shows several collapsed buildings in the city of Pereira and people running for their lives. These and other environmental catastrophes raise the question, Why ‘Natural’ Disasters?

Since Jason Arday’s entire résumé was exposed as a fantasy and he was forced to resign from Cambridge University, other professors are coming under scrutiny. The Spectator identified Farah Ahmed as having supported Hizb ut-Tahrir, now a banned terrorist group, saying “Western education” is a “threat” to Islam, saying that bans on child marriage were “archaic and discriminatory to women,” and stating that Islam should not be “taught as a religion like any other.” As an assistant research professor of education, she is educating the next generation of Britain’s most elite teachers. Something is badly wrong with Cambridge.

Germany and the Netherlands ordered an additional 69 infantry fighting vehicles from German defense company Rheinmetall and European defense consortium knds, Germany’s ntv reported on Friday. This adds to last year’s $5.4 billion order of 222 of Jackal vehicles.

Russia refuses Ukrainian efforts to “freeze” the conflict between the two until all of President Vladimir Putin’s demands are met, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced yesterday. The statement is the latest evidence that Putin has no real interest in peace but remains a ruthless warlord determined to impose his will in Russia’s periphery, no matter the costs.

The Vatican announced last week that Pope Leo xiv will visit Argentina, Uruguay and Peru from November 6 to 17. While Pope Leo was born in the U.S., he has strong connections to Latin America. His mother had Spanish ancestry, and he spent decades in Peru. The Trumpet warns based on Bible prophecies that Latin America will break its ties with the U.S. and ally with Catholic Europe. Watch for Pope Leo’s trip and his ongoing public opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump to accelerate the fulfillment of this prophecy.

A computer network router made in China and sold widely around the world contains a concealed entry point that could let operators infiltrate and sabotage connected devices, cybersecurity firm VulnCheck announced on Wednesday. The vulnerability affects as many as 20 ZBTLink-branded router models, and VulnCheck estimates that at least 100,000 of the affected devices are in use worldwide. Discoveries such as this have become increasingly common as China’s manufacturing and technology influence reaches around the world and as its ambitions to dominate intensify. But the frequency of such incidents should not cause us to grow complacent about them. Cyberattacks and hidden vulnerabilities can enable an adversary to suddenly disrupt communications, cripple infrastructure and inflict enormous damage without firing a shot or even revealing its identity. And biblical prophecy reveals that this will play a role in some devastating events to come. To understand, read “China Hacks America—and ‘None Goes to Battle.’”

• Iran and Oman are close to announcing a deal over the Strait of Hormuz, multiple media outlets are reporting. A deal would likely cement joint control over the transit route and possibly include charging tolls.
• Iran is working on a nuclear weapon, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Ahmad Vahidi admitted, according to Israeli media. Vahidi, who is likely Iran’s most powerful leader, said, “As long as the United States and Israel possess nuclear weapons, we will continue working on them for our national security.” Iran’s government has repeatedly denied that its nuclear program is for the purpose of making a nuclear weapon: Vahidi’s comment is a rare admission from a senior Iranian official.
• Yemen’s Houthis threatened to intensify attacks on Red Sea shipping yesterday, specifying that they would close “all access routes” for vessels carrying oil from Saudi Arabia. The Iran-backed terror group declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on July 20.
• Israel struck Hezbollah yesterday in its first strikes on southern Lebanon since June, responding to Hezbollah’s violation of its ceasefire with Israel earlier that day. The strikes targeted the village of al-Mansouri as Israeli and Lebanese delegations were in Rome during peace talks.

Japan must further strengthen its national defense to counter China’s rapidly expanding reach into the Pacific, its Defense Ministry said in a white paper released Tuesday. Describing China as “an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge” to Japan’s security, the paper said the Japanese must not only increase military spending but also build a more robust defense industrial base and bolster its alliances. Japan and China are locked in an intensifying rivalry, driving both powers to build formidable military might. Yet biblical prophecy reveals that they will ultimately unite under Russian leadership and unleash that power in the deadliest war mankind has ever known.

Yesterday, the White House released declassified fbi memos about a 2017 counterintelligence investigation, code-named “Oxferd Comma” [sic], that began right after President Trump fired fbi Director James Comey. Investigators were told Trump might be directed, controlled or coordinated by Russia in ways that threatened U.S. national security. They also examined whether he tried to obstruct the related fbi Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The inquiry opened on May 16, 2017, and closed in April 2019 as Special Counsel Robert Mueller completed his own probe. Mueller concluded there was no evidence of conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. In his book America Under Attack, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry emphasizes that the Obama administration used the Clinton-Steele dossier to frame Trump as colluding with Russia to destroy his presidency. The newly released “Oxferd Comma” documents corroborate and shed additional light on that effort.

• Iran and Oman are close to finalizing an agreement to share control of the Strait of Hormuz, the New York Times reported August 3. These negotiations appear to have the tacit blessing of the United States. Before the start of the war in February, maritime and air traffic were allowed by a United Nations Convention to use the strait. Ironically, the U.S. and Israel striking Iran could ultimately result in the latter increasing its power over the strait and global energy supplies.
• Israel and Lebanon started a new round of talks in Rome on Tuesday. The aim, as with previous talks, is to affirm disarmament of Hezbollah, Iran’s terrorist proxy in Lebanon, as well as disengagement of Israel Defense Forces from southern Lebanon, laying the groundwork for an Israel-Lebanon peace deal.

German police disabled an explosive device found on a drone near a Leipzig-Halle airport runway today. They are also investigating an unknown object that struck a cargo plane during takeoff from the airport and caused minor damage. Leipzig-Halle airport is a hub for Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines.

Moscow and Beijing are sharing intelligence, orchestrating joint strategies, and investing ever greater sums into capabilities to destroy or disrupt military satellites, the Indo-Pacific Defense Forum warned yesterday. Those capabilities include co-orbital satellites capable of impeding other nations’ satellites, electronic warfare systems for jamming communications, and ground-based infrastructure, such as directed-energy weapons that disrupt optical sensors hundreds of miles above. The Trumpet has long warned of the stratospheric danger of America’s reliance—specifically that of its military—on computer technologies that are highly vulnerable to enemy attack.

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.

Japan marked a major military milestone Wednesday as its Maritime Self-Defense Force test-launched the advanced U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missile from a warship for the first time. It will soon have 400 Tomahawks, which can accurately strike and destroy heavily defended targets up to 1,000 miles away, and it is believed to now have eight vessels capable of launching them. Japan continues its “march toward militarization.”

• A U.S.-owned gas storage vessel and a Greek tanker at the Egyptian port of Damietta caught fire in an apparent drone strike by Iran on Wednesday. Two Iranian sources told the New York Times that the strike was “to show that global shipping and energy supplies could be more deeply disrupted if Iran chose to escalate.” Damietta sits next to the Mediterranean entry to the Suez Canal. This comparatively small event foreshadows a prophecy in Daniel 11 where Iran will get control of both Egypt and the canal.
• Reuters reported Tuesday that China was arranging a deal with Yemen’s Houthi terror group to spare its ships as they transit the Red Sea. Since then, several oil tankers broadcasting Chinese identification have sailed past Houthi territory without incident, suggesting an arrangement is in place.

The United States Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that Chinese robots will be barred from entering the U.S. market. Chinese companies such as Unitree market their humanoid robots as the ideal workforce for factories, warehouses, shops, cafes, hospitals, nursing homes and even households as a solution to shrinking workforces and aging populations. The U.S. ban says the robots “collect data that could be leveraged by malign actors to surveil Americans, enhance the capabilities of foreign intelligence services, or to remotely commandeer the robots.” The ban barely scratches the surface of China’s sophisticated and relentless campaign to infiltrate America and extract its data, technology and trade secrets.

Half of Americans believe the United States should arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a YouGov/Economist poll released yesterday suggests. Forty-nine percent of the survey’s respondents said yes, 27 percent said no, and 23 percent were unsure.

China is expected to send up to 400 air-defense missile launchers to Iran “within weeks,” Reuters reported yesterday. For decades, China was one of Iran’s main suppliers of weapons. China continuing to supply weapons platforms that will presumably be used against Americans shows China is brazenly opposing the U.S.

A jihadist stabbed three women in Paris yesterday. An off-duty policeman apprehended the man, whose name has yet to be released. One of the three women stabbed was pregnant. A video clip of the attack showed the assailant saying, “It is Allah who commanded me.”

Audio recordings of former President Joe Biden talking with his memoir writer in 2016 and 2017 have now been made public. Biden fought in court to keep the tapes private, but judges ruled against him, and he dropped his lawsuit last week. A conservative group released parts of the nearly 70 hours of recordings yesterday. In the tapes, Biden talks about notes from his time as vice president and reveals that he willfully took home classified documents, which is illegal. The recordings also show long pauses and moments when he struggles to remember details. These recordings were used in a 2024 investigation into how Biden handled classified documents.

A whistleblower who worked at a California migrant child shelter in 2021 came forward this week claiming that children there suffered poor treatment, abuse and rape while Xavier Becerra was Joe Biden’s health secretary. The Pomona Fairplex site housed unaccompanied minors during a major border surge. The worker says the facility separated siblings, sent children to unverified addresses, and moved children out secretly at night, some of whom have never been relocated. The staff accepted fake papers or even a simple selfie as identification before handing children over to adults who claimed to be their relatives or sponsors. Becerra, now running for governor of California, visited the shelter and called it “a model.” Broader reports from 2024 noted hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied minors with whom the government lost contact after release, raising sex-trafficking concerns. Becerra’s team has not yet responded to the accusation that much of this happened directly due to his instructions to relax child safety requirements.

The United States paused its strikes on Iran today. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations claimed yesterday that President Donald Trump wants to give negotiations “a little bit of room” while U.S. forces remain “locked and loaded.” President Trump may have paused the strikes in response to the price of oil passing $100 a barrel last week.

Bahrain and Kuwait secretly attacked Iran last month, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The Journal’s sources claimed both countries targeted drone and missile storage sites in July. These would be these nations’ first strikes against Iran.

Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, will challenge incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for the presidency of Brazil in October. His candidacy was confirmed on Saturday, and he has received international endorsements from Argentine President Javier Milei and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Although Jair Bolsonaro is under house arrest for resisting the official results of the 2022 election that installed da Silva, Latin America has in recent months shifted dramatically to the right. Flavio Bolsonaro seeks to build on that momentum.