WorthyNewsBot

(Worthy News) - The Ohio Senate passed the Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act this week. It prohibits abortion based solely on a doctor's diagnosis of Down Syndrome. The bill would make performing abortions based solely on the basis of a Down Syndrome diagnosis, a fourth-degree felony. It also gives the power to the state medical board to revoke a doctor's license if convicted. The Ohio House passed a similar bill two weeks ago. [ Source: CBN News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A family in Rockhouse, Kentucky, lost absolutely everything during a horrific fire this week — everything aside from one prized possession: a Bible. The family went out for a doctor appointment and came back to their beloved house engulfed in flames, as oxygen tanks that were inside reportedly helped fuel the fire, according to WYMT-TV. "It just went," Alisha Clevinger, daughter-in-law of homeowner John Clevinger, told the outlet. "It was gone in no time." [ Source: CBN News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The Methodist Church in Great Britain has its first transgender minister. Joy Everingham, a chaplain at the University of Kent Canterbury, has two sons and a wife named Ruth. The 46-year-old minister also is undergoing a transitioning process that involves hormone therapy and wearing women’s clothing full-time — all approved by church leaders. “People sat down and started reading [my letter on transition], and then I could see them looking up and around,” the minister said, Kent Online reported Friday. “I was scared to death, but people kept coming up to me and saying ‘well done.’ A couple of people didn’t speak to me for a bit, but they had to work it out for themselves. I was expecting it to be a long hard trek to justify who I was, but it’s not been like that.” [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - An Israeli cabinet minister said on Sunday that Israel has had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia amid common concerns over Iran, a first disclosure by a senior Israeli official of such contacts. In an interview on Army Radio, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz was asked why Israel was hiding its ties with Saudi Arabia. Steinitz replied: "We have ties that are indeed partly covert with many Muslim and Arab countries, and usually (we are) the party that is not ashamed. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Israeli tank units in the Golan Heights fired a warning shot at a Syrian army position inside a no-man’s land along the Israeli-Syrian frontier Sunday evening. The Syrian position was illegally occupied inside the slender buffer zone which separates the Israeli and Syrian-held portions of the Golan Heights. The buffer zone was created as part of the cease-fire agreement which ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In 1974, the two powers signed the Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria, creating a narrow slice of neutral territory where both sides were prohibited to station military forces. A United Nations force, the UN Disengagement Observer Force, was charged with monitoring the buffer zone. [ Source: Arutz Sheva (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A Palestinian terrorist rammed his car into two people, seriously injuring one of them, before getting shot while trying to stab soldiers in the central West Bank on Friday morning, the army said. The driver of the vehicle, who has yet to be named, rammed his car into the first victim, a 70-year-old man, who sustained a light head wound, at the Efrat South junction, medics said. He continued down the road to the nearby Gush Etzion Junction where he hit another Israeli man, 35, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.[ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Gadi Eisenkot has offered to share Israeli intelligence about Iran with Saudi Arabia, in remarks published in a rare interview with a Saudi newspaper published in London. “We are ready to exchange experiences with Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab countries and exchange intelligence information to confront Iran,” Eisenkot told the Elaph newspaper, adding, “There are many shared interests between us and Saudi Arabia.” “The Iranian plan is to control the Middle East by means of two Shi’ite crescents,” Eisenkot told Elaph, “the first being from Iran through Iraq to Syria and Lebanon and the second across the Gulf from Bahrain to Yemen to the Red Sea. We must stop that from happening.”[ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - In a victory for religious liberty advocates, the House voted to include a repeal of the Johnson Amendment in their tax cut bill that passed the House Thursday. Congressman Jody Hice, R - Georgia, co sponsor of the Free Speech Fairness Act, tells CBN News when he was a Baptist pastor he personally faced intimidation from the IRS and it's time to "liberate churches." "This is a major step for religious liberty," says Hice. "I have personally been the recipient of the other side of this Johnson Amendment and faced the intimidation and the fear and I know hundreds and hundreds of other pastors have as well. So it's time that we get this right and we liberate churches and other non-profit leaders to be able to speak without fear of their government." [ Source: CBN News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Not only would houses of worship be able to more actively promote political candidates, but so would non-profit groups under a section inserted into the House tax bill an hour before it was due for a key vote. The last-minute change affecting the so-called Johnson amendment was tucked into a 292-page “manager’s amendment” to the GOP tax plan by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady, R-Texas. The House will vote on the entire tax plan next week. It’s expected to pass easily. The change pleased faith-based conservatives and infuriated campaign finance reformers and groups advocating separation of church and state. [ Source: The News Tribune (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Sen. Al Franken apologized to the TV host and sportscaster who accused the Minnesota Democrat of kissing and groping her without her consent – and promised to cooperate with any investigation into the 2006 incident. "I am asking that an ethics investigation be undertaken, and I will gladly cooperate,” Franken said in a statement Thursday. Hours earlier, Leeann Tweeden wrote an online post describing how Franken, while they were on a USO tour in the Middle East to entertain U.S. troops, "put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth." [ Source: USA Today (Read More...) ] I’ve decided it’s time to tell my story. #MeToohttps://t.co/TqTgfvzkZg — Leeann Tweeden (@LeeannTweeden) November 16, 2017 View the full article

(Worthy News) - A FBI informant who gave the government information about a Russian bribery plot implicated in the sale of U.S. uranium rights tried unsuccessfully last year to recover upwards of $700,000 in bribes he said he was authorized to pay as part of the FBI investigation. William D. Campbell has emerged now as the key figure in a congressional probe into Russia’s 2010 purchase of U.S. uranium rights and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s role in approving the deal. The Senate Judiciary Committee, House Intelligence Committee and House Oversight Committee have all begun to probe the circumstances of Rosatom’s purchase of Canadian mining companyUranium One, which had mining rights in the U.S. Investigators have questioned whether the American agencies that signed off on the sale, including the State Department, were ever made aware of the FBI’s ongoing investigation of Mikerin and Tenex. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A handful of House Democrats officially introduced Wednesday five articles of impeachment against President Trump, accusing him of everything from breaking the Constitution’s emoluments clause to being mean in his tweets about the press. Led by Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, the Democrats say Mr. Trump has obstructed justice in his dealings with then-FBI Director James B. Comey, and his businesses are taking money in ways that are illegal under two parts of the Constitution. The lawmakers also said Mr. Trump has undermined the judiciary by using his pardon powers on former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and that he has hurt the First Amendment by berating news outlets or calling them “fake.” [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - With spines stiffened by a presidential pep talk, House Republicans easily approved a $1.4 trillion tax cut Thursday, taking the first big step toward a decades-overdue overhaul that Republicans hope will send the economy soaring and win back wavering voters. Desperate for a legislative win, Republicans brushed aside Democrats’ warnings that the bill will be seen as a sop to the wealthy instead of the boost to the middle class that President Trump promised. The 227-205 vote marks the first major step, but Republicans still have a number of hills to climb. The Senate plans to pass its own version after Thanksgiving, and then the measures need to be squared with each other. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Embattled Senate candidate Roy Moore, bolstered by the support of top Alabama Republicans, dug in Thursday against calls for him to withdraw from a December special election because of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. The 70-year-old retired judge attempted to shield himself from political fallout by raising fresh revelations of sexual misconduct against Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and by labeling the charges against him a conspiracy hatched by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “This is an effort by Mitch McConnell and his cronies, to steal this election from the people of Alabama, and they will not stand for it,” Moore said during news conference, flanked by religious leaders from around the country supporting his campaign. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill designed to address failures in the FBI's gun background check system on Thursday. The Fix NICS Act would implement punishments for federal agencies that fail to comply with criminal reporting requirements, including prohibiting bonuses for political appointees at failing agencies. It would reward states that properly report records with federal grant preferences and incentives. It would also require the attorney general to produce a semi-annual report on whether or not federal agencies are complying with reporting requirements. The eight senators attached to the legislation—John Cornyn (R., Tex.), Chris Murphy (D., Conn.), Tim Scott (R., S.C.), Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), Dean Heller (R., Nev.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.)—said it is an important step to preventing further lapses in the gun background check system like the one that allowed the Texas church shooter to obtain his guns. [ Source: Washington Free Beacon (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Satellite images taken this month of a North Korean naval shipyard indicate Pyongyang is pursuing an "aggressive schedule" to build its first operational ballistic missile submarine, a US institute reported on Thursday. Washington-based 38 North, a North Korea monitoring project, cited images taken on November 5 showing activity at North Korea's Sinpo South Shipyard. "The presence of what appear to be sections of a submarine's pressure hull in the yards suggests construction of a new submarine, possibly the SINPO-C ballistic missile submarine - the follow-on to the current SINPO-class experimental ballistic missile submarine," 38 North said in a report. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Students at a Christian elementary school in eastern Uganda fear for their lives after a Muslim posing as a Christian teacher attacked the school director, sources said. Some of the children at Hope of Glory International Nursery and Primary School have been afraid to return to class after Mugooda Siraji attacked school director Hassan Muwanguzi on Nov. 4, according to head teacher Eric Kakonge. The school is located in Kabuna village, Budaka District. Siraji struck the school director days after school board leaders asked him to take a leave of absence when they learned he had misrepresented himself and was trying to teach the children how to practice Islam, Kakonge said. [ Source: Morningstar News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - British leaders envision a free-trade bonanza from Brexit. But they face some thorny challenges in just keeping the global trade benefits Britain already enjoys as a European Union member. The EU has dozens of regional or bilateral free-trade agreements covering more than 60 countries. These stretch from broad, stand-alone deals with large economies like South Korea to looser partnerships with smaller neighbors, including Tunisia and Algeria. Keeping most of these pacts alive after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019 is a strategic goal for the U.K., which has put expanding global trade at the center of its post-EU economic plan. It is also important economically. Around 13% of U.K. trade is with countries covered by an EU trade deal, including 10 of the U.K.’s top 50 export markets. More than 40% is with the EU. Other big partners such as Canada and Japan are subject to accords with the EU that Brussels is implementing or finishing. [ Source: Wall St. Journal (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Russia used its U.N. Security Council veto power on Thursday to stop a U.S.-drafted resolution that would have extended an investigation into allegations that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own people earlier this year. Russia's veto came hours after President Donald Trump encouraged the U.N. Security Council to pass the resolution. "Need all on the UN Security Council to vote to renew the Joint Investigative Mechanism for Syria to ensure that Assad Regime does not commit mass murder with chemical weapons ever again," Trump tweeted. [ Source: UPI (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A Republican-led House panel delivered a blunt bipartisan warning to Qatar on Wednesday, backing legislation that would slap sanctions on any countries or individuals providing financial and material support to the Islamic militant group Hamas. The Foreign Affairs Committee passed the bill by voice vote, setting the stage for the full House to consider the measure. The bill specifically criticized Qatar for having backed Hamas and hosting senior members of the militant group. The legislation cited a March 2014 Treasury Department report that said Qatar “has for many years openly financed Hamas.” Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain broke ties with Qatar earlier this year over allegations the Persian Gulf country funds terrorism. President Donald Trump echoed the accusation. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Six Russian long-range bombers struck Islamic State targets near the town of Albu Kamal in Syria’s Deir al-Zor Province on Wednesday, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement. The TU-22M3 bombers took off from bases in Russia and overflew Iran and Iraq before launching the strike, it said. The ministry said the planes had bombed Islamic State supply depots, militants, and armored vehicles and that satellite and drone surveillance had confirmed that all of the designated targets had been destroyed. [ Source: Reuters (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A former executive at Google has filed paperwork with the IRS to establish an official religion of technology. This religion doesn't just worship scientific progress, but artificial intelligence itself, with the goal of creating a godhead. The new church of AI will aim "to develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence and through understanding and worship of the Godhead [to] contribute to the betterment of society," according to IRS documents. The non-profit religious organization would be called "Way of the Future" (WOTF). According to the website (wayofthefuture.church), the movement is "about creating a peaceful and respectful transition of who is in charge of the planet from people to people + 'machines.'" [ Source: PJ Media (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The United States is calling for a vote Thursday on a resolution that would extend the mandate of experts working to determine who was responsible for chemical attacks in Syria, which is likely to face Russian opposition. A rival Russian resolution opposed by the U.S. and other Security Council members is also expected to be put to a vote. The result is likely to be that neither resolution is adopted and the Joint Investigative Mechanism will cease operations when its mandate expires at midnight Thursday. This would be a blow to efforts to hold those responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria accountable. [ Source: Fox News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday declared a state of mourning after a freak overnight downpour with the force of a "waterfall" flooded three towns near Athens, killing at least 15 people. "At this time, declaring a state of national mourning over this great tragedy is the least we can do," Tsipras said in a televised address. "I pledge that we will stand next to the families of the victims with all the means at our disposal," he added. [ Source: UK Telegraph (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A US man with Hunter syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, has become the first human patient to trial a gene-editing treatment inside his body. Scientists acknowledge that gene-editing procedures carry potential risks, but there is huge potential too for better treatments for patients in future. Brian Madeux, a 44-year-old man with the inherited metabolic disorder, has had 26 surgeries to treat his symptoms, and said he has a lot of hope for this new treatment. [ Source: ABC News (Read More...) ] View the full article