The Faithful Watchman

China races to prevent virus second wave

Jing Xuan Teng – June 18, 2020

China imposed travel restrictions on nearly half a million people near its capital on Thursday to contain a fresh coronavirus outbreak as deaths surged in other parts of the world.

The threat of a second wave hitting China, which had largely brought the virus under control, and rising tolls in Latin America and South Asia underscore the global challenge in slowing down the pandemic that has killed more than 450,000 people.

The world economy has also taken a hit, with the US Labor Department saying another 1.5 million American workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the number of people laid off, at least temporarily, by COVID-19 to 45.7 million.

With scientists around the globe racing to find a vaccine, the World Health Organization said it hoped that a few hundred million COVID-19 vaccine doses could be produced this year, and two billion by the end of 2021.

“If we’re very lucky, there will be one or two successful candidates before the end of this year,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said, adding that priority would be given to key workers and vulnerable people.

https://www.terradaily.com

City of Boston, Which Rejected Group’s Request to Fly Christian Flag, Holds Homosexual Pride Flag Raising

Heather Clark – June 16, 2020

BOSTON — The City of Boston held a virtual flag-raising ceremony on June 5 to commence the 50th annual Boston Pride Week, celebrating the sins of homosexuality and bisexuality. Boston remains embroiled in a federal lawsuit after it denied a private group’s request to fly the Christian flag over City Hall during their temporary event recognizing Constitution Day.

“In Boston, we’re very proud of how far we’ve come,” Mayor Ben Walsh said during the recorded event, which was posted to the Boston Pride YouTube page with the hashtag #wickedproud. “We’re proud of the trailblazers and activists who’ve changed the world, and we’re proud that many of them call our city home.”

“We’re going to keep fighting for greater visibility and representation for people of all sexualities and gender identities,” he stated. “We won’t let anyone take us backward.”

Walsh advised that since the in-person Pride event had to be canceled this year, the City looked for other ways to observe the occasion. He said that part of the plan includes lighting City Hall in rainbow colors.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker also spoke to viewers, thanking those involved with Boston Pride.

“You’ve made an enormous difference for the people in the Commonwealth and in the city of Boston, and you really have changed the world over the course of the past 50 years,” he stated. “God bless and good luck in the next 50.”

Davron Monroe, an award-winning singer who performs opera, theater, gospel and jazz, sang the national anthem for the virtual event, and the song “Raise You Up” from the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus played as footage showed the rainbow flag being run up the pole at City Hall.

As previously reported, the City of Boston was sued in 2018 after it rejected a group’s application to fly the Christian flag outside City Hall during an event celebrating the religious history of the city and the contributions made by Christians.

https://christiannews.net

Powerful Magnitude 7.4 Earthquake Strikes Off Coast Of New Zealand

ETH – June 18, 2020

(ETH) – A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake has struck off the coast of New Zealand with a depth of about 2o miles according to a report. An alert was released from the UNESCO/IOC Pacific Tsunami warning and mitigation system stated: “Hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible within 300km of the epicenter.” More information will come as we receive it.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

MLK’s Niece: ‘I Hope There’s a Juneteenth for’ the ‘Little Babies in the Womb’

Melanie Arter – June 19, 2020

(CNSNews.com) – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, Dr. Alveda King, told Fox Business’s “Mornings With Maria Bartiromo” on Friday that it’s a dream come true for her to see Juneteenth acknowledged more broadly, but she hopes there’s a Juneteenth for the unborn.

Juneteenth is the national commemoration of the ending of slavery in the U.S. June 19th marks the day that slaves in Texas learned two years later that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery.“

This is a dream come true for me – the acknowledgement broadly of Juneteenth. As an African-American woman, I have celebrated Juneteenth for many years. In the Bible, Juneteenth would be associated with jubilee, a time of liberty, repentance and restoration,” said King, who serves as director of African-American outreach for Gospel of Life, headed by Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life.

“I even think about the little babies in the womb, I hope there’s a Juneteenth for them. I’m over at Civil Rights for the Unborn with Priests for Life,” she said.

https://www.cnsnews.com

‘Ring of Fire’ annular solar eclipse to grace the skies soon after the solstice

Julie Celestial – June 19, 2020

An annular solar eclipse will take place on Sunday, June 21, 2020. This is one of the most breathtaking celestial events when the Moon partially obscures the Sun, allowing a “ring of fire” on its edges. The eclipse will start several hours after the solstice.

The annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is farthest away from the Earth in its orbit, thus, appearing smaller in our skies, relative to the Sun.

The difference in apparent size is what sets annular eclipses apart from full eclipses– when the nearer position of the Moon (with its average radius of 800 km or 1 000 miles) makes it look the same size as our star (with a radius of around 696 000 km or 432 000 miles).

A stunning example of this was taken by photographer Colin Legg and astronomy student Geoff Sims in Western Australia in May 2013. The ring of fire is seen being distorted by the Earth’s atmosphere.

A complete ring of fire will be visible from central Africa through Asia, while many other areas, from southern Europe to the northern portions of Australia, will see a partial annular eclipse.

The instant of greatest eclipse takes place at 06:40 UTC, with the Sun in the constellation Taurus. This is 6.2 days after the Moon reaches apogee.

The synodic month in which the eclipse takes place has a Brown Lunation Number of 1206, NASA’s Fred Espenak aka Mr. Eclipse noted. The eclipse belongs to Saros 137 and is number 36 of 70 eclipses in the series. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node. The Moon moves southward with respect to the node with each succeeding eclipse in the series and gamma decreases.

At the peak of the eclipse, the Moon will obscure 99.4 percent of the Sun as the pair puts a spectacular display across the skies of northern India.

https://watchers.news

NATO Launches New Massive Exercise on Russia’s Doorstep

Tru-News – June 11, 2020

NATO is sending yet another provocative message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, sending an armada of warships, more than two dozen aircraft, and 3,000 personnel from 19 countries into the Baltic Sea for “drills.”

The 10-day BaltOps exercise will include participants from the U.S., UK, France, Germany, and the former Soviet satellite states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The annual drill, a relic of the Cold War dating back to the early-1970s, will be commanded remotely from NATO’s new Joint Operations Center in Lisbon, Portugal.

During the first phase of BaltOps, the various military units will learn how to work together. In the second phase, they will test their ability to “respond to threats” in coordination with one another. Typically, it also includes ground operations, but that phase has been eliminated due to risk of spreading COVID-19.

The exercises take place against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s decision to remove 9,500 American soldiers from Germany. That move prompted a backlash from British politicians who say it will “play into Russia’s hands.”

It also comes as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has suggested a pivot in the alliance’s mission. During a speech this week, he said the organization must focus on the threat posed by China “to our values and way of life.” He added that there needs to be a “more global approach” to dealing with Beijing:

“The rise of China is fundamentally shifting the global balance of power, heating up the race for economic and technological supremacy, multiplying the threats to open societies and individual freedoms and increasing the competition over our values and our way of life.

“We cannot ignore the consequences of the rise of China. China will soon have the biggest economy in the world, and they already have the second largest defense budget. They are investing heavily in new modern capabilities.”

https://www.trunews.com

US national debt hits $26 TRILLION, soaring by $1 trillion just in one month

RT – June 11, 2020

The latest data from the Treasury Department shows that the US gross national debt has exceeded $26 trillion for the first time, as the nation grapples with economic relief from the Covid-19 pandemic.

National debt is up from $23.5 trillion in March, with an increase of $1 trillion since May 5. According to CBS News, citing data from the Treasury, public debt has grown by $6 trillion since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.

“The Treasury Department notes that the growth in public debt was caused by the allocation of funds for the COVID-19 pandemic counteraction program and the pandemic-related tax deferral,” CBS reported.

The US government has allocated trillions of dollars in coronavirus relief since the start of the pandemic. The so-called CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) was adopted in March and earmarked $2 trillion, while the $3 trillion HEROES Act (Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions) was passed by the House of Representatives in May.

According to the Treasury’s monthly report, the federal government budget deficit for the first eight months of the current fiscal year (which started on 1 October 2019) has reached $1.88 trillion – already higher than any full fiscal year deficit in US history.The 2020 eight-month deficit more than doubled the $738.6 billion deficit for the same period in the 2019 fiscal year.

https://www.rt.com

Some nations said gearing up to recognize Palestine if annexation goes ahead

TOI staff – June 10,2020

Palestinian and European officials have indicated some countries could retaliate for unilateral Israeli annexation of sections of the West Bank by recognizing a Palestinian state and sanctioning Israel, Hebrew media outlets reported Wednesday.

Quoting unnamed Palestinian officials, Kan TV news reported that several European countries, among them Ireland, have said they will recognize a Palestinian state if Israel extends sovereignty over areas designated for it under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

The report said the Palestinian Authority was also querying the positions of France, Spain, Luxembourg, Portugal and Belgium. A committee in the latter’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the government to recognize a Palestinian state. That resolution is slated to be debated in the full chamber in the next 15 days.

Meanwhile, during meetings with Israeli leaders Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was said to issue similar warnings.

According to reports in Haaretz and Walla news, Maas warned that while Germany was unlikely to take punitive measures against Israel if it moves forward with annexation, other countries could impose sanctions or recognize a Palestinian state.

Maas, who held separate meetings during a quick visit to Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, told them some countries in the European Union were pushing to sanction Israel if annexation moves forward, the reports said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com

World on the brink of worst food crisis in 50 years, UN warns

Julie Celestial – June 10, 2020

Food systems are failing and the pandemic is mitigating the situation, said UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, on June 9, 2020.

“Unless immediate action is taken, it is increasingly clear that there is an impending global food emergency that could have long term impacts on hundreds of millions of children and adults.”

Although harvests of crops are holding up and export bans and protectionism have been largely avoided so far, the worst of the pandemic’s impacts and the recession that will follow is yet to be felt.

This year, about 49 million more may fall into extreme poverty due to the coronavirus as the number of people who are severely food insecure will rapidly expand.

“Even in countries with abundant food, we see risks of disruptions in the food supply chain,” Guterres pointed out. “We need to act now to avoid the worst impacts of our efforts to control the pandemic.”

The secretary-general plotted a three-point plan to restore the world’s ailing food systems and avoid further harm.

First, countries must focus aid on the worst-affected regions to ward off immediate disaster and for governments to prioritize food supply chains.

“That means designating food and nutrition services as essential while implementing appropriate protections for food workers. It means preserving critical humanitarian food, livelihood, and nutrition assistance to vulnerable groups.”

“And it means positioning food in food-crisis countries to reinforce and scale up social protection systems,” he added.

https://watchers.news

Congo Now Faces 2nd Ebola Outbreak in Northern Province

Newsmax – June 2, 2020

Health officials have confirmed a second Ebola outbreak in Congo, the head of the World Health Organization said Monday, adding yet another health crisis for a country already battling COVID-19 and the world’s largest measles outbreak.

Congo also has yet to declare an official end to Ebola in its troubled east, where at least 2,243 people have died since an epidemic began there in August 2018.

Now Congolese health authorities have identified six cases in the north near Mbandaka in Equateur province, including four fatalities, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted Monday.

“The country is also in final phase of battling Ebola in eastern DRC, COVID19 & the world’s largest measles outbreak,” he tweeted.

This marks the second time Ebola has hit Equateur province in as many years: A 2018 outbreak there killed 33 people before the disease was brought under control in a matter of months.

The last known patient in Congo’s eastern outbreak was released in mid-May but the country now must go about another month without any new cases before an official end to the outbreak can be declared.

https://www.newsmax.com