Christian Businesswoman and Mother Sentenced to 15 Years in Kuwait Prison

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A Kuwaiti court sentenced a Russian national and mother of a 5-year-old U.S. citizen to 15 years in prison Monday, her attorneys told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

This is the second time Marsha Lazareva has been sentenced since the Kuwait government arrested her in 2017 while doing business in the country under charges of embezzlement. The country sentenced her to 10 years of prison and hard labor in May 2018, though her attorneys told the DCNF she did nothing wrong.

A Kuwaiti appeals court recognized Lazareva, who held U.S. green-card status before her 2017 arrest, was unlawfully convicted on May 5. The country released her in June after she spent about 472 days in prison. Her legal team posted millions of dollars in bail and a judge overturned her conviction, according to her lawyers.

But Kuwaiti officials again convicted Lazareva on two more charges in a different case Monday despite a “complete absence of evidence,” her attorneys told the DCNF, though they could not disclose more details about the charges.

“In Defense of Christians is very disappointed by the conviction Monday of Marsha Lazareva, the Orthodox Christian woman being wrongfully held in Kuwait, and its impact on her five-year-old son who is with her,” Peter Burns, policy director of the nonprofit human rights organization In Defense of Christians, said in a statement to the DCNF. (Read more from “Christian Businesswoman and Mother Sentenced to 15 Years in Kuwait Prison” HERE)

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Pope Francis Leads Holy Mass in Rome a Day After Italian Friend Accused Him of ‘Denying the Physical Resurrection of Christ’

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Pope Francis led prayers at Holy Mass in Rome today after an Italian journalist claimed the Pope told him he does not believe Jesus Christ was resurrected as a body, but in the ‘semblance of a spirit’.

Eugenio Scalfari, 95, a frequent papal interviewer, said his long-term friend Pope Francis does not believe a key Catholic doctrine that Jesus returned in the flesh after his crucifixion.

Though the claims were disputed by the Vatican and believers, they were not flat-out denied by the Holy See – leading some to criticise it for what has been deemed as an ineffectual response on a heretical matter. . .

According to Scalfari, Pope Francis said, ‘He [Jesus] was a man until he was put in the sepulchre by the women who restored his corpse.

‘That night in the sepulchre the man disappeared and from that cave came out in the form of a spirit that met the women and the Apostles, still preserving the shadow of the person, and then definitively disappeared.’ (Read more from “Pope Francis Leads Holy Mass in Rome a Day After Italian Friend Accused Him of ‘Denying the Physical Resurrection of Christ'” HERE)

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Trump Wants to Nearly Double U.S. Citizenship Application Fees

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The Trump administration is considering raising the cost of U.S. citizenship applications, according to a Department of Homeland Security rule filed on Friday.

The fee for the U.S. citizenship application would increase to $1,170 – from $640, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. . .

According to the document, a biennial fee review determined that current fees “do not recover the full costs of providing adjudication and naturalization services” at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Without an increase in funding, the government predicts the agency would experience an average annual shortfall of $1.2 billion.

The Department of Homeland Security has proposed adjusting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration fees “by a weighted average increase of 21 percent,” in addition to adding fees for some benefit requests. U.S. immigration services is primarily funded by fees charged to applicants and petitioners. (Read more from “Trump Wants to Nearly Double U.S. Citizenship Application Fees” HERE)

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The U.S.-China Trade War Has Cost Americans an Added $38 Billion

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Tariffs President Donald Trump implemented against China have cost Americans an additional $38 billion since February 2018, Tariffs Hurt the Heartland found.

Americans paid a total in September of $7.1 billion on all tariffs and $4.1 billion on tariffs the Trump administration implemented, according to data anti-tariff campaign Tariffs Hurt the Heartland and consulting firm The Trade Partnership released Wednesday.

Tariffs on $112 billion worth of mostly consumer goods called List 4A went into effect in September, which forced American businesses to pay an additional $905 million, the campaign noted.

“Imagine you’re running a business, and all of a sudden, your cost of goods — overnight — goes up 15%. … We made the decision not to raise our prices and scale back marketing instead and some other things, but it’s not sustainable. If the tariffs stay, we will need to raise our prices,” homemade speaker company SVS Sound Revolution President Gary Yacoubian told the Daily Caller News Foundation. . .

The first phase of the deal, which is expected to decrease tariffs on both countries and address concerns regarding intellectual property theft and financial services, was expected to be signed in November, but a senior administration official told Reuters Wednesday that phase one could be pushed back until December. (Read more from “The U.S.-China Trade War Has Cost Americans an Added $38 Billion” HERE)

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Mexican Cartel Massacre of American Women and Children Was Targeted

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According to law enforcement officials and a family relative, the massacre of three American mothers, Rhonita Maria LeBaron, Christina Langford Johnson and Dawna Langford, and their six children in Mexico this week was targeted. Initially, it was reported they got caught in the crossfire between two rival cartels while traveling north to the United States.

“Nothing about that [attack] says unintentional hit,” a law enforcement official close to the situation tells Townhall, adding one of the women got out of her vehicle with her hands up in surrender before she was shot.

The official stated the family had received threats and reported them. The family also made statements against increased cartel violence in the region. . .

As more details about the attack emerge, experts on the region and cartel violence are weighing in on what happened.

“These [Mormon] sect members were residing in the area basically as guests of the cartel. They were tolerated, but they were also an irritant to the cartel. There’s not a chance in the world that this was random or some crossfire situation,” former Assistant to the FBI Chris Swecker told America’s Newsroom Wednesday.

(Read more from “Mexican Cartel Massacre of American Women and Children Was Targeted” HERE)

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Mexican President Rejects Trump’s Offer for War Against Drug Cartels; Nine Members of Mormon Family, Dual U.S.-Mexican Citizens, Killed in Attack; Slain U.S. Citizens Were Part of Mormon Offshoot with Sordid History

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By Daily Caller. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador flatly rejected President Donald Trump’s offer to “wage war” on drug cartels following the massacre of a U.S.-Mexican family along the border.

During a Tuesday press conference, López Obrador rejected Trump’s public offer to send U.S. military forces to Mexico and help his government combat organized crime. The leftist president — reiterating a position he’s long held — argued that war with the drug cartels was not the best approach.

“We have to act independently and according to our constitution, and in line with our tradition of independence and sovereignty,” López Obrador said Tuesday. “War is irrational. We are for peace. It is a characteristic of this new government.”

The statements came a day after at least nine members of Mormon family, all of whom were dual U.S.-Mexican citizens, were killed in a gruesome ambush while traveling near the border.

Members of the LeBaron family were traveling in three separate vehicles between the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora Monday when they were shot at by individuals suspecting of belonging to a drug cartel. Surviving members recounted a horrific scene: victims burning alive in a flaming vehicle and one child gunned down while trying to run away. Of the nine who were killed, three were women, four were children and two were infants. (Read more from “Mexican President Rejects Trump’s Offer for War Against Drug Cartels” HERE)

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Nine Members of Mormon Family, Dual U.S.-Mexican Citizens, Killed in Attack in Northern Mexico; Trump Offers Support

By Washington Post. Assailants killed at least nine members of a fundamentalist Mormon community in Northern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday, shooting and incinerating women and children in a brutal assault that highlighted the increasing grip of organized crime on parts of the country.

Mexican Public Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo said three women and six children of the extended LeBaron family were killed in attacks on three vehicles Monday in the northern state of Sonora. The victims were part of a community of U.S.-Mexican dual citizens who have lived in Mexico for decades. . .

President Trump offered to help Mexico strike back at the traffickers. “This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth,” he tweeted. He called López Obrador on Tuesday afternoon to offer support. (Read more from “Nine Members of Mormon Family, Dual U.S.-Mexican Citizens, Killed in Attack in Northern Mexico; Trump Offers Support” HERE)

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Slain U.S. Citizens Were Part of Mormon Offshoot with Sordid History

By NBC News. The nine U.S. citizens who were killed in a brutal ambush by drug cartel gunmen Monday while traveling in Mexico belonged to a Mormon offshoot group that has been touched by cartel violence before.

The group was part of the extended LeBaron family, Mormon fundamentalists who first came to Mexico nearly a century ago — when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City started cracking down on members who were still practicing polygamy.

To escape persecution in the U.S., Alma Dayer LeBaron brought his wives and children across the border to Mexico in 1924 and founded the LeBaron colony in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It was there in 2009 that drug cartels took another member of the family, anti-crime activist Benjamin LeBaron, for ransom, and murdered him. . .

The family has had a sordid history, Bowman said. Its founder’s sons fell victim to infighting. One, Ervil LeBaron, formed his own church that took on a cult following, said Anna LeBaron, who was one of Ervil’s 51 children with 13 wives. She was born at the LeBaron colony and escaped her father’s cult when she was 13; she detailed her experience in a 2017 book, “The Polygamist’s Daughter.” . . .

“My father would order mob-style hits and those would be carried out by his cult members if they stopped believing in him or his practice or religion and left, or sometimes it was rival cult leaders that were blood-atoned for being false prophets,” she said, adding that media outlets dubbed him the “Mormon Manson.” (Read more from “Slain U.S. Citizens Were Part of Mormon Offshoot with Sordid History” HERE)

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Trump Admin Begins Withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord

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The Trump administration announced on Monday that it was officially withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, with the withdrawal officially set to be completed one year from now.

“President Trump made the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement because of the unfair economic burden imposed on American workers, businesses, and taxpayers by U.S. pledges made under the Agreement,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote in a statement. “The United States has reduced all types of emissions, even as we grow our economy and ensure our citizens’ access to affordable energy.”

“Our results speak for themselves: U.S. emissions of criteria air pollutants that impact human health and the environment declined by 74% between 1970 and 2018,” Pompeo added. “U.S. net greenhouse gas emissions dropped 13% from 2005-2017, even as our economy grew over 19 percent.” . . .

President Donald Trump has repeatedly hammered the Paris Accord and the media’s spin on the subject of climate change. . .

Today the United States began the process to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Per the terms of the Agreement, the United States submitted formal notification of its withdrawal to the United Nations. The withdrawal will take effect one year from delivery of the notification. (Read more from “Trump Admin Begins Withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord” HERE)

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Greta Thunberg’s Refusal to Fly on Airplanes Leaves Her Stranded on Wrong Side of the Globe

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Climate change activist Greta Thunberg is asking for help after her refusal to fly on airplanes has left her stranded on the wrong side of the globe.

The Swedish teenager’s plea came on Friday after the United Nations announced the COP25 environmental summit would be hosted in Madrid, Spain. The summit was slated to take place in Chile, but the South American country withdrew hosting responsibilities this week amid national civil unrest.

“As #COP25 has officially been moved from Santiago to Madrid I’ll need some help. It turns out I’ve traveled half around the world, the wrong way,” Thunberg wrote on Twitter. “Now I need to find a way to cross the Atlantic in November… If anyone could help me find transport I would be so grateful.”

Thunberg traveled to the Americas ahead of the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York in September. Because she refuses to fly on airplanes, Thunberg made the nearly 3,000-mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean via sailboat. (Read more from “Greta Thunberg’s Refusal to Fly on Airplanes Leaves Her Stranded on Wrong Side of the Globe” HERE)

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How Did We Get Here? the Broken Promises and Remainer Activism That Saw Brexit Cancelled a Third Time

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The United Kingdom has failed for a third time to leave the European Union on a date set by its political leaders, just the latest installment in a saga of delays and broken promises in the near three and a half years since the country voted in favor of Brexit.

October 31st 2019 is the latest in a series of dates on which the United Kingdom was meant to Brexit and leave the European Union. The first, on March 29th 2019, came some two years and nine months after the original referendum, triggered after a long period of fruitless negotiation and delay. But it was cancelled after the Remain-supporting Prime Minister Theresa May’s negotiated withdrawal agreement failed to pass Parliament.

This failure eventually brought down the May government, just as the Brexit referendum itself had brought down David Cameron. But it also kicked the Brexit can down the road, a result which Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage predicted with some prescience back in February would lead to delay after delay from that point, putting off Brexit forever.

And indeed it was so — the failure to deliver the March date led to an April 12th date, which itself gave way to October 31st. That date now passing, with the commemorative Brexit coins minted to mark it being melted down.

The next departure date dangled before the noses of the British people is January 31st — which itself will likely be cancelled in favor of another date later in 2020.

(Read more from “How Did We Get Here? the Broken Promises and Remainer Activism That Saw Brexit Cancelled a Third Time” HERE)

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CIA-Trained Afghan Forces Responsible for Atrocities, May Have Committed War Crimes, Says Watchdog

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U.S.-backed Afghan special forces allegedly committed atrocities and are responsible for civilian deaths, according to a Thursday report from Human Rights Watch.

The report called for an investigation into whether the U.S. has been involved in committing war crimes in Afghanistan, according to The Associated Press. It accused Afghan forces allegedly committing atrocities of being “part of the covert operations” of the CIA and suggested disbanding the forces or having the Defense Ministry control them, the AP added.

“These troops include Afghan strike forces who have been responsible for extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, indiscriminate airstrikes, attacks on medical facilities, and other violations of international humanitarian law, or the laws of war,” the report stated.

Human Rights Watch detailed specific raids in the report, including ones in Zurmat. Afghan and U.S. strike forces allegedly shot four men dead as family members looked on, according to the report, and other people home for a holiday were killed in another house.

The findings in the report have been shared with Afghan and U.S. authorities, according to the AP. It added that the U.S. allegedly hasn’t looked into “raid incidents” by Afghan forces. (Read more from “Cia-Trained Afghan Forces Responsible for Atrocities, May Have Committed War Crimes, Says Watchdog” HERE)

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