These Nations Now Let Employers Ban Religious Symbols at Work - ALASTAIR MACDONALD/REUTERS

Could symbols like this cross necklace soon be banned? (Flickr/CC)

These Nations Now Let Employers Ban Religious Symbols at Work

 3/15/2017 ALASTAIR MACDONALD/REUTERS

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Companies may bar staff from wearing Islamic headscarves and other visible religious symbols under certain conditions, the European Union's top court has ruled, setting off a storm of complaint from rights groups and religious leaders.

In its first ruling on a hot political issue across Europe Tuesday (March 14), the Court of Justice (ECJ) found a Belgian firm which had a rule barring employees who dealt with customers from wearing visible religious and political symbols may not have discriminated against a receptionist dismissed for wearing a headscarf.

The judgment on that and a French case came on the eve of a Dutch election in which Muslim immigration is a key issue and weeks before France votes for a president in a similarly charged campaign. French conservative candidate Francois Fillon hailed the ruling as "an immense relief" that would contribute to "social peace."

But a campaign group backing the women said the ruling could shut many Muslim women out of the workforce. And European rabbis said the Court had added to rising incidences of hate crime to send a message that "faith communities are no longer welcome."

The judges in Luxembourg did find that the dismissals of the two women may, depending on the view of national courts, have breached EU laws against religious discrimination. They found in particular that the case of the French software engineer, fired after a customer complaint, may well have been discriminatory.

Reactions, however, focused on the conclusion that services firm G4S in Belgium was entitled to dismiss receptionist Samira Achbita in 2006 if, in pursuit of legitimate business interests, it fairly applied a broad dress code for all customer-facing staff to project an image of political and religious neutrality.

'Backdoor to Prejudice'

The Open Society Justice Initiative, a group backed by the philanthropist George Soros, said the ruling "weakens the guarantee of equality" offered by EU non-discrimination laws.

"In many member states, national laws will still recognize that banning religious headscarves at work is discrimination," policy office Maryam Hmadoun said.

"But in places where national law is weak, this ruling will exclude many Muslim women from the workplace."

Amnesty International welcomed the ruling on the French case that "employers are not at liberty to pander to the prejudices of their clients." But, it said, bans on religious symbols to show neutrality opened "a backdoor to precisely such prejudice."

The president of the Conference of European Rabbis, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, complained: "This decision sends a signal to all religious groups in Europe." National court cases across Europe have included questions on the wearing of Christian crosses, Sikh turbans and Jewish skullcaps.

In the Belgian case, the ECJ said: "An internal rule of an undertaking which prohibits the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign does not constitute direct discrimination."

It was for Belgian judges to determine whether she may have been a victim of indirect discrimination if the rule put people of a particular faith at a disadvantage. But the rule could still be justified if it was "genuinely pursued in a consistent and systematic manner" to project an "image of neutrality."

However, in the case of Asma Bougnaoui, dismissed by French software company Micropole, it said it was up to French courts to determine whether there was such a rule. If her dismissal was based only on meeting the particular customer's preference, it saw "only very limited circumstances" in which a religious symbol could be objectively taken as reason for her not to work. 

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Mass Graves Found Under Church-Run Orphanage - CONOR HUMPHRIES/REUTERS

The entrance to the site of a mass grave of hundreds of children who died in the former Bons Secours home for unmarried mothers. (REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo)

Mass Graves Found Under Church-Run Orphanage

 3/3/2017 CONOR HUMPHRIES/REUTERS

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The remains of babies, ranging from new-born to three-years-old, have been found in the sewers of a former church-run home for unmarried mothers in Ireland, the government said on Friday.

A report from an inquiry the government ordered in 2014 backed up a historian's claim that up to 800 children may lie in an unmarked grave at the home. It said: "significant quantities of human remains have been discovered in at least 17 of the 20 underground chambers which were examined."

Radiocarbon dating found the remains, which ranged from 35-week-old fetuses to 3-year-olds, dated from between 1925 and 1961, when the home was run by the Bon Secours Sisters.

The inquiry was launched after a local historian said there was evidence of an unmarked graveyard at the home, where records showed almost 800 children died between 1925 and 1961.

The church ran many of Ireland's social services in the 20th century, including mother-and-baby homes where tens of thousands of unmarried pregnant women, including rape victims, were sent to give birth.

Unmarried mothers and their children were seen as a stain on Ireland's image as a devout Catholic nation. They were also a problem for some of the fathers, particularly powerful figures such as priests and wealthy, married men.

Government records show that in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, the mortality rate for "illegitimate" children was often more than five times that of those born to married parents. On average, more than one in four children born out of wedlock died.

In 2014, the Archbishop of Dublin said that "if something happened in Tuam, it probably happened in other mother-and-baby homes around the country." The commission is investigating 17 other church-run institutions.

Ireland's Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone said Friday's news was "sad and disturbing," adding that the commission of inquiry would work with local authorities to investigate further and decide what should happen to the remains.

The commission did not say how many babies' remains were recovered or how many might still be buried in what are believed to be the home's sewage and/or waste water treatment system.

Ireland's once powerful Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of scandals over the abuse and neglect of children. The Archbishop of Tuam said in 2014 he was horrified and saddened by the historian's discovery. 

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Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu Nearing Common Ground Against Iran - JEFFREY HELLER AND MATT SPETALNICK/REUTERS

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo)

Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu Nearing Common Ground Against Iran

2/7/2017 JEFFREY HELLER AND MATT SPETALNICK/REUTERS

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Seizing on an Iranian missile test, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and new U.S. President Donald Trump are nearing common ground on a tougher U.S. policy towards Tehran ahead of their first face-to-face talks at the White House.

But people familiar with the Trump administration's thinking say its evolving strategy is likely to be aimed not at "dismantling" Iran's July 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers—as presidential candidate Trump sometimes advocated—but tightening its enforcement and pressuring the Islamic Republic into renegotiating key provisions.

Options, they say, would include wider scrutiny of Iran's compliance by the U.N. nuclear watchdog (IAEA), including access to Iranian military sites, and removing "sunset" terms that allow some curbs on Iranian nuclear activity to start expiring in 10 years and lift other limits after 15 years.

In a shift of position for Netanyahu, all signs in Israel point to him being on board with the emerging U.S. plan. Two years ago, he infuriated the Obama White House by addressing the U.S. Congress to rally hawkish opposition to a budding Iran pact he condemned as a "historic mistake" that should be torn up.

As Trump and Netanyahu prepare for their Feb. 15 meeting, focus has shifted to Iran's ballistic missile test last week.

The White House said the missile launch was not a direct breach of the nuclear deal but "violates the spirit of that." Trump responded by slapping fresh sanctions on individuals and entities, some of them linked to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

A U.N. Security Council resolution underpinning the nuclear pact urges Iran to refrain from testing missiles designed to be able to carry nuclear warheads, but imposes no obligation.

However, Trump tweeted, "Iran is playing with fire" and "they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!" Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said Washington was putting Tehran on notice over its "destabilizing activity." Netanyahu "appreciated" the comments.

Tehran bristled, warning that "roaring missiles" would fall on its enemies if its security is threatened. It also said its military would never initiate a war.

Meeting of Minds Over Missile Test

Beyond the rhetoric, the missile test gave the new Republican president and the conservative Israeli leader—who had an often acrimonious relationship with Trump's Democratic predecessor Barack Obama—an early chance to show they are on the same page in seeking to restrain Iranian military ambitions.

Netanyahu wrote on Facebook last week: "At my upcoming meeting with President Trump in Washington, I intend to raise the renewal of sanctions against Iran in this context and in other contexts. Iranian aggression must not go unanswered."

In London for talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday, Netanyahu said "responsible" nations should follow Trump's imposition of new sanctions as Iran remained a deadly menace to Israel and "threatens the world."

Netanyahu also said Washington should lead the way, with Israel and Britain, in "setting clear boundaries" for Tehran.

But he stopped short of any call to cancel the nuclear accord. Israeli officials privately acknowledged that he would not advocate ripping up a deal that has been emphatically reaffirmed by the other big power signatories—Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China—since Trump's election victory.

Russia said on Monday it disagreed with Trump's assessment of Iran as "the number one terrorist state" and a Russian diplomat said any move to rework the nuclear pact would inflame Middle East tensions. "Don't try to fix what is not broken," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

Iran has ruled out reworking the deal, and Trump's stance could weaken the hand of pragmatists in Tehran who have been willing to negotiate a detente with the West after decades of volatile confrontation, a former senior Iranian official said.

Under the accord, Tehran received relief from global economic sanctions and in return committed to capping its uranium enrichment well below the level needed for bomb-grade material, cutting the number of its centrifuge enrichment machines by two-thirds, reducing its enriched uranium stockpile and submitting to a more intrusive IAEA inspections regime.

Diplomats close to the IAEA consider the deal a success so far, voicing little concern with overall Iranian compliance—despite Netanyahu's insistence that it will only pave the Islamic Republic's path towards nuclear weapons once major restrictions expire 15 years after its signing.

Pressure Points Other Than Scrapping Deal

With German, French and British firms busy cultivating new business with Iran, Washington's peers in the six-power group almost surely would rebuff any U.S. thrust to reopen the deal.

Daniel Shapiro, who recently ended his tenure as U.S. ambassador to Israel under Obama, told Reuters he would be surprised if Trump and Netanyahu "determined so early in the time working together that they would rather scrap that agreement than try to enforce it in a tough manner and put other pressures unrelated to that deal on the Iranians."

Some foreign policy experts say U.S. efforts to tighten the screws on Iran could seek to goad it into ditching the nuclear accord in hopes that Tehran—and not Washington—would then have to shoulder international blame for its collapse.

According to Israel's Haaretz newspaper, an Israeli intelligence assessment recently presented to Netanyahu said revoking the pact would be an error, causing a chasm between Washington and other signatories like Russia and China.

Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli military intelligence, said there were many areas outside the deal where pressure could be applied on Iran to change what he called its negative behavior of "subversiveness, supporting terrorism."

But beyond new sanctions and sharpened rhetoric, analysts say, it is unclear how far Trump could go. Arguments for restraint would include the risk of military escalation in the Gulf, out of which 40 percent of the world's seaborne crude oil is shipped, and strong European support for the nuclear deal.

Though the new U.S. strategy is in the early stages of development, the Trump administration, the sources say, is considering a range of measures, including seeking "zero tolerance" for any Iranian violations.

Trump's aides accused the Obama administration of turning a blind eye to some alleged Iranian infractions to avoid anything that would undermine confidence in the integrity of the deal. Obama administration officials denied being "soft" on Iran.

Other U.S. strategy options, the sources say, include sanctioning Iranian industries that aid missile development and designating as a terrorist group the Revolutionary Guards, accused by U.S. officials of fueling Middle East proxy wars. That designation could also dissuade foreign investment in Iran because the Guards oversee a sprawling business empire there.

The administration, one source said, is counting on the Europeans to eventually get on board since their companies might think twice about closing major deals in Iran for fear new "secondary" U.S. sanctions would penalize them too.

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Spirit-Filled Pastor Brings God Into City Wracked With Violence - AYESHA RASCOE/REUTERS CHARISMA NEWS

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (l) answers questions from Pastor Darrell Scott at the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in September. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Spirit-Filled Pastor Brings God Into City Wracked With Violence

 2/2/2017 AYESHA RASCOE/REUTERS  CHARISMA NEWS

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Donald Trump will take a "proactive" approach to dealing with violence in Chicago that does not involve simply locking people up, Cleveland-based pastor Darrell Scott said after meeting with the U.S. president on Wednesday.

Scott, a prominent African-American Trump supporter during the presidential campaign, attended a listening session at the White House that also included other black Trump supporters and officials to celebrate the start of Black History Month and to discuss issues affecting the black community.

Trump has pledged to improve the lives of black residents of inner cities and to crack down on crime and violence in urban areas, especially in Chicago, where murders have spiked.

Last month, Trump threatened to "send in the Feds" if Chicago does not get its murder rate under control.

"We're going to have some proactive measures taken with Chicago," Scott told reporters after the meeting. "We're not just going to send in Feds and start arresting black people."

At the start of the White House meeting, Scott said some "gang" members from Chicago had reached out to him about having a sit-down to reduce the violence.

Trump told Scott he supported starting a dialog but stressed that crime must come down.

"If they're not going to solve the problem—and what you're doing is the right thing—then we're going to solve the problem for them," Trump told Scott during a brief portion of the meeting that was open to the media. "Because we're going to have to do something about Chicago."

In January, there were 51 murders in the city, up from 50 a year earlier, according to figures released by the Chicago Police Department on Wednesday. The number of shootings fell to 234 from 242, but the number of victims increased to 299 from 291.

"Murders and shootings remain at levels unacceptable to me," police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday, "and you have my word that we will continue to put our plans into place and make the necessary investments in technology (and) training of our officers to make Chicago a safer city."

Police recovered more than 600 guns off the streets in January, a 60 percent increase from a year earlier, and the number of arrests for firearm offenses doubled. 

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Court Clears 112 Suspected of Torching Christian Homes - MUBASHER BUKHARI/REUTERS

Police beat and detain a Pakistani Christian protester during a demonstration against Saturday's burning of Christian houses and belongings in Badami Bagh, Lahore, March 10, 2013. (Reuters (File Photo))

Court Clears 112 Suspected of Torching Christian Homes

1/30/2017 MUBASHER BUKHARI/REUTERS  charisma news

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A Pakistani court acquitted 112 suspects in the 2013 torching of hundreds of Christian homes in the eastern city of Lahore over a rumor that one of the residents there had blasphemed, a lawyer said on Sunday.

In March 2013, more than 125 homes in Lahore's Josep Colony were burned by a mob of more than 3,000 Muslims responding to rumors that a local Christian man, Sawan Masih, had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad.

No one was killed in the incident but there was widespread damage to the property of the mostly destitute Christians living in the neighborhood. Two churches and dozens of Bibles were also desecrated in the attack.

Defense lawyer Ghulam Murtaza Chaudhry said an anti-terrorism court in Lahore had acquitted 112 people accused of torching and ransacking hundreds of houses.

"They were acquitted by the court because of lack of evidences against them," Murtaza told Reuters. "The state witnesses could not identify the accused and their statements were also contradictory."

All 112 suspects were already out on bail.

A road sweeper in his late twenties, Sawan Masih told police after his arrest on blasphemy charges that the real reason for the blasphemy allegation was a property dispute between him and a friend who spread the rumor.

In Pakistan, conviction under the blasphemy laws can carry a mandatory death sentence.

Masih was sentenced to death in 2014, a decision he has appealed.

Critics of Pakistan's blasphemy laws say they have long been used by individuals and religious groups to settle disputes.

This month, the Pakistani Senate's human rights panel said it would debate how to prevent the country's blasphemy laws being applied unfairly, the first time in decades that any parliamentary body had considered a formal proposal to stop the abuse of the blasphemy laws.

Many conservatives in Pakistan consider even criticizing the laws as blasphemy, and in 2011 a Pakistani governor, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by his bodyguard after calling for reform of the laws.

His killer, Mumtaz Qadri, was hailed as a hero by religious hard-liners. Tens of thousands of supporters attended his funeral after he was executed last year and a shrine was built over his grave soon after his burial.

Hundreds of Pakistanis are on death row for blasphemy convictions. 

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'Ghost Churches' on Jordan River May Finally Be Reopened, But With an Explosive Caveat - ORI LEWIS/REUTERS CHARIMSA NEWS

The site where many believe John the Baptist baptized Jesus. (alicia bramlett/Flickr/CC)

'Ghost Churches' on Jordan River May Finally Be Reopened, But With an Explosive Caveat

1/18/2017 ORI LEWIS/REUTERS  CHARIMSA NEWS

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Ghost churches on the western bank of the Jordan River, near where Jesus is believed to have been baptized, could be reopened to pilgrims as part of a project to remove booby traps and land mines.

The river banks were once a war zone between Israel and Jordan and were littered with thousands of mines and unexploded ordnance. The two neighbors made peace in 1994, but it took many years before some mine-clearing began.

Both claim that the site where John the Baptist and Jesus met is on their side of the river. The Gospel of John refers to "Bethany beyond the Jordan" without further details.

In 2002, Jordan opened its site, showing remains of ancient churches and writings of pilgrims down the centuries to bolster its claim. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 2015.

The site in the Israeli-occupied West Bank opened in 2011 and has stairs for pilgrims to descend into the muddy river. It has more visitors than the Jordanian site but its churches, mostly built in the 1930s, has remained strictly off-limits.

The Halo Trust, a Scottish-based charity that has cleared minefields worldwide and was once sponsored by the late Princess Diana, is looking to raise $4 million to make western site safe.

It says it will need two years to clear the small churches along 100 hectares (247 acres) of land that belongs to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, and that Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities support the endeavor.

The mined area is about a kilometer (half-mile) from the cleared area at Qasr al-Yahud where Christian pilgrims already flock to be baptized.

"Over 450,000 tourists from all over the world come to visit this site every year and Halo believes that after (the church area) is cleared and rebuilt, the local economy will benefit," Halo's West Bank project manager Ronen Shimoni told Reuters.

Christians are also baptized on the Jordanian side, where several churches from different denominations have been built in recent years to welcome pilgrims.

Qasr al-Yahud is near the Palestinian town of Jericho and about a 30-minute drive from Jerusalem.

Halo says some of the seven abandoned church buildings were boobytrapped by Israel after it captured the West Bank in a 1967 war, making the work for the group's team of 35 to 40 sappers, mainly from Georgia, more complex.

At the time, Israel planted the explosives to help secure its frontier against infiltration from Jordan.

"We are expecting to find around 4,500 targets. Most are anti-tank mines, but there are also anti-personnel mines and a few hundred unexploded ordnances, abandoned explosives, and improvised devices inside the churches," said Michael Heiman of Israel's Defense Ministry. 

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Christians Claim Significant Victory Against Radical Islam in Biblical Homeland - BUSHRA SHAKSHIR AND STEPHEN KALIN/REUTERS

An Iraqi Christian police attends the first Sunday mass at the Grand Immaculate Church since it was recaptured from Islamic State in Qaraqosh, near Mosul in Iraq. (REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah)

Christians Claim Significant Victory Against Radical Islam in Biblical Homeland

10/31/2016 BUSHRA SHAKSHIR AND STEPHEN KALIN/REUTERS

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Surrounded by charred walls and in front of a ruined altar, dozens of Iraqi Christians celebrated mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Qaraqosh on Sunday for the first time since it was recaptured from Islamic State.

Church bells rang out in the town on the southeastern approaches to Mosul where Iraqi troops, backed by U.S.-led air and ground forces, have been driving back the Sunni Muslim jihadis ahead of a battle for the city itself.

"Today Qaraqosh is free of Daesh (Islamic State)," Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Butrus Moshe told worshippers.

Islamic State has targeted the adherents and religious sites of minority communities in both Iraq and Syria. When it seized control of Mosul two years ago it issued an ultimatum to Christians: pay a tax, convert to Islam or die by the sword.

Most abandoned their homes and fled toward the autonomous Kurdish region, abandoning one of Christianity's earliest centers.

"Our role today is to remove all the remnants of Daesh," the archbishop said. "This includes erasing sedition, separation and conflicts, which victimized us," said the archbishop, who was born in Qaraqosh.

"Political and sectarian strife, separating between one man and another, between ruler and follower, these mentalities must be changed," he said.

Christianity in northern Iraq dates back to the first century AD. The number of Christians fell sharply during the violence which followed the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and the Islamic State takeover of Mosul two years ago purged the city of Christians for the first time in two millennia.

It was from a Mosul mosque that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a "caliphate" in 2014, spanning northern Iraq and eastern Syria. The recapture of the city would mark the effective defeat of the Iraqi wing of that domain. 

© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

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Archaeologist Find Reveals New Truth Behind Wicked Philistines - ARI RABINOVITCH/REUTERS CHARISMA NEWS

Professor Lawrence E. Stager, Dorot Research Professor of the Archaeology of Israel, speaks during an interview with Reuters near a partly unearthed skeleton at excavation site of the first-ever Philistine cemetery at Ashkelon National Park in southern Israel. ( REUTERS/Amir Cohen)

Archaeologist Find Reveals New Truth Behind Wicked Philistines

 7/11/2016 ARI RABINOVITCH/REUTERS  CHARISMA NEWS

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Philistines were no "philistines," say archaeologists who unearthed a 3,000-year-old cemetery in which members of the biblical nation were buried along with jewelry and perfumed oil. 

Little was known about the Philistines prior to the recent excavation in the Israeli port city of Ashkelon. The famed arch enemies of the ancient Israelites -- Goliath was a Philistine -- flourished in this area of the Mediterranean, starting in the 12th century BC, but their way of life and origin have remained a mystery. 

That stands to change after what researchers have called the first discovery of a Philistine cemetery. It contains the remains of about 150 people in numerous burial chambers, some containing surprisingly sophisticated items. 

The team also found DNA on parts of the skeletons and hope that further testing will determine the origins of the Philistine people. 

We may need to rethink today's derogatory use of the word philistine, which refers to someone averse to culture and the arts, said archaeologist Lawrence Stager, who has led the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon since 1985. 

"The Philistines have had some bad press, and this will dispel a lot of myths," Stager said. 

Stager's team dug down about 3 meters (10 feet) to uncover the cemetery, which they found to have been used centuries later as a Roman vineyard. 

On hands and knees, workers brushed away layers of dusty earth to reveal the brittle white bones of entire Philistine skeletons reposed as they were three millennia ago. 

Decorated juglets believed to have contained perfumed oil were found in graves. Some bodies were still wearing bracelets and earrings. Others had weapons. 

The archeologists also discovered some cremations, which the team say were rare and expensive for the period, and some larger jugs contained the bones of infants. 

"The cosmopolitan life here is so much more elegant and worldly and connected with other parts of the eastern Mediterranean," Stager said, adding that this was in contrast to the more modest village lifestyle of the Israelites who lived in the hills to the east. 

Bones, ceramics and other remains were moved to a tented compound for further study and some artifacts were reconstructed piece by piece. The team mapped the position of every bone removed to produce a digital 3D recreation of the burial site. 

Final reports on the finds are being published by the Semitic Museum at Harvard University. 

© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

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Amid Revival, At Least 26 Killed In West Virginia Flooding - LAILA KEARNEY AND BARBARA GOLDBERG/REUTERS CHARISMA NEWS

Amid Revival, At Least 26 Killed In West Virginia Flooding

 6/25/2016 LAILA KEARNEY AND BARBARA GOLDBERG/REUTERS  charisma news

Emergency crews take out boats on a flooded I-79 at the Clendenin Exit, after the state was pummeled by up to 10 inches of rain on Thursday, causing rivers and streams to overflow into neighboring communities, in Kanawha County, West Virginia. (West Virginia Department of Transportation/Handout via Reuters)

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At least 26 people in West Virginia have died in the U.S. state's worst flooding in more than a century, and hundreds more have been rescued from swamped homes, officials said on Friday.

READ: This Fiery Revival of Hope in West Virginia-Kentucky Gains Secular Media Attention

The mountainous state was pummeled by up to 10 inches of rain on Thursday, causing rivers and streams to overflow.

"The damage is widespread and devastating," Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said at a news conference. "Our biggest challenge continues to be high waters."

A spokeswoman for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management put the death toll at 23. The hardest-hit area was Greenbrier County in the southeast of the state, with 15 deaths, she said.

Multiple rivers have risen to dangerous heights, including the Elk River, which reached 32 feet, the highest since 1888, Tomblin said.

Government officials are focusing resources on rescuing those trapped or swept away by the flooding, he said, adding that some 66,000 residences are without power.

The governor declared a state of emergency in 44 of 55 counties and deployed 200 members of the West Virginia National Guard to help rescue efforts on Friday.

Though rivers were expected to crest by Friday night and the rescue and recovery effort is likely to last through the weekend, said Tim Rock, spokesman for the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

"There have been towns that have been completely surrounded by water," Rock said. "People say there is 8 to 9 feet of water in their house.

"It's at least into the hundreds forced to get emergency shelter," he said. "Even if you can get back into your home, who knows what kind of shape it's in."

West Virginia received one-quarter of its annual rainfall in a single day, National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Pereira said. Rains eased on Friday.

The storms that drenched West Virginia were part of a severe weather system that swept through the U.S. Midwest, triggering tornadoes.

© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 

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Trump: Obama 'Snubbed' Israel - ERIZ LINN, REUTERS AND ISRAEL HAYOM STAFF

Trump: Obama 'Snubbed' Israel

6:00AM EDT 5/2/2016 ERIZ LINN, REUTERS AND ISRAEL HAYOM STAFF

Donald Trump (Reuters file photo )

In a bold speech late last week, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outlined his foreign policy, while blasting U.S. President Barack Obama's administration for "snubbing" Israel.

"Israel, our great friend, and the only true democracy in the Middle East, has been snubbed and criticized by an administration that lacks moral clarity," Trump said. "President Obama has not been a friend to Israel. He has treated Iran with tender love and care, and made it a great power."

Trump added that Iran's rise comes "at the expense of Israel, our allies in the region, and more importantly, the United States itself," and that Obama had been determined to negotiate a "disastrous deal with Iran, and then we watched them ignore its terms even before the ink was dry."

Trump said that in making a deal, "when the other side knows you're not going to walk, it becomes absolutely impossible to win, you just can't win." Unlike Obama, who promised that Iran would not have a nuclear bomb as long as he was president, Trump stressed that, if elected, he would ensure that Iran "will never, ever be allowed to have that nuclear weapon."

Trump added that America's allies, especially NATO members, "must contribute toward their financial, political and human costs—have to do it—of our tremendous security burden."

He also made clear that his "foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people and American security above all else."

Trump extended his criticism of the Obama administration to specifically include Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying, "I challenge anyone to explain the strategic foreign policy vision of Obama/Clinton. It has been a complete and total disaster."

He repeated his criticism of Obama's reluctance to single out radical Islam as a problem, saying, "President Obama won't even name the enemy, and unless you name the enemy, you will never ever solve the problem."

Speaking about the Islamic State group, he said, "I have a simple message for them: Their days are numbered. I won't tell them where and I won't tell them how."

Also on Wednesday, Trump called out rival Ted Cruz for naming Carly Fiorina as his vice presidential running mate, saying the pick was "a desperate attempt to save a failing campaign by an all talk, no action politician." 

For the original article, visit israelhayom.com.

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Senate Pressures Obama to Do This for Israel - PATRICIA ZENGERLE/REUTERS CHARISMA NEWS

Senate Pressures Obama to Do This for Israel

4/25/2016 PATRICIA ZENGERLE/REUTERS  charisma news

An Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. (Reuters)

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More than four-fifths of the U.S. Senate have signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to quickly reach an agreement on a new defense aid package for Israel worth more than the current $3 billion per year.

Eighty-three of the 100 senators signed the letter, led by Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Chris Coons. Senator Ted Cruz, a 2016 presidential candidate, was one of the 51 Republicans on board. The Senate's Democratic White House hopeful, Bernie Sanders, was not among the 32 Democrats.

"In light of Israel's dramatically rising defense challenges, we stand ready to support a substantially enhanced new long-term agreement to help provide Israel the resources it requires to defend itself and preserve its qualitative military edge," said the letter, which was seen by Reuters.

It did not provide a figure for the suggested aid. Israel wants $4 billion to $4.5 billion in aid in a new agreement to replace the current memorandum of understanding, or MOU, which expires in 2018. U.S. officials have given lower target figures of about $3.7 billion. They hope for a new agreement before Obama leaves office in January.

The funding is intended to boost Israel's military and allow it to maintain a technological advantage over its Arab neighbors.

The letter said the Senate also intends to consider increased U.S. funding for cooperative missile defense programs, similar to increases in the past several years.

Obama has asked for $150 million for such programs, but lawmakers are believed to be willing to send Israel hundreds of millions for programs like its Iron Dome air defense system and David's Sling medium- and long-range defense system. 

© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

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