WorthyNewsBot

(Worthy News) - The White House may back the first hike in the federal gasoline tax in decades in order to pay for President Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure package. Trump’s economic adviser Gary Cohn told moderate House lawmakers at a private meeting on Wednesday that they'll get a chance to vote on a gas tax hike early next year as part of an infrastructure bill, according to two lawmakers who were present. The discussion over the fuel tax during the meeting was first reported by Politico Playbook. "Cohn seemed receptive to it," one meeting participant told The Hill. [ Source: The Hill (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Jerusalem authorities will convene next week to approve the construction of 700 homes in two Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. The plans, set to be authorized on Wednesday by the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee, include 500 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo and 200 in nearby Ramot, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman told The Times of Israel Thursday. “We are continuing to build and strengthen Jerusalem. In the 50th year since the reunification of the city, we are uniting Jerusalem with actions on the ground,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Israel is willing to resort to military action to ensure Iran never acquires nuclear weapons, Israel's intelligence minister said on Thursday in Japan where he is drumming up support for U.S. President Donald Trump's tougher line on Tehran. On. Oct. 13, Trump said he would not certify that Iran is complying with an agreement on curtailing its nuclear program, signed by predecessor Barack Obama, opening a 60-day window for Congress to reimpose sanctions. "If international efforts led these days by U.S. President Trump don't help stop Iran from attaining nuclear capabilities, Israel will act militarily by itself," Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said in an interview in Tokyo. "There are changes that can be made [to the agreement] to ensure that they will never have the ability to have a nuclear weapon." [ Source: CBN News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Nearly a year after President Donald Trump's surprise electoral victory, the first step to fulfill the central pillar of his campaign—a promise to build a wall along the country's southern border—has taken shape along the perimeter between San Diego and Mexico. The construction of eight prototypes is complete, and they will now face a battery of tests to see how difficult they will be to climb or breach. Six contractors across the country have met their Oct. 26 deadline to finish work on eight 30-foot models for Trump's border wall in the bustling Otay Mesa border-area between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. [ Source (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The group that led a lawsuit against the IRS for illegally targeting conservative non-profit organizations celebrated the Justice Department's multi-million dollar settlement on Thursday. Mark Meckler, president of Citizens for Self-Governance, hailed the $3.5 million settlement that came "after years of stonewalling." Citizens for Self-Governance spearheaded a lawsuit brought by a coalition of conservative groups that were subjected to enhanced scrutiny from the IRS delaying their approval for non-profit status. The plaintiffs asserted that the agency unconstitutionally policed their freedom of speech and harmed their chances of raising money in order to punish the Obama administration's political opponents. "We all know the IRS unconstitutionally target tea party groups to shut down their political speech in a violation of the First Amendment. That has been unequivocally proven by the statements of IRS employees," he said in a statement. "After years of stonewalling by the federal government, the litigation against the IRS for their unconstitutional behavior has been settled and the targeted groups will receive substantial payments." [ Source: Washington Free Beacon (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - President Donald Trump announced plans on Thursday to combat the surging opioid epidemic in America, beginning a move that would free up resources and loosen regulations to help combat drug deaths, but falling short of his August promise to declare the the epidemic a national emergency. "This crisis of drug use, addiction, and overdose deaths in many years, it's just been so long in the making. Addressing it will require all of our effort, and it will require us to confront the crisis in all of its very real complexity," Trump said. Trump will instruct acting Secretary of Health and Human Services Eric Hargan to designate the opioid epidemic a "public health crisis," stopping short of designating it a "national emergency," as was recommended in July by the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, a blue ribbon panel chaired by Gov. Chris Christie (R., N.J.). View the full article

(Worthy News) - In an ongoing bid by the government of Sudan to take over leadership of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC), police on Sunday (Oct. 22) arrested five SCOC church leaders after they refused to comply with an order to refrain from worship, sources told Morning Star News. Police officers arrived at the SCOC-Harat church in the Hai Al Thawra West area of Omdurman and ordered the Christians to cancel the worship service. Omdurman lies across the Nile River from Khartoum. When the church leaders refused, police arrested them, the sources said. One source told Morning Star News that they were charged with disturbing the public before they were released late last night. Angry police spoke harshly to them during the arrest, threatening that they would not be released, the source said, but after questioning they were released at 11 p.m. [ Source: Morning Star (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A judge failed to show up at a hearing for a pastor facing accusations of child abuse in a case in Zanzibar that Muslims have kept alive after charges were twice dismissed, sources said. Shortly after charges were filed on the semi-autonomous island off the coast of Tanzania in November 2014, police closed the case against pastor Yohana Madai of the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania in Tomondo village, near Zanzibar Town. They cited lack of evidence and witnesses, according to the Pastors Alliance of Zanzibar. The accusers got the case re-opened last April in order to slander the pastor and drain the 70-member church resources, according to the alliance. [ Source (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an Israeli organization that exposes incitement in the Palestinian media, says Youtube is censoring the organization by shutting down their account. "YouTube closed down Palestinian Media Watch's main account, making hundreds of important videos inaccessible to governments, think tanks and media, who find this material of critical importance," the organization said on its website. The closure follows accusations that PMW's content is harmful and dangerous. [ Source: CBN News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Lawyers think they have finally found the smoking gun in the IRS’s tea party targeting scandal: an email from an IRS agent to her supervisors alerting them that the agency was, in fact, singling out some groups’ applications for extreme scrutiny “primarily because of their political party affiliation.” The email was released last month as part of a massive document dump in a class-action lawsuit filed in Ohio by hundreds of conservative groups who were targeted for extra review and intrusive questioning. It contradicts the IRS’s official stance over the years contending that conservative groups were wrongly scrutinized, but it was a result of their behavior, not their politics. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The Justice Department on Wednesday night released a former FBI informant from a confidentiality agreement, allowing him to testify before Congress about what he witnessed undercover about the Russian nuclear industry’s efforts to win favorable decisions during the Obama administration. Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores confirmed to The Hill a deal had been reached clearing the informant to talk to Congress for the first time, nearly eight years after he first went undercover for the FBI. “As of tonight, the Department of Justice has authorized the informant to disclose to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as one member of each of their staffs, any information or documents he has concerning alleged corruption or bribery involving transactions in the uranium market, including but not limited to anything related to Vadim Mikerin, Rosatom, Tenex, Uranium One, or the Clinton Foundation,” she said. [ Source: The Hill (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The Krasnodar, a Russian attack submarine, left the coast of Libya in late May, headed east across the Mediterranean, then slipped undersea, quiet as a mouse. Then, it fired a volley of cruise missiles into Syria. In the days that followed, the diesel-electric sub was pursued by the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, its five accompanying warships, MH-60R Seahawk helicopters and P-8 Poseidon anti-sub jets flying out of Italy. The US and its allies had set out to track the Krasnodar as it moved to its new home in the Black Sea. The missile attack up-ended what had been a routine voyage, and prompted one of the first US efforts to track a Russian sub during combat since the Cold War. Over the next weeks, the sub at points eluded detection in a sea hunt that tested the readiness of Western allies for a new era in naval warfare. [ Source: Wall Street Journal (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - North Korean Choi Kwanghyuk is one of the lucky ones. The 55-year-old managed to escape from the work camp where he was sent after being targeted and persecuted by the government for his Christian faith. “We couldn’t raise our voice during a service, we couldn’t sing out loud during a worship … that was hard,” Choi told Fox News through a translator. “Also, we had to hide so that other people could not see us.” [ Source: Fox News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a message for the world during his opening speech at the 19th Communist Party Congress: China supports an open economy, and it will further liberalize its markets to foreign investors. But while the leadership talks of financial liberalization, some facets of life inside the world's second-largest economy are becoming a lot less free. That's especially true for digital communication inside China. Regulators have moved aggressively to curtail what the country's more than 750 million internet users can or cannot do online. While Beijing has shut out access to Google and Facebook in the past, new restrictions introduced this year have been some of the strictest ever, according to experts. [ Source: CNBC (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and its accompanying strike group of destroyers have left the Middle East, where they had launched airstrikes against ISIS, to back up US forces in the Pacific, the US Navy announced on Wednesday. The Navy says the Nimitz is heading to the Pacific on a previously scheduled visit, but it will be the third carrier in the region joining the USS Ronald Reagan, which stays in Japan year-round, and the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is currently in the Pacific well east of Japan. According to the Navy, the Nimitz just finished three months fighting ISIS, with over 903 bombs dropped. ISIS fighters are now surrendering en masse as US-backed regional forces close in on them. [ Source: Business Insider (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Hezbollah is planning to withdraw its forces from Syria in 2018 in order to bolster its presence along the border with Israel, Lebanese news site Lebanon 24 reported on Tuesday. According to the report, Hezbollah's high command issued a new order mandating that the last remaining Hezbollah fighters must leave Syria in early 2018. For the past five years, Hezbollah forces have been fighting alongside the Syrian military in the country's brutal civil war. It is believed that the Shiite terrorist group, alongside other Iranian-backed militias, helped turned the tide in favor of Syrian President Bashar Assad. [ Source: Israel Hayom (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Ministers will vote Sunday on annexing Israeli local authorities beyond the Green Line to Jerusalem following several long delays. The bill is expected to win the support of the panel and be sent to the Knesset floor for approval. Cabinet ministers were told Wednesday that the so-called "Greater Jerusalem Bill" will be brought to a vote at Sunday's meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who previously delayed the vote on the bill, initially agreed to promote it in July following an attack on the Temple Mount that killed two police officers. But the bill never made it to the panel for a vote. [ Source: Ha'aretz (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee declared on Wednesday that the US had sent an unmistakable message to Iran’s Lebanese Shia proxy, Hezbollah, with the passage by the House of Representatives of three new measures targeting the terrorist organization’s financing and recruitment operations. “Hezbollah is Iran’s leading terrorist proxy, and it is only growing more dangerous,” Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), said in a statement announcing the new measures, which were introduced with bipartisan support. “It now has an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets aimed at Israel and has become battle-hardened while propping up the murderous Assad regime (in Syria) alongside the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).” Royce continued: “Hezbollah has taken hundreds of thousands of lives, including Americans. With the House’s action today, we send a strong message that the United States will not allow this threat to go unchecked. These critical measures will impose new sanctions to crack down on Hezbollah’s financing, and hold it accountable for its acts of death and destruction.” [ Source: Algemeiner (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Connecting Egypt to a new $500 billion Saudi city via a bridge across the Red Sea will require cooperation from Israel, analysts say. Could it one day help integrate the Jewish state with its Arab neighbors? Israel’s 1979 peace treaty with Egypt guarantees it access to the Red Sea’s Straits of Tiran, which the planned bridge and causeway would cross. That makes Israel’s involvement in the project crucial, says Yoram Meital, chairman of the Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies & Diplomacy at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Egypt’s closing of the straits to Israeli shipping in 1967 was one of the central actions that led to that year’s Mideast War. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the project, whose plans were announced Tuesday by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at an international business conference in Riyadh. [ Source (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog will visit Iran on Sunday for talks with senior officials there, as opposition from the United States threatens to undermine an international accord to curtail Iran’s nuclear program. Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will discuss Iran’s implementation of the 2015 agreement, the IAEA said on Wednesday. The visit comes during a dispute between Washington and Tehran over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision this month not to certify Iranian compliance with the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. [ Source: Reuters (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - US Vice President Mike Pence will visit Israel and Egypt in December at President Donald Trump's request, overlapping with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Pence is expected to meet with Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders during his trip to the region, in which he will promote the president's desire for a comprehensive peace agreement. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would declare a national emergency next week on opioid abuse, a move that could give states access to federal funds to fight the drug crisis. "The opioid is a tremendous emergency," Trump told Fox Business network. "Next week, I'm going to (be) declaring an emergency, (a) national emergency on drugs." The United States is battling a growing opioid abuse epidemic that claimed more than 33,000 lives in 2015, more than any year on record, according to federal data. Opioids, primarily prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl - a drug 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine - are fueling the drug overdoses. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Vice President Mike Pence announced Wednesday night that President Trump has ordered the State Department to shut off funding for 'ineffective' United Nations programs to help persecuted Christians in the Middle East, saying the administration will take over those efforts directly. “From this day forward, America will provide support directly to persecuted communities through USAID,” Mr. Pence said at the In Defense of Christians annual solidarity dinner in Washington. “We will no longer rely on the United Nations alone to assist persecuted Christians and minorities in the wake of genocide and the atrocities of terrorist groups.” Saying Christians have been victims of a genocide at the hands of the Islamic State across the Middle East, Mr. Pence said the “sad reality” is that the U.N. spends about $1 billion per year on humanitarian aid in the region that doesn’t help Christians enough. “While faith-based groups with proven track records and deep roots in these communities are more than willing to assist, the United Nations too often denies their funding requests,” Mr. Pence said. “My friends, those days are over. This is the moment. Now is the time. And America will support these people in their hour of need.” [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - On the last night of his Decision Texas Tour in Longview, Texas, Franklin Graham handed down a powerful warning about the state of America. "Our country is in trouble," he said, adding that hatred and division is running rampant. "The Republicans cannot fix our country. I don't care how much the President tries to drain the swamp. I think that swamp is just too big and too deep," he said. "The Republicans aren't going to be able to fix it. The Democrats aren't going to be able to fix it. The only person who can fix the problems of this nation is God. [ Source: CBN News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Actor and producer Kirk Cameron is once again shining a light on faith with a national night of prayer and worship. "Revive Us 2" will air LIVE at more than 800 movie theaters across the country Tuesday night. "One year ago at 'Revive Us,' over 150,000 believers gathered in theaters across America for a national family meeting," Cameron said in a promotional video. "We prayed. We worshiped. We put our faith into action and something remarkable happened." [ Source: CBN News (Read More...) ] View the full article