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It is a picture perfect Christmas card image from another planet. The European Space Agency's Mars Express has returned an incredible new series of images showing a giant crater on the red planet. It shows the Korolev crater, a 50 mile (82 km) wide feature in in the northern lowlands of Mars. Just south of a large patch of dune-filled terrain that encircles part of the planet's northern polar cap (known as Olympia Undae), ESA says it is 'an especially well-preserved example of a martian crater.' It is filled not by snow but ice, with its center hosting a mound...

The first flights have resumed at Gatwick airport after a series of drone sightings caused days of disruption, affecting more than 100,000 passengers. Airlines warned customers to continue to check their flight’s status on Friday morning as the airport worked to “introduce a limited number of flights over the coming hours”. The runway had remained closed throughout Thursday night, forcing passengers to search for accommodation or shelter at the airport, and bringing demands for new aviation regulations to tackle the threat. The airport’s chief operating officer, Chris Woodroofe, said 120,000 passengers’ flights had been disrupted by the incident. On Thursday...

Ambassador John Bolton, the President's national security adviser, unveiled the strategy in remarks delivered at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. "Under our new Africa strategy, we will target U.S. funding toward key countries and particular strategic objectives," Bolton said. "We will make certain that all aid to the region—whether for security, humanitarian, or development needs—advances U.S. interests," Bolton said. Currently, the U.S. sends more than $8 billion annually to African countries, though Bolton, citing a "longstanding pattern of aid without effect," indicated that amount may soon be slashed. "Unfortunately, billions upon billions of U.S. taxpayer...

A rural Alabama police department that used social media to scold community members for rejecting God is coming under fire from a group that opposes mixing government and religious faith. A statement posted on Facebook by the Opp Police Department on Tuesday blames a spike in area homicides on the idea that young people have turned away from God and "embraced Satan." The post followed two gunshot killings in as many days in Covington County, located on the Alabama-Florida line. But the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation says police in the town of 6,500 people are wrongly promoting religion with...

President Trump hit back Thursday at GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, his normally reliable ally, for opposing his decision to pull US troops out of Syria. “So hard to believe that Lindsey Graham would be against saving soldier lives & billions of $$$,” the president said in a tweet. “Why are we fighting for our enemy, Syria, by staying & killing ISIS for them, Russia, Iran & other locals? Time to focus on our Country & bring our youth back home where they belong!” he added.

President Trump’s surprise decision to rapidly withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria is meeting with intense criticism by foreign policy experts, who denounce it as strategically stupid, reckless for national security and a blow to America’s global credibility. But inside Syria, the consequences are even more serious. For one example, 50,000 Syrian civilian refugees living under the direct protection of the U.S. military are suddenly fearing for their lives. For three years, civilians living in the Rukban refugee camp in the southeastern Syrian desert have survived because of the protection of U.S. forces encamped 10 miles away on a base...

Border Patrol Agents rescue a three-year-old abandoned in the Rio Grande Release Date: July 10, 2018 EDINBURG, Texas – Yesterday, McAllen agents rescued a three year old separated from her mother by smugglers and abandoned in the river. Border Patrol agents rescue young girl separated from her mother by smugglers Border Patrol agents rescue young girl separated from her mother by smugglers In the early afternoon hours, the McAllen Station received information from Hidalgo Port of Entry regarding possible illegal aliens underneath the bridge. As agents responded, they encountered a female claiming that her three-year-old daughter was missing. She stated...

Kenyan RnB singer Eliud Sagini, popularly known as Sagini, who died on Monday, complained of not feeling well while on a live TV interview Saturday. During that interview with KTN’s Str8up, the singer told the show host that he wasn’t feeling well. Two days later, Sagini passed on after being rushed to the hospital. During the show the interviewer, after introducing the show, informed the viewers that although the guest was not feeling well and was under medication, he had managed to make it. ‘TESTIMONY’ “Thank you so much for coming Sagini, so you are not feeling well what is...

Sheriff David Clarke: "Message to all those supposed @realDonaldTrump supporters who jumped off the TRUMP TRAIN yesterday...WE DON'T NEED YOU. In Trump we must TRUST. He knows what he's doing. Wanted: New Conservative Fighters"

A Mississippi company will open call centers in Baton Rouge and Bossier City to provide help-line services for the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, a move that will create 240 jobs. YoungWilliams PC said the Bossier call center will open in March, while the Baton Rouge location will begin operation sometime in the spring. Call center operations for DCFS had been outsourced to a private company operating in Florida and California. The Baton Rouge call center will employ 160 people, and 80 people will work in Bossier. YoungWilliams will spend $4.1 million to open the facilities. The Bossier...

December 21, 2018 Friday of the Third Week of Advent Reading 1 Sg 2:8-14 Hark! my lover–here he comesspringing across the mountains,leaping across the hills.My lover is like a gazelleor a young stag.Here he stands behind our wall,gazing through the windows,peering through the lattices.My lover speaks; he says to me,"Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one,and come!"For see, the winter is past,the rains are over and gone.The flowers appear on the earth,the time of pruning the vines has come,and the song of the dove is heard in our land.The fig tree puts forth its figs,and the vines, in...

The “Donald Trump/Mike Pence Prayer Vigil” and “Heroes and Nation Prayer Thread” have combined to form the AMERICA PRAYER VIGIL prayer thread! Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for our President and Vice President and for AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14 Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. A quick trip through the USA during the turbulent 1968 Yet man is born to trouble as...

Governor Ralph Northam announced Thursday that PRA Group, Inc. will invest fifteen point one million dollars to open a call center in Danville, creating 500 new jobs, 375 of which will be create in the first year. More Headlines Telvista to close Danville facility in March The 500 jobs will have an average salary of more than $38,000. Company CEO Kevin Stevenson said multiple locations, including Martinsville, Harrisonburg, and Danville, were considered for the call center. "We strive to put our centers in smaller areas with certain economic demographics," Stevenson said. "We look for things like good employment rates, average...

In a move Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer called “the biggest news for this state in a long time,” Spirit AeroSystems announced Wednesday that it plans to add 1,400 more jobs in Wichita next year. That’s in addition to the 1,000 jobs — and $1 billion in infrastructure — it promised the city at this time last year. “We have completed hiring that first 1,000, and in fact we have exceeded it,” Spirit President and CEO Tom Gentile said at a news conference on Wednesday....

Thursday on CNN, network chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta said the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis raised questions about the stability of President Donald Trump’s administration.

An online fundraiser started by an Air Force veteran to pay for construction of President Donald Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall was up to millions of dollars Thursday, bringing further attention to an issue that could lead to a government shutdown. Brian Kolfage launched the GoFundMe page Sunday, and it has since generated $6 million in donations. The site states a fundraising goal of $1 billion. In a statement posted on the crowdsourcing page, Kolfage says the wall could be built if everyone who voted for Trump pledged $80 each. "As a veteran who has given three limbs, I feel deeply...

EDISON — The manhunt continues Thursday night for the robber who shot and killed a gas station attendant. Prosecutors on Thursday night said the suspect was still at large after authorities in Perth Amboy announced that a man had been pulled over from a Lyft and arrested, suggesting that the suspect had been found. "While someone was being questioned regarding the fatal shooting at the Speedway Gas Station in Edison, he has been released from custody," the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said.

Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has been cleared to oversee the Mueller Russia probe. CNN reported that acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has consulted with ethics officials at the Justice Department and they have advised him he does not need to recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, a source familiar with the process told CNN Thursday. The source added Whitaker has been in ongoing discussions with ethics officials since taking the job in early November following the ouster of Jeff Sessions, who had stepped aside from overseeing the investigation due to his role as a Trump...

Oh snap, grab my belt, we’re going deep. This move is not unexpected; especially for those who have followed the Trump Doctrine for the past two years. President Trump has announced reception of a notification from Defense Secretary James Mattis that he intends to retire. The move makes sense on multiple levels. President Trump has been executing a policy, a clear doctrine of sorts, where national security is achieved by leveraging U.S. economic power. It is a fundamental shift in approach. Initially, the traditional military interventionist approach couldn’t just be reversed or dispatched; and James Mattis was the bridge to...

Meghan Markle has asked Prince Harry to skip the traditional royal Christmas shoot because she hates hunting, according to The Sunday Mirror. The British newspaper revealed that Harry will not take part in the Boxing Day pheasant shoot, a tradition he has participated in since he was young, out of respect for his new wife's views. Markle refuses to wear fur and is anti-blood sports, according to numerous reports. Citing royal sources, the Sunday Mirror said she has expressed concern about Harry killing "defenceless animals."