News and Prophecy Staff

A trade war is underway between China and Australia, due in part to Australia’s inquiries into the origins of the coronavirus (AlJazeera, November 27, 2020). In November, China slapped a 200 percent tariff on Australian wine imports.

Twenty-seven leaders of the world’s biggest businesses recently announced a partnership with the pope (NBC News, December 8, 2020).

In many nations around the globe, COVID-19 restrictions are crippling economies and forcing many into joblessness. In the Philippines, the rates of hunger are unprecedented, and food charities are struggling to keep up (AFP, December 9, 2020). A director of one food charity observed, “If you go out there everybody will tell you that they’re more afraid of dying from hunger than dying from COVID. They don’t care about COVID anymore.”

In recent decades, the Muslim population in Europe has been on the rise, and this has contributed to political and social tensions in many European countries.

One of the greatest barriers to the growth and progress of the European Union is its structure—that all 27 member nations must agree on nearly every decision. A good example of just two nations blocking internal progress can be seen in the power of Poland and Hungary to block EU coronavirus recovery plans (Euro News, November 27, 2019). Simply put, there are too many people making decisions and they cannot all agree.