World News and Trends: Rivals catching up with America
Recent newspaper reports have indicated a certain shift beginning to take place in the world's economic balance of power.
Recent newspaper reports have indicated a certain shift beginning to take place in the world's economic balance of power. For instance, according to The Guardian, "The recent flow of news around the world suggests that the balance of world economic power may finally be swinging away from the United States—the powerhouse of the past decade or more—towards Japan and Europe, which have lagged behind for many years." China and India are also growing economically at breakneck speed.
Also a recent report from the European Commission stated that Europe was finally beginning to catch up with growth and productivity rates in the United States. The growth rate in Europe has been buoyed up by a resurgent German economy, which had been long arrested by difficult problems with the reunification of West and East Germany following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
One observer stated, "For years we Germans have seen the glass as half-empty; now at long last, it is half full"—reflecting a positive change in German attitudes. (Source: The Guardian [London].)
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Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
