(Worthy Insights) – The United States imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Monday targeting Iran’s oil industry. The Treasury Department announced that more than 30 brokers, tanker operators, and shipping companies have been hit for their roles in selling and transporting Iranian petroleum. The move is part of President Donald Trump’s renewed “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at reducing Iranian crude exports to zero, a policy intended to cut off funding for Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated, “Iran continues to rely on a shadowy network of vessels, shippers, and brokers to facilitate its oil sales and fund its destabilizing activities.” He warned that anyone involved in Iranian oil would face significant sanctions risk as the United States uses all available tools to disrupt Iran’s oil supply chain. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week as discussions continue about efforts to end the ongoing war in Ukraine. Tensions remain high between the U.S. and Ukraine following comments from President Trump, who recently blamed Ukraine for Russia’s invasion and referred to President Zelenskyy as a “dictator.”

But both Trump and Zelenskyy now say there’s progress on a deal for Ukraine to repay U.S. aid with revenue from its natural resources.

Despite the turmoil, Ukraine’s Church continues to stand strong, offering a beacon of hope amid Russia’s attempts to silence it. In a recent visit to the U.S., the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, spoke with CBN News about the resilience of the Ukrainian people and their faith during times of persecution. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – A pro-life advocate said that President Donald Trump’s pardons of nearly two dozen pro-life protesters was a “powerful” rebuke to the weaponization of government.

Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation Peter Breen testified Tuesday before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight about the Biden administration’s prosecution of peaceful pro-life protesters. Breen urged the lawmakers to take action to repeal the FACE Act, a Clinton-era law that makes it a federal crime to block an entrance to an abortion facility.

“The Biden DOJ engaged in a systematic campaign to abuse the power of the federal government against pro-life advocates, while that same DOJ ignored hundreds of acts of vandalism and violence against pro-life churches, pregnancy help centers, and other advocates,” Breen said. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration is unveiling a new visa “Gold Card” to attract wealthy immigrants to the U.S.

“We’re going to be selling a Gold Card,” Trump said in the Oval Office while speaking to reporters. “You have a Green Card. This is a Gold Card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s going to give you Green Card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card.”

“They’ll be wealthy, and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it’s going to be extremely successful,” he continued. “Never been done before anything like this, but it’s something that we’re going to be putting out over the next two weeks.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Sunday published a draft bill making the prohibition on the consumption of prostitution in Israel, instituted in July 2020 as a temporary measure, a permanent offense.

At this stage, acting on the recommendations of professional authorities, the law will primarily be enforced through fines on consumers of prostitution.

Levin’s decision was made following a series of meetings held with all relevant parties, with input from government ministries, civil society organizations, academics, and women from the prostitution cycle. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Just a third of Democrats have a favorable view of Israel, a steep decline from just a few years ago, according to a Gallup poll.

That’s in contrast to 83 percent of Republicans who view Israel favorably — a partisan gap of 50 points.

Responding to the results, Jewish Democratic leaders said they remained confident in their party’s pro-Israel bona fides — though one sounded notes of caution. Jewish Republicans celebrated the poll. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday evening that over 100 intelligence officers who participated in sexually explicit messages in National Security Agency chat rooms were fired.

“There are over 100 people from across the intelligence community that contributed to and participated in what is really just an egregious violation of trust,” Gabbard said on the Fox News Channel. “I put out a directive today that they will all be terminated and their security clearances will be revoked.”

Conservative think tank Manhattan Institute on Monday obtained the chat logs for the Intelink chatrooms, which revealed intelligence community employees discussing their experiences with gender-reassignment surgery, artificial genitalia, hormone therapy, and lewd sexual experiences, among others, Fox News reported. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – A spiritual awakening is taking hold on college campuses nationwide as thousands of students gather for worship, prayer, and baptisms.

The movement, fueled by various campus ministries, has seen unprecedented attendance and commitments to faith. Cale Matlock, a student at the University of Arkansas, described the experience as powerful.

“It was awesome, just having 10,000 people that all love Jesus and are worshipping God,” Matlock said. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Abortion pills are being sent through the mail these days to bypass state restrictions, and it’s reshaping the landscape of the abortion battle.

In Louisiana, a New York doctor faces indictment for allegedly prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to a pregnant teenager’s mother. Authorities have charged Dr. Margaret Carpenter and her New York-based company with felony criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs. The teenager’s mother is also facing charges.

“She had a gender reveal party for her child planned, and she, unfortunately, was coerced by her mother,” said Sarah Zagorski Jones with Louisiana Right to Life. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – A Long Island woman believed to be the world’s oldest survivor of the Holocaust has died at age 113.

Rose Girone, who once credited her longevity to dark chocolate, survived the Nazi horror of Kristallnacht and her husband’s time at a concentration camp to eventually move with her family to the States and thrive, kin said.

“She made the best of terrible situations. She was very level-headed, very commonsensical,” said Girone’s daughter, Reha Bennicasa, according to Jewish media. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Apple is working to address a problem raised by users on social media, in which saying the word “racist” while using the iPhone’s voice-to-text tool briefly shows “Trump.”

Users online shared footage of themselves using the voice-to-text feature to write out words. Several staff members at the Washington Examiner were also able to replicate the problem using the tool on their own iPhones. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – A 74-year-old woman has been arrested near a Glasgow hospital, marking the first case under Scotland’s new “buffer zone law.” She was subsequently charged under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act.

Police Scotland said they received a report last week about people gathered close to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where abortions are provided, according to Sky News. Officers found a sign bearing the words “coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want,” which the arrested woman had allegedly been holding.

The police arrested her and removed the sign from the area. [ Source (Read More…) ]