News and Prophecy Staff

Last week Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain signed a historic peace deal that is being lauded by some and criticized by others, especially by Hamas in the Palestinian territory (Al Jazeera, September 13, 2020).

Tensions are growing between Turkey and Greece, fed in part by Turkey’s energy exploration in Greek territorial waters. In response to Turkey’s actions, Greece is looking to increase its military arsenal (Politico, September 14, 2020). “Despite the deep recession caused by the coronavirus crisis and a rising budget deficit, Athens has decided it’s time to act.

Massive forest fires are burning across the western United States. From California up to Washington and from the western coast inland to Wyoming and Colorado, multiple fires have burned millions of acres so far this year (The New York Times, September 11, 2020). As one official put it, “[It’s] becoming sad that every year we’re having this conversation. We say this is the biggest year, and then the next year say this is the biggest year.

A new study of more than 600 children, conducted by a university in Belgium, found that the more exposure children have to “green spaces,” the higher their IQ (Euronews.com, August 24, 2020). Researchers discovered that “a three per cent increase in the greenness of a child’s neighbourhood raised their IQ score by 2.6 points on average.”

As the date for a “hard Brexit” approaches, divisions among the nations of Europe continue to grow, as does the desire of some of them to leave the European Union. In Italy, the new “Italexit” Party began in July—inspired by Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in the UK, with the hope of a similar result.