USA - Is it possible that Jesus specifically warned us about the times that we are living in nearly 2,000 years ago? You may have noticed that global events have started to spiral out of control lately. Normally, the summer is a period when things are relatively quiet. As far as the news industry is concerned, August is supposed to be the quietest month of all because so much of the world is on vacation. But that definitely has not been the case in 2024. According to journalist Simon Tisdall, in recent weeks we have been experiencing a “peaking of volatility, instability and insecurity, unprecedented in recent times”…

USA - Thousands of firefighters continue to battle a huge wildfire in northern California, after the weeks-long blaze reawakened on Monday. The Park Fire had shown signs of calming last week but regained strength and continued to grow owing to the dry and hot weather, scorching 11,000 acres in two days. It is California’s largest wildfire so far this year and the fourth largest in the state’s history, having consumed over 425,000 acres by Wednesday night. More than 6,600 personnel, 30 helicopters and 500 engines have been working to contain the fire – which has destroyed more than 630 residential and commercial buildings so far.

EUROPE - Demonstrations have recently swept Spain, one of the world’s most visited countries. Protests against mass tourism which have recently swept Spain are expected to spread across the entire region, according to Peter DeBrine, a senior project officer for sustainable tourism at UNESCO, as cited by The Guardian. In recent months, thousands of Spaniards have demonstrated against mass tourism in Malaga, Mallorca, Gran Canaria, Granada, and Barcelona. People from across the most popular destinations in Spain, which is ranked as the world’s second most visited country, are speaking out against the tourist invasions which they say have made their cities unlivable.

UK - British health authorities have instructed doctors performing X-ray, CT and MRI scans to ask men whether they are pregnant. The “inclusive pregnancy status guidelines for ionizing radiation” were developed by the Society of Radiographers (SoR). According to The Telegraph, the guidance came in response to an incident in which a transgender man had a CT scan while pregnant. The decision was justified by the fact that the radiation from X-ray, CT and MRI scans can be harmful to unborn babies. Doctors have therefore been told not to assume the gender identity of patients when performing all such procedures and inquiring of all people between the ages of 12 and 55 about pregnancy, including men, transgender, non-binary, and intersex patients.

USA - Why are retailers closing thousands of stores if the US economy is in good shape? Of course the truth is that the US economy is not in good shape at all. The cost of living crisis is absolutely crushing working families all over the nation, and US consumers simply don’t have as much discretionary income as they once did. Needless to say, our retailers are highly dependent on discretionary spending, and many of them have been reporting very disappointing sales numbers recently. Sadly, the problems that our retailers are experiencing are only going to intensify as US economic activity continues to slow down.

USA - This year, an increasing number of the world's top candy companies have been sounding the alarm about skyrocketing cocoa prices, leading them to hike candy bar prices. The real culprit here isn't as much corporate greed but rather adverse weather conditions, such as drought in West Africa, which has decimated cocoa harvests and caused worldwide supply concerns. No matter how often politicians tell their constituents that voting for them will bring down overall inflation, we find that somewhat hard to believe, especially for food, as it will remain sticky in the years ahead. Cadbury Australia is the latest confectionery company to warn about rising candy bar prices due to high cocoa prices. It said Freddo Frogs and Caramello Koalas prices will now double. "Due to the record global price of cocoa and increased input costs, we have adjusted the RRP from $1 to $2, the first price change in over a decade," Cadbury wrote in an Instagram statement.

EUROPE - Poland kicked off a large-scale military operation along the border with Belarus on August 1, ostensibly to secure the frontier in the face of what Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz characterized as a migrant-fueled “hybrid war” against Warsaw. Why does Minsk have reason to be wary of Warsaw’s official justifications? The Polish border defense operation, dubbed ‘Safe Podlaskie’ (referring to the northeastern Polish province of Podlaskie) involves about 17,000 troops led by the 18th Mechanized Division of the Polish Armed Forces, with the officially-stated aim of the deployment being to fight illegal migrant flows in a dispute with Belarus that goes back to 2021.

DENMARK - Denmark will strengthen border controls with Sweden following a resurgence of gang violence that has spilled over into the country in recent weeks, the Danish justice ministry has said. Police will increase their controls on trains crossing the Oresund Strait which links the Swedish city of Malmo with the Danish capital Copenhagen and is also the main crossing point between the two nations. The use of camera surveillance will also be stepped up. The minister revealed this week that there had been 25 incidents since April where Danish criminal gangs had hired what he called “child soldiers” to commit crimes in the country. Three shootings have been linked to Swedish teenagers in the past two weeks alone, he said. Hummelgaard called it “a scary phenomenon” that Danish gangs were hiring young Swedes to do “their dirty work.”

BULGARIA - The Bulgarian parliament has approved an amendment to the national Education Act that would ban the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relations or orientations, as well as gender changes, in schools or kindergartens. The move, which was supported by most of the legislators in the nation’s parliament, has incited the wrath of LGBT advocacy groups in Bulgaria and the EU, which are demanding that Brussels “take action” against Sofia. The bill passed on Wednesday in two readings following four hours of heated debates, according to the local media. In the second and final reading, 135 members of parliament supported the legislation while 57 voted against it and eight abstained.

GERMANY - Rheinmetall, Germany’s leading arms manufacturer, has announced that it almost doubled its operating profit in the first half of 2024, and now has a record backlog of orders worth more than $50 billion. The company said the Ukraine conflict had “significantly improved business performance.” In a statement on Thursday, the Dusseldorf-based firm said sales in the first half of this year had increased by a third to €3.8 billion ($4.14 billion), while operating profit increased by 91% to €404 million ($440 million). The company’s order book is now worth a record €48.6 billion ($53 billion), the statement boasted. Before the conflict in Ukraine began, sales of parts for the civilian automotive industry accounted for more than a third of Rheinmetall’s business. However, the company’s civilian sales have fallen, while demand for its military products – including tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, and air-defense systems – have exploded.

JAPAN - Japan has been rocked by a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake, with residents sharing terrifying footage of the chaos it caused. The quake hit on Wednesday, August 7, at 4.42pm local time near Miyazaki city. The United States Geological Survey reports the tremors were felt by approximately 11.2 million people in Japan. A subsequent aftershock measuring 4.8 magnitude also hit about an hour later. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa announced the establishment of a crisis management team in response to recent events at a press briefing. He declared, "We will continue to grasp the extent of damage and closely coordinate with local governments," emphasising the government's commitment to disaster response.

FRANCE - The 2024 Paris Olympics continues to spark controversy for its treatment of the Christian world. After a brazen and insulting opening ceremony mocking Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” with drag queens and unashamed nudity, French authorities are now taking it upon themselves to arrest anyone who dares protest this display. The Christian Post reports six Christians were arrested in Paris on Monday for riding around the city in a bus displaying a message openly against the ceremonies.

UK - Sky News reports that a woman has been arrested by Cheshire Police for posting “inaccurate information on social media” about the attacker who stabbed three girls to death in Southport last week. The 55-year-old woman was arrested near the northern town of Chester on “suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred and false communications.” Chief Superintendent Allison Ross gave a statement explaining how the post is alleged to have “fueled” the protests and riots in the UK over the last week, which she asserts started as a result of “malicious and inaccurate communications online.”

USA - President Joe Biden perhaps experienced a Freudian slip when questioned about whether he thought there would be a peaceful transfer to the next administration. “Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025?” CBS News correspondent Robert Costa asked. “If Trump wins, no I’m not confident at all,” Biden answered before correcting himself, “I mean if Trump loses I’m not confident at all. He means what he says. We don’t take him seriously. He means it. All this stuff about if we lose, there’ll be a bloodbath,” the president continued. At a rally in March, Trump said there would be an economic “bloodbath” in the US auto manufacturing industry if Biden won.

IRAQ - Organizers have planned protests in at least seven provinces on Thursday throughout Iraq in response to the introduction of amendments to a core family legal framework that could legalize child marriages, deprive widows of their inheritance, and facilitate sex slavery. The Iraqi Parliament began to debate amendments to the Personal Status Law on Sunday that would, critics say, effectively dissolve the country’s universal standards to protect women and girls on matters such as consent to marriage, alimony, and custody of children by allowing men to opt out, choosing traditional Shiite or Sunni Islamic mandates, instead.