WorthyNewsBot

(Worthy News) - Republican Sen. John McCain is returning home to Arizona after being hospitalized for the side effects of his brain cancer treatment and likely will miss a crucial vote on the GOP tax package, President Donald Trump said Sunday. Trump told reporters he had spoken to McCain’s wife, Cindy after her husband had spent about a week at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. “They’ve headed back, but I understand he’ll come if we ever needed his vote, which hopefully we won’t,” Trump said after returning to the White House from Camp David. “But the word is that John will come back if we need his vote. And it’s too bad. He’s going through a very tough time, there’s no question about it. But he will come back if we need his vote.” [ Source: CBN News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The Pentagon ran a secretive five year program to investigate UFO sightings, spending $22 million before it was shut down due to cost, it has been revealed. For the first time, the Department of Defense has acknowledged the existence of the mysterious Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program run from an office in a quiet corner of its sprawling headquarters. There, between 2007 and 2012, a team of researchers working with experts in Nevada probed reports of alien life form and strange sightings over the US skies - a real life versions of the hit TV show The X Files. [ Source: UK Telegraph (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration's move to roll back an Affordable Health Care provision requiring employers to provide coverage for birth control. Under the new rule, companies and insurers may cite a moral or religious objection in order to opt out of the Obama-era federal rule requiring birth control be covered for free for all women. The Trump administration cited support of freedom of religion when announcing the rollback in October. [ Source: UPI (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The Thomas Fire, now the third largest fire in California's recorded history, is only 40 percent contained in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and is bearing down on mansions in Montecito. Firefighters are bracing for the blaze to strengthen because strong Santa Ana winds are pushing south from the mountains down to the coast, with forecasted gusts reaching up to 40 mph. The winds are removing moisture and no rain is forecast. Evacuation orders were expanded in and around Montecito and Summerland. The northbound 101 Freeway into Santa Barbara was closed to traffic. [ Source: UPI (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Parents would get new federal tax breaks for sending their children to private or religious schools or teaching them at home if the final Republican tax overhaul bill becomes law. For that, they can thank Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who offered the original amendment to extend 529 college savings plans to grade school and high school, including costs for homeschooling. Cruz’s amendment was the only one, setting aside manager’s amendments, to be added on either chamber's floor. It passed as Republicans moved their bill through the Senate in the closing hours of Dec. 1. Cruz got an assist from Vice President Mike Pence, who cast the deciding vote in favor of the amendment after Republicans Lisa Murkowksi of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine balked at the measure. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - One of the biggest wildfires in California's history sparked new evacuation orders Saturday in Santa Barbara County, as powerful Santa Ana Winds brought damaging gusts across the region early Sunday that threatened to fan the flames. Nearly 8,500 firefighters continue to battle the Thomas Fire in Southern California, which has burned since Dec. 4 and killed one firefighter, destroyed more than 1,000 structures and threatened 18,000 more. The blaze has scorched 269,500 acres so far, an area larger than New York City and roughly the size of the Hawaiian island of Maui. “It is a beast,” Santa Barbara County Fire Department Division Chief Martin Johnson said at a news conference. “But we will kill it.” [ Source: Fox News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Four Palestinians were killed by security forces over the weekend as violence escalated in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. A Border Police officer was moderately wounded when a rioter stabbed him in the shoulder outside of Ramallah. Riots have broken out every day since US President Donald Trump declared on December 6 that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Following the demand of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, the leaders of the coalition parties on Sunday evening approved the Yisrael Beytenu party’s bill mandating the death penalty for terrorists. The bill will be brought to a preliminary vote in the Knesset plenum. MK Robert Ilatov, Yisrael Beytenu Parliamentary Group Chairman, said, "Today is a historic day in the State of Israel. After years in which the Yisrael Beytenu party has been promoting the death penalty for terrorists and after it was rejected by the Knesset and the government, today the death penalty bill for terrorists has finally been approved by the coalition leaders' forum.” [ Source: Arutz Sheva (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The United Nations Security Council will vote Monday on a draft resolution that would reject US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, diplomats said. Egypt on Sunday requested the vote for the next day. On Saturday, it presented the measure that is likely to be vetoed by the United States. The one-page text, seen by the AFP news agency, does not specifically mention the US or Trump. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A delegation of church leaders from Jerusalem who met with Jordanian King Abdullah II reiterated their opposition to US recognition of the city as the capital of Israel and censured “attempts to Judaize” it, Jordanian state media said Sunday. Abdullah convened with Christian clerics and dignitaries from Jordan and Jerusalem ahead of the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Abdullah, as Jordanian head of state, is considered custodian of Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States, according to a POLITICO investigation. The campaign, dubbed Project Cassandra, was launched in 2008 after the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed evidence that Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle East-focused military and political organization into an international crime syndicate that some investigators believed was collecting $1 billion a year from drug and weapons trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities. Over the next eight years, agents working out of a top-secret DEA facility in Chantilly, Virginia, used wiretaps, undercover operations and informants to map Hezbollah’s illicit networks, with the help of 30 U.S. and foreign security agencies. [ Source: Politico (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Rocket warning sirens were heard in the Gaza periphery early Monday morning, hours after a rocket fired by a terrorist group struck next to a home in an Israeli community north of the coastal enclave, causing damage but no injuries. Three sirens were activated in the Hof Ashkelon regional council north of the Strip, sending frightened residents running to shelters. The army said it was looking into whether the sirens were caused by rocket fire or, as has also been the case on a number of occasions in recent days, false alarms. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Fusion GPS, the producer of the infamous Trump dossier, is fending off in court three of Russia’s richest oligarchs by painting them as corrupt bankers in bed with President Vladimir Putin. The three primary investors in Moscow’s Alfa Bank — Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan — filed a libel lawsuit against Fusion in October. Fusion’s dossier, written by former British spy Christopher Steele, says two of them engineered cash bribes to Mr. Putin. The dossier also implies that the bank colluded with Mr. Putin to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by hacking Democratic Party computers. The lawsuit describes the three billionaires as international businessmen who became “collateral damage” in Fusion’s war to destroy the Donald Trump campaign. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Two suicide bombers attacked a church in Pakistan where hundreds of worshippers were attending service ahead of Christmas, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens of others, officials said. One of the suicide bombers was shot dead outside Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, but the other assailant made it to the church's entrance hall as Sunday services opened, said Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister for the southwestern Baluchistan province. The gunman — who didn’t gain access to the main building — opened fire at the churchgoers before detonating his explosive vest. “There were nearly 400 people inside the church, but the attackers couldn’t get inside the services,” provincial police chief Moazzam Jah told Reuters. “We killed one of them, and the other one exploded himself after police wounded him,” he said. [ Source: Fox News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked President Trump in a phone call Sunday for U.S. intelligence agencies providing a warning that thwarted a major terrorist plot in St. Petersburg, Russia. The White House said information that the United States provided enabled Russian authorities to capture the terrorists “just prior to an attack that could have killed large numbers of people.” No Russian lives were lost, and the would-be terrorist attackers were caught and now are incarcerated, the statement said. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Prime Minister Theresa May has claimed her plans to broker a Brexit deal 'will not be derailed,' despite a number of challenges. The leader of the Britain penned a pair of op-eds published Sunday promising to see a Brexit agreement with the European Union to completion. Last week, the EU agreed to proceed to the second round of separation talks. The EU and Britain will now discuss the details of trade relationships having come to terms over separation issues related to financial liabilities and citizens' rights. [ Source: UPI (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A Cal Fire engineer died Thursday while battling the Thomas fire in steep terrain in the hills outside Fillmore, officials said. The firefighter's death is the second confirmed fatality linked to the Thomas fire. Virginia Pesola, 70, of Santa Paula, was found dead last week at the site of a car accident on Wheeler Canyon Road, which was under a mandatory evacuation order. Since the blaze started near Santa Paula on Dec. 4, Santa Ana winds have helped it spread. It has burned more than 242,500 acres, making it California fourth-largest recorded wildfire, unseating the Zaca fire, which scorched 240,207 acres. [ Source: USA Today (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - With the labor market strengthening and economic activity rising at a solid rate, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced the third rate-hike of the year. The announcement explains that jobs gains are solid, unemployment rates have further declined, household spending is expanding and business investment is up. The expected move raises rates by a quarter point to a range of 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent. [ Source: UPI (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The FBI did far more editing of former FBI Director James Comey’s statement on their probe of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private email server than previously known, edits that erased serious concerns the FBI initially had, according to a key senator. In documents provided by Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, there were three major edits to Comey’s statement that seemed to absolve Clinton. The changes included reducing Clinton’s “culpability” in the scandal, removing references to the intelligence community’s role in the probe, and downgrading the likelihood that spies had penetrated Clinton’s private server stuck in the basement of her New York home. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Seven Christians in India have been booked on charges of hurting religious feelings after Hindu extremists savagely beat them when they gathered to pray for a sick man at his home, sources said. Police in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh state on Dec. 4 charged the six Christian men and one woman with "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings" after a mob of about 20 Hindus led by members of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) entered the house porch and attacked those present. The six Christian men were taken into custody, while the woman was not immediately arrested due to the absence of female police required to detain her, sources said. [ Source: Gospel Herald (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Sophisticated weapons the U.S. military secretly provided to Syrian rebels ended up with the Islamic State, a study said Thursday. Conflict Armament Research, a British-based organization, examined 40,000 weapons and other items recovered from the Islamic State from July 2014 to last month -- time which the U.S.-led coalition removed militants from Iraq and Syria. The 201-page report concludes that "international weapon supplies to factions in the Syrian conflict have significantly augmented the quantity and quality of weapons available to IS forces -- in numbers far beyond those that would have been available to group through battlefield capture alone." [ Source: UPI (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The Senate confirmed President Trump’s 19th federal judge Thursday, approving James Ho for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and further bolstering the judicial army that conservatives wanted to build. Mr. Ho, confirmed on a 53-43 vote, becomes the first Asian-American on that appeals court. Democratic Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota joined Republicans in voting for Mr. Ho. He’s the third federal appeals court judge the Senate confirmed this week, and the 19th judge overall. That’s well ahead of the 14 that President Obama had won by the end of his first year, but behind the pace of Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The European Union agreed Thursday to extend sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine. EU Council President Donald Tusk said the 28 EU leaders were in favor of extending the sanctions for another six months during their summit in Brussels. "EU united on roll-over of economic sanctions on Russia," Tusk said. [ Source: UPI (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Foreign ministers from India, Russia and China notably refrained from recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine at their annual meeting in New Delhi this week – seven days after the US recognized the holy city as the capital of Israel. The decision not to restate the position on Jerusalem long-held by all three countries was in marked contrast to their joint call at last year’s meeting in Moscow for a “sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital.” At this year’s 15th annual meeting, their statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stressed support for “an independent, viable, territorially contiguous Palestinian State living side by side in peace and security with Israel within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders,” without mentioning the issue of Jerusalem. The absence of Jerusalem from Tuesday’s statement is particularly striking given the strident opposition to the US move in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Turkey and Iran, both of whom retain close diplomatic and security ties with all three countries, have led the denunciation of the US announcement on Jerusalem. [ Source: Algemeiner (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Theologian and founder of Ligonier Ministries, R.C. Sproul, 78, passed away Wednesday afternoon. "The Sproul family has shared the sad news with us that our founder, Dr. R.C. Sproul, went home to be with the Lord this afternoon. Please pray for the Sprouls," Ligonier Ministries announced on its Facebook page. A story on the Ligonier Ministries web page says Sproul's wife and family were with him when he passed in his hospital room in Altamonte Springs, Florida. [ Source: CBN News (Read More...) ] View the full article