A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – Russia conducted several ballistic missile tests on October 26 from “land, air and sea” as part of its strategic nuclear program, the Defense Ministry said.

A Topol intercontinental ballistic missile was fired from the Plesetsk testing ground in northwestern Russia, the ministry said in a statement.

Three ballistic missiles were launched by two nuclear missile submarines (SSBNs), two from the Okhotsk Sea, north of Japan, and one from the Barents Sea, in the Arctic Ocean. [ Source: RadioFreeEurope (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – North Korea continues to imprison, execute and torture Christians but opportunities are opening to weaken the totalitarian regime’s grip, politicians, religious leaders and religious freedom charities heard on Wednesday.

Speakers at the International Prayer Day for North Korea, hosted in Westminster, warned ‘darkness covers the entire society’ and urged Christians to act.

Zoe Smith, head of advocacy at the persecution charity Open Doors, said North Korea, like the Berlin Wall, could collapse and the prayers of Christians were vital. [ Source: Christian Today (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – By a narrow margin, more voters think Puerto Rico should become a state than think it should stay a territory.

According to the latest Fox News Poll, 41 percent say Puerto Rico should become the 51st star on the flag. That’s an 11-point increase since the last time the question was asked in June 2007, when 30 percent opted for statehood.

Some 37 percent think the island should continue as a territory, down 9 points from June 2007 (46 percent). Nine percent think Puerto Rico should declare independence. [ Source: Fox News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Will Graham, the grandson Billy Graham, preached the Gospel to tens of thousands of Romanians this weekend, making him the third generation of Grahams to preach in the country.

More than 32,000 people flooded Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the country’s second largest city to hear Graham’s message of hope.

“Jesus is Truth; the truth that you’re looking for. He’s the answer to your problems. You’ll never regret giving your life to Him,” Graham told the crowd. “I’m here to tell you that your Heavenly Father loves you and is ready for you to come home!” [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – A U.S. judge on Thursday struck down two abortion restrictions in Alabama that limited how close clinics can be to public schools and banned a procedure used to terminate pregnancies in the second trimester.

The decision is a blow to abortion opponents in Alabama, who have joined conservatives in other states in enacting new laws that critics said were chipping away at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in the Middle District of Alabama found the laws unconstitutional and permanently enjoined the state from enforcing the measures, which were signed into law in May 2016 by former Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, a Republican. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad is to blame for a chemical attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of people last April, according to a report sent to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday.

“The Syrian Arab Republic is responsible for the release of sarin at Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April 2017,” the report from the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) said.

The attack prompted a U.S. missile strike against a Syrian air base which Washington said was used to launch the strike. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Gallup’s initial measure of consumers’ 2017 Christmas shopping plans suggests retailers could see the best holiday sales in years. The chief indicator is a sharp increase in the amount Americans say they plan to spend on Christmas gifts — now $906, up from $785 in October 2016. That represents one of the biggest year-over-year increases in Gallup’s trend, pushing the spending projection to its highest level in a decade.

More specifically, 34% of Americans plan to spend at least $1,000 on Christmas gifts this year, 23% say they will spend between $500 and $999, 28% expect to spend between $100 and $499, and 3% will spend less than $100. Six percent of U.S. adults report that they won’t spend anything on Christmas gifts, which includes those who say they don’t celebrate the holiday. [ Source: Gallup (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The FBI has informed House Republicans that it intends to comply with a subpoena issued in August for documents related to the Trump dossier.

“We’ve been asking for documents from the FBI for months,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told a news conference on Thursday.

“And so…the FBI got in touch with us yesterday afternoon, and they have informed us that they will comply with our document requests and that they will provide the documents Congress has been asking for by next week, and we expect the FBI to honor that commitment.” [ Source: CNS News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – When news broke this week that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee had funded the discredited dossier from Russian sources that smeared President Donald Trump, the major media’s long-running narrative on Trump-Russia collusion was effectively neutralized.

Those who were paying attention and can think critically could immediately see the year-long barrage of innuendo and allegations aimed at discrediting a sitting U.S. president for what it was. So how would the purveyors of that narrative handle the news?

Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC paid as much as $9 million for the Trump dossier.

By ignoring it.

Although the news was reported, the major media’s front pages today are focusing instead on the exit of Arizona Sen. Floyd Flake and the “civil war” in the Republican Party. [ Source: World Tribune (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Republicans powered a $4 trillion budget through the House on Thursday by a razor-thin margin, a close vote underscoring the difficulties that lie ahead in delivering President Donald Trump’s promise to cut taxes.

For now, Republicans sidestepped divisions within the party by voting 216-212 to permit them to begin work on a $1.5 trillion tax cut without fear of blocking tactics by Democrats. The legislative landscape is strewn with land mines, however, as GOP tax-writers pick winners and losers among interest groups, business sectors and rank-and-file voters.

The tax bill is the top item on the GOP agenda and would be Trump’s first big win in Congress. Republicans hope it would provide a much-needed jolt for the party’s political fortunes in advance of next year’s midterm elections. Republicans view passage of the upcoming tax measure as a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and its importance has only grown since the party’s debacle on health care. [ Source: AP (Read More…) ]