A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – Norway and the European Union said Wednesday they would convene an “extraordinary session” of donor countries to the Palestinians, saying efforts to reach a peace deal needed to be hurried up.

The meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, to be held on January 31 in Brussels, is also meant to discuss the need to “enable the Palestinian Authority to execute full control over Gaza” based on the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal signed in Cairo on October 12, 2017.

“There is an urgent need to bring all parties together to discuss measures to speed up efforts that can underpin a negotiated two-state solution,” the EU said in a statement. [ Source:Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – A federal judge on Tuesday night temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s decision to end a program protecting young immigrants from deportation.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted a request by California and other plaintiffs to prevent President Donald Trump from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program while their lawsuits play out in court.

Alsup said lawyers in favor of DACA clearly demonstrated that the young immigrants “were likely to suffer serious, irreparable harm” without court action. The judge also said the lawyers have a strong chance of succeeding at trial. [ Source: Time (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – A new study has some troubling news for Israel and its supporters, who have come to rely on the political and financial support of the 25 percent of Americans who identify as evangelical Christians.

“Older American evangelicals love Israel — but many younger evangelicals simply don’t care,” reads the summary of the study released last month by the Nashville-based evangelical research firm LifeWay Research.

And while the summary may overstate the case, the survey, underwritten by Chosen People Ministries (which seeks Jewish converts to Christianity), shows that young evangelicals are less supportive and more ambivalent about the State of Israel than their older counterparts. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Europe and Iran are to put on a united front in support of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal at talks in Brussels Thursday as Washington mulls reimposing sanctions on Tehran.

The European Union and the foreign ministers of Britain, Germany and France will unite to defend the accord, which placed limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the relaxing of punishing sanctions but which US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized and threatened to leave.

While EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini wants to keep the nuclear issue separate from other contentious issues with Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will also face tough questions about recent anti-government protests which left 21 people dead. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The Republican Party’s tenuous grip on the House majority slipped Wednesday after Rep. Darrell Issa became the second California Republican this week to opt for retirement over fighting an uncertain battle for re-election.

Issa, from northern San Diego County, joined retiring Rep. Ed Royce, from historically Republican Orange County, putting two seats targeted by the Democrats further in play as they seek to erase the GOP’s 24-seat House majority.

Their departures raise the number of Republican retirements to 31, a figure not approached since 28 Democrats rushed for the exits in 1994, the year the GOP won control of Congress for the first time in four decades. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – House Republicans on Thursday will try to reauthorize a key but controversial counterterrorism tool, despite a split among lawmakers that could end up sinking the bill.

Dozens of members are expected to vote for a bill-gutting amendment to underlying legislation reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows intelligence officials to spy on communications of non-citizens outside of the U.S.

The amendment, sponsored by Reps. Justin Amash, R-Mich. and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., is named the USA Rights Act, and it would strictly limit the way intelligence officials can collect communications involving Americans, going far beyond the moderate limitations to the program included in the underlying bill. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The U.S. government could send 100 mostly Christian Iranians stranded in Austria back to Iran this week, where they would face harsh persecution by Iran’s Islamic government.

“The administration needs to act fast to stop this travesty,” said Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom to the Washington Free Beacon.

Shea said the U.S. government could give the refugees notices denying them entry to the U.S. as early as this week. That would force Austria to send them back to Iran. [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – California Governor Jerry Brown said legal rulings may clear the way for making cuts to public pension benefits, which would go against long-standing assumptions and potentially provide financial relief to the state and its local governments.

Brown said he has a “hunch” the courts would “modify” the so-called California rule, which holds that benefits promised to public employees can’t be rolled back. The state’s Supreme Court is set to hear a case in which lower courts ruled that reductions to pensions are permissible if the payments remain “reasonable” for workers.

“There is more flexibility than there is currently assumed by those who discuss the California rule,” Brown said during a briefing on the budget in Sacramento. He said that in the next recession, the governor “will have the option of considering pension cutbacks for the first time.” [ Source: Bloomberg (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Iran’s foreign minister is visiting Moscow for talks focusing on the future of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and the situation in Syria, where both nations support President Bashar Assad.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif emphasized the need for close cooperation to safeguard the nuclear agreement during Wednesday’s talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

The U.S. has said it would consider scrapping the 2015 deal, in which Iran restricted its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The dollar nursed its losses against the yen on Thursday, having suffered its biggest one-day drop in nearly eight months following a report that China was ready to slow or halt its purchases of US Treasuries.

Officials reviewing China’s foreign-exchange holdings have recommended slowing or halting purchases of US Treasuries, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The report sent US 10-year Treasury yields to 10-month highs and dented the dollar on Wednesday, which slid nearly 1.1 percent on trading platform EBS, its biggest one-day percentage fall versus the yen since last May. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]