Biotechnology students in Israel have found a way to prevent fruit juice from spoiling: they harnessed and applied a strain of bacteria that is found in the natural environment, Israel 365 News reported Wednesday. The finding was made by a team of students from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, and earned them first prize in a competition held by the European food consortium EIT Food.
Citing recent high court rulings, Washington State announced Monday that it is lifting its COVID-19 restriction on the size of gatherings at indoor worship services, the Christian Post reports. Masks and social distancing are still required but, under the new regulations, the 25% capacity and 200-person limit of gatherings indoors is a recommendation rather than a mandate.
Despite US Supreme Court decisions to strike down COVID-19 worship service restrictions in two recent cases, a federal judge again refused to lift worship restrictions in a case brought by California’s South Bay United Pentecostal Church, the Christian Post reports.
A groundbreaking new study entitled “Persecuting Faith” has found that Christianity is the most persecuted faith in secretive North Korea, Christianity Today reports. Drawing on the testimonies of 117 defectors, the 2020 report was published by the Korea Future Initiative (KFI) in the hope it will inform any future human rights sanctions applied to North Korea by Western countries.
Israel reportedly uses the top U.S. military chief to send sensitive messages to declared President-elect Joe Biden about Iran and other Middle East tension.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that Iran fired “several rockets” at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, and he warned the Islamic nation of severe consequences if an American is killed.
In the latest sign of warming relations between Israel and the Arab world, Israel and Morocco signed a joint declaration on the establishment of ties in Rabat.
President Donald Trump granted 26 new pardons and commutations on Wednesday including additional pardons for individuals involved in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan Tuesday, meeting with Afghan officials and American troops as the U.S. continues a major drawdown from the country during President Trump’s final weeks in office.
European Union and British negotiators are nearing a trade deal as Britain’s New Year’s Day exit from the 27-nation bloc approaches, EU officials said Wednesday.
The FBI on Wednesday blamed Iran for creating a website in the weeks following the U.S. presidential election that called for the deaths of American election officials.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump vetoed a massive defense spending bill saying the law was “a gift to China and Russia” putting “the interests of the Washington D.C. establishment” over American service members.
While France’s President Emanuel Macron has said vaccination against COVID-19 will not be mandatory, French Prime Minister Jean Castex got cabinet approval Monday for a bill that would require proof of vaccination in order to access public transport among locations and activities, France24 reports. The bill now passes to the French parliament.
Islamic terrorists in Sudan have burned down a church’s worship tent five times and have threatened to kill congregants if they put up another tent and continue to worship, Morning Star News reports. Sudanese Christians hope that Islamic persecution against them will diminish as dictator Omar al-Bashir was deposed in Apr. 2019 and Sudan has a new transitional government led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
The Trump administration slapped new sanctions on Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime Tuesday, in a further effort to end the civil war that has raged in Syria since 2011, the Sara Carter show (SCS) reported. Following sanctions imposed in 2019, the newest measures affect Syria’s central bank and a number of entities and individuals connected to Assad.
Russia and China are continuing to work together to reduce their dependence on the US dollar, as both countries seek to mitigate the impact of United States sanctions against them, CNS News reports. Trading between Russia and China reached a record $110 billion in 2019, and the two countries have committed to increasing their trade turnover to $200 billion by 2024.
Washington was in turmoil late Tuesday after U.S. President Donald J. Trump threatened not to sign a coronavirus stimulus package saying struggling Americans deserve much better.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, but he did not extend amnesty to death row people.
Eleven Christian Armenian prisoners of war have been killed by their Azerbaijani captors in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, despite the presence of Russian peacekeepers, aid workers told Worthy News.
The United States has responded to Russia’s call to continue negotiations on the New START arms-control treaty by reiterating a U.S. proposal and saying the Russians have “rejected” attempts to restart the talks.