Some of the people working in the Obama administration and in the White House are trying to “completely secularize our military” and are “hostile to Christians,” to the point that they“are anti-Christ in what they say and in what they do,” said Christian evangelist Franklin Graham, the son of world-renowned preacher Rev. Billy Graham. MORE

In his Kremlin defense of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin, even before he began listing the battles where Russian blood had been shed on Crimean soil, spoke of an older deeper bond. Crimea, said Putin, “is the location of ancient Khersones, where Prince Vladimir was baptized. His spiritual feat of adopting Orthodoxy predetermined the overall basis of the culture, civilization and human values that unite the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.”

Russia is a Christian country, Putin was saying. MORE

Gee I wish I kept a record of all of the fines the U.S. has collected in the last four years. Maybe enough to help pay for Obama care. Ha.

The U.S. government on Thursday reached a $5.15 billion settlement with Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the largest ever for environmental contamination, to settle claims related to the cleanup of thousands of sites tainted with hazardous chemicals for decades. MORE

The unprecedented double canonisation event will be produced in 3D by the Vatican TV Center (CTV) in a partnership with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Italia, BSkyB and Sky Deutschland payboxes, and Sony. The ceremony will also be beamed into 3D movie theatres across Europe and in North and South America, in what is being touted as the first convergence of HD, 3D and 4K technologies for such a high-profile multimedia 3D event. MORE  VIDEO: MORE

This weekend, The Accident gets hitched. The Accident is my term of endearment for my baby sister Katie, who arrived, unexpectedly, 11½ years after me and seven years after my brother. She is scheduled to exchange vows Saturday afternoon in L.A.’s San Gabriel Valley with her longtime boyfriend, Matt, in a big family wedding that (my mother would like you to know) is costing a fortune. MORE

Millions of vulnerable people in southern England and Wales were advised to stay indoors as unusually high levels of air pollution smothered London and other cities, just weeks after heavy pollution led to restrictions on car use and the offer of free public transport in Brussels and Paris. Prof Frank Kelly of King’s College London said tiny particles of pollution could cause problems for some people – such as those with asthma – and contribute to longer-term problems for others. MORE

Are bison and other animals fleeing Yellowstone National Park in record numbers because they sense an impending eruption of the park’s supervolcano Yellowstone Caldera? That’s the theory being tossed around by a number of bloggers who cite recent seismic activity, including a magnitude 4.8 quake that rattled the park near the Wyoming-Montanta border on Monday, just days after a magnitude 5.1 temblor was felt by an estimated 17 million people over a large swath of Southern California. MORE

It’s the Real Inconvenient Truth—right now the world is getting colder. And it’s likely to get even colder for the next 20 years—before a new, stronger cycle of sunspots begins, as they have for eons. They are statistically very, VERY accurate. MORE

The royal, who is “supreme governor” of the Church of England, will also be meeting the Argentine pope against the backdrop of thorny Anglican-Catholic relations. The foreign trip, a rarity these days for the 87-year-old monarch, had to be postponed last year because she was unwell. She will be accompanied by her 92-year-old husband Prince Philip. MORE

One stunned Starbucks customer in Louisiana was served up her morning joe with the mark of the devil written out in caramel syrup on Sunday. While many of the coffee mega-chain’s detractors who believe it to be the antithesis of authentic coffee may not be surprised, Baton Rouge teacher Megan Pinion was most definitely upset. So annoyed was Pinion to be handed two drinks with a satanic pentagram and 666 etched atop on the Day of the Lord, that she took to Facebook to air her fury. MORE

A rumour has been growing about a possible review of the Roman Catholic missal translation, but no one anticipated the announcement of a New Ecumenical English Missal Project, which will mean that the words for the whole Eucharist will be the same across a number of significant English-speaking denominations. MORE

Lima (AFP) – A volcano in Peru that has not blown its top in four decades spewed more ash skyward on Tuesday, after authorities evacuated villagers to avoid Ubinas’s wrath. The volcano in southwestern Peru blasted back to life causing about 60 villagers from Querapi, near its base, to be relocated Saturday, Ubinas town mayor Pascual Coaquira said.  MORE

Authorities lifted tsunami warnings for Chile’s long coastline early Wednesday after a magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck the South American nation’s northern coast. Six people were crushed to death or suffered fatal heart attacks, a remarkably low toll for such a powerful shift in the Earth’s crust. The earthquake was so powerful, shaking was felt 300 miles away from its center in Bolivia’s capital, CBS News’ Vicente Arenas reports. MORE