News

Due to an unusually hot and dry summer, Portugal has requested help from Europe to combat forest fires on a scale not seen in recent memory. Thousands of firefighters are battling hundreds of blazes around the nation (Reuters, August 13, 2017).

U.S. public health officials have discovered fleas infected with the bubonic plague—sometimes called the “Black Death”—in the state of Arizona. This is the same bacterium that killed millions of people in Europe in the fourteenth century.

On September 24, Germans will participate in a federal election to select their chancellor. Many wonder if Chancellor Angela Merkel will be able to retain the office she has held since 2005. Her critics abound.