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(Worthy News) - As the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria comes to a close, U.S. military and counterterrorism officials are setting their sights on the group’s growing presence in the war-torn country of Yemen. The number of U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State’s Yemeni faction has increased in the past several weeks as the mission for American drones and warplanes against the group’s bastions elsewhere in the Middle East ramp down. A trio of deadly strikes this month against Islamic State training camps in Yemen marks a refocus by American counterterrorism forces back onto the Gulf state that has been a regular target of U.S. forces battling the al Qaeda faction known as al Qaeda in the Arabic Peninsula, or AQAP, for the past two decades. But strikes in the country this month are the first time Washington has gone after the Islamic State inside Yemen. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the presidential election last year dropped two bombshells Monday, announcing a guilty plea from a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russian operatives, and unsealing charges of money laundering and tax evasion against two top Trump campaign figures. George Papadopoulos, the foreign policy adviser, admitted he had been in touch with Russian-connected figures trying to arrange a meeting between candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and sought to dig up “dirt” on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. At one point, a Russian-connected operative said they had “thousands of emails” on Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Papadopoulos was arrested in July and pleaded guilty in early October, but the charges and plea were not unsealed until Monday. His attorneys said in a court document that he had been cooperating with investigators to offer information and documents to prosecutors in exchange for dropping an obstruction of justice charge. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Saudi Arabia plans to extract uranium domestically as part of its nuclear power program and sees this as a step towards “self-sufficiency” in producing atomic fuel, a senior official said on Monday. Extracting its own uranium also makes sense from an economic point of view, said Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani, head of the Saudi government agency tasked with the nuclear plans, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE). In a speech at an international nuclear power conference in Abu Dhabi, he did not specify whether Saudi Arabia seeks to also enrich and reprocess uranium – steps in the fuel cycle which are especially sensitive as they can open up the possibility of military uses of the material. [ Source: Reuters (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A federal judge in Washington on Monday blocked President Donald Trump from banning transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, handing a victory to transgender service members who accused the president of violating their constitutional rights. Trump announced in July that he would ban transgender people from the military in a move that would reverse Democratic former President Barack Obama’s policy of accepting them and halt years of efforts to eliminate barriers to military service based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The transgender service members sued in August to try to block the ban, which had not yet gone into effect, and U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted them an injunction halting enforcement of it until their case is resolved. [ Source: Reuters (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Former president Barack Obama’s official campaign organization has directed nearly a million dollars to the same law firm that funneled money to Fusion GPS, the firm behind the infamous Steele dossier. Since April of 2016, Obama For America (OFA) has paid over $972,000 to Perkins Coie, records filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show. The Washington Post reported last week that Perkins Coie, an international law firm, was directed by both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s campaign to retain Fusion GPS in April of 2016 to dig up dirt on then-candidate Donald Trump. Fusion GPS then hired Christopher Steele, a former British spy, to compile a dossier of allegations that Trump and his campaign actively colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 election. Though many of the claims in the dossier have been directly refuted, none of the dossier’s allegations of collusion have been independently verified. Lawyers for Steele admitted in court filings last April that his work was not verified and was never meant to be made public. OFA, Obama’s official campaign arm in 2016, paid nearly $800,000 to Perkins Coie in 2016 alone, according to FEC records. The first 2016 payments to Perkins Coie, classified only as “Legal Services,” were made April 25-26, 2016, and totaled $98,047. A second batch of payments, also classified as “Legal Services,” were disbursed to the law firm on September 29, 2016, and totaled exactly $700,000. Payments from OFA to Perkins Coie in 2017 totaled $174,725 through August 22, 2017. [ Source: The Federalist (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The Israeli Airforce is pulling no stops as it makes sure that the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters will be fully integrated and operational by December of this year. The work is conducted with a keen eye on how to deliver intelligence detected by the jet to the relevant units in the IAF and beyond. The F-35 is often hailed as a jet that claims to do, and might achieve, the impossible – to take off vertically when there’s no rundown for lift off, to fly undetected by enemy radars and if needed, to subdue any enemy pilot foolish enough to challenge it to a dogfight. While the other pilot has to read various screens while sitting in the cockpit the F-35 pilot enjoys a unique augmented reality helmet that allows him or her to see through the entire plane, making split-second decisions and reflexes a little smoother and faster. Which could make all the difference in high-intensity air-combat. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon on Sunday blasted the discovery of a tunnel underneath a Gaza school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, accusing the Hamas terror organization of using UNRWA facilities as “terror bases” and Gazan children as “human shields.” “Yet another terror tunnel under an UNRWA schoolyard. This is what Hamas rule looks like and this is more proof of the double war crime committed as terror tunnels are built to attack Israelis, while using the children of Gaza as human shields,” said Danon in a statement. “We cannot accept a situation in which UNRWA schools are used as terror bases. This dangerous incident must not be ignored and strict oversight is needed to ensure that UN facilities are not used to protect terrorists,” he added. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Russia has conducted a test launch of its Satan 2 nuclear missile, the country's defence ministry said. The rocket was fired from the Plestek Cosmodrome spaceport, roughly 500 miles north of Moscow, officials said. The missile, also known as RS-28 Sarmat, travelled 3,600 miles before hitting its target on the Kura test range, an intercontinental ballistic missile impact area in the Russian Far East. The weapon is said to be capable of carrying 12 nuclear warheads and could wipe out a whole country with a single strike. [ Source: UK Independent (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A report by Chinese human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gao Zhisheng has been smuggled out of China, and it reveals the magnitude and intensity of religious persecution that continues in the communist country. ChinaAid, the Human Rights Foundation, and Christian Solidarity Worldwide translated and edited the report, which they released last week. Gao himself is in state custody somewhere in Beijing after being kidnapped from his home in August, but his report details how the government under President Xi Jinping violently suppresses religious groups, primarily Christians and practitioners of Falun Gong. "In comparison to 2015, in 2016 the [Communist Party of China] conspicuously intensified its control and suppression of religious faith, especially targeting Christianity and Falun Gong," Gao wrote. "The external environment for religious faith hit a new low in 2016 after 30 years of suppression." [ Source:Washington Free Beacon (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Facebook shut down two Christian ministry pages this month, without warning or explanation, renewing fears about the social media giant’s ability to control access to an important corner of today’s public square. A Facebook media representative said due to privacy issues she could not discuss details about the company’s actions against The Tree of Life Outreach and Sheologians. The representative also refused to speak on the record about company protocol for denying administrative access and what constitutes a violation of Facebook’s community standards. On Oct. 3, Facebook blocked administrative access to all Pastor Ron Cusano’s pages, including The Tree of Life Outreach page he uses to conduct Bible studies for house churches in Pakistan, India, and Africa. Facebook “kicked out” all Sheologians administrators from their personal accounts Oct. 13, preventing them from accessing their page, Sheologians founder Summer White told me. Facebook offered no explanation other than a notification saying the page’s content may have violated community standards. [ Source: Christian Headlines (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, paid a secret visit to Saudi Arabia last week in his latest effort to restart Mideast peace talks. Kushner also briefly traveled to Israel, Jordan and Egypt during his four-day foray in the region, a White House official told Politico on Sunday. He was joined by Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategy Dina Powell and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt. The White House declined to give further details on his visit, only saying in a statement that Kushner, Powell and Greenblatt “recently returned from Saudi Arabia.” The statement added that Kusher was in “frequent contact” with Israeli, Palestinian and other regional leaders. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Iran’s nuclear program chief said Sunday that his country can begin producing weapons-grade nuclear material in just four days if the nuclear deal with foreign powers falls through, and stressed that international inspectors will not be given access to closed Iranian military sites. Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, said that while Tehran prefers to keep the landmark nuclear agreement intact the Fordo site can quickly begin ramping up uranium enrichment. “We can produce 20% (enriched uranium) at Fordo in 4 days but we don’t want the nuclear deal to collapse,” Salehi told reporters, according to an English translation of his comments provided by the semi-official Fars news agency. He spoke to media after a joint press conference with the visiting director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, in Tehran. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The government has sacked two security officials over their failure to prevent repeated attacks in Somalia's capital. Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for this weekend's terrorist attack, broadcasting a statement on its Andalus radio station saying its "Mujahedeen fighters" were targeting "apostate officials". Police described a "hellish" gun battle on Saturday night as security forces stormed the building, with one officer confirming there were at least 29 deaths this morning and warning the number may rise. [ Source: Sky News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Republican senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said repealing the Obamacare individual mandate would save $300 billion over the next 10 years. Cotton, along with Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), introduced a bill that would exempt Americans who earn less than the national median household income from paying the penalty for not having health insurance. "I have a modest proposal for the soon-to-be-released tax legislation: Repeal Obamacare's individual mandate," Cotton tweeted. "Repealing individual mandates saves $300 billion over 10 years. CBO said so during health care debate last summer." [ Source: Washington Free Beacon (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The more frequently a household attends worship services, the more likely its members donate to religious institutions, and give generously, new research shows. “Most strikingly, those attending religious services once a month or more make an average annual religious contribution of $1,848, while those attending religious services less than once a month donate $111,” says the report from Giving USA. The report, released Tuesday (Oct. 24), draws on data from the University of Michigan’s Philanthropy Panel Study. “Giving to religion,” as defined by the Chicago-based Giving USA Foundation, includes contributions to congregations, religious media, denominations and mission organizations. It does not include faith-related institutions such as the Salvation Army, the University of Notre Dame, global relief organization World Vision, Catholic hospitals or Jewish foundations. [ Source (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Opponents outnumbered white nationalists Saturday in peaceful "White Lives Matter" rallies in Tennessee that were punctuated by taunts and chants from both sides. In Shelbyville, the site of the first rally, some 200 white nationalists — met by nearly twice as many counter protesters — carried a Confederate flag and chanted for closed borders and deportations at a mid-morning gathering. As Brian Culpepper of the National Socialist Movement took the microphone to speak, counter protesters played Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech over their own speaker system, largely drowning out Culpepper's words. At one point, counter protesters' shouts of "Black Lives Matter" were met by white nationalist chants of "blood and soil." [ Source: USA Today (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Hundreds of thousands of supporters of a unified Spain filled Barcelona’s streets on Sunday in one of the biggest shows of force yet by the so-called silent majority that has watched as regional political leaders push for Catalan independence. Political parties opposing a split by Catalonia from Spain had a small lead in an opinion poll published on Sunday, the first since Madrid called a regional election to try to resolve the country’s worst political crisis in four decades. Polls and recent elections have shown that about half the electorate in the wealthy northeastern region, which is already autonomous, oppose secession from Spain, but a vocal independence movement has brought the current crisis to a head. [ Source: Reuters (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The Trump administration is “discouraging” any further action on a controversial Israeli bill regarding the status of greater Jerusalem, fearing it would harm its peace effort toward a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian settlement, a senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. “It’s fair to say that the US is discouraging actions that it believes will unduly distract the principals from focusing on the advancement of peace negotiations,” the official said. “The Jerusalem expansion bill was considered by the Administration to be one of those actions.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed an initial vote planned for Sunday on the measure, which would have annexed 19 Israeli settlements around the capital city. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - President Donald Trump’s plan for overhauling the U.S. tax system faced growing opposition from interest groups on Sunday, as Republicans prepare to unveil sweeping legislation that could eliminate some of the most popular tax breaks to help pay for lower taxes. Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives will not reveal their bill until Wednesday. But the National Association of Home Builders, a powerful housing industry trade group, is already vowing to defeat it over a change that could affect the use of home mortgage deductions, while Republican leaders try to head off opposition to possible changes to individual retirement savings and state and local tax payments. Trump and Republicans have vowed to enact tax reform this year for the first time since 1986. But the plan to deliver up to $6 trillion in tax cuts for businesses and individuals faces challenges even from rank-and-file House Republicans. [ Source (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Russia conducted several ballistic missile tests on October 26 from "land, air and sea" as part of its strategic nuclear program, the Defense Ministry said. A Topol intercontinental ballistic missile was fired from the Plesetsk testing ground in northwestern Russia, the ministry said in a statement. Three ballistic missiles were launched by two nuclear missile submarines (SSBNs), two from the Okhotsk Sea, north of Japan, and one from the Barents Sea, in the Arctic Ocean. [ Source: RadioFreeEurope (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - North Korea continues to imprison, execute and torture Christians but opportunities are opening to weaken the totalitarian regime's grip, politicians, religious leaders and religious freedom charities heard on Wednesday. Speakers at the International Prayer Day for North Korea, hosted in Westminster, warned 'darkness covers the entire society' and urged Christians to act. Zoe Smith, head of advocacy at the persecution charity Open Doors, said North Korea, like the Berlin Wall, could collapse and the prayers of Christians were vital. [ Source: Christian Today (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - By a narrow margin, more voters think Puerto Rico should become a state than think it should stay a territory. According to the latest Fox News Poll, 41 percent say Puerto Rico should become the 51st star on the flag. That’s an 11-point increase since the last time the question was asked in June 2007, when 30 percent opted for statehood. Some 37 percent think the island should continue as a territory, down 9 points from June 2007 (46 percent). Nine percent think Puerto Rico should declare independence. [ Source: Fox News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Will Graham, the grandson Billy Graham, preached the Gospel to tens of thousands of Romanians this weekend, making him the third generation of Grahams to preach in the country. More than 32,000 people flooded Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the country's second largest city to hear Graham's message of hope. "Jesus is Truth; the truth that you're looking for. He's the answer to your problems. You'll never regret giving your life to Him," Graham told the crowd. "I'm here to tell you that your Heavenly Father loves you and is ready for you to come home!" [ Source: CBN News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A U.S. judge on Thursday struck down two abortion restrictions in Alabama that limited how close clinics can be to public schools and banned a procedure used to terminate pregnancies in the second trimester. The decision is a blow to abortion opponents in Alabama, who have joined conservatives in other states in enacting new laws that critics said were chipping away at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in the Middle District of Alabama found the laws unconstitutional and permanently enjoined the state from enforcing the measures, which were signed into law in May 2016 by former Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, a Republican. [ Source (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad is to blame for a chemical attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of people last April, according to a report sent to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday. “The Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April 2017,” the report from the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) said. The attack prompted a U.S. missile strike against a Syrian air base which Washington said was used to launch the strike. [ Source: Reuters (Read More...) ] View the full article