WorthyNewsBot

(Worthy News) - Donald Trump has warned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that he will be held "personally responsible" for the safety of two opponents who were jailed on Tuesday. Leopoldo Lopez, 46, and Antonio Ledezma, 62, had already been under house arrest when they were apparently detained in the early hours of Tuesday. It comes after a controversial vote to give Mr Maduro sweeping new powers that many fear will turn his tight grip on the country into a dictatorship. [ Source (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - At least 34 young Christians are reported to have been killed in a tragic accident on their way to pilgrimage in Madagascar. Authorities said Tuesday that the bus was carrying the Christian group when it plunged down a steep ravine at Ankazobe, around 45 miles north of Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo. Police spokesman Herilalatiana Andrianarisaona told AFP that the accident caused the bus to catch on fire. Photos from the scene showed the crumpled wreckage of the bus lying on its side. [ Source:Christian Today (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The recent clashes in and around the Temple Mount were fueled in part by the Iranian government, Palestinian sources told Israel Hayom this week. The clashes erupted after Israeli authorities installed metal detectors at entry points to the site in response to a deadly terrorist attack there on July 14. Many Muslims locally and around the world viewed the Israeli security measure as a bid to usurp control. Israel insisted the measure was meant only to prevent further attacks, and removed the devices less than two weeks later. According to the Palestinian sources, tens of thousands of Muslim protesters received prepackaged meals along with notes in each one citing a famous quote attributed to 1979 Iranian Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: "With the help of Allah, Palestine will be liberated! Jerusalem is ours." The note also depicted the Dome of the Rock and the Palestinian flag. [ Source (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Senior Iranian officials are accusing the United States of violating the landmark nuclear accord and promising to take punitive measures against America for this action, according to recent comments that come on the heels of renewed efforts by the Trump administration and Congress to sanction Tehran for its ballistic missile program and regional support for terrorism. Ali Larijani, speaker of Iran's parliament, lashed out Tuesday at the Trump administration and accused it of "blatantly" violating statutes in the nuclear agreement that obligate the United States to promote international trade with Iran and refrain from issuing new sanctions. Larijana promised that Iran would "act decisively" to retaliate against the United States with its own package of sanctions and other measures, according to comments by the senior leader. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened that American "will be harmed" by its recent moves. [ Source:Washington Free Beacon (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders slammed the media's narrative of Russian collusion at a White House Press conference. Earlier in the day, the Washington Post ran an anonymously resourced story meant to harm the Trump presidency, which claimed that President Trump 'dictated' Donald Trump, Jr.'s statement regarding a meeting he had with a Russian attorney. “The statement that was issued [by Don Jr.] was true and there were no inaccuracies in the statement. I think what the bigger question is, everybody wants to try to make this some story about misleading, the thing I see misleading is a year’s worth of stories that have been fueling a false narrative about this Russia collusion and based on a phony scandal based on anonymous sources. And I think that if we’re gonna talk about misleading, that’s the only thing I see misleading in this entire process. You guys are focused on a meeting that Don Jr. had no consequence, when the Democrats actually colluded with a foreign government like Ukraine, the Democrat-linked firm Fusion GPS actually took money from the Russian government while it created the phony dossier that’s been the basis for all of the Russia scandal. And If you want to talk further about a relationship with Russia, look no further than the Clintons, as we’ve said time and time again, Bill was paid half-a-million dollars to give a speech to a Russian bank and was personally thanked by Putin for it. Hillary Clinton allowed one-fifth of America’s uranium to reserve to be sold to a Russian firm whose investors were the Clinton Foundation donors. And the Clinton campaign chairman’s [John Podesta’s] brother lobbied against sanctions on Russia’s largest bank and failed to report it. If you guys want to talk about having relations which you seem obsessed with doing, look no further than there.” View the full article

(Worthy News) - With the opening of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, just around the corner, Chairman of the Board and Hobby Lobby President Steve Green is embroiled in an international antiquities smuggling scandal that is only becoming more fraught. Early Sunday morning, Israeli police arrested five East Jerusalem residents on suspicions of unreported tax on sales, money laundering, and sales of looted antiquities to Green, to the tune of $22 million between 2010 to 2014, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby, which has in a settlement agreed to pay some $3 million in fines and to forfeit thousands of ancient artifacts from Iraq, is implicated by US prosecutors of — knowingly or not — participating in a smuggling scheme out of the Middle East. Among other ruses, antiquities dealers forged provenance and intentionally mislabeled imported looted items to the US as “tile samples.” [ Source:Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday held a rare meeting in Ramallah with a delegation from rival Hamas over possible reconciliation between the battling Palestinian factions. The meeting, held at the PA’s headquarters in Ramallah, came amid reports that lightning talks aimed at restoring PA control in Gaza and getting the PA to lift sanctions against Hamas in the Strip are underway. The talks were initiated by Abbas, according to London-based pan-Arabic daily Rai al-Youm. The Hamas delegation was headed by former Palestinian education minister Nasser al-Din al-Shaer, and included Hamas lawmakers, Mahmoud Al-Ramahi, Mohammad Totah, Ayman Daraghmeh and Samir Abu Eisha. [ Source:Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday held a rare meeting in Ramallah with a delegation from rival Hamas over possible reconciliation between the battling Palestinian factions. The meeting, held at the PA’s headquarters in Ramallah, came amid reports that lightning talks aimed at restoring PA control in Gaza and getting the PA to lift sanctions against Hamas in the Strip are underway. The talks were initiated by Abbas, according to London-based pan-Arabic daily Rai al-Youm. The Hamas delegation was headed by former Palestinian education minister Nasser al-Din al-Shaer, and included Hamas lawmakers, Mahmoud Al-Ramahi, Mohammad Totah, Ayman Daraghmeh and Samir Abu Eisha. [ Source:Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and senior advisor of US President Donald Trump, has expressed doubt the American administration could find a 'unique' solution that would lead to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, according to an audio recording leaked to WIRED magazine. While speaking to congressional interns in Washington on Monday, Kushner was asked how he plans to negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinians and how he plans to succeed where others have failed. "What do we offer that's unique? I don’t know," he responded. "I'm sure everyone that's tried this has been unique in some ways, but again we're trying to follow very logically. We're thinking about what the right end state is. And we’re trying to work with the parties very quietly to see if there's a solution." [ Source:Ynet News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A stunning 22 percent of inmates in the federal prison population are immigrants who have either already been deemed to be in the country illegally or who the government is looking to put in deportation proceedings, the administration said Tuesday. President Trump requested the numbers as part of his initial immigration executive orders. The 22 percent is much higher than the population of foreign-born in the U.S. as a whole, which is about 13.5 percent. [ Source:Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the advancement of Bible translation, says that teams of mother tongue translators in the Middle East are ready to launch Bible translation projects in the face of intense persecution. In the Middle East alone, 150 language groups still don’t have a translated Bible. Yet launching a translation project independently is not viable due to the extreme poverty and immense risk persecuted Christians face on a daily basis. “National Bible translators are living under such severe persecution, you and I can hardly fathom what they’re going through,” says Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “Many have been arrested. Their families have watched them being dragged off, jailed, beaten, and tortured. They’ve lost their jobs and their families simply because they tried to share God’s Word with their countrymen.” One translator was arrested and imprisoned for eight months, spending part of the time in solitary confinement. Eventually he was released on the condition that he was not to associate with any Christians for five years. He lost his job due to his imprisonment and relies on the help of Christian friends for his family’s survival. A leader of five house churches was arrested when police burst into his home and dragged him and his wife to jail. They were taken to court, and he was sentenced to a year in jail but was set free on “bail” and informed he would be taken into custody later to begin his sentence. Every day, the translator and his family live with the lingering threat of imprisonment. Police raided the home of another translator and sent him to jail for 33 days, accusing him of spying. The authorities insisted that the translated Scriptures were in code and that his translation work was an attempt to take over the country. The translator was later released and forbidden to leave the country. He also was informed that he would be summoned for sentencing and sent to prison. Having lost his job due to his arrest, he and his family moved in with relatives, living as refugees in their own country. Wycliffe Associates has set a goal of launching 30 new translations in the next 45 days in the Middle East and is raising funds to cover the cost of $19,500 per language. Mother tongue translators are eager to translate the Scriptures for their people using the MAST method (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation), a groundbreaking collaborative process that makes it possible for an entire New Testament to be translated in months rather than years. “I have never seen faith like the faith of these Christians, laying their lives on the line, risking horrible recrimination if they’re caught,” says Smith. “That’s how important God’s Word is to them. In this region of the world, the Bible is a matter of life or death. Eternity hangs in the balance.” About Wycliffe Associates One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation. Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Last year, 7,097 Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers worked to speed Bible translations in 76 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org. View the full article

(Worthy News) - Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the advancement of Bible translation, says that teams of mother tongue translators in the Middle East are ready to launch Bible translation projects in the face of intense persecution. In the Middle East alone, 150 language groups still don’t have a translated Bible. Yet launching a translation project independently is not viable due to the extreme poverty and immense risk persecuted Christians face on a daily basis. “National Bible translators are living under such severe persecution, you and I can hardly fathom what they’re going through,” says Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “Many have been arrested. Their families have watched them being dragged off, jailed, beaten, and tortured. They’ve lost their jobs and their families simply because they tried to share God’s Word with their countrymen.” One translator was arrested and imprisoned for eight months, spending part of the time in solitary confinement. Eventually he was released on the condition that he was not to associate with any Christians for five years. He lost his job due to his imprisonment and relies on the help of Christian friends for his family’s survival. A leader of five house churches was arrested when police burst into his home and dragged him and his wife to jail. They were taken to court, and he was sentenced to a year in jail but was set free on “bail” and informed he would be taken into custody later to begin his sentence. Every day, the translator and his family live with the lingering threat of imprisonment. Police raided the home of another translator and sent him to jail for 33 days, accusing him of spying. The authorities insisted that the translated Scriptures were in code and that his translation work was an attempt to take over the country. The translator was later released and forbidden to leave the country. He also was informed that he would be summoned for sentencing and sent to prison. Having lost his job due to his arrest, he and his family moved in with relatives, living as refugees in their own country. Wycliffe Associates has set a goal of launching 30 new translations in the next 45 days in the Middle East and is raising funds to cover the cost of $19,500 per language. Mother tongue translators are eager to translate the Scriptures for their people using the MAST method (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation), a groundbreaking collaborative process that makes it possible for an entire New Testament to be translated in months rather than years. “I have never seen faith like the faith of these Christians, laying their lives on the line, risking horrible recrimination if they’re caught,” says Smith. “That’s how important God’s Word is to them. In this region of the world, the Bible is a matter of life or death. Eternity hangs in the balance.” About Wycliffe Associates One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation. Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Last year, 7,097 Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers worked to speed Bible translations in 76 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org. View the full article

(Worthy News) - Eight churches in Baghdad have closed their doors permanently due to the mass exodus of believers from Iraq. The decision, made by the Vatican earlier this year, comes after seven years of falling or no attendance and is symbolic of the wholesale emigration of Christians from the Middle East. Amounting to nearly 10 per cent of Iraq's population at the start of the 21st century, Christians made up 40 per cent of those fleeing from the start of the Iraq War in 2003 to 2007, leaving just a handful behind. [ Source: Christian Today (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Eight churches in Baghdad have closed their doors permanently due to the mass exodus of believers from Iraq. The decision, made by the Vatican earlier this year, comes after seven years of falling or no attendance and is symbolic of the wholesale emigration of Christians from the Middle East. Amounting to nearly 10 per cent of Iraq's population at the start of the 21st century, Christians made up 40 per cent of those fleeing from the start of the Iraq War in 2003 to 2007, leaving just a handful behind. [ Source: Christian Today (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Hundreds of Jews on Tuesday visited the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem for the Tisha B’av fast commemorating the destruction of the Jewish temples that once stood at the site. Despite fasting, some 500 people braved a heat wave and went up to the Mount, while hundreds more waited in line to visit the holy site. In light of recent tensions surrounding the site, the Jewish visitors were required to leave their identity cards with police before passing through metal detectors at the Mughrabi Gate, the only gate to the compound through which non-Muslims may enter. [ Source:Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Republicans in Congress may soon have to appropriate federal funds to insurers they fought to hold off for several years under Obamacare, or otherwise risk being blamed for a chain reaction of insurer exits and premium hikes. President Trump is expected to issue a decision as early as Tuesday on whether his administration will continue to deliver these payments to insurers, known as cost-sharing reduction subsidies. If he chooses to end them, members of Congress have signalled that they may consider appropriating the funds. "I hope the president will use his authority to extend those payments. He can do that," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the No. 3 Senate Republican. "If he doesn't then Congress will have to look at what our options are. [ Source:Washington Examiner (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - China's UN ambassador urged the international community on Monday to support President Xi Jinping's new four-point proposal to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state. 1.) Advancing the two-state solution based on 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as the capital of a new Palestinian state. 2.) Upholding "the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security," immediately ending Israeli settlement building, taking immediate measures to prevent violence against civilians, and calling for an early resumption of peace talks. 3.) Coordinating international efforts to put forward "peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date." 4.) Promoting peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel. [ Source:Ynet News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - China's UN ambassador urged the international community on Monday to support President Xi Jinping's new four-point proposal to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establish an independent Palestinian state. 1.) Advancing the two-state solution based on 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as the capital of a new Palestinian state. 2.) Upholding "the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security," immediately ending Israeli settlement building, taking immediate measures to prevent violence against civilians, and calling for an early resumption of peace talks. 3.) Coordinating international efforts to put forward "peace-promoting measures that entail joint participation at an early date." 4.) Promoting peace through development and cooperation between the Palestinians and Israel. [ Source:Ynet News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Israeli police gave permission on Sunday for the far-right Lehava organization to hold a counter-protest during Jerusalem's pride march, due to take place on Thursday. Police have issued warnings not to disrupt the parade to around 50 individuals in Israel and the West Bank, with some told that they cannot be in Jerusalem on the day, Israel's Channel 2 reports. Up to 100 members of Lehava will be permitted to protest several hundred meters away from the march, under heavy police guard. The organization plans to stand under the banner: “Do not give them children,” in reference to the recent Supreme Court ruling and subsequent protests regarding same-sex adoption reform in Israel. [ Source (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Israeli police said on Tuesday that hundreds of Jewish visitors were permitted to visit the Temple Mount to mark the Jewish holy day of Tisha b'Av, but that six visitors were ejected from the flashpoint site for "violation of the rules." Under the status quo that governs Muslim and Jewish access to the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, Jews are prohibited from praying there, but are allowed to visit. It is the holiest site in Judaism, and third holiest site in Islam. According to police, at the end of the visit of one Jewish group to the site, a quarrel broke out between Jewish and Muslim visitors. Police intervened and arrested three Jewish suspects and one Muslim man. [ Source: i24 (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Israeli police said on Tuesday that hundreds of Jewish visitors were permitted to visit the Temple Mount to mark the Jewish holy day of Tisha b'Av, but that six visitors were ejected from the flashpoint site for "violation of the rules." Under the status quo that governs Muslim and Jewish access to the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, Jews are prohibited from praying there, but are allowed to visit. It is the holiest site in Judaism, and third holiest site in Islam. According to police, at the end of the visit of one Jewish group to the site, a quarrel broke out between Jewish and Muslim visitors. Police intervened and arrested three Jewish suspects and one Muslim man. [ Source: i24 (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Republican senators are still working to revive an Obamacare repeal bill even though some in their own party are starting to doubt anything can be done. The Senate and White House are trying to pick up the pieces after a humiliating defeat last week of a bill aimed at kickstarting talks with the House on Obamacare repeal. But, as some senators are meeting with the White House to write a new proposal, other Republicans are not optimistic they can get anything done this summer, if at all. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told Reuters Monday he and other senior Republicans plan to tell President Trump to move on to tax reform, even though he hasn't given up on healthcare reform. [ Source:Washington Examiner (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Donald Trump's White House expanded its engagement with faith leaders last week by holding three different listening sessions that featured nearly 100 different Christian leaders and activists, participants have told The Christian Post. "The White House has continued to have listening sessions with evangelical leaders and they had three more this week. Almost 100 evangelicals [participated]," Moore, who heads a public relations company that serves many notable evangelical pastors, said Friday. "Each listening session was about two hours and involved briefings from administration officials and an opportunity for folks to express their thoughts on various issues." Moore explained that each meeting featured different groups of leaders. The Thursday morning meeting, Moore said, featured a multi-denominational group of ministry leaders while the Thursday afternoon meeting featured mostly leaders from the Southern Baptist Convention. [ Source:Christian Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Donald Trump's White House expanded its engagement with faith leaders last week by holding three different listening sessions that featured nearly 100 different Christian leaders and activists, participants have told The Christian Post. "The White House has continued to have listening sessions with evangelical leaders and they had three more this week. Almost 100 evangelicals [participated]," Moore, who heads a public relations company that serves many notable evangelical pastors, said Friday. "Each listening session was about two hours and involved briefings from administration officials and an opportunity for folks to express their thoughts on various issues." Moore explained that each meeting featured different groups of leaders. The Thursday morning meeting, Moore said, featured a multi-denominational group of ministry leaders while the Thursday afternoon meeting featured mostly leaders from the Southern Baptist Convention. [ Source:Christian Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - President Trump’s headline-grabbing communications director Anthony Scaramucci was shown the door Monday after just 11 days on the job – as retired Gen. John Kelly took command of the White House staff, moving swiftly to impose order on a West Wing gripped for weeks by infighting. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders would not confirm reports that Kelly personally requested Scaramucci's removal -- but she made clear that the former Homeland Security secretary now has full control of the staff. “General Kelly has the full authority to operate in the White House, and all staff will report to him,” Sanders said, adding there are no other anticipated staff shakeups in the works. [ Source: Fox News (Read More...) ] View the full article