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BEIJING - People across China trickled back work on Monday after an extended Lunar New Year holiday as the government eased restrictions imposed to counter the coronavirus, but the World Health Organization (WHO) said the number of cases outside China could be just “the tip of the iceberg”. The death toll from the epidemic rose to 908, all but two in mainland China, on Sunday as 97 more fatalities were recorded - the largest number in a single day since the virus was detected in the city of Wuhan in December. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there had been...

Ten years ago Democrats chose not to use their 60-vote Senate majority to pass card-check legislation letting unions avoid secret-ballot elections. Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to bring up the bill for a vote. How political times have changed. House Democrats last week passed the PRO Act, 224-194, that would impose a back-door card check and gut the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act in the most sweeping pro-union legislation since the 1935 Wagner Act. The bill codifies Obama -era National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rulings that overturned decades of labor law. Employers would have to hand over workers’ private information to...

You’ve successfully conducted adoptions since 2005. But suddenly, in 2019, prosecutors come after you, claiming you are engaging in human trafficking. What drastically changed over 14 years? This is the nightmare that has happened to Paul Petersen, who until January 7 was the Maricopa County Assessor in Arizona. Petersen was pressured into resigning his position after prosecutors got him indicted for bringing women from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. to give birth, then give their babies up for adoption. The prosecution says it’s illegal human trafficking. Prosecutors in Arizona, Utah and Arkansas are seeking federal and state charges against...

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you" (Phil. 1:3). A key to Christian joy is to recall the goodness of others. Though Paul was under house arrest in Rome when he wrote to the Philippians, his mind wasn't bound. Often he reflected on his experiences with the Philippian Christians. As he did, his thoughts turned to prayers of praise and thanksgiving for all that the Lord had done through them. I'm sure Paul remembered when he preached in Philippi and God opened Lydia's heart to believe the gospel (Acts 16:13-14). Subsequently everyone in her household was saved...

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Music in The Bible) Psalm 113 Psalm 113 1 Praise the Lord.[a] Praise the Lord, you his servants;     praise the name of the Lord. 2 Let the name of the Lord be praised,     both now and forevermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,     the name of the Lord is to be praised. 4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations,     his glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like the Lord our God,     the One who sits enthroned on high, 6 who stoops down to look     on the heavens and the...

He’s locked up on murder charges — but still has a rent-regulated apartment. A deadbeat tenant who allegedly killed a man in his Bronx apartment beat an eviction proceeding while in jail on Rikers Island thanks to a controversial new state rent law, The Post has learned. Charles Votaw’s landlord first slapped him with a 10-day notice demanding more than $7,000 in unpaid rent on June 6 last year, the first step to boot him from his federally subsidized Section 8 apartment in Fordham Heights. But on June 14, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act...

After watching the Academy Awards, it seems to matter little whether an honored movie affirms our culture or our traditional values. In fact, many of the winners involve stories and/or characters who run counter to established American values. In fact, many of the films honored are more popular with Hollywood critics and insiders than movie goers. As a result, more and more Americans don't watch. After attending the launch of the first Republican Values Center in Simi, California, I was reminded of the importance of our core American values and why they ought to be central in determining how citizens...

... What would fear of Sanders in the White House mean for the economy, even before the election? If he enters office with a Democratic Congress, he could accelerate the national transition from a relatively free market to a planned economy, with direct and indirect state control of the means of production. His Marxist views have altered little in the last five decades. Both Main Street and Wall Street would price in these potentials, and if Sanders runs away with the Democratic nomination and leads in general election polls against Trump, the economic results would be frightening. Money would flee...

Instead of self-examination and taking stock of their copious failures, many in the media have chosen to blame Trump and suggest his supporters are victims of 'disinformation' instead of winning back readers' trust. Over at The Atlantic, McKay Coppins has a lengthy new article that’s raising a lot of eyebrows in D.C., “The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President.” Coppins is a good journalist and makes a good effort to get inside the online and social media efforts in the Trump organization. It didn’t get a lot of public credit in 2016, but as Coppins notes in the article,...

In northwest Europe, meanwhile, the Viking game Hnefatafl popped up in such far-flung locales as Scotland, Norway and Iceland. Farther south, the ancient Egyptian games of Senet and Mehen dominated. To the east in India, Chaturanga emerged as a precursor to modern chess. And 5,000 years ago, in what is now southeast Turkey, a group of Bronze Age humans created an elaborate set of sculpted stones hailed as the world’s oldest gaming pieces upon their discovery in 2013. Senet is one of the earliest known board games. Archaeological and artistic evidence suggest it was played as early as 3100 B.C.,...

This summer's bushfires were not just devastating events in themselves. More broadly, they highlighted the immense vulnerability of the systems which make our contemporary lives possible. The fires cut road access, which meant towns ran out of fuel and fell low on food. Power to towns was cut and mobile phone services stopped working. So too did the ATMs and EFTPOS services the economy needs to keep running. In a modern, wealthy nation such as Australia, how could this happen? In a human sense, social systems range from the small, such as a family, to large organizations or the national...

DES MOINES — Nearly a full week after the Iowa caucuses, the state Democratic Party on Sunday released results indicating that Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., was the winner after it updated data from 55 precincts. But errors in the result tabulations have led several news organizations, including The New York Times, to refrain from calling the race.... The Associated Press, which historically verifies election results and makes calls on the outcome of races, has not allotted the final delegate to Mr. Buttigieg because of the errors in the caucus results-counting, nor has The A.P. declared...

Tired of all this WINNING yet? – Apparently, Hollywood is. At last night’s Academy Awards ceremony – which I didn’t even know was happening until about 8:00 in the evening – the voters gave the award for Best Picture to some movie from South Korea. I’m sure it’s a fine movie, at least as far as movies go these days, but wow, the film industry in South Korea is now turning out higher-quality films than the film industry in California? That’s rather a stunning admission for the Academy to make. Who is this Milton Keynes fellow, and how can we...

Bernie Sanders By Peter Buttigieg St. Joseph’s High School South Bend, Indiana ... Fortunately for the political process, there remain a number of committed individuals who are steadfast enough in their beliefs to run for office to benefit their fellow Americans. Such people are willing to eschew political and personal comfort and convenience because they believe they can make a difference. One outstanding and inspiring example of such integrity is the country’s only Independent Congressman, Vermont’s Bernie Sanders. Sanders’ courage is evident in the first word he uses to describe himself: “Socialist”. In a country where Communism is still the...

With Democrat dreams of a soft coup now a heap of smoldering wreckage, and no need to play Mr. Nice Guy to please prissy softcons on Capitol Hill, President Trump is finally free to channel his inner Michael Corleone. It’s about time to re-christen Don Jr., and use that opportunity to take out the heads of the five families.  Trump already tossed mealy-mouthed ambassador Gordon Sondland out on his Nadler. Then military Twitter started buzzing with delight – well, not Blue Falcon Twitter but the one with vets who aren’t half-stepping weasels – at the news of That’s Lieutenant Colonel...

Seemingly everyone watching 2018’s race in Texas’s 7th Congressional District felt the same way about Lizzie Fletcher. Her Democratic primary opponent Laura Moser called her “Republican-lite.” When Fletcher won the primary, the Huffington Post called her an “establishment-backed moderate.” The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott saw Fletcher’s campaign as “less a collection of partisan talking points and more a commentary on local issues….” Once Fletcher prevailed that November against incumbent Rep. John Culberson, The Houston Chronicle said “Lizzie Fletcher looks to legislate the way she won: in moderation.” This year, Fletcher needs a new campaign playbook; her moderate self-portrayal can’t hold up...

Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson offered Nancy Pelosi some souvenir acquittal pens after the Senate voted ‘not guilty’ on articles of impeachment Wednesday. Johnson, a member of President Trump’s impeachment defense team, can apparently troll with the best of them. “Just in case Speaker Pelosi is too torn up to hand out acquittal pens, I went ahead and picked some up for our exceptional impeachment defense team,” Johnson tweeted. First off – a ‘torn up’ pun referencing the House Speaker’s staged temper tantrum at the State of the Union is a thing of beauty. Second, Johnson is subtly blasting Pelosi for...

A massive firework launched over a Colorado ski resort town has set a record for the world's largest aerial firework. The 2,800-pound (1,270-kilogram) shell flew 2,200 feet (671 meters) above the Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival before it burst, turning the sky bright red and drawing gasps from the crowd,

Three people were arrested Saturday after a demonstration in downtown Portland, Ore., turned "violent" and a war memorial was vandalized, according to officials. The Portland Police Bureau said the protesters gathered to counter a demonstration outside the Multnomah County Courthouse that was abruptly canceled. Police did not provide details about the previously planned demonstration, but Oregon Live reported it was rumored to be a Ku Klux Klan white supremacy rally at a downtown park. Counter-protesters, including members of Antifa, still showed up even though police said the original event was scrapped. "While the rally was being held and was peaceful,...