Author: Ron Chambers

750 killed at Ethiopian Orthodox church said to contain Ark of the Covenant: report

Anugrah Kumar – January 18, 2021

Around 750 people were killed in an attack on an Orthodox church, which is said to contain the Ark of the Covenant described in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, in northern Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region — home to thousands of churches and monasteries — according to reports.

Hundreds of people hiding in Maryam Tsiyon Church in Aksum amid an armed conflict were brought out and shot to death, and local residents believe the aim was to take the Ark of Covenant to Addis Ababa, the Belgium-based nonprofit European External Programme with Africa reported in this month’s situational report, released on Jan. 9.

“The number of people killed is reported as 750,” it said. The church, the most ancient and sacred of Ethiopian Christianity and also known as the Church of St. Mary of Zion, belongs to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

“I’ve not heard more than rumours about the looting of the Arc from Maryam Tsion, but if it’s true that up to 750 died defending it, it is conceivable that the attackers didn’t stop there,” said Michael Gervers, a professor of history at the University of Toronto, according to The Telegraph.

“The government and the Eritreans want to wipe out the Tigrayan culture. They think they’re better than rest of the people in the country. The looting is about destroying and removing the cultural presence of Tigray,” Gervers explained.

https://www.christianpost.com

‘Chilling’: Senate Democrats Defeat Measure Protecting Babies Who Survive Abortion

Michael Foust – February 5, 2021

Senate Democrats on Thursday defeated an amendment that would have allowed for criminal and civil penalties for doctors who fail to provide health care for a baby who survives an abortion.

Needing 60 votes to be placed in the budget resolution, the amendment by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) received 52 votes. A total of 48 senators – all Democrats – opposed the amendment.

The amendment would have required that doctors give a baby who survives an abortion the same health care as any other baby that age. Specifically, the amendment would have allowed for the “creation of criminal and civil penalties” for “providers who fail to exercise the same degree of care for babies who survive an abortion or attempted abortion as would be provided to another child born at the same gestational age.”

Sasse, in a brief speech on the Senate floor, presented it as a bipartisan amendment. In the end, though, it received support from only two Democrats: Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Bob Casey (Pa.). The two recently elected Democrats from Georgia  – Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff – opposed it. All 50 Republicans voted for it.

Sasse called it a “pretty simple” issue.

“Every baby, whether she’s born in a state of the art hospital with a NICU unit, or whether she’s born in an abortion clinic in a strip mall – every baby is born with dignity, and is created in God’s image,” Sasse said. “And she deserves care. This amendment is aimed at making sure that babies who survive abortions get the same degree of care that any other newborn would. There’s nothing partisan about that.”

Sasse added, “There’s a lot of complicated debates in this chamber but this isn’t actually one of them. Here’s a chance for 100 senators to come together and support every baby. Every baby deserves a fighting chance.”

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Chinese Defense Ministry to Taiwan: ‘Independence Means War’

Gabrielle Reyes – January 28, 2021

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will take all necessary measures to “crush” efforts supporting Taiwanese sovereignty because “Taiwan independence means war,” a spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.

Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said a “handful” of people in Taiwan are seeking the island’s independence at a monthly news briefing on January 28.

“We warn those ‘Taiwan independence’ elements: those who play with fire will burn themselves, and ‘Taiwan independence’ means war,” Wu said.

The U.S. Navy deployed its Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group to sail through the South China Sea near Taiwan last weekend in an action supporting “freedom of the seas.” Shortly afterward, China’s air force responded by deploying eight bombers, four fighter jets, and one anti-submarine warfare plane to cross into Taiwan’s southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). China’s PLA has ordered such air sorties more than 100 times since mid-September in an effort to intimidate the sovereign island, which Beijing considers a renegade territory.

When reported asked him Thursday about China’s most recent air force activity near Taiwan on January 23, Wu responded: “The military activities carried out by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in the Taiwan Strait are necessary actions to address the current security situation in the Taiwan Strait and to safeguard national sovereignty and security.”

“They are a solemn response to external interference and provocations by ‘Taiwan independence’ forces,” he added.

“Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, and the Taiwan question falls under China’s internal affairs and brooks no interference from any external forces,” China’s defense ministry spokesman said.

In reality, Taiwan has been a sovereign state for decades, with its own governmental structure, military, and society.

https://www.breitbart.com

In outright defiance of UK PM, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon’s party promises second independence referendum after pandemic

RT – January 23, 2021

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is standing by her threat to hold a fresh referendum on independence if her party wins the May elections, despite Boris Johnson saying another one should not take place until at least 2055.

Sturgeon likened UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to a “cowering tim’rous beastie” – a line from the poem ‘To a Mouse’, about a scared mouse, by Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns – during an interview with the BBC on Sunday. The Scottish leader also accused Johnson of being “frightened of democracy” by opposing another Scottish referendum until at least 2055 – just over 40 years after the last referendum in 2014, when a 55 percent majority of Scots voted against independence.

“The polls now show that a majority of people in Scotland want independence,” Sturgeon declared, adding, “If the SNP win the Scottish election in a few months’ time on a proposition of giving people that choice, then what democrat could rightly stand in the way of that?”

She added, “Boris Johnson clearly just fears the verdict and the will of the Scottish people.”

Various polls have repeatedly showed that a majority of Scots now support independence, with the most recent placing the number at around 52 percent. It was the 20th poll in a row to show that a majority of Scots support independence.

On Saturday, the SNP revealed in its “roadmap to a referendum” that a draft independence referendum bill “would be enacted if an SNP Scottish Government is re-elected with a majority to do so” in the May 2021 elections. The party claimed that such a referendum would be beyond any “legal challenge” from the UK government, though it stressed that any referendum would only be held after the Covid-19 pandemic.

https://www.rt.com

UK Angers China With Offer of Citizenship Route to Hong Kong Residents

Newsmax – January 29, 2021

Britain on Friday hailed a new visa offering Hong Kong citizens a route to citizenship after China’s crackdown but Beijing said it would no longer recognize special British passports offered to residents of the former colony.

Britain and China have been bickering for months about what London and Washington say is an attempt to silence dissent in Hong Kong, though Beijing says the West’s views are clouded by misinformation and an imperial hangover.

Britain says it is fulfilling a historic and moral commitment to the people of Hong Kong after China imposed a tough new security law on the city that Britain says breaches the terms of agreements to hand the colony back in 1997.

“I am immensely proud that we have brought in this new route for Hong Kong BN(O)s to live, work and make their home in our country,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, referring to a special British National Overseas (BNO) passport.

“In doing so we have honored our profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong, and we have stood up for freedom and autonomy – values both the UK and Hong Kong hold dear.”

But China and the Hong Kong government hit back by saying neither would recognize the BNO passport as a valid travel document from Jan. 31

“Britain is trying to turn large numbers of Hong Kong people into second-class British citizens. This has completely changed the original nature of BNO,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing.

https://www.newsmax.com

First U.S. cases of South Africa COVID-19 variant reported in South Carolina

UPI – January 28, 2021

Jan. 28 (UPI) — Health officials in South Carolina announced Thursday that they have identified two cases of a COVID-19 variant that emerged recently in South Africa — which are the first confirmed cases of the mutated virus in the United States.

Federal officials identified the B.1.351 variant in adults from the state’s Lowcountry and Pee Dee regions, according to South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The patients have not traveled internationally and did not know each other, the department said.

“The arrival of the SARS-CoV-2 variant in our state is an important reminder to all South Carolinians that the fight against this deadly virus is far from over,” interim DHEC Public Health Director Dr. Brannon Traxler said in a statement.

“While more COVID-19 vaccines are on the way, supplies are still limited. Every one of us must recommit to the fight by recognizing that we are all on the front lines now. We are all in this together.”

New variants first reported in Britain and South Africa are said to be more transmissible, but most experts have said the available vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna should also be effective against the mutated strains.

“At this time, there’s no evidence to suggest that the B.1.351 variant causes more severe illness,” the department added.

https://www.breitbart.com

Satanic Temple Sues City of Boston to Obtain ‘Equal Opportunity’ to ‘Invoke Satan’ at Council Meetings

– January 27, 2021

BOSTON — The Satanic Temple (TST) has filed suit against the City of Boston to challenge its practice of allowing council members to choose those who present the invocation during public meetings rather than accepting requests from community members. The group’s legal challenge comes after it was denied requests to participate in 2016 and 2017.

“This case is not a challenge to legislative prayers, generally; and it is not a challenge to offensive prayers, particularly,” the complaint, filed on Sunday, states. “We take no issue with the fact that the City permits many congregations to invoke Jesus before council meetings. We just want an equal opportunity — one guaranteed by the Constitution — to invoke Satan.”

It explains that the City allows its council members to select those who will pray during council meetings, but in doing so, most of the invocations presented are either Christian, Muslim or Jewish.

“As a result, the City broadcasts two constitutionally impermissible messages: those religions who make the cut are endorsed and are therefore insiders of the politically favored community; those who don’t make the cut are not endorsed and are therefore outsiders from the politically favored community,” the lawsuit states.

The Boston chapter of TST had requested in 2016 and 2017 to be able to present an invocation at an upcoming meeting but was told that it lacked sponsorship from a councilor.

In 2018, TST Co-Founder Malcom Jarry sent an email to then-Council President Andrea Campbell to demand inclusion but was again informed that speakers must be invited by a council member as there is no waiting list.

https://christiannews.net

Dramatic shark decline leaves ‘gaping hole’ in ocean: Study

CNA – January 28, 2021

TOKYO: Overfishing has savaged populations of some sharks and rays by more than 70 per cent in the last half-century, leaving a “gaping, growing hole” in ocean life, according to a new study.

Decades of data show an alarming decline in species ranging from hammerhead sharks to manta rays.

Among the worst-affected is the oceanic whitetip, a powerful shark often described as particularly dangerous to man that now hovers on the edge of extinction because of human activity.

Targeted for their fins, oceanic whitetips are also the victims of indiscriminate fishing techniques. Their global population has dropped 98 per cent in the last 60 years.

“That’s a worse decline than most large terrestrial mammal populations, and getting up there or as bad as the blue whale decline,” Nick Dulvy, a professor at Simon Fraser University’s department of biological sciences, told AFP.

Dulvy and a team of scientists spent years collecting and analysing information from scientific studies and fisheries data to build up a picture of the global state of 31 species of sharks and rays.

They found three-quarters of the species examined are now so depleted that they are threatened with extinction.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com

Professor Asserts That Heterosexual Relationships Are ‘Tragic’

Milton Quintanilla -January 28, 2021

A professor from University of California-Riverside asserted that heterosexuality is a tragedy due to toxic masculinity, misogyny and bad opposite-sex relationships, The Blaze reports.

Jane Wade, who is a lesbian and professor of gender and sexuality, told Insider in December of the dislike men and women have for one another.

“It really looks like straight men and women don’t like each other very much, that women spend so much time complaining about men, and we still have so much evidence of misogyny,” or woman-hating behavior, Ward explained. “From an LGBT perspective, [being straight] looks actually very tragic.”

Ward also published a book, The Tragedy of Heterosexuality, last September.

She explained to Insider as to how the COVID-19 pandemic “is revealing the tragedy of heterosexuality to people who might not have otherwise paid attention to it.”

Regarding gender binary, the concept that teaches that male and female are the only two genders, Ward noted how it’s infused into everyday life.

“It’s that straight culture is based in a presumption that men and women are really different kinds of people, that they want different things, that they have different interests, and that they are sort of opposite,” she said. “And they come together sexually and romantically because opposites attract.”

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Israel Defense Forces to Plan Attack on Iran’s Nuclear Program

Amanda Casanova – January 15, 2021

The Israel Defense Forces is reportedly planning an attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

According to the Israel Hayom Daily, the IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi has asked for three proposals to take down Iran’s nuclear program. The newspaper said one of the proposals is a military effort, but also an expensive option.

The Times of Israel reports that Iran has increased the enriching of uranium to a 20 percent concentration last week. In 2015, a nuclear deal capped the enriching of uranium to a 4.5 percent concentration, the BBC reports.

Low-enriched uranium, between 3 to 5 percent concentration, is used to make fuel for commercial power plants. Concentrations of 20 percent and more is largely used in research reactors, and concentrations of 90 percent and more are considered weapons-grade uranium.

Likud minister Tzachi Hanegbi said recently that Israel could attack Iran’s nuclear program if the United States rejoins the nuclear deal, an agreement that US President-elect Joe Biden has said he plans to approve.

“If the United States government rejoins the nuclear deal — and that seems to be the stated policy as of now — the practical result will be that Israel will again be alone against Iran, which by the end of the deal will have received a green light from the world, including the United States, to continue with its nuclear weapons program,” Hanegbi said in an interview with Kan news.

Former president Barack Obama signed the Iranian nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, but in 2018, President Donald Trump withdrew from the accord and imposed economic sanctions on Iran.

Biden has indicated that he would negotiate with Tehran if Washington returns to the deal, and Iran has said it would welcome the return of the Americans to the deal, but only after the economic sanctions are lifted.

https://www.christianheadlines.com