News

FBI Arrests Man In Alleged Times Square Terror Plot

ABC News reports: An unidentified man is in federal custody after he asked about buying grenades and discussed possibly detonating them in Times Square, according to law enforcement sources. The man was intercepted by federal and local officials, and he posed no imminent threat. He was detected both inquiring about obtaining grenades and discussing using them in Times Square, the …

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Pope Approves “Lord’s Prayer” Change Because Satan

The Christian Post reports: Despite opposition from traditionalists, Pope Francis has officially approved a change to the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:13 that replaces “lead us not into temptation” with “do not let us fall into temptation.” Pope Francis first signaled support for amending the “lead us not into temptation” part of the Lord’s Prayer in 2017, arguing that it …

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Catholic Version Of PayPal Launches To “Serve The Catholic Economy,” Rick Santorum Is Board Member

Via press release from Christian Newswire: Cathio, an organization founded to serve Catholics through an easy-to-use payment solution that responds to the needs of the Catholic community, announced the launch of its platform and its leadership team today. “Cathio’s platform is designed to enable all sectors of the Catholic economy to benefit from lower costs and transparent payments,” said Cathio …

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NEW YORK: Legislators Pass Ban On Declawing Cats

The New York Times reports: New York lawmakers on Tuesday passed a ban on cat declawing, putting the state on the cusp of being the first to outlaw the procedure. The bill, which had been fought for several years by some veterinary groups, would outlaw several types of declawing surgeries except in cases of medical necessity, and forbid any such …

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VIRGINIA: Governor Calls Legislature Back For Special Session On Gun Control After Latest Mass Shooting

The Associated Press reports: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday he will summon lawmakers back to the state Capitol to consider a package of gun-control legislation, saying last week’s mass shooting in Virginia Beach calls for “votes and laws, not thoughts and prayers.” Northam, a Democrat confronted with a Republican-controlled General Assembly in the middle of an election year, also …

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China Warns Against US Travel Due To Shootings

Axios reports: China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a travel advisory, warning citizens against traveling to the U.S., effective until December 31, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday. “Noting the frequent occurrence of shootings, robberies and theft in the United States recently, the ministry warned Chinese tourists to fully assess the risks of traveling there,” the news agency …

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DOJ Won’t Charge Julian Assange Over CIA Leaks

Politico reports: The Justice Department has decided not to charge Julian Assange for his role in exposing some of the CIA’s most secret spying tools, according to a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the case. It’s a move that has surprised national security experts and some former officials, given prosecutors’ recent decision to aggressively go after the …

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Julian Assange Shows Signs Of “Psychological Torture” Says UN Official: Constant Panic And Extreme Stress

NBC News reports: Julian Assange has been left in a state of “extreme stress, chronic anxiety” and “constant panic” after spending seven years holed up in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy, a leading United Nations expert who visited the WikiLeaks co-founder in prison said Thursday. Nils Melzer, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, told NBC News he blames the United States, United …

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REPORT: NYT Bans Reporters From “Partisan” Shows

Vanity Fair reports: On Sunday, May 19, New York Times finance editor David Enrich got a request from a producer at MSNBC to appear on Rachel Maddow’s show the following night. Enrich had a red-hot front-page story for Monday’s paper, about anti-money-laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank flagging suspicious transactions involving Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, and Maddow wanted to bring …

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Philippines President: I Was Gay But I Cured Myself

Newsweek reports: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has claimed he was once gay but “cured” himself of homosexuality in controversial remarks made during a trip to Japan. According to Rappler, a Filipino news publication, Duterte mocked his political opponent Senator Antonio Trillanes IV by saying his movements show he is homosexual. Duterte also reportedly “confessed” that he was gay before he …

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DC Statehood Bill To Get First Hearing In Decades

DCist reports: A historic year for the D.C. statehood movement continues, as the House Committee on Oversight and Reform schedules a hearing to discuss legislation to make the District the 51st state on July 24. It will be the first time in decades that the lower chamber has officially considered statehood for the District. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s …

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Former GOP Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran Dies At 81

Roll Call reports: Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the mannerly former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee where he was a dependable provider for his home state during more than four decades in Congress, has died at the age of 81. Cochran, who retired from the Senate on April 1, 2018, after dealing with health issues, died Thursday morning in Oxford, …

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Lawyer: Julian Assange Too Ill For Extradition Hearing

Reuters reports: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was too ill on Thursday to appear via video link from a British prison in a hearing on an extradition request from the United States, his lawyer said. The United States is seeking the extradition of Assange, 47, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean embassy in London on April 11. He faces a total …

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ISRAEL: Parliament Votes To Dissolve After Netanyahu Fails To Form Coalition Govt, New Election To Be Held

Haaretz reports: The Knesset voted Wednesday night to dissolve itself after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition, sending Israel to a new election mere seven weeks after the last one. At the heart of the impasse was the issue of drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students: Yisrael Beiteinu’s Avigdor Lieberman, without whom Netanyahu can’t form a coalition, refused …

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Aussie Egg Boy Donates $70,000 To NZ Terror Victims

Radio New Zealand reports: The Australian teenager who smashed an egg onto the head of Fraser Anning says he has donated more than $100,000 [$70K USD] to the survivors of the Christchurch terrorist attack. Will Connolly, whose act gained him the nickname Egg Boy on social media, said the money was raised through crowdfunding to cover his legal fees after …

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REPORT: Netanyahu Seeks Law Giving Him Immunity From Prosecution But Parliament May Dissolve First

The Associated Press reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urgently worked to break a deadlock in coalition negotiations Tuesday as the once far-fetched possibility of fresh general elections only months after April polls loomed ever larger. Netanyahu has until Wednesday night to reach a coalition deal, but he has been unable to convince ex-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman to abandon a …

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Ellen DeGeneres Reveals Sexual Abuse By Stepfather

The Daily Beast reports: During her appearance on David Letterman’s show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Ellen DeGeneres shared that her stepfather sexually abused her as a teenager. DeGeneres said her mother married “a very bad man,” who would grope her and once tried to break into her room, leading her to climb out a window in order to …

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Amazon Readies Purge Of Thousands Of Small Vendors

Yahoo Finance reports: Two months ago, Amazon.com Inc. halted orders from thousands of suppliers with no explanation. Panic ensued — until the orders quietly resumed weeks later, with Amazon suggesting the pause was part of a campaign to weed out counterfeit products. Suppliers breathed a sigh of relief. Now a larger, more permanent purge is coming that will upend the …

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Ex-Wife Of Jeff Bezos Pledges $17 Billion To Charity

Vox reports: Less than two months after finalizing her divorce from the world’s richest person, MacKenzie Bezos has indicated that she intends to be a far more generous philanthropist than her husband has ever been. MacKenzie Bezos announced in a letter on Tuesday that she had signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment to give half of her $35 billion in …

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JAPAN: Mass Stabbing Leaves Two Dead, 16 Injured, Trump Offers “Prayers And Sympathy” To Victims

The Associated Press reports: A man carrying a knife in each hand and screaming “I will kill you!” attacked a group of schoolgirls and adults just outside Tokyo on Tuesday, killing two and injuring 16 others, officials said. Most of the victims were children who were lined up at a bus stop near Noborito Park in the city of Kawasaki …

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