A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – A recording of the high-pitched noise heard by some U.S. Embassy workers during a series of deliberate attacks in Havana, Cuba, has been released.

The recording was obtained by the Associated Press and has led investigators to initially suspect that a sonic weapon was used to conduct ongoing attacks, starting last year. At least 22 Americans are confirmed to have been medically affected by the State Department.

The attacks have caused hearing, cognitive, visual, balance, and sleep problems among the victims. [ Source: Washington Free Beacon (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – A potentially groundbreaking treatment for a rare form of blindness moved one step closer to U.S. approval Thursday, as federal health advisers endorsed the experimental gene therapy for patients with an inherited condition that gradually destroys eyesight.

The panel experts to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously in favor of Spark Therapeutics’ injectable therapy, which aims to improve vision by replacing a defective gene needed to process light.

The vote amounts to a recommendation to approve the therapy. The FDA has until mid-January to make its decision and does not have to follow the panel’s recommendation, though it often does.

If approved, Luxturna would be the first gene therapy in the U.S. for an inherited disease and the first in which a corrective gene is given directly to patients. While the therapy from Spark Therapeutics targets a small group of patients — about 2,000 in the U.S. — experts say it could pave the way for other genetic treatments for a variety of inherited conditions. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Republican lawmakers are considering indirect paths to meeting President Donald Trump’s goal of slashing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, one of the toughest challenges they face in trying to overhaul the U.S. tax code.

Tax writers in the House of Representatives may opt to phase in the 20 percent corporate rate over three to five years by lowering it in stages from the current 35 percent, said two sources close to the tax discussions.

A phase-in surfaced as an option among Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee as it closed in on completion of actual tax legislation, working off of a nine-page “framework” unveiled by Trump on Sept. 27. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Arizona State University researchers have analyzed minerals around the supervolcano at Yellowstone National Park and have come to a startling conclusion. It could blow much faster than previously expected, potentially wiping out life as we know it.

According to National Geographic, the researchers, Hannah Shamloo and Christy Till, analyzed minerals in fossilized ash from the most recent eruption. What they discovered surprised them – the changes in temperature and composition only took a few decades, much faster than the centuries previously thought.

“We expected that there might be processes happening over thousands of years preceding the eruption,” said Till said in an interview with the New York Times. [ Source: Fox News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Tehran is soliciting German defense firms to support its ballistic missile program, in an attempt to sidestep harsh international sanctions designed to prevent Iran from obtaining such weaponry.

German intelligence officials have put the country’s weapons makers on notice regarding possible support for the missile program, reminding defense firms that sales of specific rocket and missile technology to Iran is in direct violation of standing restrictions on such support, Reuters reported Thursday.

“It is important to note that Iran continues to pursue an ambitious rocket and missile technology program which is not affected by the sanctions relief,” a document drafted by Germany’s intelligence directorate, known as the Federal Intelligence Service, stated. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – President Donald Trump will lay out a more confrontational strategy toward Iran by the United States on Friday in a speech in which he is likely to strike a blow at an international Iran nuclear deal, complicating U.S. relations with European allies.

U.S. officials said Trump was expected to announce that he will not certify the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, believing the agreement is not in the national interests of the United States. He had certified it twice before but aides said he was reluctant to do so a third time.

Trump could have a last minute change of heart before he outlines his administration’s new approach toward Iran in speech at the White House at 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT) on Friday. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The total number of laid-off workers receiving unemployment benefits fell to 1.89 million at the end of September, the Department of Labor reported Thursday, the lowest such mark in nearly 44 years.

And new claims for unemployment benefits dropped 15,000 to 243,000 in the first full week of October, according to the agency, as the job market bounces back from hurricane damage even faster than forecasters expected.

Low new jobless claims are a good sign. They indicate that layoffs are rare, and accordingly that job creation is strong. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – President Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing federal agencies to loosen Obamacare’s mandates and pledging to bring numerous Americans less expensive health insurance coverage.

Many of the decisions that will affect consumers will fall to officials at the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services Departments, after undergoing public comment periods. The order is intended to expand the use of health savings accounts, to allow more groups to band together for insurance to form “association health plans,” and to lengthen the amount of time people can be on short-term health insurance plans.

Senior administration officials warned in a call Monday that any changes could take six months, meaning they wouldn’t kick in until well after the open enrollment period for people to sign up for Obamacare coverage, which ends Dec. 15. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – President Trump intends to end insurance subsidies under Obamacare, a move that would likely result in lawsuits and put pressure on Congress to act.

According to a statement Thursday evening from the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, the Trump administration is making the move based on guidance from the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services, which have concluded that there is no appropriation for cost-sharing reduction payments to insurance companies under Obamacare.

“In light of this analysis, the government cannot lawfully make the cost-sharing reduction payments,” Sanders said in a statement.

Trump has been authorizing the funds, known as cost-sharing reduction subsidies, every month, and the statement did not say whether they would end beginning in November or beginning in 2018. The president has said for months that he was considering the move in order to bring about a deal on healthcare, and the decision comes only hours after he signed an executive order on Obamacare that critics said would damage the Obamacare exchanges. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]