Israeli Soldiers, Archaeologists Discover Watchtower from Biblical King Hezekiah’s Time

(Worthy News) – A 2700- year-old watchtower from the time of biblical King Hezekiah was recently discovered at a military base in southern Israel by an excavation that included members of the Israeli Paratroopers Brigade and recruits from commando units working alongside the Israel Antiquities Authority. The actual location of the site cannot be revealed for security purposes.

In the time of King Hezekiah and the biblical prophets, soldiers on watchtowers warned the Israelites of approaching enemies. Today the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) still use similar watchtowers.

The immense watchtower is 5 x 3.5 meters (16.4 x 11.4 feet) with some of the stones weighing 8 tons. The tower is two floors high. [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

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Pentagon releases map disputing claim US drone violated Iranian airspace; Iran’s version is very different

(Worthy News) – The Pentagon released a map Thursday indicating that the U.S. drone shot down by Iran was over international waters and not over Iran, contrary to what Iranian officials maintain.

The Defense Department indicated that the location of the shoot-down was outside Iranian-claimed territorial waters.

On the other hand, Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, posted a map on Twitter disputing the information provided by the Pentagon. Iran’s map — Zarif tweeted out a picture of it — included handwritten notes suggesting that the drone was shot down about eight miles from Iranian shores, within Iranian airspace. [ Source: Fox News (Read More…) ]

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Trump said to okay strikes against Iran, then suddenly cancel them

(Worthy News) – The US military made preparations Thursday night for limited strikes on Iran in retaliation for the downing of a US surveillance drone, but approval was abruptly withdrawn before the attacks were launched, a US official said.

The official, who was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the targets would have included radars and missile batteries.

The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump had approved the strikes, but then called them off. The newspaper cited anonymous senior administration officials. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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In first test of army chief’s new strategy, IDF simulates war with Hezbollah

(Worthy News) – The Israeli military this week conducted a massive exercise simulating war against the Hezbollah terror group — its largest drill in two years — in a first test of army chief Aviv Kohavi’s new strategy for the Israel Defense Forces.

The five-day drill, dubbed “First Harvest,” began on Sunday, with ground troops, the air force and navy taking part in the exercise, which included fighting on multiple fronts simultaneously.

“The exercise trained the troops for combat involving multiple branches of the military in an urban battlefield, against an enemy that disappears, who is dug into underground [infrastructure] and is equipped with advanced weaponry,” the army said in a statement. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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Government meeting opens with ‘Hail Satan’ prayer

(Worthy News) – A Satanic Temple member who won the right to open a regional Alaska government meeting declared “Hail Satan” during her first invocation, prompting about a dozen officials and attendees to walk out.

Tuesday’s invocation that started the meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough also spurred a protest outside the southern Alaska borough’s administration building that drew 40 people, The Peninsula Clarion newspaper reported .

Protesters held signs saying “reject Satan and his works” and “know Jesus and his love.” [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

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Iran crisis steals attention from Trump’s Israel-Palestinian peace plans

(Worthy News) – Talk of war with Iran is drowning out President Donald Trump’s efforts to bring peace to another part of the Middle East.

Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, will gather regional officials and private sector leaders in Bahrain next week to unveil the first plank of the Trump administration’s long-awaited plan to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. But anxious chatter about the escalating back-and-forth between the U.S. and Iran is drawing attention away from what many observers were already describing as a pointless exercise — neither Palestinian leaders nor an Israeli government delegation is expected to attend the event.

“It’s certainly going to suck oxygen out of the room,” said Ilan Berman, senior vice president of the conservative American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, D.C. [ Source: Politico (Read More…) ]

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Iran Shot Down a $176 Million U.S. Drone. Here’s What to Know About the RQ-4 Global Hawk

(Worthy News) – In technical terms, the drone that Iran shot down was a U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS-D) aircraft, which is a Navy version of the Air Force’s high-flying RQ-4A Global Hawk. In simple terms, it is an unmanned aircraft that is intended for surveillance at sea.

Unlike the missile-launching MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper drones that are used to conduct airstrikes, Global Hawk drones are unarmed are used only to collect information.

To do this, they fly at altitudes of up to 60,000 feet–– almost twice as high as a commercial airliner. At that height, the drone can see beyond the curvature of the Earth. [ Source: Time (Read More…) ]

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Marijuana use by U.S. teens has increased tenfold since 1990s

(Worthy News) – As society relaxes its rules around marijuana, U.S. teens seem to be responding by using the drug in much bigger numbers than a generation ago, new research shows.

The study looked at 1991-2017 U.S. federal health data on more than 200,000 high school students. It found that the number who said they’d used pot at least once over the past month rose tenfold — from 0.6 percent in 1991 to 6.3 percent by 2017.

Many are becoming “dual users” of both marijuana and alcohol: The number of teens who admit to using both substances at least once a month has almost doubled — from 3.6 percent in 1991 to 7.6 percent in 2017. [ Source: UPI (Read More…) ]

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U.S. appeals court lets Trump abortion referral ‘gag rule’ go into effect

(Worthy News) – A federal appeals court on Thursday cleared the way for the Trump administration to enforce a controversial rule barring clinics that receive federal funds for family planning services from referring patients to abortion providers.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside injunctions blocking nationwide enforcement of the rule, which had been scheduled to take effect on May 3, while California, Oregon and Washington pursue legal challenges in court.

A three-judge panel called the rule a “reasonable interpretation” of the federal family planning law known as Title X, and said the administration was likely to successfully show it should be upheld. [ Source : Reuters (Read More…) ]

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‘Peace Cross’ Remains Standing After Landmark Religious Freedom Decision

by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A 40-foot cross memorializing fallen soldiers in World War I have been spared destruction after the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that its religious dimension did not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

Justice Samuel Alito represented the court’s 7-2 majority decision by defending the historic civic value of the cross to the surrounding community.

“[The cross] has expressed the community’s grief at the loss of the young men who perished, its thanks for their sacrifice, and its dedication to the ideals for which they fought,” he argued, hoping a “presumption of constitutionality for longstanding monuments, symbols, and practices” would be established as a precedent for future cases.

The cross became a contested symbol shortly after the private property on which it was originally erected was transferred to state hands, allowing atheist groups to claim it as an instance of the government “respect[ing] an establishment of religion,” in the words of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Kelly Shackelford, who represented The American Legion in the case against the American Humanist Association, was heartened that the Supreme Court was not taken in by the legal legerdemain, which originally succeeded when the case was brought before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of Richmond, Virginia last year.

“The days of illegitimately weaponizing the Establishment Clause and attacking religious symbols in public are over,” she said, saying the case yielded a landmark decision for religious freedom.

The Peace Cross or Bladensburg Cross of Hyattsville, Maryland was set up in 1925 in honor of 49 Prince George’s county men who fell on the battlefield in the First World War.

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