(Worthy News) – Evangelist Franklin Graham delivered a strong Facebook message Wednesday warning that a “wickedness” is arising in America. He urged people to examine the “evil” in their hearts after Sunday night’s massacre in Las Vegas that left 59 people dead and hundreds of others wounded.
In a Facebook post, Graham said many Americans are wondering what drove 64-year-old Stephen Paddock to harm so many people.
(Worthy News) – Profilers think there may have been a major trigger in his life, like a great loss or break-up or news of a terminal disease.
And the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Paddock was prescribed an anti-anxiety drug this past spring. Records show Paddock purchased the diazepam, also known by its brand name Valium, on June 21.
The paper contends the drug can lead to aggressive behavior, citing drugabuse.com in saying, “Chronic use or abuse of sedatives such as diazepam can also trigger psychotic experiences.” [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – A Texas congregation has voted that no couples can be married within its walls until the denomination permits same-sex weddings.
First United Methodist Church voted on September 24, with 93 per cent of the vote in favour of the temporary prohibition on wedding ceremonies.
The church’s senior pastor, Taylor Fuerst, commented that he hopes the vote ‘will have a uniting effect on the congegation’, which includes a number of LGBTQ individuals. ‘It communicates even more to our city that if you are in the LGBTQ community that you are not tolerated here, but you are embraced.’ [ Source (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – As investigators delve deeper into how Sunday night’s massacre in Las Vegas unfolded, more chilling details have emerged about the suspected gunman and how he allegedly carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Authorities said Paddock opened fire on a music festival crowd from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, killing 58 people and injuring 530 others. The shooting lasted nine to 11 minutes, with the first reports of gunshots beginning Sunday at 10:05 p.m. PT and the final shots being fired at 10:15 p.m.
Paddock is believed to have been solely responsible for the attack, according to police.
Speaking this evening, Lombardo said that there is evidence that indicates Paddock, a 64-year-old resident of Mesquite, Nevada, planned to escape. [ Source: ABC News (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – A new round of Palestinian reconciliation talks experienced its first sign of trouble on Tuesday as the Hamas terror group said it would not give up its vast weapons arsenal, putting it at odds with both the rival Fatah movement and Israel.
The tough comments by Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, provided a reminder of the long road that lies ahead after this week’s launch of talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement.
Abbas’s prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, is in Gaza, where he has received a warm welcome in what is by far the most ambitious attempt by the Palestinian rivals to end a 10-year rift. But Hamdallah’s visit is largely symbolic, and the negotiations on key sticking points, including the future of Hamas’ military force, only start next week in Egypt. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that the United States and Israel were some of the only countries benefiting from the recent referendum in Iraq’s Kurdistan region and that Washington and other Western powers were seeking to “create a new Israel” in the Middle East.
Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who was in Iran on a state visit.
“America and Israel benefit from the vote… The United States and foreign powers are untrustworthy and seek to create a new Israel in the region,” Khamenei told Erdogan, according to the state-run Press TV network. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – President Donald Trump could announce his secret decision on the future of the Iran nuclear deal next week.
US officials familiar with the president’s planning said Wednesday he is preparing to deliver an Iran policy speech in which he is expected to declare the landmark 2015 agreement contrary to America’s national security interests.
The speech has been tentatively scheduled for Oct. 12 at an as yet undetermined venue in Washington, according to two officials who weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the planning for the event and demanded anonymity. They cautioned that plans could still change, and the White House declined to comment on the timing or substance of Trump’s pending announcement. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday spoke out against efforts by the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and the Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas to form a unity government.
Netanyahu’s statements came as Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visited Gaza for the first time since 2014, with the Fatah-ruled PA and Hamas initiating the first steps in forming joint governance.
“We have a very straightforward attitude toward anyone who wants to effect such a reconciliation: recognize the state of Israel, dismantle Hamas’s military wing, sever the relationship with Iran, which calls for our destruction,” said Netanyahu, speaking from the city of Ma’ale Adumim in Judea and Samaria. [ Source: JNS (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – As thousands of Israelis prepare to enjoy the Sukkot holiday at the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Kinneret, Israel’s Water Authority has warned that the country’s largest freshwater lake is critically low and in danger of reaching its “lowest [water] level ever recorded.”
The Sea of Galilee is currently 703 feet below sea level, just a few feet above the historical low of 705 below sea level measured in 2001 — beneath the water source’s so-called “black line.” When water levels in the Kinneret cross below the black line, severe ecological complications can irreversibly contaminate the water and disrupt the lake’s fragile ecosystem.
The situation in the Kinneret has deteriorated in recent years, as Israel’s north faces an ongoing drought. Israel has substantially invested in water conservation, reclamation and desalination technology, allowing the Jewish state to significantly reduce its use of water from the Sea of Galilee.
Nevertheless, the lack of water flow into the lake has led to deep concern over its vitality, as the drop in water levels causes the salinity of the lake to rise, threatening marine life. [ Source: Algemeiner (Read More…) ]
(Worthy News) – An Iranian negotiator who helped clinched the 2015 nuclear deal has been sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of espionage in Iran.
Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani, who has dual Iranian-Canadian citizenship, is known to be have been the member of Iran’s team of nuclear negotiators. He worked on a team focusing on ensuring economic sanctions were lifted against Iran as part of the deal.
“The conviction of a member of the nuclear negotiation team who has been arrested before and released on bail has been confirmed in the Tehran provincial appeals court,” an Iranian semi-official news agency reported Wednesday. [ Source: Fox News (Read More…) ]