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After Walmart and Kroger earlier this week urged customers not to openly carry firearms in their stores, drug store giants Walgreens and CVS, along with the Wegmans Food Markets announced Thursday that they were joining in making the same request, continuing a movement among major stores concerning gun violence. "We are joining other retailers in asking our customers to no longer openly carry firearms into our stores other than authorized law enforcement officials," Walgreens stated. "We join a growing chorus of businesses in requesting that our customers, other than authorized law enforcement personnel, do not bring firearms into our stores,"...

North Korea appears to be preparing to test a new ballistic missile submarine capable of launching nuclear missiles, significantly bolstering the regime’s ability to conduct long-distance attacks. Satellite photographs taken Monday of the Sinpo South Shipyard in North Korea show the new submarine with nearby cranes and support craft, suggesting the submarine may be in preparation for a launch test. Last month, North Korea claimed that Kim Jong Un had inspected a “newly built submarine” at the shipyard. The new photographs appear to confirm the claim, say Joseph Bermudez and Victor Cha of Beyond Parallel, a research project backed by...

Weeks after the collapse of the summit between Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, the North Korean leader finally broke his silence. In a speech heavily focused on foreign affairs delivered to the Supreme People’s Assembly – North Korea’s pro forma parliament – Kim made clear his position. He said that a third summit with Trump wasn’t off the table just yet, but getting there would require evidence that the U.S. position on sanctions relief more seriously. To this end, Kim also echoed a message he had originally delivered during his New Year’s Day address: that...

The crosses on graves in an Italian cemetery in Pieve di Cento have been covered with black cloth so as not to offend those who may come from another religion. The cemetery, which is located in Bologna in a town of around 7,000 people, has also installed motorised blackout curtains in a local chapel following renovations to hide Roman Catholic symbols during ceremonies involving other denominations, Il Giornale reports. Following the reports of the coverings of the symbols, many have expressed criticism including Forza Italia (Forward Italy) deputy Galeazzo Bignami who denounced the move saying those looking not to offend were disrespecting Christian values...

See Also: The Omar Affair is a turning point, by Thomas Lifson If Democrats thought that 'censoring' Ilhan Omar for her anti-Semitic statements was the way to get her to stop, they've got another thing coming. Actually, their repulsively watered down resolution, explicitly triggered by her claims that Jews hypnotize the world, Jewish money ("all about the Benjamins, baby") controls U.S. politics, and U.S. Jews have dual-loyalties to Israel, has only emboldened her to step up new lines of attack, this time slamming the sincerity of people who really are concerned about anti-Semitism, calling it "faux." Via Instapundit's Stephen Green:  ...

This article is written by Moris Polanco, originally published by Instituto Fe y Libertad and republished with permission.The elderly cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, said in his blog on February 5, 2018, “The brothers and sisters of mainland China are not afraid of being reduced to poverty, of being put into prison, of shedding their blood. Their greatest suffering is to see themselves betrayed by ‘family.’” He’s right.For a moment let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the bishops, priests, and laity who have been faithful to the Roman Catholic Church. Since the triumph of Marxism-Maoism in...

Christians and Muslims: From Competition to Collaboration Dear Muslim Brothers and Sisters,In his Providence, God the Almighty has granted you the opportunity to observe anew the fasting of Ramadan and to celebrate ‘Id al-Fitr.The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue appreciates the importance of this month and the great effort by the Muslims throughout the world to fast, pray and share the Almighty’s gifts with the poor.Mindful of the gifts prompted by Ramadan, we join you in thanking the Merciful God for his benevolence and generosity, and we extend to you our heartfelt best wishes.The thoughts we would like to share...

No-go zones are growing rapidly in the suburbs of all of France's main cities. Shanty towns built by illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East have sprung up in parts of Marseilles and Paris in the last few years. Islamization is everywhere. In hundreds of mosques, imams deliver fiery anti-Western speeches. Churches are vandalized. The number of rapes is rapidly increasing. Groups of veiled women roam the streets and insult the "immodest", unveiled, women. Macron's most important project since he was elected has been the creation of new Islamic institutions destined to adapt France to Islam -- not to...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday suggested his planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un take place at the Peace House on the border between North and South Korea, the same site as Kim’s historic meeting last week with South Korea’s president. “Numerous countries are being considered for the MEETING, but would Peace House/Freedom House, on the Border of North & South Korea, be a more Representative, Important and Lasting site than a third party country? Just asking!” Trump wrote in a post on Twitter.

North Korea’s Phony Peace Ploy By Nicholas Eberstadt Mr. Eberstadt is a founding director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. April 25, 2018 WASHINGTON — When the government of South Korea announced last week that it would begin work on a formal peace treaty with North Korea, to be discussed at a summit meeting on April 27, its so-called Sunshine Policy of engagement gave way to P.T. Barnum-style, a-sucker-born-every-minute diplomacy. Fighting in the Korean War ended in 1953 with just an armistice, and South Korean officials are calling for a “permanent peace.” But it is not merely...

Among the several ways to judge a person's fitness for office are the enemies he has made. In the case of John Bolton, President Trump's choice to become national security adviser, those who oppose his appointment -- liberals, neocons and some Republicans all with differing worldviews and questionable foreign policy experience -- appear to say more about his qualifications than those who support him. A New York Times editorial said that at least Bolton speaks his mind, though it also said it didn't like what was on it. The Times and their ideological sister publication, The Washington Post, have spilled...

Donald Trump took another whack at Hillary Clinton this morning on Twitter, this time for 'allowing' North Korea to build nuclear weapons. Trump blamed Barack Obama's first secretary of state for Pyongyang's nuclear advance. He took a swipe at her husband Bill, too, a former U.S. president, and one at Obama for failing to curtail North Korea's nuclear ambitions. 'After allowing North Korea to research and build Nukes while Secretary of State (Bill C also), Crooked Hillary now criticizes,' he said in a tweet. He retweeted another user who said, 'It is the height of hypocrisy. Obama and Clinton in...

FP: ...One of your special expertises is on how leftists, and some of our European allies, have chosen to side with our enemy. Now, after the Madrid terror attack, we see another European ally succumb to appeasement.... Hanson: Well, even before the terrorists' communiques were fully disseminated the Spanish electorate voted for appeasement and a socialist government that would distance itself from the United States. This is the most profound example of capitulation since Daladier and Chamberlain and sets a truly awful example... Worse, this was not panic from a fickle leader but an overwhelming expression of public fear and...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif) has a simple plan for deescalating tensions between the U.S. and North Korea: “give them what they want.” She acknowledged that “we may not know specifically what that is, but surely it has to be a better option than going to war.” “Look, Korea is a small, far away country,” Waters observed. “From what I understand it is a very poor place. We could probably feed, house, and clothe everyone in it for less than it would cost to bomb them. If we could ensure Kim that all the material needs of his people could easily...

Former Navy SEAL Carl Higbie urged pop singer Katy Perry to try holding a concert in Syria if she wants to “hug it out” with Islamic terrorists. Higbie, appearing as a guest on Fox News Thursday, said, “Go to hell, Katy Perry. Hold one of your concerts in Syria and see how that goes.” The ex-Navy SEAL was responding to Perry’s recent interview Tuesday on the Elvis Duran and the Morning Show in which the singer made a plea for people to “co-exist” and to remove “barriers” and “borders” after the Manchester, U.K. Islamic terrorist attack that took the lives...

SPECIAL TO CRUXA cross above a church is seen alongside minarets of a mosque April 17 in Cairo ahead of Pope Francis' April 28-29 visit. (Credit:Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters via CNS.) Pope Francis must choose how he addresses the Muslim community when he visits Egypt this week. He has two models: Former U.S. President Barack Obama and former Pope Benedict XVI. When a newly-elected Obama decided to address the “Muslim world” from Cairo in 2009, he insisted that Islam is a “religion of peace,” corrupted by a small few, and that there is nothing particularly Islamic about the violence committed...

The Egypt of Pope Francis, Between Reality and Fantasy > Italiano > English> Español> Français> All the articles of Settimo Cielo in English*After Fr. Henri Boulad, another Egyptian Jesuit and Islamologist is framing in politically incorrect terms the upcoming visit of Pope Francis to Egypt. His name is Samir Khalil Samir. He is 79 years old and teaches at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome and at the Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut.Fr. Boulad’s interview with “L'Osservatore Romano” was covered by Settimo Cielo ten days ago:> "Islam, Religion of the Sword." The Alarm of an Egyptian JesuitWhile Fr. Samir’s extensive interview...

A main reason for the trip is to try to strengthen relations with the 1,000-year-old Azhar center that were cut by the Muslim side in 2011 over what it said were repeated insults of Islam by Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict.” What did Benedict say? Andrea Gagliarducci of the Catholic News Agency explains that after a jihad terrorist murdered 23 Christians in a church in Alexandria 2011, Benedict decried “terrorism” and the “strategy of violence” against Christians, and called for the Christians of the Middle East to be protected.Al-Azhar’s Grand Imam, Ahmed al-Tayeb, whom Pope Francis welcomed to the Vatican in...

Muslim students at a Sydney public school can refuse to shake hands with women even at an awards ceremony. The Hurstville Boys Campus of Georges River College introduced the policy to allow Muslim boys to instead put their hand on the heart as a greeting. The Year 7 to 10 school's two principals told guests at its 2016 presentation day, including notable community members, that students may decline the gesture. The practice comes from the Muslim teaching of hadith that states: 'It is better to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle than to touch the hand of...

The Holy See will allow Chinese bishops to participate in the December meeting of the Assembly of Chinese Catholic Representatives, although the Vatican refuses to accept the legitimacy of that organization. In 2010, the Vatican instructed Chinese bishops not to participate in the last previous meeting of the Assembly. Pope Benedict had written that the government-backed group, which claims authority over the Church in China, is “incompatible with Catholic doctrine.” However, some bishops were compelled by government officials to attend the meeting. This year the Vatican “will make its judgment on the basis of established facts,” according to a December...