2 Indian Pastors Share Testimonies of Police Inaction Toward Christian Persecution

by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Christians in Bihar state, India are afraid to report attacks by Hindu militant organizations to the police, according to two pastors, one who had his hand and foot fractured when extremists attacked him.

Pastor Shelton Viswanathan, 46, was trailed by assailants on motorbikes on June 23 while on his way to deliver gospel tracts in Sheohar district near the border with Bangladesh and Nepal, where he had felt called to serve in 2003.

“I slowed down my scooter, moved it to the other end of the road and pulled away, but they pushed me with such great force that I fell on the road,” Viswanathan, who pastors a home church of eighteen people, told Morning Star News of the youth, who turned out to be part of the extremist outfit Bajrang Dal and posted an extremist sticker on his scooter after beating him up.

According to Viswanathan, police told friends of his who reported the incident that “their hands are tied and…they cannot take any action.” A second pastor averred that Viswanathan’s experience is reflective of a wider trend.

“Christian persecution is widely spread across Bihar, and it appears to be a much planned, systematic opposition created to target activities,” said Devesh Lal of the Bihar pastors fellowship. “We also see police supporting the perpetrators instead of taking action against them, and the victims do not come forward fearing this bias.”

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, are guided by a “Hindutva” ideology that seeks to purge India of all non-Hindu spiritual and cultural elements.

They receive tacit government support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party, which was re-elected to another five-year term in May, meaning conventional legal channels are usually barred from Christians.

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Hong Kong Protesters Chant ‘Free the Martyrs,’ Call for Release of Activists Charged with Rioting

by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Protesters in Hong Kong are calling for the release of forty-four activists imprisoned during the street demonstrations that have embroiled the former British colony for the last eight weeks.

On Tuesday hundreds of pro-democracy Hong Kongers surrounded the Kwai Chung police station chanting “liberate Hong Kong” and “revolution of our time,” braving rubber bullets and tear gas from the police to demand the release of the prisoners, who had been charged with rioting.

“We don’t know how long we are going to stay here, we don’t have a leader, as you can see this is a mass movement now,” a 21-year-old protester named Sharon told Reuters earlier in the day, as activists blocked train lines during the morning commute and caused some to shut down.

A controversial extradition bill proposed in February, in which people charged with a crime in Hong Kong can be extradited to mainland China for trial, is the root of the unrest, as it is widely seen by protesters as an abrogation of the “one country, two systems” mandate the British left behind as a safeguard against communist control when they restored Hong Kong to China in 1997.

The protests have earned sweeping condemnation from mainland China, with communist leaders voicing their unconditional support on Monday for embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, who, according to the independent Public Opinion Research Institute, currently holds a 21% approval rating.

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In A First Since 1980s, Israel Conducts Air Strikes Against Iran in Iraq

by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Israel conducted its first airstrikes in Iraqi territory since the 1980s, targeting Iranian missile shipments on July 19th and July 28th.

The July 19th strike, in which an Israeli F-35 jet killed a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and a member of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah who were holed up in a rocket depot north of Baghdad, was followed by a strike on Sunday that targeted Iranian ballistic missile shipments at Camp Ashraf.

“Israel will do whatever it must do to defend itself against Iran’s aggression. We will continue to act against you in Syria. We will act against you in Lebanon. We will act against you in Iraq,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a UN speech in September.

Though it has conducted hundreds of strikes in Syrian territory since the outbreak of the civil war there in 2011 in an aim to prevent the movement of Iranian arms near its border, Israel has not struck Iraq since it destroyed a nuclear reactor southeast of Baghdad in 1981, otherwise known as “Operation Opera.”

Another Israeli strike in Daraa province, Syria last week killed six Iranians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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U.S. abortion rights groups sue over Missouri law

(Worthy News) – Prominent U.S. abortion rights groups Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit late on Tuesday in an effort to stop a new Missouri law that bans almost all terminations of pregnancies after eight weeks.

The new law was signed by Republican Governor Mike Parson in May and is set to go into effect on Aug. 28.

The 31-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri contends that the legislation is unconstitutional. It asks for an injunction to stop the law from being enacted next month until the complaint is resolved. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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Senate bill calls for new U.S.-Israeli cybersecurity center

(Worthy News) – A pair of U.S. senators have introduced legislation aimed at creating a joint cybersecurity apparatus with Israel, which would join multiple information sectors to safeguard key infrastructure of both nations.

Sens. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Mike Rounds of South Dakota introduced the US-Israel Cybersecurity Center of Excellence Act on Tuesday.

The bill explores the benefits of a joint cybsecsecurity operation, which would be driven by experts in government, higher education, and the civilian sector. [ Source: UPI (Read More…) ]

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Report: Israel believes Hamas, Iran agreed on Gaza front in case of northern war

(Worthy News) – Israeli intelligence officials believe Hamas and Iran have come to an agreement for the Gaza-based terror group to open a war front against Israel from the southern coastal Strip in the event of conflict breaking out with Iran’s allies on the Jewish state’s northern border, according to a report Wednesday.

The Haaretz daily quoted a senior security official as saying the intelligence establishment estimates Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group will try to force Israel to move forces and air defense systems to the south at the expense of troops fighting in the north. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]

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Jared Kushner meets with Netanyahu in Israel as U.S. doubles down on peace plan

(Worthy News) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Wednesday evening with senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is on a tour of five Middle East countries before Washington decides on the next step following June’s economic workshop in Bahrain.

A senior White House official said before the meeting that Kushner and the Middle East negotiations team will report back to US President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the national security team to “discuss the many potential next steps to expand upon the success of the Bahrain workshop.”

One question that needs to be resolved is whether the rollout of the 60-page political chapter of the peace framework the administration has been working on for some two years will take place before or after the September 17 election here. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

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U.S., China to keep talking on trade after little progress in Shanghai

(Worthy News) – U.S. and Chinese negotiators ended a brief round of trade talks on Wednesday with little sign of progress and agreed to meet again in September, prolonging an uneasy truce in a year-long trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

The talks were the first face-to-face meetings since U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in June and agreed to get negotiators back together to try to find a way out of the dispute.

The White House and China’s Commerce Ministry each described the meetings in Shanghai as constructive, but neither announced any agreements or goodwill gestures that might have cleared the path to more substantive future talks. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

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Major non-NATO ally: Trump clears path for military partnership with Brazil

(Worthy News) – President Trump designated Brazil Wednesday night as a major non-NATO ally, paving the way for sharing military intelligence and privileged acquisition of military equipment.

The president issued a brief memorandum, after initially raising the prospect publicly during Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s visit to the White House in March.

White House National Security Adviser John R. Bolton has conferred with Brazilian officials this year regarding the crisis in neighboring Venezuela, where the U.S. is seeking the ouster of socialist leader Nicolas Maduro. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

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The Fed cuts interest rates for the first time since the financial recession

(Worthy News) – The Federal Reserve Opens a New Window. cut interest rates on Wednesday for the first time since the start of the financial recession more than a decade ago, hoping to preserve the 11-year economic Opens a New Window. expansion from growing global uncertainties and the possibility of an impending slowdown.

During its two-day meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee voted, as expected, to ease the benchmark federal funds rate by 25 basis points, ending an era of monetary policy tightening by policymakers, who have voted nine times — as recently as December — since 2015 to hike rates. [ Source: Fox Business (Read More…) ]

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