A devastating tornado leveled an entire town Thursday night, killing one person and leaving dozens of others trapped in their basements as extreme weather tore through the Midwest.
The small town of Fairdale was hardly standing Friday morning, after 17 of its 50 buildings were obliterated by the vortex, which also left one resident, 67-year-old Geraldine M Schultz, dead. MORE
A Canadian documentary has alleged that the Chinese state is aware and approves of the removal of organs from live political prisoners, often without anesthetic. MORE 2nd VIDEO
President Obama has long known that the real decision maker in Iran is Ayatollah Khamenei, the so-called supreme leader. While other Iranian officials have negotiated with Western powers over the mullahs’ nuclear program, Khamenei’s opinion is the only one that really counts. It is for this reason that Obama began writing directly to Khamenei early in his presidency. MORE
Funny, Traditional Catholics are not allowed to use new church churches or facilities at Catholic cemeteries.
Anglicans are to hold a cathedral service in a Roman Catholic Church in what is thought to be a first in the UK.
Derby Cathedral is to have an £800,000 refurbishment and will be closed during the week until the end of August. It means some services will be held at nearby St Mary’s church, starting on Thursday evening. MORE
An Afghanistan-based jihadist group known for its past ties to Pakistani intelligence on Wednesday vowed to send “thousands” of fighters to Yemen in support of Saudi Arabia.
Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin was one of the main Sunni insurgent groups that fought against Soviet troops and later re-emerged to fight US-led coalition forces after 2001. MORE
The group said in a regulatory statement that up to 100 billion barrels of oil could be onshore beneath the South of England, after it drilled a well at Horse Hill near Gatwick Airport, West Sussex, last year. The number comes from the fact that UKOG said that the local area could hold 158 million barrels of oil per square mile and from management estimates confirmed this morning on the BBC. MORE
Yet who could have expected the draconian measures the Times would propose? Either Christians fully embrace the gay lifestyle, or you will be coerced into doing so.
Op-ed writer Frank Bruni, onetime Times restaurant critic and a gay activist, has written that Christians who hold on to “ossified,” biblically-based beliefs regarding sexual morality have no place at America’s table and are deserving of no particular regard.
In one fell swoop, Bruni trashes all believing Christians as “bigots,” saying that Christians’ negative moral assessment of homosexual relations is “a choice” that “prioritizes scattered passages of ancient texts over all that has been learned since — as if time had stood still, as if the advances of science and knowledge meant nothing.” MORE
The eating habits of modern Americans have been described as, “eating breakfast in their cars, lunch at their desks and chicken from a bucket.” Within the last few decades, Americans are eating out more and more and cooking fewer meals at home, which is typically the healthier option, with meals containing less saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, and more fiber. Therefore, the benefits to preparing healthy food at home may include the prevention of chronic disease. Even when food is prepared at home, it still may not mean much — microwaving a frozen pizza isn’t exactly home cooking. MORE
Decrying Atlanta pastor Charles Stanley’s “sordid history of virulent homophobic statements and actions,” a gay Jewish group is protesting the Jewish National Fund for plans to bestow a high honor on Stanley, senior pastor of First Baptist Atlanta and a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. MORE
The nuclear deal negotiated with Iran is a “forever agreement” that will last well beyond the next decade, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Monday from the White House briefing room.
Moniz, who played a key role in negotiating the nuclear pact in Switzerland, said the framework agreement provides for intrusive inspections that would ensure Iran is not racing to build a nuclear weapon. MORE
Government and private entities are working to shred privacy and warehouse personal, relationship, and communications data. Once unimaginable surveillance technologies are being perfected and implemented.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown declared a drought emergency on Monday in three southern and central Oregon counties, expanding upon earlier drought declarations the Democrat made in March, as the state faces record low snowpack levels.
Continuing drought has caused “natural and economic disaster conditions” in Oregon’s Crook, Harney and Klamath counties, heightening wildfire risk, and threatening wildlife and agriculture, Brown said in her declaration. MORE