U.S. agency to cancel $929 million in California high-speed rail funds

(Worthy News) – The U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday it will cancel $929 million in federal funds awarded by the Obama administration for a California high-speed rail project and is “actively exploring every legal option” to seek the return of $2.5 billion the state has already received.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said last week the state will dramatically scale back a planned $77.3 billion high-speed rail project that has faced cost hikes, delays and management concerns, but will finish a smaller section of the line.

The Transportation Department’s Federal Railroad Administration said in a letter it wanted to halt funding because the state had “failed to make reasonable progress.” It cited Newsom’s announcement to scale back the project. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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Palestinians clash with police on Temple Mount amid efforts to end crisis

(Worthy News) – Dozens of Palestinians tried to force their way into the Golden Gate site on the Temple Mount on Tuesday, triggering scuffles with police officers, eyewitnesses said.

The Palestinians entered the site – also known as the Gate of Mercy – just hours after Palestinian sources said Israel and Jordan had reached understandings to end the crisis over the site, which erupted on Monday after another attempt by worshipers to pray at the area.

The Palestinians claim that Israel is planning to turn the site into a section for Jewish prayers.

As part of the reported understandings, police officers on Tuesday removed chains from the iron gate leading to the site, which had been ordered closed by a court because of illegal construction and excavations by the (Jerusalem) Wakf Islamic religious trust. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

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‘The Israeli Flag Will Soon Fly on the Moon’ : Israel to Send First Spacecraft to the Moon

(Worthy News) – This Friday, Israel will send its first spacecraft to the moon, a feat President Rivlin calls “Zionism at its finest.”

Israel’s nonprofit SpaceIL organization has announced it will launch a spacecraft from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on board a Falcon 9 rocket. It is scheduled to land on the moon on April 11.

The project is eight years in the making and if successful, Israel will become the fourth nation to land on the moon – after the US, Russia, and China. [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

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Venezuelan soldiers to guard border ahead of aid entry, minister says

(Worthy News) – Venezuelan troops will remain stationed along the country’s borders to prevent territorial violations, the defense minister said on Tuesday, ahead of the opposition’s plan to bring in humanitarian aid to alleviate an economic crisis.

President Nicolas Maduro has rejected offers of foreign food and medicine, denying there are widespread shortages and accusing opposition leader Juan Guaido of using aid to undermine his government in a U.S.-orchestrated bid to oust him.

Guaido has said that aid will enter Venezuela from neighboring countries by land and sea on Saturday. The United States has sent tons of aid to Colombia’s border with Venezuela, but Maduro has refused to let it in. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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White House pushed Saudi nuclear power plan, report says

(Worthy News) – Senior White House officials pushed a project to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia despite the objections of ethics and national security officials, according to a new congressional report citing whistleblowers within the administration.

Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns that Saudi Arabia could develop nuclear weapons if the US technology were transferred without proper safeguards.

The Democratic-led House oversight committee opened an investigation Tuesday into the claims by several unnamed whistleblowers who said they witnessed “abnormal acts” in the White House regarding the proposal to build dozens of nuclear reactors across the Middle Eastern kingdom. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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Netanyahu urges Europe to take a stand against ‘plague’ of anti-Semitism

(Worthy News) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday urged European leaders to take a strong stand against anti-Semitism after the overnight vandalism of dozens of graves in a French Jewish cemetery.

“Today something shocking happened in France,” Netanyahu said in a Hebrew video he published on social media. “Eighty Jewish graves were desecrated with Nazi symbols by wild anti-Semites.”

“I call on the leaders of France and Europe to take a strong stand against anti-Semitism,” Netanyahu continued. “It is a plague that endangers everyone, not just us, and it must be condemned wherever and whenever it rears its head.” [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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19 Palestinians arrested in fresh Temple Mount clashes

(Worthy News) – Palestinian worshipers clashed with Israeli police on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on Tuesday, trying to force their way into an area of the flash-point holy compound that has been closed for years. Police said 19 Palestinians were arrested.

The incident follows a similar confrontation on Monday in which Palestinians tried to break the gate that Israel placed on the closed area last week after the Muslim Waqf religious council broke into the area and held prayers there.

Palestinian medics reported that several protesters were injured in the standoff. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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Violence and Civil Unrest Forces Dozens of Missionaries to Flee Haiti or Cancel Their Trips

(Worthy News) – Civil unrest in Haiti is forcing missionaries to leave the country and has halted many others from heading there.

Multiple media outlets have reported on unprecedented dangers since riots have started in the country. The riots, an attempt to force a resignation of President Jovenel Moise, have caused families to go into hiding as cars have been destroyed and people have been forced to pay money just to travel on the streets.

“There have been lots of demonstrations in Haiti over the past year. There are lots of people that are unhappy with the government and the way the president is doing things. It’s just been escalating and building up,” Lisa Honorat of Haiti Arise said to CTV News. Honorat was one of two dozen missionaries from that group who have now fled the country. [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

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‘Rebels without a clause’: 10 times Dem. senators questioned Trump nominees’ religious beliefs

(Worthy News) – One of the nation’s leading Christian conservative advocacy organizations has called out 12 senators who have employed “unconstitutional religious tests” on Trump nominees in the past two years.

Since the Trump administration came into power in 2017, a noticeable trend has occurred in which Democrat senators have questioned Trump judicial and political nominees about their religious beliefs and religious affiliations as to suggest that such beliefs and affiliations should disqualify them for public office.

The Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council released on Wednesday a new publication that documents 10 incidents over the past two years in which senators have interrogated nominees concerning their personal religious beliefs even though Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states that there shall be no religious test for public office. [ Source: Christian Post (Read More…) ]

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Trump orders Space Force to be established as part of Air Force

(Worthy News) – President Donald Trump signed a directive Tuesday ordering the Department of Defense to create the Space Force — a sixth branch of the military — initially as part of the Air Force.

The directive orders the Pentagon to put together legislation to present to Congress to create the Space Force. It would operate under the umbrella of the Air Force, much the same way the Marines work within the Navy. It would be managed by an Air Force undersecretary for space and have representation on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. [ Source: UPI (Read More…) ]

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