WorthyNewsBot

(Worthy News) - The United States said on Tuesday it has not observed any meaningful withdrawal of Russian combat forces from Syria, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement on Monday of a significant pullout. "There have been no meaningful reductions in combat troops following Russia's previous announcements planned departures from Syria," said Marine Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - US President Donald Trump said Monday that a bomb attack by a 27-year-old from Bangladesh on New York’s subway system underscored the “urgent need” for Congress to enact immigration reform. Three people were slightly injured after the attacker’s pipe bomb exploded only partially, while the suspect was sent to a hospital with apparently severe burns and wounds on his torso and hands. “First and foremost, as I have been saying since I first announced my candidacy for president, America must fix its lax immigration system, which allows far too many dangerous, inadequately vetted people to access our country,” Trump said in a statement. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Israeli forces attacked Hamas targets in the northern Gaza Strip early Tuesday after Palestinians fired a rocket toward the southern city of Ashkelon, the army said. The rocket was intercepted by an Iron Dome anti-missile battery. After the rocket fire, Israeli aircraft and a tank attacked Hamas sites in the Strip, the army said, noting that it holds the terror group, which runs Gaza, responsible for all rocket attacks. This was the second round of Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli responses in the day. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital will hasten the country's destruction, Iran's defense minister said Monday. Leaders of Iran, where opposition to Israel and support for the Palestinian cause has been central to foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution, have denounced last week's announcement by the US president, including a plan to move the US embassy to the city. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. "(Trump's) step will hasten the destruction of the Zionist regime and will double the unity of Muslims," Iran's defense minister, Brigadier General Amir Hatami, said on Monday, according to state media. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday intensified efforts to rally Middle Eastern countries against US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, setting up talks with Arab leaders beginning in Cairo. Abbas will meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, which has been a key broker in past peace talks with Israel and between fighting Palestinian factions, before heading for Istanbul to give a speech, his office said. Arab states condemned US President Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision last week, and vowed to press international bodies to take action against it, without announcing any concrete measures. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Egypt on Monday, where he signed a deal to advance plans for a nuclear reactor but disappointed his hosts by delaying the resumption of direct flights that were suspended after the 2015 bombing of a Russian passenger plane. During Putin’s second visit to Egypt in as many years, he and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi appeared keen to cement their countries’ ties, which have deepened in recent years as Moscow has expanded its reach across the region. “Russia always paid a special attention to expanding friendly and mutually beneficial ties with Egypt, our longtime reliable partner in the Middle East and North Africa,” Putin said. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - House Republicans on Monday urged congressional leaders to include the repeal of Obamacare's individual mandate penalty in the final version of the tax bill. "Including language to repeal this harmful policy will return personal decisions about healthcare choices to patients, fulfilling a key promise we have made to the American people," nearly 70 House Republicans wrote in a letter to leading negotiators of the tax bill, called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. They called the individual mandate the "worst example of the federal government violating individual freedom and liberty." The Senate version of the bill includes the repeal of the individual mandate penalties, which require Americans to buy insurance or pay a fine. The House did not include the repeal it its version because House leaders were concerned at the time that the Senate wouldn't be able to pass it, citing failed attempts by the upper chamber this summer. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Evangelist Franklin Graham said that multitudes responded to Jesus Christ during his two-day evangelistic crusade in Vietnam, and argued that the Communist government there is starting to warm up to Christianity. "I just concluded a Crusade in Hanoi. This is the first time an evangelistic event like this has been held in the northern part of Vietnam. A tremendous crowd came on Saturday night, and in addition to the full sports complex, people watched outside on giant screens," Graham said on his Facebook page Saturday. "Some 400 buses brought loads of people to hear the Gospel message. We rejoice that so many responded to God's offer of salvation and new life through repentance and faith in His Son, Jesus Christ." [ Source: Christian Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A Christian student group that requires its leaders to pledge to uphold core values like avoiding “sexual immorality” sued the University of Iowa Monday after the school kicked it off campus. Business Leaders in Christ (BLinC) makes all of its student leaders vow to uphold the group’s faith statement, which says they “should conduct their careers without the greed, racism, sexual immorality, and selfishness that all too often arise in business, political, and cultural institutions.” The University of Iowa pulled their group registration after one student said he wasn’t selected for a leadership position because he is openly gay. The group, though, said the man was rejected because he opposed the group’s core ideals. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Berating and slapping two pastors into signing an apology letter before police, Hindu extremists stopped a planned three-day gospel meeting in Chhattisgarh state, India minutes before it was to begin, sources said. Hindu nationalists beat pastor Vijay Jogi and pastor Santosh Rao minutes before the start of the first meeting, where about 1,000 people had gathered at the Railway Grounds in Charoda, Durg District on Nov. 16, pastor Amos James told Morning Star News. “Pastor Vijay Jogi and Pastor Santosh Rao were receiving the people at the entrance,” Pastor James said. “Suddenly a mob of 70 Hindu Dharm Sena and Bajrang Dal activists gheraoed [encircled] the entrance, and Pastor Jogi and Pastor Rao were beaten and summoned to the police station.” [ Source: Morningstar News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Congress is about to miss what was widely seen as a deadline to deal with President Trump’s demands for a harder line on the Iran nuclear deal, failing to agree on new sanctions against Tehran and punting the future of the deal back to Mr. Trump. A Republican legislative push to establish new “triggers” that could reimpose harsh sanctions on Iran lifted under the Obama-era deal has gone nowhere ahead of Tuesday — the end of a 60-day unofficial deadline set by the administration for Capitol Hill to weigh in on the situation after Mr. Trump declared he could no longer certify that the accord was in the U.S. national interest. Congressional aides say lawmakers still have time to propose something before Mr. Trump is mandated to decide again whether to weigh in on the deal, but White House aides say the president is rankled by the lack of progress on Capitol Hill and likely will pull the United States out of the deal entirely when it comes up for review on Jan. 13. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Russian President Vladimir Putin declared victory against "terrorists" in Syria on Monday during a surprise visit to a Russian military base in the county, where he also announced a partial pullout of Russian troops. It was Mr. Putin's first trip to Syria, where Russia launched an air campaign in 2015 that allowed President Bashar Assad's forces to gain the upper hand against the Islamic State group as well as Syrian rebels. It was also the first visit by a foreign head of state to war-ravaged Syria since the civil war began in 2011. Putin's brief stop at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria's coastal province of Latakia while en route to Egypt came days after the Russian president said he would run for re-election on March 18, and helped to show off Moscow's global clout to the national audience. [ Source: CS Monitor (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - A Bangladeshi man reportedly inspired by ISIS set off a pipe bomb inside New York's Port Authority bus terminal during rush hour Monday morning, sowing mass chaos but causing few injuries -- likely because the "attempted terrorist" detonated his "low tech device" prematurely. Akayed Ullah, 27, set off the "effectively low tech device" in a subway passageway just before 7:30 a.m., New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a news conference. Ullah suffered burns and wounds to his body and appeared to be the only person seriously injured in the pipe bomb explosion, authorities said. At least three other people suffered minor injuries, including ringing in the ears and headaches. [ Source: Fox News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces renewed pressure from Europe on Monday to reboot the Middle East’s moribund peace process following widespread criticism of the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s capital. Netanyahu will be in Brussels for an informal breakfast with EU foreign ministers who will urge him to “resume meaningful negotiations,” according to the bloc’s diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini. The talks come after French President Emmanuel Macron met Netanyahu in Paris on Sunday and called on him to freeze settlement building and to re-engage with Palestinians following widespread protests over the US move. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces renewed pressure from Europe on Monday to reboot the Middle East’s moribund peace process following widespread criticism of the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s capital. Netanyahu will be in Brussels for an informal breakfast with EU foreign ministers who will urge him to “resume meaningful negotiations,” according to the bloc’s diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini. The talks come after French President Emmanuel Macron met Netanyahu in Paris on Sunday and called on him to freeze settlement building and to re-engage with Palestinians following widespread protests over the US move. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The country's first all-LGBT city council was sworn in this week in California, CBS Los Angeles reports. The history-making council's newest members – Lisa Middleton, the first transgender person elected to a non-judicial office in California; and Christy Holstege, an attorney who identifies as bisexual – were sworn in during Wednesday night's meeting of the Palm Springs City Council. Middleton and Holstege now replace Ginny Foat and Chris Mills, who announced earlier this year that they would not seek re-election. [ Source: CBS News (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The Palestinians are pushing for a UN Security Council resolution demanding that the US rescind its declaration that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. Fourteen of the council’s 15 members condemned the move in an emergency meeting in New York on Friday, which was also attended by Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and PLO Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour. “We will come back to the Security Council,” Mansour said. Movement on a Jerusalem resolution will be taken after Saturday’s meeting of the Arab League in Cairo and Wednesday’s summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Turkey, he said. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The House-Senate conference committee working to finalize a tax bill will meet publicly Wednesday to work on the final version of the legislation, chairman Kevin Brady of Texas announced Friday, and GOP members are also expected to work through the weekend to reach an agreement. "The House and the Senate are working together now on a unified, pro-growth tax reform bill that will deliver more jobs, fairer taxes, and bigger paychecks," Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in addition to the conference committee, said in a statement. "Our open meeting will be an opportunity for the conferees to discuss our best, most pro-growth tax reform ideas that will help improve the lives of all Americans." [ Source; Washington Examiner (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The House-Senate conference committee working to finalize a tax bill will meet publicly Wednesday to work on the final version of the legislation, chairman Kevin Brady of Texas announced Friday, and GOP members are also expected to work through the weekend to reach an agreement. "The House and the Senate are working together now on a unified, pro-growth tax reform bill that will deliver more jobs, fairer taxes, and bigger paychecks," Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in addition to the conference committee, said in a statement. "Our open meeting will be an opportunity for the conferees to discuss our best, most pro-growth tax reform ideas that will help improve the lives of all Americans." [ Source; Washington Examiner (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The IDF destroyed a large Hamas tunnel that penetrated into Israeli territory from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis announced on Sunday. This is the second time in some six weeks that such a discovery was made. “Locating two terrorist tunnels in recent weeks is an operational success based on advanced technology, attesting to a rise in the level of the tools developed and used by the IDF,” he said, stressing that “the tunnel project in the Gaza Strip has suffered a heavy blow.” [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - While Muslims jeer, Israelis cheer President Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, prompting Jewish religious activists to suggest building the Third Temple is closer to reality than ever before. “What he did … was an enormous step in bringing the Temple,” said Asaf Fried, official spokesman for the United Temple Movement, an association of organizations working towards making the Third Temple a reality. He added, “This necessarily had to come from a non-Jew in order to bring them into the process, so they will be able to take their part in the Temple.” [ Source: WND (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Prime Minister Theresa May will hail “a new sense of optimism” in Brexit talks on Monday, telling parliament Britain and the European Union should sign off on a deal at a summit this week “to move forwards together” to discuss future trade ties. May, weakened after losing her Conservatives’ parliamentary majority at a June election, emerged triumphant last week after rescuing an agreement to move the negotiations to unravel more than 40 years of union on to their second phase. But the discussion of Britain’s trade relationship with the EU after Brexit contains many pitfalls and could widen differences among her top team of ministers, or cabinet, over how Britain should look after it leaves the bloc. [ Source: Reuters (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - Archaeologists in Egypt have displayed items, including a mummy, from one of two previously unexplored tombs in the ancient Nile city of Luxor. The mummy is believed to be that of a senior official from Egypt's "New Kingdom", about 3,500 years ago. Other items included figurines, wooden masks and richly coloured wall paintings. [ Source: BBC (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - The U.S. embassy workers in Cuba who were initially thought to have been attacked by a "sonic weapon" have sustained damage to the white matter in their brains, scans reveal. And officials are increasingly skeptical that a sonic weapon was the cause, the Associated Press reported. The first symptoms of a possible "attack" showed up in the fall of 2016. The workers heard loud, bizarre noises, such as chirps, hums and scraping sounds, or felt a ghostly movement of air near them, and then went on to have hearing loss and ringing in the ears, the Washington Post reported. Afterwards, those affected by the bizarre phenomenon went on to have memory loss, hearing and vision problems, and troubles with balance. Brain scans now reveal alterations in white matter, which contains the neurons that communicate with one another, the AP reported. [ Source: Live Science (Read More...) ] View the full article

(Worthy News) - An Iraqi military parade in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone celebrated final victory over Islamic State on Sunday, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi looking on as troops marched in formation, their bodies spelling 'victory day' in Arabic. Iraqi forces recaptured the last areas still under Islamic State control along the border with Syria on Saturday and secured the western desert, marking the end of the war against the militants three years after they had captured about a third of Iraq’s territory. The forces fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria now expect a new phase of guerrilla warfare. [ Source: Reuters (Read More...) ] View the full article