A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – Christians and others in India celebrated Christmas despite fears of an anti-Christian backlash in some parts of the predominantly Hindu country.

The Indian government asked states to increase security for Christmas celebrations this year after recent isolated attacks on Christians in northern India. No new incidents had been reported as of late Monday.

Vigilante groups have targeted Muslims since a Hindu nationalist party came to power in India in 2014. Some Christian leaders fear the attacks may now be spreading to their community. [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Although a cold front and calmer winds have helped aid firefighters, the massive Thomas fire in Southern California now ranks as the state’s largest-ever wildfire, Cal Fire said late Friday.

The flames have charred at least 273,400 acres, or more than 427 square miles. That’s slightly above the previous wildfire record of 273,246 acres from the 2003 Cedar blaze in San Diego.

“The Thomas Fire is now the largest wildfire in recorded California history,” Cal Fire spokesman Brandon Vaccaro told CNBC late Friday. “The weather has been extremely cooperative, except for some winds we had earlier this week that were not bad.” [ Source: CNBC (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Hard-line Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar said on Thursday that the reconciliation deal with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction was collapsing, just 10 weeks after the agreement was reached.

The rivals signed a deal brokered by Cairo on Oct. 12 after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of the Gaza Strip, including its border crossings with Egypt and Israel, to the PA, a decade after seizing control of the enclave in a military coup.

The deal bridged a deep gulf between Abbas’s Western-backed mainstream Fatah and Hamas, an Islamist movement designated a terrorist group by Israel as well as most Western and some Arab countries. [ Source: Israel Hayom (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The Royal Navy monitored a series of Russian warships around Britain over Christmas, as the Defence Secretary said Britain would not be intimidated.

HMS St Albans escorted the frigate Admiral Gorshkov off the north coast of Scotland, while HMS Tyne shadowed a spy ship through the North Sea.

The Ministry of Defence reported “an upsurge in Russian units transiting UK waters” with the Navy monitoring four different vessels. [ Source: UK Telegraph (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Lamenting “the winds of war” blowing around the world, Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Monday called for a two-state solution to find peace in the Middle East and prayed that confrontation can be overcome on the Korean Peninsula.

The pope took particular aim at areas of global tension where President Donald Trump is playing a critical role. Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has ignited new violence in the Middle East, while confrontation with North Korea over its nuclear tests has escalated tensions in Asia.

“The winds of war are blowing in our world and an outdated model of development continues to produce human, societal and environmental decline,” the pope said in his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (“to the city and to the world”) Christmas message and blessing from the central balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square. About 50,000 faithful packed the square.

(Worthy News) – The White House on Sunday said President Trump wants to introduce an infrastructure package in January and reach for a deal with Democrats, a pivot toward bipartisanship after Republican-only efforts on health care and taxes produced mixed results this year.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, also wants to focus on bipartisan bills next year, though he listed changes to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law and a solution for illegal immigrant Dreamers — not infrastructure — as areas where work could happen.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, is pushing for entitlement reform even as Mr. McConnell takes a grim view of changes in Republican-led Washington. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Syrian army forces backed by Iranian-backed militias pushed deeper into the last rebel-held enclave near a strategic border area with Israel and Lebanon in a new expansion of Tehran’s influence in the war-torn country.

The army and the Shi’ite forces advanced east and south of the Sunni-rebel held bastion of Beit Jin backed by some of the heaviest aerial bombing and heavy artillery shelling since a major assault began over two months ago to seize the area, rebels said.

The Syrian army said it had encircled the village of Mughr al Meer at the foothills of Mount Hermon as troops moved towards Beit Jin amid fierce clashes. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry said Monday it had begun working on moving the country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a day after President Jimmy Morales announced he would follow US President Donald Trump’s controversial lead on the holy city.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs received the presidential order and is starting the process of implementing this foreign policy decision,” it said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear how long the move would take. On December 6, Trump announced he would move the US embassy to the city after recognizing it as Israel’s capital, but the actual process is expected to take six years, according to US officials. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Following Guatemala’s announcement Monday that it would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, at least 10 other countries are in talks to move their own missions, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said.

In an interview with Israel Radio, she declined to say which states Israel was speaking with, but Channel 10 reported that the next country likely to announce an embassy move was Honduras.

Israel and Honduras, which borders Guatemala, have enjoyed very close ties over the past few years, and in 2016 signed an agreement under which Israel agreed to enhance the Central American country’s armed forces in an unprecedented way, in order to fight organized crime. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – North Korea on Sunday called the latest U.N. sanctions to target the country “an act of war” that violates its sovereignty, and said it is a “pipe dream” for the United States to think it will give up its nuclear weapons.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved tough new sanctions against North Korea on Friday in response to its latest launch of a ballistic missile that Pyongyang says can reach anywhere on the U.S. mainland. The resolution was drafted by the United States and negotiated with the North’s closest ally, China.

“We define this ‘sanctions resolution’ rigged up by the U.S. and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the region and categorically reject the ‘resolution,'” North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]