The Jerusalem Post, by Esther Davis: Israel is set to host the Middle East’s largest ever LGBT festival at the Dead Sea in June 2026.

The new festival, Pride Land, intends to transform the middle of the Judean Desert into a colorful pride city from June 1 to June 4.

The event intends to create an experience broader than parties or performances, instead aiming for a space that is alive 24 hours a day, with 15 hotels, beach complexes, parties, and a central performance arena all operating around the clock.

Alongside the nightlife, Pride Land will have cultural and art complexes, relaxation and scenic areas, and family-friendly areas with children’s activities, family-friendly workshops, and customized events.

The organizers hope to create a multigenerational “Pride City,” not just a party celebrating pride. “This is not just another festival, it’s the biggest thing we’ve done here,” explained Aaron Cohen, main producer and initiator of the festival.

“We chose to grow,” Cohen added. “To take an investment of millions, purchase entire hotels for 4 days, and build a city from scratch in the middle of the desert. It’s an experience that lives 24/7, from quiet visits to nights of pride, with a living envelope of music and people.”

This is not just a pride event; it also aims to highlight the Dead Sea region as a permanent destination for LGBT tourists, emphasizing that Pride in Israel extends beyond the key hub of Tel Aviv.

Artists within the community

Pride Land’s main stage will host Harel Skaat, Dana International, Ran Danker, Shahar Tabuch, and Ivri Lider, alongside DJs from the Israeli LGBT community.

“Pride Land does not come to replace Tel Aviv’s traditional Pride Parade, but rather to add to the community an event that is tailored to its development and is crafted from within the community with the community’s people,” explained Jonathan Gadol, CEO of X Production.

The event comes at a challenging time for Israel on the international stage, with tourism affected by the country’s security situation.

The organizers aim to present a message of openness, acceptance, and community.

Ticket and package sales are expected to open soon and will include hotel accommodations in the area, daily admission, and premium packages.

Prophetic Link:
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:28-30.

Source References

• Four day pride festival to be held at Dead Sea, largest in history of Middle East

Zero Hedge, by Tyler Durden: Rosneft’s sprawling oil refinery in southern port town of Tuapse has been struck by Ukrainian drones once again, unleashing a huge fire and significant destruction, in what marks the third such attack just this month.

“Another serious incident has occurred in Tuapse. A large-scale fire broke out at an oil refinery due to an enemy drone attack,” Krasnodar region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram, amid large-scale evacuations of the civilian population from the area.

Regional aviation hubs in nearby Krasnodar, Gelendzhik, and Sochi were closed as a result of the blaze which sent a large black smoke plume into the air stretching for at least 100km, regional reports indicate.

“For the safety of residents living near the refinery, evacuations are underway. A temporary accommodation center has been set up at local School No. 6. I urge residents to follow all recommendations,” the regional government statement continued.

According to Ukrainian media:

The Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channel CyberBoroshno reported that at least four tanks were burning at the refinery following the strike.

“If in previous attacks the tank farm was hit, this time the refinery itself was directly targeted… There is a possibility that the fire could spread to neighboring tanks,” the report said.

Reuters says that as a result of the several waves of attacks on Tuapse, operations at the plant have remained halted since April 16 – which was the first big strike of the month.

One is left wondering, what about Russian defensive measures and why have these failed so spectacularly? First, it should be noted that small drones have become efficient and their size advantage is seen in evading conventional radar and anti-air missiles, by and large. TASS only has this to offer by way of official statement:

“Intensive efforts are underway” to prevent Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

All details about targets hit by the Kiev regime are classified: “As for any information regarding targets hit as a result of strikes by the Kiev regime, the details are classified; we will not discuss them publicly at this time.”

Measures to deal with the aftermath of the Ukrainian drone strike on the oil refinery in Tuapse are being taken “at an appropriate level.”

The complex processes some 12 million metric tons of crude annually and remains a crucial and major export route for naphtha, fuel oil, and diesel.

Rusya’nın Tuapse Petrol Rafinerisi, düzenlenen dron saldırısı sonucu yeniden alev aldı. Görüntülerde, önceki saldırılardan sağlam kalan yeni depolama tanklarının isabet alarak patladığı görülüyor. pic.twitter.com/HLc61fGH8B
— The Bitig (@thebitig) April 28, 2026

The attacks have made parts of the sky black and the aftermath poses a safety risk for residents, also with reports of ‘toxic rain’ over the town, as the environmental situation spiraling – also with significant amounts of crude said to be leaking into the Black Sea.

Currently the globe’s attention is largely focused on the Iran war and the Hormuz Strait blockade, and with that efforts to reach a political and peace settlement in Ukraine have faded as well.

Prophetic Link:
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:6-8

Source References

• Chaos, Black Rain, Evacuations: Tuapse Oil Facility Struck For Third Time This Month

CBS News: A powerful tornado in Oklahoma on Thursday ripped roofs off buildings, destroyed homes, knocked down utility poles and forced an Air Force base to close.

The confirmed tornado moved across parts of Enid, a city of about 50,000 people in Garfield County near the state’s northern border, according to the National Weather Service. Videos posted online show a rapidly rotating column of air touching down, along with totaled homes.

Keli Cain, public affairs director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, told CBS News Friday morning that no deaths have been reported but there have been 10-15 injuries.

Commercial buildings just south of the city were turned into a pile of twisted metal, splintered wood and insulation by the powerful twister. Buildings were pushed completely off concrete foundations.

The tornado knocked down utility poles and left power lines wrapped with huge chunks of debris. A nearby home had part of its metal roof torn off and trees were left stripped of bark and limbs.

Neighboring counties also reported some flooded roads and barn damage. Some roads and part of U.S. Interstate 81 were closed, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said.

Local police were sent to the affected areas and began home searches, followed by multiple searches by the Enid Fire Department and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Enid Mayor David Mason said Friday.

Mason said some residents were trapped in their homes by debris and had to be rescued. He said some of the worst damage happened in Gray Ridge, a neighborhood on the south side of the city, where homes were knocked down.

“The support from our community has been remarkable. Local businesses have offered equipment and labor, residents have opened their doors, and supplies have poured in already,” Mason posted online. “This is who Enid is in challenging moments — we continue to show up for one another.”

Video from the scene showed piles of rubble where homes once stood. Other buildings appeared to be leveled.

Amy Kuntz, who was driving home to Enid, was calming her daughter over the phone during the storm.

“She said, ‘I don’t know what to do,’ And then I was like, ‘Get in the bathtub.’ So she got in the bathtub and not even a minute later, she’s like, ‘Mom, the roof’s gone,'” Kuntz told KFOR-TV.

Overnight, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said on social media that its phone lines were down because of tornado damage and told residents to call 911 if they had an emergency.

Vance Air Force Base, in Enid, said in a Facebook post early Friday that it was closed until further notice due to “ongoing power and water restoration efforts.”

“Only mission essential personnel required to support critical operations and restoration of base utilities should report for duty,” the base added. “All other personnel should remain at home and monitor official base communication channels for updates and reporting instructions.”

The base said all of its personnel were accounted for, no injuries were reported and damage assessments were being conducted across the installation.

CBS Oklahoma City affiliate KWTV reported that the Oakwood Christian Church in Enid offered shelter Thursday night for people affected by the storm.

In a social media post, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said, “Please join me in praying for the Enid community, which has been severely impacted by tonight’s tornado.

More storms are possible through Friday night across south-central and southeast Oklahoma, the National Weather Service in Norman said. Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected to develop Saturday, including in the Enid area.

It was a stormy night for other states, too. In Kearney, Missouri, north of Kansas City, officials reported downed trees, debris blocking roadways and damage to homes on Thursday night after storms passed through the area. Officials said in a social media post that no injuries had been reported. Crews worked to make roads passable by early Friday and were expected to continue cleanup efforts during the day.

Prophetic Link:
“In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast.” Great Controversy, 589

Source References

• Tornado roars through Enid, Oklahoma, destroys homes, forces Air Force base to close

New York Post, by Anthony Blair: A crazed Louisiana dad fatally shot eight kids — including seven of his own children — and wounded two women during a rampage Sunday morning.

Seven of the slain kids were the children of murderous, deranged dad and 31-year-old Army vet Shamar Elkins, who also killed his kids’ cousin during the massacre, according to local officials.

The victims ranged in age from 3 to 11. 

Cops found seven of the murdered children in one house — while the eighth child killed appeared to have futilely tried to escape off the roof on the back of the house when he was shot, Shreveport Police Department spokesman Christopher Bordelon said.

Most of the children were shot in the head while they slept. He believes Elkins used a small-caliber handgun for the initial killings, but was carrying a “rifle-style pistol” when he was apprehended, Bordelon told NBC News.

The killer also shot the two mothers of his children, each in the head, during his rampage.

He shot his wife, with whom he shared four kids, at the home with the children and the mother of three of his kids at a separate home nearby, according to a relative who spoke to the Associated Press.

Crystal Brown, one of the surviving victims’ cousins, told the outlet that Elkins and his wife were in the process of formally separating and were due in court on Monday.

She said the pair were arguing about their separation when Elkins opened fire.

At least one of the women suffered life-threatening injuries.

“We have three crime scenes just here in Shreveport. One of them is incredibly gruesome in nature,” Bordelon said.

“I know that some of the suspect’s children resided there. I’m not sure if at one point in time he lived there.”

There were audible gasps as Bordelon revealed the ages of the deceased.

The crime scenes in Shreveport were described as “extensive” and spanned two homes on the same street and a third on a nearby street.

After the shootings, the gunman carjacked a vehicle and tried to escape by fleeing to neighboring Bossier City, where he had a connection to a home, but was killed by pursuing cops, according to authorities.

“The individual responsible, once leaving this scene, performed a carjacking right here in close proximity to the corner of West 79th and Linwood, at which point in time, Shreveport police patrol officers got behind that vehicle in a chase incident,” Bordelon said.

No police officers were injured in their pursuit of Elkins.

“This is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen,” Chief Smith said.

Louisiana State Police said their detectives have been asked to help investigate by the Shreveport PD, KSLA reported.

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux described the shooting as one of the worst tragedies in his city’s history.

“This is a tragic situation — maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had,” the mayor told a news conference.

“It’s a terrible morning, and we all mourn for the victims,” he said.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said he and his wife Sharon were heartbroken over the events.

“We’re praying for everyone affected. We’re deeply grateful to the law enforcement officers and first responders working tirelessly on the scene,” Gov. Landry wrote on Facebook Sunday.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was born in Shreveport and represents the city in Congress, also spoke out.

“Heartbreaking tragedy in Shreveport this morning — 8 children were senselessly killed and multiple others were injured. My team is in touch with local law enforcement as more details emerge,” he wrote on X.

“We’re holding the victims, their families and loved ones, and our Shreveport community close in our thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time. And we are grateful to the Shreveport, Bossier, and Louisiana State Police for their swift response,” Johnson added.

Prophetic Link:
“Everything in the world is in agitation. The signs of the times are ominous. Coming events cast their shadows before. The Spirit of God is withdrawing from the earth, and calamity follows calamity by sea and by land. There are tempests, earthquakes, fires, floods, murders of every grade. Who can read the future? Where is security? There is assurance in nothing that is human or earthly. Rapidly are men ranging themselves under the banner they have chosen. Restlessly are they waiting and watching the movements of their leaders. There are those who are waiting and watching and working for our Lord’s appearing. Another class are falling into line under the generalship of the first great apostate. Few believe with heart and soul that we have a hell to shun and a heaven to win.” Desire of Ages, 636.1

Source References

• Gunman kills 8 kids — including 7 of his own — in mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana

WALB News, by Taylor Lewis and Tristin Clements: A burn ban was issued for all of South Georgia, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC), and Governor Brian Kemp has issued a State of Emergency.

The Pineland Road Fire started just before 5 p.m. Saturday, April 18, and since has burned 16,516 acres. The fire is currently 10% contained.

The fire is expected to continue growing over the next 72 hours, challenging containment efforts. Anticipated containment is projected by May 31.

Fire creating its own patterns

Scott Griffin, president and CEO of Superior Pine Products Company, said the fire is creating conditions rarely seen in his more than 40 years fighting wildfires.

Griffin said fires of this size can create their own weather and wind patterns, making containment extremely difficult. The fire is jumping fire lanes and spotting, he said, with firefighters working around the clock to control it.

The fire has been spotting ahead of the main fire line, creating new fires that require additional fire breaks. The blaze has crossed toward the Suwannochee River near the Clinch and Echols County line.

Steven Spradley, a liaison and information officer with the Georgia Forestry Incident Management Team, said firefighters have been on the fire 24 hours a day since it began this weekend. The last few nights have brought extreme fire behavior similar to daytime conditions, he said.

Rain needed to slow spread

Over 98% of Georgia is experiencing drought conditions. The drought index, which ranges from zero to 800, is in the 600 to 700 range in the affected area, fire officials said.

Spradley said the area has not had substantial rain for quite some time. Rain is the only thing that will slow down the conditions firefighters are experiencing in South Georgia, he said.

The National Weather Service in Jacksonville stated low relative humidity and breezy winds are creating dangerous fire weather conditions across the region.

Clinch County EMA Director Andrew Nelson said changing winds could quickly shift conditions.

Everyday activities can spark fires

Spradley said normal day-to-day activities can start wildfires in these drought conditions. Parking on the side of the highway where a muffler could ignite dry grass, mowing yards or throwing cigarettes out windows can all start wildfires in current conditions, he said.

Griffin urged residents to avoid any activity that could create a spark. No burning or welding should occur anywhere near grass or timberland, he said.

Officials are asking people to stay away from the fire zone unless travel is necessary. The Georgia Forestry Commission said extra traffic and onlookers create safety risks and can slow emergency crews, aircraft and equipment.

Flying drones over or near the wildfire is illegal and dangerous. If a drone is spotted, firefighting aircraft may be forced to stop operations.

Griffin asked residents to be respectful of firefighters they see on the roads. Firefighters are under stress and away from their families while trying to contain the fire as quickly as possible, he said.

Prophetic Link:
“There will soon be a sudden change in God’s dealings. The world in its perversity is being visited by casualties,—by floods, storms, fires, earthquakes, famines, wars, and bloodshed. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power; yet He will not at all acquit the wicked. “The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.” O that men might understand the patience and longsuffering of God! He is putting under restraint His own attributes. His omnipotent power is under the control of Omnipotence. O that men would understand that God refuses to be wearied out with the world’s perversity, and still holds out the hope of forgiveness even to the most undeserving! But His forbearance will not always continue. Who is prepared for the sudden change that will take place in God’s dealing with sinful men? Who will be prepared to escape the punishment that will certainly fall upon transgressors?” Final Events, 356.2

Source References

• ‘It’s a beast, it’s a monster’: Wildfire explodes to more than 16,000 acres in South Georgia, forcing evacuations

CBS News: Drought in the contiguous United States has reached record levels for this time of year, weather data shows. Meteorologists said it’s a bad sign for the upcoming wildfire season, food prices and western water issues.

More than 61% of the Lower 48 states is in moderate to exceptional drought – including 97% of the Southeast and two-thirds of the West, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. It’s the highest levels for this time of year since the drought monitor began in 2000.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s comprehensive Palmer Drought Severity Index not only hit its highest level for March since records started in 1895, but last month was the third-driest month recorded regardless of time of year. It trailed only the famed Dust Bowl months of July and August 1934.

Drought peaks earlier than normal

Because of record heat, much of the West has had exceptionally low levels of snow in the first few months of the year, which is usually how the region stores water for the summer. The region endured a historic snow drought that experts warn could bring water shortages and wildfires in the months ahead. New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah are contending with record-low snowpack, federal records show. Snowpack is the accumulation of mountain snow that fortifies rivers, reservoirs and drinking water systems once it melts. Low snowpack can make wildfire-prone land even more vulnerable.

A different drought — connected to the jet stream keeping storms further north — has put the South from Texas all the way to the East Coast into a separate drought that just happens to coincide with what’s going on in the West, said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center.

It would take 19 inches of rain in one month to break the drought in eastern Texas and more than a foot of rain to solve the deficit for most of the Southeast, NOAA calculated.

“Right now 61% of the country is in drought and that’s steadily been going up for the calendar year,” Fuchs said. “We just haven’t seen too many springs where this amount of the country has been in this kind of shape.”

Sticking out like a sore thumb is a highly technical but crucial measurement of “the sponginess” of the atmosphere — or how much moisture the hot, dry air is sucking up from the land it’s baking. It’s called vapor pressure deficit. It’s 77% above normal and more than 25% higher than the previous record for January through March in the West, said UCLA hydroclimatologist Park Williams.

That level of moisture-sucking from the ground “wouldn’t have appeared possible” before now, Williams said.

Drought usually peaks in summer, not spring, and that’s what worries meteorologists.

“Fire tends to respond to heat and drought in an exponential manner,” Williams said. “For each degree of warming, you get a bigger bang in terms of fire than you got from the previous degree of warming.”

Worries about water shortages, wildfires

In Arizona, cacti are blooming months early and the worry about water has already started, said Kathy Jacobs, director of the Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions at the University of Arizona.

“Those of us who are dependent on the Colorado River, of course, are very concerned about the fact that we don’t have a negotiated path forward in the middle of what appears to be possibly the worst year of drought that we’ve all experienced,” Jacobs said. “We have lots of reservoirs that are not full.”

Water supply forecasts suggest shortages could be imminent and potentially widespread. Water and snowpack usually protect against wildfires, acting as a buffer against dry conditions. However, as temperatures rise and snowpack remains low, experts said conditions taking shape increasingly resemble those that in recent years have fueled some of the region’s most destructive blazes.

The National Interagency Fire Center warned that the potential for significant fires would be higher than normal for parts of the Southwest later in the spring, in part due to snowpack.

Yale Climate Connections meteorologist Jeff Masters said his biggest concern is what the drought will do to agriculture and then food prices. If America has a poor crop year due to the drought, it could be a global problem. A strong natural El Niño weather oscillation is predicted, which often reduces crop yields in other parts of the globe, such as India.

UCLA’s Williams said the drought and hotter weather are driven by both natural variability and human-caused climate change with randomness a slightly bigger factor.

“All weather is now affected by climate change,” Arizona’s Jacobs said. “There is no such thing as weather that’s divorced from climate trends. But this extreme event is extreme in the way that we’ve been expecting: extreme heat waves, intense drought.”

Prophetic Link:
“You do not realize your peril. Nations and people have in different ages separated from God and lost faith in truth, in duty, so that they could not discern man’s eternal responsibility to his God. You are passing over the same ground. You have clung to your idols and are becoming spiritually benumbed. Whatever, it may cost you to recover your faith, you would better deny self and make any sacrifice than live without the presence and favor of God. There is something more to be dreaded by individuals who have had light and knowledge of the truth than drought, famine, or temporal inconveniences. It is a worse thing to lose faith in God, in truth, in duty. It is far worse to choose your own way, to love money, to love those things that minister to selfish gratification and indulgence. It is a terrible thing to imperil the soul’s highest interest for any temporal gain or worldly advantage.” Letters and Manuscripts, Volume 8, Letter 113, 1893, par. 20

Source References

• Record U.S. drought sparks fears about wildfires, water supply and food prices

The Epoch Times, by Jack Phillips: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday confirmed that an executive order mandating banks to collect citizenship information on customers is underway.

“It’s in process. And I don’t think it’s unreasonable, because, why don’t we have information on who’s in our banking system?” he told Semafor in an April 13 interview, responding to whether the Trump administration was working on the banking order.

“I have a place in the UK; they want to know who lives in every apartment—and how do we know that it’s not part of a foreign terrorist organization?” he added.

At least one Republican lawmaker has asked the Trump administration to implement such an order, and The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources, that banks could be tasked with requiring people to submit passports under the policy.

In a post issued on X in October 2025, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) included a letter he sent to Bessent urging the secretary to carry out a “comprehensive review of current rules that allow illegal aliens to obtain financial services and access to the U.S. banking system.”

“Access to the American banking system is a privilege that should be reserved for those who respect our laws and sovereignty,” Cotton wrote in the letter. “When individuals are allowed to open accounts without verifying legal status, we are permitting illegal aliens to establish financial roots and integrate economically, all while bypassing the legal channels that millions use properly.”

Cotton asked whether the administration could implement the order under the USA PATRIOT Act, a Bush administration-era law enacted in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, or the Bank Secrecy Act, a 1970 anti-money laundering law.

The Trump administration has prioritized cracking down on illegal immigration as well as entitlement fraud. Since he took office in January 2025, President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders and memoranda to boost the deportation of illegal immigrants and end temporary deportation protection programs for certain countries.

Trump has also called on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which has stalled in the Senate, to require photo IDs for voting and proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote.

In a post last month, the president said that there would be no deal to end the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unless some Democrats join Republicans to pass the measure.

The bill must include “their approval of Voter I.D., (with picture!), Citizenship to Vote, No Mail-In Voting (with exceptions), All Paper Ballots, No Men In Women’s Sports, and No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our precious children,” he wrote in a Truth Social post on March 22. He also called on congressional lawmakers to stay in Washington during the Easter recess, although the lawmakers ultimately went on their break.

Last month, the Trump administration established an anti-fraud task force that would investigate instances of illegal immigrants engaging in benefits fraud as well as other forms of waste and abuse.

The Epoch Times contacted the White House for comment on Tuesday.

Our Comment:
Right now, this is for illegal immigrants, an easy target. But how will it be expanded down the road? Will you also be debunked?

Prophetic Link:
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:16, 17

Source References

• Treasury Secretary Says Order on Citizenship Proof for Banking Is ‘in Process’

The Epoch Times, by Jerry Zhu and Daniel Y. Teng: As of April 1, nearly 2,000 of Australia’s largest businesses must comply with the federal government’s gender equality laws.

Under the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment Act 2025, businesses with 500 or more employees must fulfil three gender equality targets from a prescribed list of 19.

They also need to demonstrate progress within three years.

They include targets like increasing the number of female managers, reducing the pay gap between men and women, increase uptake of employer funded parental leave, or introducing policies against sexual harassment.

“By introducing a target setting requirement, Australia is ensuring large employers are publicly accountable to take action and make demonstrable progress towards gender equality,” said the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s CEO Mary Wooldridge, in a statement.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency was introduced in 2012 under the former Gillard Labor government.

While the WGEA’s rules are not compulsory the consequences of failing to meet targets include public shaming via its gender pay gap report, and missing out on tendering for Commonwealth contracts.

The rules are not without their critics.

Former federal cabinet minister Kevin Andrews warned gender pay gap data did not reflect basic differences of working hours between employees.
“All the report really does is compare the median earnings paid to employees of different genders,” Andrews wrote in The Epoch Times.

“It does not examine the underlying reasons for the differences,” Andrews said, noting the lifestyle choices some women may take.

Prophetic Link:
“The pursuit of pleasure and amusement centers in the cities. Many parents who choose a city home for their children, thinking to give them greater advantages, meet with disappointment, and too late repent their terrible mistake. The cities of today are fast becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah. The many holidays encourage idleness. The exciting sports—theatergoing, horse racing, gambling, liquor-drinking, and reveling—stimulate every passion to intense activity. The youth are swept away by the popular current. Those who learn to love amusement for its own sake open the door to a flood of temptations. They give themselves up to social gaiety and thoughtless mirth, and their intercourse with pleasure lovers has an intoxicating effect upon the mind. They are led on from one form of dissipation to another, until they lose both the desire and the capacity for a life of usefulness. Their religious aspirations are chilled; their spiritual life is darkened. All the nobler faculties of the soul, all that link man with the spiritual world, are debased.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 54.3

Source References

• Gender Equality Laws Come Into Effect for 2,000 Australian Businesses

Grist, by Anita Hofschneider: The strongest storm of 2026 slammed into the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands this week, where it flooded homes, ripped roofs off of houses, and lingered for more than two days, forcing families to shelter without electricity, cell service, or running water as they waited for the worst to pass.

Super Typhoon Sinlaku formed southeast of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or CNMI, and Guam, two U.S. territories that make up the Mariana Islands archipelago in the western Pacific. It rapidly grew to a Category 5, 185-mph monstrosity. First, the storm hit Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia, where it left one person dead and one fisher missing at sea. It then passed north of Guam, which suffered flooding from tropical storm winds, before hitting the islands of Saipan and Tinian in the CNMI, following a similar path as Super Typhoon Yutu eight years ago, which destroyed thousands of homes and forced children to go to school in tents.

Destructive storms are familiar to the Northern Mariana Islands, which is home to about 50,000 people, including Indigenous Chamorros and Carolinians. But this typhoon felt different. “It’s still whistling and you can still hear it going on and things are banging outside,” said Ed Propst, a Saipan resident and former commonwealth legislator, when reached in his home on Thursday morning. “I’ve never seen anything like this, where a typhoon just doesn’t seem to leave.” The storm also hit in April, at least two months before typhoon season usually starts. “When was the last time we had a super typhoon hitting us this early in the year?” Propst said. “This is the first that I can recall.” 

The super typhoon comes at a critical time for the U.S. territory: It has struggled to get federal help to address a yearslong economic downturn, and is still recovering and rebuilding from Super Typhoon Yutu. The storm also comes amid a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees federal disaster relief, and longstanding efforts by the Trump administration to slash disaster preparedness and climate change mitigation programs.  

“We are taking a devastating hit from Super Typhoon Sinlaku, compounding the urgent local priorities we already face, from coastal erosion to an economic crisis,” said Sheila Babauta, a Chamorro climate justice advocate on Saipan and a fellow with the nonprofit Right to Democracy, who sheltered from the storm with her 2-month-old. “On top of that, we’re constantly fighting ecological threats from the federal government, like deep-sea mining and militarization. Our community is strong, but even warriors need rest.” 

Scientists say that Super Typhoon Sinlaku might have existed regardless of climate change, but warming seas increased the odds of it happening and the likelihood it would intensify quickly. “In the days leading up to the development of this super typhoon, ocean surface temperatures in the region were as high as 3-5 degrees Fahrenheit above the recent average (which is already warmer than much of the 20th century),” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the California Institute for Water Resources, in an email. “Because warm tropical oceans are ‘hurricane fuel,’ the current super typhoon has rapidly intensified in a favorable environment that is at least partly linked to climate change via warming oceans.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved disaster relief for the archipelago ahead of the storm, and said it has 90 personnel in place in Guam and the CNMI to help. “FEMA’s distribution center in Guam is stocked with approximately 1.1 million liters of water, 723,000 meals, 5,300 cots, 3,600 blankets, 4,400 tarps, and 78 generators, which can be used if needed,” the spokesperson told Grist, adding that 42 additional generators are already on their way to Saipan. But the agency said a stalemate in Congress over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, due in part to Democrats’ concerns over Trump’s immigration crackdown, could harm the availability of disaster relief funds. FEMA is located within Homeland Security. “We urge Democrats in Congress to stop playing games and restore DHS’s funding before American communities suffer the next disaster ALONE,” a spokesperson for FEMA said. 

Adi Martínez-Román, co-director of the nonprofit Right to Democracy that advocates for U.S. territories, is also concerned about Trump’s more permanent reshaping of disaster relief and climate change mitigation programs. For more than a year, the administration has been slashing FEMA staff, reducing support for hazard mitigation, and removing references to climate change across the federal government. Martínez-Román is glad that FEMA disaster aid has been approved for Sinlaku but wonders what resources will ultimately be available for long-term recovery. “That’s a very big question,” she said. 

During the storm, Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds, the commonwealth’s only representative on Capitol Hill, posted a Facebook video assuring residents that she’s working with federal partners to get the help they need. “At this stage, funding issues have not been raised by FEMA or any other federal agency in our communications,” King-Hinds’ spokesperson Chris Conception told Grist. “However, we remain mindful that the CNMI relies heavily on timely federal support following major disasters, and any constraints on resources could affect the speed and scope of recovery, particularly in remote and infrastructure-constrained communities like ours.”

Before the storm, King-Hinds was among the commonwealth’s top political leaders who pleaded with the Trump administration for federal help to address the islands’ massive economic downturn. The islands are disproportionately dependent on tourism, and arrivals are down more than half of what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing businesses to close and driving outmigration. King-Hinds and the CNMI have asked the Trump administration for specific policy changes to help bring in more tourists, including loosening flight restrictions from China and visa restrictions from the Philippines, as well as a federal bailout. But Trump officials have so far been noncommittal. 

Martínez-Román, who is from Puerto Rico, said U.S. territories’ status as effectively modern-day colonies makes it exceedingly hard to sway federal policies. Residents of the CNMI and other U.S. territories cannot vote for president. They don’t have any voice in the U.S. Senate. Their delegates to the House of Representatives, like King-Hinds, may argue their cases, but are ultimately also non-voting. “It is so difficult for us to have agency in federal policies,” Martínez-Román said. “Programs are built responding to constituencies, and we are not considered a constituency.” 

That disparity is increasingly problematic as residents of U.S. territories deal with the worsening effects of climate change — not only more intense storms, but also rising seas, coral bleaching, worsening heat-related illnesses, more limited freshwater, and other impacts. Propst from Saipan said that one challenge that the territories often must overcome is educating faraway federal officials about who they are and the realities that residents are living with. “They’re thousands and thousands of miles away, just totally unplugged and clueless as to our real economic challenges,” he said. 

Propst is no longer a sitting legislator, but he is still getting lots of messages from his former constituents braving Sinlaku: a mother who is trapped in her house and needs baby formula, a friend who lost all but two of his solar panels, a colleague whose property now looks like a lake. Whether or not federal funding materializes, Propst knows his neighbors will help those in need. “We’ve been through this before, and we know what it takes to get through it again,” he said.

Prophetic Link:
“It is God who holds in His hands the destiny of souls. He will not always be mocked; He will not always be trifled with. Already His judgments are in the land. Fierce and awful tempests leave destruction and death in their wake. The devouring fire lays low the desolate forest and the crowded city. Storm and shipwreck await those who journey upon the deep. Accident and calamity threaten all who travel upon the land. Hurricanes, earthquakes, sword and famine, follow in quick succession. Yet the hearts of men are hardened. They recognize not the warning voice of God. They will not flee to the only refuge from the gathering storm.” Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, page 234.1

Source References

• A ‘super typhoon’ just devastated the Mariana Islands — months before peak storm season

USA Today, by BrieAnna J. Frank: Members of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission criticized notions of a necessary separation between church and state at the group’s final hearing in Washington, DC, on April 13.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the commission’s chairman, at one point called it the “biggest lie that’s been told in America since our founding.”

Patrick’s statement echoed comments made in previous Religious Liberty Commission hearings and by the Trump administration more broadly that suggest the government can and should promote religion as a public good without violating the First Amendment, which says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

President Thomas Jefferson popularized the phrase “separation between church and state” in the early 19th century, but it does not appear in the Constitution. Over the centuries, courts and scholars have debated where the line should be drawn as it relates to the government and religion.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State called Patrick’s remarks “an attack on our democracy.”

The separation of church and state “is an American original, something we should be proud of, fight for and cherish,” said Rachel Laser, the organization’s president and CEO.

Past commission hearings touched on topics including antisemitism and religious liberty in public education. A common theme across the hearings has been the commissioners’ view that the legal system was weaponized against people of faith, particularly Christians, under past administrations.

Trump established the commission through an executive order in May. It said the commission would end on July 4, 2026 – the 250th anniversary of American independence – unless the president extends it.

Civil rights activist: Religious liberty ‘essential’ to Greensboro sit-ins

Professor Helen Alvaré, who teaches law and religion at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law, was the first of numerous witnesses at the hearing, held at the Museum of the Bible.

She described religious liberty as an “objective good” for the country and asserted her view that there is “far more peace” than discord among faith groups in the United States. Government overreach of Americans’ religious practices has historically been the bigger problem, she said.

Alvaré applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s shift in recent years toward a broader application of the First Amendment’s free exercise clause, exemplified through a 2025 ruling in which the court sided with a group of Maryland parents who wanted to opt their children out of public school curriculum with LGBTQ+ themes.

The idea that public school teachers could override the religious instruction students were receiving at home in the name of the Constitution had “always bordered on the absurd,” she said.

There was a different tone later in the hearing toward state laws requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, which have been legally challenged by parents alleging that the displays amount to religious coercion. Patrick said more than 50% of the around 9,000 public schools in his state had implemented the displays.

Patrick at one point also touted Texas’ school voucher program that allows taxpayer funds to be used for tuition at private schools, many of which are religious; which he said received more than 250,000 applications for approximately 100,000 slots. A group of parents and schools sued the state over the program, alleging that it discriminated against Islamic private schools in violation of the First Amendment.

Addressing the commission was also Clarence Henderson, who participated in the Greensboro, North Carolina, sit-in that sparked a wider civil rights movement in the 1960s. Religious liberty was “essential” to the movement, he said.

“Churches were the meeting places, faith was the language, Scripture was the foundation,” Henderson said.

‘A lot of work to do’ before presenting report to Trump

Commissioners and witnesses also raised concerns about what they characterized as worrying trends and other developments related to religion in the country.

Bishop Robert Barron lamented what he described as the negative implications of rising rates of religious disaffiliation.

“That’s dangerous for our democracy because people start forgetting, they don’t hear the story of the good Samaritan, they don’t hear about the Ten Commandments, they don’t hear the Beatitudes,” he said. “That affects our democracy, it’s not just a religious problem.”

Dr. Akshar Patel, who represented the Hindu organization BAPS, identified religious liberty as the means through which Hindu Americans can “flourish.”

At the same time, he was concerned by what he perceived as a society increasingly intolerant of religious – and specifically Hindu – beliefs. He referenced attacks on Hindu temples in recent years, saying an environment of “fear and uncertainty have become crippling for our community.”

“Mandirs [Hindu temples] that once felt like sanctuaries of peace and unity are now places where security is a concern,” Patel said. “Families who come to this country seeking freedom of religion are now worried about practicing their faith openly.”

Commissioner Phil McGraw, widely known as his television persona “Dr. Phil,” was similarly troubled by the circumstances of the New York-based Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, a group of nuns who operate a nursing facility in New York. They sued the state April 6 in part on First Amendment grounds, saying its law related to caring for transgender patients violates their Catholic beliefs.

The commission’s purpose is to “safeguard and promote America’s founding principle of religious freedom,” according to the White House. It must present a comprehensive report on the foundations and current state of religious liberty in the United States to Trump by the end of its term.

Patrick said the commission had “a lot of work to do” before that presentation. There were suggestions during the hearing that the commission could be extended beyond the initial charter because of what commissioners described as its significance both to Trump and to the nation at large.

Numerous advocacy groups have accused the commission of promoting Christian nationalism instead of true religious liberty for all. That includes a multifaith group of organizations that sued the Trump administration, alleging that the commission had an illegal lack of religious and ideological diversity.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, echoed those sentiments after the commission’s final hearing. It said the group “rebuked a foundational pillar of religious liberty: the separation of church and state.”

Carrie Prejean Boller was removed from the commission following its February hearing on antisemitism. In an interview with USA TODAY, she alleged that her firing was retaliation for her public statements about Israel that did not align with the Trump administration’s positions.

The commissioners present at the April 13 hearing, however, commended Trump for his efforts related to religious freedom.

“I believe this will be one of his greatest legacies at the end of the day,” Patrick said.

Prophetic Link:
“The dignitaries of church and state will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. In the soon-coming conflict we shall see exemplified the prophet’s words: “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17. Great Controversy, 592.3

Source References

• Trump commission critiques church, state separation in hearing

End Time Headlines, by Ricky Scaparo: A growing number of patients across the United States are requesting blood transfusions only from donors who have not received COVID-19 vaccines, a trend that medical professionals say is based on misinformation and could pose serious health risks.

Healthcare providers report that some patients are attempting to screen blood donors based on vaccination status, despite longstanding protocols that ensure the safety of the blood supply. Experts emphasize that such requests are not supported by science and may delay urgent care.

“There is no evidence that vaccinated blood is unsafe,” one physician said, noting that all donated blood undergoes rigorous testing before being approved for use.

Medical organizations, including the American Red Cross, have consistently stated that COVID-19 vaccines do not affect the safety or quality of donated blood.

Doctors warn that insisting on so-called “unvaccinated blood” can complicate medical procedures, particularly in emergencies where time is critical. In some cases, patients have reportedly postponed or refused transfusions altogether due to these concerns.

“This is a dangerous trend,” another healthcare expert said. “When patients delay or reject necessary transfusions, they are putting their own lives at risk.”

Blood banks also stress that separating donations based on vaccination status is not part of current medical practice and would be difficult to implement. Supplies are already limited in many regions, and additional restrictions could worsen shortages.

Medical professionals continue to urge patients to rely on established science and guidance from healthcare providers. “The blood supply is safe,” one doctor explained. “Patients should feel confident receiving transfusions when they are needed.”

Our Comment:
Could this be as untrue as were statements that the vaccines were “safe and effective.”

Prophetic Link:
“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:13

Source References

• Increase number of patients demand ‘unvaccinated’ blood, doctors warn of growing health risks

NBC News: A super typhoon is taking aim at several remote U.S. islands in the Pacific Ocean, lashing Guam with heavy rain and tropical storm-force wind gusts hours before its arrival.

Super Typhoon Sinlaku is on track to barrel over the Northern Mariana Islands late Tuesday local time with widespread rain and flooding along with destructive winds that could cause lengthy power outages, the National Weather Service said.

Guam, a U.S. territory with several American military installations and about 170,000 residents, isn’t expected to take a direct hit but still could see damaging winds.

The tropical typhoon — the strongest on Earth so far this year — was producing sustained winds of 173 mph on Monday as it neared the islands of Rota, Tinian and Saipan, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

While it’s expected to weaken slightly over the next few days, Sinlaku should cross by the islands as a Category 4 or 5 typhoon.

The typhoon has stayed mostly on a track that puts it going over or just skirting along Tinian and Saipan, said Joshua Schank, a lead meteorologist in Guam for the weather service.

About 50,000 people live on the three islands, with most on Saipan, known for its laid-back resorts, snorkeling and golf as well as the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Saipan was the site of one of World War II’s bloodiest battles in the Pacific, in which more than 50,000 Japanese and American soldiers and local civilians died.

In Guam, where Typhoon Mawar knocked out power for days in 2023, U.S. military officials warned personnel to prepare for the storm and shelter in place. The military controls about one-third of the land on the island, a critical hub for U.S. forces in the Pacific.

The island already was being hit by heavy rains and wind gusts up to 60 mph very early Tuesday, Schank said. Most businesses were closed and residents were told to stay home, he said.

Before turning toward Guam and the Northern Marianas, the storm left significant damage to the outer islands and atolls of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia, said Landon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the weather service on Guam.

Glen Hunter, who grew up on Saipan, has weathered numerous typhoons. “We sit in what they call ‘Typhoon Alley,’” he said early Tuesday after waking up to strong gusts and seeing downed trees.

For the most part, residents live in sturdy, fully concrete homes and those in substandard wooden houses with tin roofs tend to stay with family or in government shelters, he said.

Tourism-dependent Saipan was still recovering from 2018’s Super Typhoon Yutu when the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, he recalled. The economy has yet to rebound, he said.

While bracing to take a direct hit, Hunter is also anticipating the possibility of going weeks or months without electricity and running water.

“We’re remote, beautiful islands in the Pacific, which is a plus, but in times of recovery it becomes a massive negative to getting things into our damaged ports, and so what we would hope for is just as much support as we can get from the outside world, the federal government, the military,” he said.

President Donald Trump on Saturday approved emergency disaster declarations for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, allowing for additional help with emergency services.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it is coordinating support across multiple agencies, dispatching almost 100 FEMA staff as well as personnel from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“We are ready to respond to this event,” Robert Fenton, a FEMA regional administrator, said from Guam on Monday afternoon local time. The agency began preparing supplies and staff late last week, he said.

FEMA’s response comes amid the record-long Department of Homeland Security Shutdown, but the agency’s emergency response functions continue during a funding impasse. Over 10,000 disaster personnel are still paid and FEMA’s disaster relief fund — which the agency said had about $3.6 billion around the end of March — can be spent until it runs out.

A super typhoon is a name given to the strongest tropical cyclones that brew in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, where Earth’s most intense storms usually form.

Monitored by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Guam, super typhoons are the equivalent of Category 4 or 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic, with winds of at least 150 mph. There have been more than 300 super typhoons identified since the warning center started using that name nearly 80 years ago.

Prophetic Link:
“The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land, follow each other in quick succession. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. Men cannot discern the sentinel angels restraining the four winds that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed; but when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.” Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 6, page 408.1