It’s Tuesday, May 25th, A.D. 2021. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Kevin Swanson and Adam McManus
Will Olympics in Japan be canceled this summer over COVID?
Opposition to the Tokyo Olympics opening in two months has deepened in Japan and spread to some prominent business leaders despite organizers highlighting recent warm-up events as evidence that the Games can safely go ahead, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Fearful that athletes and officials might trigger a new wave of infections with virus variants, leading to deaths, more emergency shutdowns, and further shrinkage of Japan’s economy, Hiroshi Mikitani, the chief executive of the e-commerce company Rakuten Group, said the Olympics were a “suicide mission.”
But Olympic organizers say the event will not be canceled.
On Friday, John Coates, the head of the International Olympic Committee’s coordination commission for the Tokyo Olympics, said around 80% of athletes and officials were set to be vaccinated, and strict restrictions on movement would prevent contact with the public.
New evidence that COVID originated from China’s Wuhan Virology lab
Three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report that could add weight to growing calls for a fuller probe of whether the Covid-19 virus may have escaped from the laboratory, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Fox Business Host Maria Bartiromo addressed two coincidences.
BARTIROMO: “There was no cell phone activity or major road activity, they were all closed, around the Wuhan lab of virology in October of 2019. This is a very busy area of Wuhan to have no cell phone activity is a real red flag.”
And Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, appearing on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, urged President Biden to pressure the Chinese Communist Party for answers about the true origin of COVID-19.
COTTON: “It surely is a big coincidence that this virus started, not up in some remote mountain village with caves full of bats, but rather in downtown Wuhan, a city larger than New York, just a few blocks up the road from labs that were researching bat-based coronaviruses.
“And since then every bit of circumstantial evidence, to include evidence that came out in the final days of the Trump administration, that some employees and staff at these labs may have had coronavirus-like symptoms as early as October or September of 2019, continues to point to these labs as the origin of this virus. Not that food market that the Chinese Communist Party used as a cover story from the very beginning. That’s why it’s so imperative that the Biden administration hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable and demand answers for all of these questions.”
Bitcoin value drops in half
Over the weekend, cryptocurrency experienced its second major seismic event, the worst since 2018, reports CNBC.
Losing almost half its value, Bitcoin dipped as low as $31,772, its lowest value since December 2019. Etherium lost 45% of its value as well over the weekend. Bullion gold prices remain at a five-month high, hovering around $1,880 an ounce.
The Netherlands’ economy contracted by 2.8%
The Netherlands reports first quarter results for their economy at a 2.8% loss over first quarter 2020, according to Focus-Economics.com.
That’s the fifth quarter in a row of contraction for this important economy. A recession is usually defined as occurring when a nation’s economy contracts for two quarters in a row.
American economy still on the ropes
In God’s providence, a year following the initiation of the COVID-19 crisis, the U.S. economy still hasn’t recovered
Moody Analytics reports that “The U.S. Gross Domestic Product surged to 6.4% in the first quarter, strong but below expectations, leaving GDP below its pre-pandemic levels.”
Whatever strength has been added to the economy came from consumer spending provided by generous government largesse, commonly known as the “stimulus check.”
President Reagan’s Treasury Secretary David Stockman is calling the current situation “fiscal incontinence.” He said the nominal GDP “has declined by about $735 billion, while our unhinged legislators have ponied up $6 trillion of Everything Bailouts.”
Active volcano in Congo erupts killing 15, burying houses
Mount Nyiragongo, an active volcano in the Congo, close to the Rwandan border, erupted on Saturday, killing at least 15 people and burying hundreds of houses and buildings.
Look at video of the lava flows through a special link in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com.
Nonuplets, nine siblings, born in C-section to Mali woman
The first nonuplets to survive were born to a woman from Mali back in March, reports the Associated Press.
They were medevaced to Morocco for ongoing medical care.
Delivered by C-section, the five girls and four boys weighed in between 1.1 and 2.2 pounds at birth. Doctors report that they are all in stable condition.
Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me.” (Mark 9:37)
50-year-old Phil Mickelson oldest to win PGA Championship
And finally, he may be the oldest professional athlete to take home a top prize for any sport, in the history of sports, reports Golf.com.
Phil Mickelson won the PGA trophy last Lord’s Day, at the age of 50. Listen to the moment of his impressive victory.
ANNOUNCER: “Here it is. Biggest moment of a legendary career. Phil defeats Father Time.”
It was his first major win since 2013. The prior record had been set by Julius Boros at the age of 48, when he won the 1968 PGA Championship in San Antonio, Texas.
Mickelson finished at 6-under 282 for the tournament, earning him a cool $2.16 million.
In an interview later that day on ESPN’s SportsCenter, the golf champ explained it this way.
MICKELSON: “The biggest thing I’m going to take away is that there’s no reason why, at an older age, you cannot be at your best. It just takes a little more work.”
1 Corinthians 9:24 says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Tuesday, May 25th, in the year of our Lord 2021. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I’m Adam McManus (adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.