Day: August 22, 2017

Iran warns it can make weapons-grade material in days if nuke deal scotched

Iran warns it can make weapons-grade material in days if nuke deal scotched

(Worthy News) – Iran’s atomic chief warned Tuesday the Islamic Republic needs only five days to ramp up its uranium enrichment to 20 percent, a level at which the material could be used for a nuclear weapon.

The comments by Ali Akbar Salehi to Iranian state television come as US President Donald Trump repeatedly has threatened to renegotiate or walk away from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Salehi’s warning, along with recent comments by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, show Iran is willing to push back against Trump while still acknowledging they want to keep the deal, which lifted crippling economic sanctions on the country.

“If there is a plan for a reaction and a challenge, we will definitely surprise them,” said Salehi, who also serves as one of Rouhani’s vice presidents. “If we make the determination, we are able to resume 20 percent-enrichment in at most five days.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

FLASHBACK: Iran Top Nuke Negotiator: Deal Reversible In One Day [Jan 14, 2014]

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, said this week that if Iran decides to resume enriching uranium to levels prohibited by the new nuclear deal, it could begin to do so in one day’s time.

Critics of the deal, especially in Congress, want any final agreement to force Iran to stop enriching uranium altogether and dismantle its enrichment program. The interim agreement requires Iran to suspend the enrichment of uranium at 20 percent levels and downgrade their existing stockpile of highly-enriched uranium to lower levels. But Araghchi said in the interview that the enrichment suspension is quickly reversible if Iran decides to pull out of the agreement.

“We can return again to 20 percent enrichment in less than one day and we can convert the [nuclear] material again. Therefore the structure of our nuclear program is preserved,” said Araghchi, in a broadcast which was independently translated for The Daily Beast. “Whenever we feel the other side is not following through with its commitments, whenever we feel there are other motives involved, whenever—now, say, under pressure from Congress or something else—they take action against their commitments, say put in place new sanctions, we will immediately revert to the current status quo. And we will again continue our nuclear program in the form that it is today.”

“I can say definitively that the structure of our nuclear program will be exactly preserved. Nothing will be put aside, dismantled or halted. Everything will continue, enrichment will continue,” Araghchi said. [ Source (Read More…) ]

Hacking May Have Caused USS John S. McCain’s Collision, Say Cyber Experts

Hacking May Have Caused USS John S. McCain’s Collision, Say Cyber Experts

(Worthy News) – Amid reports that the destroyer USS John S. McCain lost steering just before collision with an oil tanker, experts have speculated the possibility of hacking as the cause of the incident.

The US Navy ordered an investigation into its entire 7th Fleet, based in Japan, after the incident in the Strait of Malacca early Monday morning. Navy Admiral John Richardson clarified on Twitter the review would include the possibility of cyber intrusion or sabotage.

“But review will consider all possibilities,” he said. [ Source (Read More…) ]

Paul Ryan: Tax reform ‘far easier’ to pass than healthcare

Paul Ryan: Tax reform ‘far easier’ to pass than healthcare

(Worthy News) – House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Monday that tax reform should be easier to pass than healthcare reform, which has no clear path forward after it failed in the Senate.

“I believe it’s going to be far easier for us to do tax reform than it was, say, for healthcare reform,” Ryan told CNN during a town hall in Racine, Wisconsin. He pointed specifically to the inability to include measures in the healthcare bill because of Senate rules, including medical liability reform and interstate shopping.

“Tax reform is different,” he said. [ Source (Read More…) ]

Nepal Bill Criminalizes Religious Conversion

Nepal Bill Criminalizes Religious Conversion

(Worthy News) – The Nepali parliament passed a Bill on 8 August criminalizing religious conversion and the ‘hurting of religious sentiment’. It is expected to become law once the approval of the president has been given.

The ‘Bill designed to amend and integrate prevalent laws relating to Criminal Offense’ was registered in parliament on 15 October 2014 and passed on 8 August 2017. However, there are concerns that these clauses could be used to target religious minorities, as occurred in the Charikot case in June 2016, when eight Nepali Christians were charged with attempting to convert children after sharing a comic book on the story of Jesus.

Human rights defenders in Nepal are calling for the Bill to be amended as it restricts *freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief. Religious conversion is also curtailed in Article 26 (3) of Nepal’s constitution, which was used in the Charikot trial.

Kiri Kankhwende, Senior Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), said: “We are deeply concerned that if this Bill becomes law, we will see more cases like Charikot and further restrictions on the right to freedom of religion or belief in Nepal. The lesson from India is that anti-conversion laws not only restrict the rights of an individual to adopt a religion of their choice, but also put religious minority communities at risk of hostility and violence.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

Nepal Bill Criminalizes Religious Conversion

Nepal Bill Criminalizes Religious Conversion

(Worthy News) – The Nepali parliament passed a Bill on 8 August criminalizing religious conversion and the ‘hurting of religious sentiment’. It is expected to become law once the approval of the president has been given.

The ‘Bill designed to amend and integrate prevalent laws relating to Criminal Offense’ was registered in parliament on 15 October 2014 and passed on 8 August 2017. However, there are concerns that these clauses could be used to target religious minorities, as occurred in the Charikot case in June 2016, when eight Nepali Christians were charged with attempting to convert children after sharing a comic book on the story of Jesus.

Human rights defenders in Nepal are calling for the Bill to be amended as it restricts *freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief. Religious conversion is also curtailed in Article 26 (3) of Nepal’s constitution, which was used in the Charikot trial.

Kiri Kankhwende, Senior Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), said: “We are deeply concerned that if this Bill becomes law, we will see more cases like Charikot and further restrictions on the right to freedom of religion or belief in Nepal. The lesson from India is that anti-conversion laws not only restrict the rights of an individual to adopt a religion of their choice, but also put religious minority communities at risk of hostility and violence.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

Solar Eclipse Evangelism: Jesus Blocks God’s Judgment Like the Moon Blocks the Sun

Solar Eclipse Evangelism: Jesus Blocks God’s Judgment Like the Moon Blocks the Sun

(Worthy News) – A Christian ministry is using Monday’s eclipse to share the love of Christ with thousands.

Rev. Harrell Riley conceived SolQuest17 as a kind of Gospel festival during the eclipse to bring others to Christ.

Some 2,000 people have shown up on the farm near Princeton, Kentucky, to watch the solar event. When they arrive they find an army of volunteers ready to help them set up their trailers and bring them water.

“People have been blown away by the graciousness of people. The free water and those kinds of things, which has given the avenue for us to be able to share the Gospel,” he told CBN News via Skype from the event.

About 20 people have responded to the one-on-one evangelism, presentations by a science ministry explaining how the design of the universe provides overwhelming evidence of a Creator, and talks from a member of Ravi Zacharias Ministries.  [ Source (Read More…) ]

New Bishop for Syrian Christians Brings Hope Following Genocide, Over 330,000 Deaths

New Bishop for Syrian Christians Brings Hope Following Genocide, Over 330,000 Deaths

(Worthy News) – Syriac Orthodox Christians in the northeastern city of Hasakeh celebrated on Saturday the inauguration of Archbishop Maurice Amseeh, giving the community a bishop for the first time in four years, since the last one left the country.

Christians have been the subject of a genocidal campaign by the Islamic State terrorist group, which has killed, raped and kidnapped Yazidis and other minorities as well.

Over 330,000 people have also been killed in Syria’s six-year long civil war, which has further decimated the population, forcing millions to flee as refugees.

As AFP reported on Sunday, Amseeh’s appointment has given fresh hope to the struggling Christians that rebuilding their community is possible. [ Source (Read More…) ]

Supreme Islamic Council Denies Any Jewish Connection to Temple Mount

Supreme Islamic Council Denies Any Jewish Connection to Temple Mount

(Worthy News) – The Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem is denying any religious or historical connection of the Jewish People to the Temple Mount, now calling the entire compound the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

A statement issued by the Council on Monday declared that the area of the Al-Aqsa Mosque covers 144 dunams and belongs exclusively to Muslims, according to the decision of Allah, since Muhammad’s ascension to heaven and until judgment day.

“The Muslims will not give up one grain of the land (of the Al-Aqsa Mosque) because it is part of the faith of two billion Muslims worldwide, and without Muslims there is no connection to Al-Aqsa in the past or in the future, and there is no recognition of any right the Jewish people have to it,” the statement said.

“Al-Aqsa is more supreme than the decisions of the courts, governments, and the Zionist Knesset, and it is not subject to negotiations, bargaining, concessions or understandings of any kind,” the senior Muslim officials declared. [ Source (Read More…) ]

Over 160,000 Sign White House Petition Demanding Antifa Be Labeled a Terrorist Group

Over 160,000 Sign White House Petition Demanding Antifa Be Labeled a Terrorist Group

(Worthy News) – More than 160,000 people have signed a petition on the White House petition website calling for the federal government to officially designate the activist group Antifa as a terrorist organization.

“AntiFa has earned this title due to its violent actions in multiple cities and their influence in the killings of multiple police officers throughout the United States,” reads the petition.

“It is time for the pentagon to be consistent in its actions – and just as they rightfully declared ISIS a terror group, they must declare AntiFa a terror group – on the grounds of principle, integrity, morality, and safety.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

 

Then CNN CHANGED THEIR HEADLINE

UN blacklist of companies doing business in settlements to be released by year’s end

UN blacklist of companies doing business in settlements to be released by year’s end

(Worthy News) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, plans to publish by the end of the year a blacklist of international companies doing business in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as Israeli communities in the Golan Heights, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

The commissioner has already submitted a draft of the list to the countries these companies are based in, so they could give their responses by September 1.

According to the Post, there are several American companies on the list—including Caterpillar, TripAdvisor, Priceline and Airbnb—and the Trump administration is reportedly putting pressure on the UN not to release it. [ Source (Read More…) ]