(Worthy Insights) – A senior American official delivered unusually sharp criticism of Israel’s conduct in hostage negotiations and warned that the United States is prepared to finalize a regional agreement with Saudi Arabia, even without Israeli participation, N12 reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the remarks were made during a meeting Monday night between the official and the families of hostages held by Hamas.

According to several people who attended, the US official said that Washington is growing increasingly frustrated with Israel’s approach to the stalled talks. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – More than 7,000 people were baptized Saturday in the waters off Huntington Beach, Calif., in what organizers called the largest single-day baptism event in American history — and a milestone leading up to an even larger gathering planned for June.

It was the second year in a row for the “Baptize California” gathering, which saw 6,000 baptized along Huntington Beach last year but a record 7,750 this year.

The all-day event stretched until the evening, with men and women, young and old alike, lining up to publicly declare their faith in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean as well as in portable baptistries. Bethel Music and the husband-and-wife team of Cody Carnes and Kari Jobe were among the featured singers. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – For decades, the United Kingdom has been seen as a tough place to reach people with the gospel. In recent months, though, evangelists are seeing a change – not only are people wanting to hear the good news, but Christians are also helping spread it. Many say the spiritual shift that’s happening is both real and remarkable.

A group called the King’s Army marched near Buckingham Palace recently, proclaiming Jesus is Lord over England. Founder Scott McNamara says they literally felt a change in the atmosphere.

“We heard this shock wave. It was like someone described it like a crack in the spirit. And after that, we did this march outside Buckingham Palace and a couple of other things, and it’s been incredible. Every day we’re getting people enlisted to be part of King’s Army, like 20 to 30, enlist per week, people reaching out from all over England saying, I want to be part of this movement,” McNamara said. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking more influence in the Middle East by increasing his presence in Syria. Experts believe Erdogan will continue his desire for control as part of a much broader vision, and that could be a major issue for Israel.

The concern is that the Turkish president may have aspirations that are even greater than Iran’s.

“If we are talking about the influence in Syria, (Erdogan) already took the place of Russia and Iran but I think, given the Ottoman glorious past, I think his ambitions are far more bigger then Iran’s,” said Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, Middle East Expert at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies as well as at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – The United States on Wednesday backed an Israeli ban that prevents the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from operating in the Gaza Strip.

“An occupational power retains a margin of appreciation concerning which relief schemes to permit,” U.S. State Department Legal Advisor Joshua Simmons stated at an International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing in The Hague on Wednesday, presided over by Judge Yuji Iwasawa.

“Even if an organization offering relief is an impartial humanitarian organization, and even if it is a major actor, occupation law does not compel an occupational power to allow and facilitate that specific actor’s relief operations,” Simmons added. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Abortion advocates, their allies in the corporate media, and even the U.S. Food and Drug Administration insist the pill responsible for more than half of the nation’s abortions is “safe and effective.” A new, wide-ranging analysis of insurance claims regarding the abortion drug regimen, however, found that the rate of life-threatening complications due to mifepristone is at least 22 times higher than what the FDA and Danco Laboratories, manufacturer of mifepristone pill Mifeprex, suggest.

In the “largest known study of the abortion pill,” Ethics and Public Policy Center President Ryan Anderson and Director of Data Analysis Jamie Bryan Hall used purchased Medicaid, TRICARE, Medicare, Department of Veterans Affairs, and private medical insurance claim data to determine that 865,727 mifepristone abortion prescriptions for 692,873 women were handed out between 2017 and 2023.

Approximately 10.9 percent of those claims, or 94,605 chemical abortions, involved potentially life-threatening “serious adverse events” such as emergency room visits, hemorrhage, sepsis, infection, and/or follow-up surgeries for the women who had downed the abortion drug within the last 45 days. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Workers throughout China are flooding the streets in revolt as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs slam the fragile Chinese export economy.

From the cramped streets of Sichuan in the southwest to the cold outskirts of Inner Mongolia in the northeast, furious workers are demanding backpay and protesting mass layoffs as factories shutter under pressure from Trump’s tariffs.

Outside a LED light manufacturing plant near Shanghai, thousands of unpaid workers shouted furiously at company managers over wages that haven’t been paid since January. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, signed legislation on Monday to prohibit the state’s agencies from using the term “West Bank.”

The bill, which passed in the Arkansas General Assembly earlier this month, is considered to be the first time that a U.S. state has required its documents to call the area that Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War by the biblical names of Judea and Samaria.

“It is the intent of the General Assembly to: (1) Refer to the land controlled by Israel from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War by its historical name of ‘Judea and Samaria’, with the land south of Jerusalem being considered ‘Judea’ and the land north of Jerusalem being considered ‘Samaria’; and (2) No longer use the term ‘West Bank’ in official government materials.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Spain and Portugal achieved net zero on Monday, but not the way anyone would want to achieve net zero: By going back to the cavepeople times with no electricity.

How does anyone “lose” 15 gigawatts of electricity, accounting for about 60% of Spain’s consumption at the time?

Sure, they are looking into a cyberattack, or a terrorist act, or a rare weather event involving magnetic fields, or maybe some bad maintenance, and they should. But they have gone remarkably quiet lately, making one think of the one possibility they might want to be quiet about. [ Source (Read More…) ]

For those keeping score at home:

April 22nd: Spain brags about hitting 100% renewable power.

April 28th: Spain has the nation's largest blackout in history. pic.twitter.com/S6wsaHEePK

— Will Hild (@WillHild) April 28, 2025

(Worthy Insights) – A bill advancing in Colorado could make it illegal to refer to someone by the wrong pronoun or use their birth name—an idea supporters say protects transgender individuals, but one that faith leaders call “godless” and a threat to religious freedom and parental rights.

House Bill 1312 would add “misgendering” and “deadnaming” to Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act if it becomes law. It has passed the House and now awaits a Senate vote that could send it to Gov. Jared Polis’s desk.

The bill defines “misgendering” as intentionally referring to someone using a different pronoun, while “deadnaming” means purposely using their birth name rather than their chosen name. At the center of the controversy is a provision calling on courts to consider a parent using either of those toward their child as coercive control in custody cases. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Israeli archaeologists are inviting Israelis to see a unique artifact found outside Jerusalem as part of their Independence Day celebrations. The discovery is unique because it contains an iconic Jewish symbol found in a Christian site.

The 1,500-year-old ornate limestone piece once sat on top of an ancient column. The carved image on it surprised archaeologists.

Excavation director Dr. Uzi Ad recalled, “At first, when we found it, we didn’t even recognize it was a menorah, because it was sitting upside down. Only afterward, when we started to examine it and flipped the image, we realized it was an eight-branched menorah.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – The Trump administration continues its talks with Iran, and Israelis are addressing the potential outcomes of those negotiations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that any deal cannot give Iran a path to nuclear weapons.

“A bad deal is worse than no deal. We need a good deal,” Netanyahu declared.

At the JNS International Policy Summit, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer noted that President Trump pulled out of the previous nuclear deal with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed by President Barack Obama. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – “We don’t do prayer.” Those were the words uttered by a mayor in a southern California city trying to silence Tarin Swain, a mother of six who has spoken out against what she has described as the “social transitioning” of her daughter at the hands of the public school system.

Swain attended a Ventura County City Council meeting on March 18, where she took to the platform to speak out against the proposed Community Autonomy, Rights, and Equality (CARE) Policy, a statute that asserts, in part, “The City of Ventura and its law enforcement agencies shall not: Participate in the enforcement of any federal or state law that criminalizes or restricts access to reproductive healthcare or gender-affirming care for adults or minors, provided such care is delivered with the approval of a licensed healthcare provider and, in the case of minors, with parental consent in accordance with current California state law.”

If approved, the policy would make Ventura a “sanctuary city” for LGBT advancement among children and abortion, dubbed “reproductive rights” by the language in the statute. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – One in ten patients experience a “serious adverse event” after taking the abortion pill, according to a study released Monday by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), a conservative think tank and advocacy group.

The study found that 10.93% of women experienced sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days after a mifepristone abortion. The real-world rate of serious adverse events after mifepristone abortions is at least 22 times as high as the summary figure of “less than 0.5%” in clinical trials reported on the drug label, according to the study. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – The Israeli Air Force received three more F-35I “Adir” fighter aircraft on Thursday night, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The U.S.-produced Lockheed Martin fifth-generation stealth fighter jets landed at the Nevatim Air Force Base near Beersheva, the military said in a statement published on Friday.

Since the beginning of the Swords of Iron war in October 2023, the 140th “Golden Eagle” Squadron has operated “under unprecedented pressure, participating in both defense and attack missions across various arenas,” the IDF stated. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – The sacred vessels of the Bais Hamikdash such as the Menorah and the Shulchan (table) are the holy implements of our divine service. They are the very heartbeat of the Jewish people. These treasures, rumoured to be languishing in the Vatican’s vaults, are not relics to be bartered or forgotten but the very soul of our nation, stolen by Rome’s imperialist hand. Yet, for reasons that defy comprehension, this issue of utmost importance has been ignored except for sporadic campaigns.

The vessels’ retrieval is not merely a political act but a spiritual imperative, a step toward cosmic rectification. Today, as the papacy shifts and the world trembles, the moment is ripe to demand their return.

The importance of these artifacts transcends history or archaeology. Their captivity in gentile hands is a desecration, a mockery of Jewish sovereignty. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed Sunday that Israel moved up its pager operation against Hezbollah by several weeks after intelligence indicated that three pagers sent from Lebanon were being scanned in Iran.

Speaking at the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said, “In the third week of September, we learned that Hezbollah had sent three pagers to Iran for scanning. I was told it would take them a day. I said: we need to act.”

The operation, originally planned for October, was expedited. “We launched the campaign in Lebanon three weeks earlier than planned, while the military still needed time to prepare for war,” he said. “I told them to prepare for war immediately.” [ Source: Ynet News (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – Chinese researchers have successfully conducted a controlled field test of a non-nuclear hydrogen-based explosive device that released powerful chemical chain reactions, the South China Morning Post reported Sunday.

According to the study, the 2-kilogram hydrogen bomb created a fireball with a temperature above 1,000 degrees Celsius and sustained it for more than two seconds. The duration of the explosion was 15 times longer than that of a TNT blast of comparable strength, achieved without using any nuclear materials.

The device was developed by China’s state-owned shipbuilding corporation, a key player in underwater weapons development. It utilizes a solid-state hydrogen storage material based on magnesium to achieve the explosive effect. According to the study published in the Chinese Journal of Missiles and Guidance, when the material is triggered using conventional explosives, it undergoes rapid thermal decomposition, releasing hydrogen gas that ignites into a sustained high-temperature fireball. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – On April 13-14, 2024, Iran changed the Middle East forever, ending a decades-long covert shadow war with Israel by openly and directly attacking Israel with 180 ballistic missiles, 170 drones, and dozens of cruise missiles.

Israel responded on April 19, 2024, by attacking one S-300 anti-aircraft defense system, which was protecting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facility in Isfahan.

The Jewish state never seriously considered attacking Iran’s nuclear sites in April 2024 like it did in October 2024, but that first direct round between the sides set the stage for the more dramatic follow-up. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy Insights) – In an interview with the Free Beacon’s Jon Levine, Fetterman dismissed the administration’s ongoing negotiations with the Islamic regime—as well as the notion that opting to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities would lead to the outbreak of regional war.

“You’re never going to be able to negotiate with the kind of regime that has been destabilizing the region for decades already, and now we have an incredible window, I believe, to do that, to strike and destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities,” he said. “And remember, all of these so-called experts were wrong. You know, they’ve been saying for years and years that Hezbollah was the ultimate badass … Well, I guess it turned out they couldn’t fight for s—t. And Hamas, literally, are just a bunch of tunnel rats with junkie rockets in the back of a Toyota truck.”

“Fetterman’s remarks come as the Trump administration barrels forward with negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program that have so far been defined by mixed messages,” writes Levine. “Going into the talks, the administration said any deal would require Tehran to dismantle its nuclear program. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff later suggested a deal could allow Iran to enrich uranium up to a certain level. Then he walked back that walk-back, saying Iran must agree to ‘stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment’ to ink a deal.” [ Source (Read More…) ]