New superbug

At least two Canadians have been infected by a new superbug that defies treatment and could spread rapidly around the world, a leading Canadian medical microbiologist says.

The new superbug starts with a new gene, NDM-1, that secretes an enzyme that blocks almost all antibiotics from fighting certain bacteria, including the common E coli. - Source  Source 2

Mat24;
7 For nation shall rise against nation(4), and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines(5), and pestilences(6), and earthquakes(7), in divers places.

Ecuador earthquake

A powerful earthquake shook the South American nation of Ecuador on Thursday, but there were only scattered reports of damage or injury.

The magnitude-7.1 quake that hit at 6:54 a.m. was felt across much of the nation, including the capital, Quito.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 110 miles southeast of Quito. But it was also very deep — 131 miles below the surface — a distance that might have blunted its damage. - Source

Mat 24;
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

China landslide

More than 700 people are now known to have died in a massive landslide in north-west China - making it one of the deadliest incidents so far in the country's worst flooding in a decade.

A frantic search is continuing for the more than 1,000 people still missing.

Buildings were hit by a wall of mud so mighty that buildings seven storeys high crumpled like paper, says the BBC's Chris Hogg, in Gansu province.

He says rescuers are searching by hand in the remote, mountainous region.

A 52-year-old man was pulled alive from the rubble more than 50 hours after the disaster, and other rescue teams say they have heard "very faint" signs of life elsewhere, state media reported. - Source

Mat 24;
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Higher prices for food

The world faces an inflationary time bomb as shortages of food threaten to push prices to fresh all-time highs.

A variety of freakish weather conditions across the world has sent the price of staples including wheat, pork, rice, orange juice, coffee, cocoa and tea to fresh highs in recent weeks. Yesterday's decision by the Russian government to ban the export of wheat to protect home consumers saw grain prices jump 8 per cent on the day, on what was already a two-year high. Meanwhile, the burgeoning demand for foodstuffs and raw material growth in the resurgent economies of China and India has also driven oil, copper and other industrial commodities higher.- Source

Mat 24;
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines