Liberal megadonors plan $100 million swing-state blitz to beat Trump

(Worthy News) – The country’s most powerful liberal donor club is reshaping its spending on the 2020 elections, playing down longtime relationships with groups in Washington and instead preparing to pour $100 million into key states to help defeat President Donald Trump.

The group, the Democracy Alliance, wants to fund everything from programs combating social media disinformation to candidate training sessions leading up to the elections and the next round of redistricting, according to a new three-year spending plan described to donors during a recent members-only meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas.

It’s a significant shift for the group, whose members pumped $600 million into various causes on the left in 2017 and 2018. The Democracy Alliance has long been a major funder of left-leaning Washington-based institutions like the Center for American Progress think tank and the national media watchdog Media Matters. But while individual Democracy Alliance members may continue financing those groups, the groups are no longer a central focus for the donor club, whose members pledge to give at least $200,000 a year to groups on a list of approved organizations.

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Iran’s Intelligence Minister Admits Christianity is Spreading in ‘Parts’ of His Country

(Worthy News) – Iran’s intelligence minister has admitted publicly for the first time that Christianity is spreading throughout Iran.

Iranwire.com reports Mahmoud Alavi, the Islamic Republic’s intelligence minister, was giving a speech in front of several Shia Muslim clerics when he announced “Christianity is spreading in “parts” of Iran.”

In an apparent attempt to make light of the people are converting, Alavi said: “These converts are ordinary people whose jobs are selling sandwiches or similar things.” [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

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Terrorists in Burkina Faso Execute Six at Pentecostal Church

(Worthy News) – Christians in Burkina Faso are mourning a deadly attack on a Protestant church as “a new turning point in terrorism” in the West African nation.

Sunday’s shooting at an Assemblies of God congregation in a northern village left six people dead, including the pastor, and represents the first church attack among the recent surge of Islamist violence.

A dozen gunmen on motorcycles stormed the courtyard of the Sirgadji church after worship, fatally shooting its longtime pastor as well as five other congregants after demanding they convert to Islam, according to a statement sent to CT by the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Burkina Faso, Michel Ouédraogo. The attackers also stole from the church and burned its pulpit. [ Source: Christianity Today (Read More…) ]

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EU and Britain condemn U.S. oil and nuclear sanctions on Iran

(Worthy News) – The United States’ allies in Europe have criticized its recent decisions to restrict oil trade with Iran and to limit the extension of waivers for nuclear non-proliferation projects.

“We … take note with regret and concern of the decision by the United States not to extend waivers with regards to trade in oil with Iran,” Britain’s foreign office said in a joint statement with its German and French counterparts and the European Union.

“We also note with concern the decision by the United States not to fully renew waivers for nuclear non-proliferation projects,” Britain’s foreign office added. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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Iran to keep enriching uranium despite U.S. move: parliament speaker

(Worthy News) – Iran will continue with low-level uranium enrichment in line with its nuclear deal with world powers, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani was quoted as saying on Saturday, despite a U.S. move to stop it.

Washington acted on Friday to force Iran to stop producing low-enriched uranium and expanding its only nuclear power plant, intensifying a campaign aimed at halting Tehran’s ballistic missile program and curbing its regional power.

“Under the (nuclear accord) Iran can produce heavy water, and this is not in violation of the agreement. Therefore we will carry on with enrichment activity,” the semi-official news agency ISNA quoted Larijani as saying. The Fars agency carried a similar report. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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Brexit deal could be done in ‘next few days’, top Conservative says

(Worthy News) – Prime Minister Theresa May could reach a Brexit deal with the opposition Labour Party within days, a leading Conservative Party figure said on Saturday, after senior ministers urged compromise following poor local election results.

Ruth Davidson, the Conservatives’ leader in Scotland, told party members that a cross-partisan agreement on Brexit was needed before this month’s European elections, or Britain’s major parties would face an even bigger backlash from voters.

The Conservatives lost 1,332 seats on English local councils that were up for re-election, and Labour – which would typically aim to gain hundreds of seats in a mid-term vote – instead lost 81. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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Trump’s NAFTA replacement hits snag in Congress

(Worthy News) – President Donald Trump’s trade deal with Canada and Mexico have hit roadblocks in Congress, with a key Republican calling for an end to tariffs on the countries while the Democrats demanded stronger worker protection language.

Trump called the new trade deal with Canada and Mexico to replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement “historic” in November. Trump argued during his campaign that both countries took advantage of the United States in the old trade agreement.

In a Washington Post op-ed last month, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote that Trump’s deal will die if he does not lift tariffs he placed on Canada and Mexico earlier in his presidency. Legislators in Canada and Mexico have been slow to approve the deal, as well, because of the tariffs. [ Source: UPI (Read More…) ]

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Trump threatens to hike tariffs on $200B of Chinese imports

(Worthy News) – President Donald Trump raised pressure on China with a threat to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods in a tweet that sent global financial markets swooning on Monday.

Trump’s comments on Twitter came as a Chinese delegation was scheduled to resume talks in Washington on Wednesday aimed at resolving a trade war that has shaken investors and cast gloom over the world economy.

Chinese government officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

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ISIS will target Christians in annual Ramadan offensive, think tank predicts

(Worthy News) – The Islamic State will target Christians as part of the terrorist group’s offensive during the upcoming Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a new report predicts.

ISIS operatives killed more than 250 people in a coordinated Easter Sunday attack on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on April 21. A report published by the Institute for the Study of War says those suicide bombings were this year’s opening salvo in the jihadists’ annual Ramadan terror campaign.

“ISIS will likely attempt to conduct additional external attacks against Christians during Ramadan 2019,” wrote ISW researchers Brandon Wallace and Jennifer Cafarella. Ramadan begins Monday. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

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US employers add 263,000 workers as unemployment hits 50-year low

(Worthy News) – U.S. payrolls grew by 263,000 in April, driving the unemployment rate to a 50-year low.

Gains included the addition of 12,500 federal government employees, 13,900 new professional and technical positions and 4,000 manufacturing posts, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday. The expansion easily outpaced the average estimate of 181,000 from economists surveyed by FactSet.

Michael Gapen, an economist with British lender Barclays Plc, had predicted gains of 200,000, while Ellen Zentner, an economist with New York-based investment bank Morgan Stanley, had said employers might add as many as 233,000 workers, fueled partly by early hiring for the 2020 census. In April 2009, a year before the last census, federal government payrolls expanded by 125,000, she noted. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

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