A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – The official notice that a village pastor in Algeria received on Sunday (Dec. 30) confirmed what he had heard – his church had been ordered to close.

Pastor Rabah Messaoudi had won a legal battle in 2017 after local officials in the Muslim country tried to close his church in Ait-Jimaa village, 45 kilometers (27 miles) from Tizi-Ouzou in north-central Algeria. But the head of Ait-Bouadou Commune (County) and a district official in Tizi Ouzou Province in Kabylie Region were determined to do away with the Christian presence in the area and took the matter back to court, sources said.

“And this time, the judgment was in his favor, albeit slightly below what he hoped for,” the pastor’s attorney, Nadjib Sadek, told Morning Star News. “Because his lawyers had asked for financial compensation, which the judge found unfounded and did not allow.” [ Source: Morningstar News (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had almost all of his requests accepted during his meeting in Brazil with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said Wednesday.

Netanyahu met Pompeo in the capital Brasilia, where the Israeli premier was on an official visit, and both men later attended the inauguration of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Pompeo assured Netanyahu during the meeting that the planned withdrawal of US ground forces from Syria will not alter Washington’s commitment to countering Iranian aggression and maintaining Israel’s security. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Tensions between Hamas and Fatah have intensified in the past few days as the two Palestinian rival parties continue to exchange allegations and insults.

Now, Hamas and Fatah are accusing each other of being “spies” for Israel.

The tensions reached their peak earlier this week, when Fatah accused Hamas of detaining 500 of its men in the Gaza Strip. The detentions, according to Fatah, were aimed at thwarting plans to celebrate the 54th anniversary of the launching of Fatah’s first attacks against Israel. Fatah was planning to mark the occasion by holding several rallies throughout the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – No one budged at President Donald Trump’s closed-door meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, so the partial government shutdown persisted through Day 12 over his demand for billions of dollars to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. They’ll all try again Friday.

In public, Trump renewed his dire warnings of rapists and others at the border. But when pressed in private by Democrats asking why he wouldn’t end the shutdown, he responded at one point, “I would look foolish if I did that.” A White House official, one of two people who described that exchange only on condition of anonymity, said the president had been trying to explain that it would be foolish not to pay for border security.

In one big shift, the new Congress will convene Thursday with Democrats taking majority control of the House, and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said they’d quickly pass legislation to re-open the government — without funds for the border wall. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – House Democrats have inserted language to expand abortion access into a bill to end the partial government shutdown set for a vote Thursday.

The spending bill would repeal a provision instituted by President Trump that requires foreign nongovernmental organizations to certify that they will not “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.” The provision, formally known as the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy, was once called the Mexico City Policy, known by critics as the “global gag rule.”

The bill also would increase funding by $5 million for the United Nations Population Fund, to $37.5 million. Anti-abortion organizations oppose the program because they say it participates in coercive abortions and involuntary sterilizations. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States would get out of Syria slowly ‘over a period of time’ and would protect the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in the country as Washington draws down troops.

Trump did not provide a timetable for the planned military exit from Syria, which he announced last month against the advice of top national security aides and without consulting lawmakers or U.S. allies participating in anti-Islamic State operations.

The decision prompted Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to resign. Trump said on Wednesday he had essentially fired Mattis, whose letter of resignation was seen as a sharp rebuke to the Republican president. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – President Donald Trump has signed a new bill into law to increase punishments for miscreants who damage or destroy the properties of churches or religiously affiliated organizations.

Introduced by Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch last May, The Protecting Religiously Affiliated Institutions Act of 2017 amends the federal criminal code to “broaden the scope” of what is considered prohibited when it comes to intentionally defacing, damaging or destroying religious property.

The law also increases a criminal penalty for actions that result in the damage or destruction of religious property that exceeds $5,000 in damages. Such violations are punishable by a fine and prison term of up to three years in prison. [ Source: Christian Post (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Anxiety over water is growing in Egypt as Ethiopian leaders press forward with plans to build a massive dam that officials here fear will block the flow of the Blue Nile.

Addis Ababa started construction of the massive Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in 2011 when Egypt’s leaders were consumed with the Arab Spring uprising that ousted longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

Slated for completion in 2022 — four years behind schedule — the $4.8-billion-dollar dam would be the seventh-largest dam in the world and Africa’s largest hydroelectric power plant. That makes it a priority for Ethiopian leaders despite the worries of downriver countries that depend heavily on the Nile. [ Source:Washington Times (Read More…) ]

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