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Police have confirmed no injuries occurred during the three separate incidents in north London

A Ukrainian national has been charged with multiple counts of arson following a series of fires, including one at a property owned by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed.

In a statement issued on Thursday, police said Roman Lavrynovych, 21, of Sydenham in south London, faces three counts of arson with intent to endanger life. The charges relate to a string of incidents between May 8 and May 12, including a vehicle fire, a blaze at the entrance of a property, and a third fire at a residential address.

The first fire took place on May 8, when a Toyota Rav4 was set alight in Kentish Town. The car had previously belonged to Starmer but had been sold to a neighbor, according to the Telegraph newspaper.

On May 11, another fire broke out at the entrance of a flat in Islington that Starmer reportedly owned in the 1990s. In the early hours of May 12, a third fire was reported at the Prime Minister’s current family home in Tufnell Park, which is now rented out to his sister-in-law, according to the media. 

While the entrance and front door were damaged, no injuries were reported in any of the incidents.

The Metropolitan Police said its Counter Terrorism Command is leading the investigation “due to the property having previous connections with a high-profile public figure.”

Lavrynovych was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday and has remained in custody since. He is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Starmer himself has described the attacks as an “attack on all of us, on our democracy and the values that we stand for.” 

According to the Telegraph, investigators are exploring a number of potential motives, including whether a hostile state might have been involved, although no evidence of such a link has been confirmed.

Meanwhile, Lavrynovych’s neighbors in Sydenham have described him as quiet and unremarkable. “He was a normal guy – like us,” one person told reporters. Another, who had lived in the flat above him for seven years, said he was “a normal boy,” noting that he didn’t speak English too well.

The Treasury Department has issued a new license easing restrictions on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium

The US government has allowed American and international companies to resume oil-related work involving a major Russia-linked project to deliver Caspian oil to the global market. The license, lifting restrictions on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) and the Kazakh company Tengizchevroil (TCO), was issued by the Treasury Department on Thursday.

The CPC includes major US oil companies such as Chevron and ExxonMobil among its stakeholders and primarily facilitates the export of Kazakh oil through Russian territory and its shipment internationally.

The new General License No. 124 permits all transactions that were blocked under a January 10 decision which prohibited certain petroleum services involving Russia-related energy infrastructure.

CPC operates a major pipeline that transports oil from western Kazakhstan to the Black Sea coast of Russia, from where it is shipped globally by tanker. The 1,511-kilometer pipeline is one of the most important export routes for Kazakh oil, handling over 80% of the country’s crude exports.

The pipeline is jointly owned by multiple companies and governments. Russia holds a 24% stake through the state-owned operator Transneft. Other major shareholders include Chevron, ExxonMobil, Russia’s Lukoil and Kazakhstan’s national oil company KazMunayGas. Several smaller international firms also own shares.

Tengizchevroil is a joint venture that runs the massive Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan. It was formed in 1993 and is owned by Chevron (50%), ExxonMobil (25%), KazMunayGas (20%), and Lukoil (5%).

The earlier sanctions were imposed under Executive Order 14071, which targets services related to Russian energy projects. However, US authorities have made exceptions for projects that are considered critical to global energy markets or involve non-Russian stakeholders.

General License No. 121, issued in January, had already temporarily allowed some services for CPC and TCO. That license remains valid until June 28, 2025, but the new license appears to clarify and reaffirm that companies may continue their involvement in these projects without penalty until then.

According to the Treasury, the license covers activities like drilling, refining, transportation, and marketing of oil – provided they are connected to CPC or Tengizchevroil.

READ MORE: Ukrainian drones attack US-linked energy infrastructure

Earlier this year, CPC was forced to temporarily halt operations following two attacks by Ukrainian drones that damaged oil transfer stations linked to the pipeline network on Russian territory. The attacks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump approved a partial ceasefire, under which both Moscow and Kiev committed to refraining from strikes on energy infrastructure.

The phone rang. The caller’s voice quivered with emotions so intense that she spoke haltingly, “If I don’t get… an abortion…I’m going to kill myself.” Before I could respond, she revealed her full anguish. “After my abortion, I won’t be able to live with it…I plan to kill myself.”

After 35 years of work as a trainer and practitioner in crisis intervention around the world, this young woman’s call still stands out. She crystallized in just a few words the acute panic and distorted thinking that is common in a pregnancy-related crisis. Based on abortion rates worldwide, it is probable that more people around the world experience crisis from an unexpected pregnancy than any other form of crisis. As we pause to honor the high calling of motherhood, we do well to consider how to love our pregnant neighbor.

To my caller, being pregnant felt like death — the end of her life. True, her pregnancy was not a fatal disease. But it did present a threat to her life as she had projected it. Getting an abortion was, in her mind, a life-saving necessity. This, too, is false, but it feels true.

At the same time, she anticipated that abortion, while resolving one crisis, would create another. Her contemplation of suicide subsequent to her abortion revealed a self-awareness that there was another stakeholder involved — her unborn child. Harming any child was wholly contrary to her self-image as a caring person. She anticipated not being able to live with the subsequent guilt and grief.

Douglas Puryear, in “Helping People in Crisis,” writes that a state of crisis is characterized by symptoms of stress, an attitude of panic, a time of lowered problem-solving efficiency, and a rush to find relief. In a pregnancy-related crisis, panic is always the dominant marker.

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She feels pressure, too. For many, pregnancy represents a failure of one’s moral or religious values. They have not found the strength required to live according to their moral code. The guilt is acute. Pregnancy converts this private pain into public shame. For the non-religious, sexual behavior is often reduced to mere recreation. But the human spirit resists such reduction. Sex changes things. It sets up new expectations. Sex resulting in pregnancy places those expectations under extreme pressure. More often than not, women instinctively want their partner to support them. Abortion is something they resort to more than choose.

Frederica Mathewes-Green surveyed reasons women give for having an abortion. The highest percentage (38.2%) reported that they resorted to abortion in response to the external pressure from a husband or a boyfriend. Researcher, David Reardon, provides one woman’s telling account:

My family would not support my decision to keep the baby. My boyfriend said he would give me no emotional or financial help whatsoever. All the people that mattered told me to abort. When I said I didn’t want to, they started listing reasons why I should. That it would have detrimental effects on my career, and my health, and that I would have no social life and no future with men…I’m so angry at myself for giving in to the pressure of others.

To love your pregnant neighbor, understand that you are talking to someone who is frightened and under pressure, who wants her baby and doesn’t want it, who feels alone and is looking for deliverance. In that moment, the abortionist appears as the Savior who parrots the words of Christ, “Come unto me…” What, then, should you do and say?

Lead with love: Love is its own teacher; it prompts you to listen and sympathize. “I’m sorry to see you in distress. Help me understand why having a baby seems impossible?” Love encourages and breathes hope. “Having a baby is not the end of your life. It’s just an unexpected turn. Let me help you find God’s provision for you and your baby.” This immediately lowers fear and raises hope. Universally, this is how women turn from abortion to a life-affirming solution.

Tell the truth: Find your courage and tell the truth. There is only one reason that abortion is morally wrong — only one! It is morally wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being. If the unborn is not human, there is nothing wrong with abortion. If it is human, then no circumstances justify it any more than they would justify killing a two-year-old. Help her answer the question, What is the unborn? Use a fetal model, get her an ultrasound at your local pregnancy help clinic, and look up “unborn baby” on your phone. In most cases, you are merely amplifying what her own heart is telling her.

Be her Good Samaritan: You don’t need to stop all abortions; just the one in front of you. The Samaritan was direct and personal. He did one practical thing and then another, including giving his time and money. Go and do likewise.

You are cross-bearing for the childbearing. You are making her problems your problems, just as Christ, through the cross, made our problems his own. After helping communities of churches establish pregnancy help services in hard places like China, Cuba, Uganda and more, I can confidently assert that loving your pregnant neighbor this way is God’s way of turning the despairing woman “into the joyous mother of children” (Ps 113:9).

LifeNews Note: John Ensor, an ordained Evangelical pastor, has been a leader in the pro-life movement for over 30 years as a speaker, author, mentor and co-laborer. John serves as the President of PassionLife, where he concentrates on helping missionaries and indigenous Christian leaders serving in countries plagued by abortion to equip the church in bioethics and pregnancy crisis intervention services. He has been recognized in the “Legacy of Life” book as one of the fifty greatest pro-life leaders of the last 50 years. John is the co-host of the “PassionLife Podcast,” with PassionLife Executive Director, Mark Nicholson. Together they discuss ministry updates and provide commentary on global current events.

The post A Scared Woman Called and Said: “If I Don’t Get an Abortion, I’m Going to Kill Myself” appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Alaska’s indigenous women and their unborn babies are increasingly vulnerable to abortion, according to the latest comprehensive data from the state.

For decades, the abortion industry and its allies have worked to make the killing of pre-born babies more palatable among Alaska Native communities. Well-funded leftist groups like Planned Parenthood, Native Movement and others now employ activist tactics and community organizing to increase abortion accessibility and change cultural perceptions, especially among the youth.

Last year, a total of 1,224 unborn babies were killed in Alaska through abortion, up slightly from 1,222 the year before. While the annual total has remained relatively steady at about 1,233 per year over the past six years, a significant increase was recorded among Alaska Native and American Indian women – surging from 247 abortions in 2020 to 356 in 2024.

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In 2020, abortions on Native women accounted for 20% the statewide total. Last year, that number rose to 29%, despite the fact that indigenous women only represent about 16% of the female population in Alaska.

During that same five-year stretch, abortions have decreased among white women – going from 596 in 2020 to 511 in 2024. All other racial groups have remained fairly steady.

With regard to ethnicity, however, the percentage of abortions performed on Hispanic women has more than tripled in just one year, going from 39 (3%) in 2023 to 123 (10%) last year.

PUBLICLY FUNDED ABORTIONS

The State of Alaska footed the bill for 43% of all abortions last year through the publicly-funded Medicaid program, known as DenaliCare. That means 528 unborn babies were destroyed with public dollars.

These state-financed abortions were driven mostly by unmarried women and indigenous populations. Alaska Native and American Indian women comprised 42% of all state-funded abortions – far higher than any other racial group.

TEEN ABORTIONS INCREASE

Abortions are also becoming more prevalent among teens – 15-19 years old. In 2020, this group accounted for 128 abortions – about 11% of the statewide total. In 2024, that number rose to 160 abortions, or 14% of all abortions. Six abortions were performed on girls younger than 15 years in 2024.

Most abortions, however, continue to be performed on women in their 20s, who underwent 678 abortions in 2024, amounting to 55% of the statewide total.

CHEMICAL ABORTION TAKING OVER

In a state with only two functioning Planned Parenthood abortion clinics remaining, chemical abortion pills – Mifepristone – are continuing to become more prominent. Pro-abortions groups see them as a way for women to terminate their pre-born babies while avoiding plane trips and hotel stays in Anchorage or Fairbanks. They also don’t need to darken the doors of an abortion center.

Thanks to telemedicine laws, women in remote areas of Alaska can now simply order these pills through the mail and take them at home without ever seeing a doctor in person.

Last year, nearly 6 in 10 abortions (59%) were done using the dangerous drug, Mifepristone, up from the previous all-time high of 56% in 2023.

This drug works by blocking the hormone progesterone. This causes the nourishing lining of the mother’s uterus to break down, making it easier for her pre-born baby to be expelled. Mifepristone is typically followed by a second drug, misoprostol, which causes contractions that expel the dead baby.

According to Americans United For Life (AUL), which tracks the dangers of Mifepristone, there are numerous complications associate with the drug, such as incomplete abortion wherein the pill does not fully terminate the pregnancy, leading to the need for additional medical intervention.

Mifepristone can also lead to infections and heavy bleeding that can be life-threatening, especially for women who live off the road system, and do not have easy access to medical treatment.

Despite the known dangers, AUL notes that in-person medical visits for a pregnant woman are not necessary for her to terminate her child using chemical abortion pills, which is one of the reasons why 1 in 25 women who take the abortion pill end up in the emergency room with complications.

The rise of chemical abortions coincides with more babies being killed at younger ages. In 2024, 468 pre-born Alaska babies were destroyed at six weeks gestation or younger. That represented 38% of all Alaska abortions, a new high.

The older surgical abortion method of Dilation and Curettage continued to decline in Alaska with just 245 (20%) women undergoing this procedure. This method is generally used in the first trimester and requires dilation of the cervix so that the unborn child can be scraped from the womb by an abortionist and then removed by suction. In 2024, 245 Alaska abortions were done this way, amounting to one in every five. Over the past five years this method has become less prevalent as the rise of chemical abortion continues to change the industry.

Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) is another surgical procedure that is generally used after the first trimester. This was used in 19% (231) of all Alaska abortions last year. It requires the temporary widening of the cervix as the pre-born baby and placenta are removed with a combination of surgical instruments, suction, or forceps by an abortionist.

PLUMMETING FERTILITY

Included in the 2024 abortion report is the fact that between 2018 and 2024, Alaska’s fertility rate has fallen from 69.5 to 61.9 births per 1,000 women. Fertility rates are based only on the number of live births. Abortion, miscarriage, fetal death and simply not becoming pregnant, all have an impact on the state’s plunging fertility rate, which is no longer at replacement levels.

Annual abortion reports are mandated by Alaska law, requiring hospitals, clinics and individual abortionists to submit information. The final report cannot contain the name of the patient, abortionist, facility or geographical area where the abortion occurred, and all forms are destroyed after the annual report is finalized.

To read this year’s report, click here.

LifeNews.com Note: Joel Davidson is Editor-in-Chief of the Alaska Watchman, which this article originally appeared.

The post Planned Parenthood Pushes Abortions on Native Americans in Alaska, Kills More Babies appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Kiev’s Western backers have claimed Moscow’s delegation to peace talks in Türkiye is not high-level enough

Kiev’s Western backers have blasted Moscow’s choice of negotiators ahead of the planned peace talks in Türkiye, with some of them calling it an affront to Ukraine. Moscow’s team, led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, includes two deputy ministers and an intelligence chief.

It is “like a slap in the face,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told journalists, commenting on the situation.

The Baltic nation’s top diplomat described the Russian delegation as low-level as he talked to journalists on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in the Turkish city of Antalya.

A similar opinion was shared by British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who dismissed the Russian team as “low-level individuals.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “clearly has no desire to enter these peace negotiations” since he has not come to Türkiye in person.

Medinsky headed Moscow’s delegation during negotiations with Kiev in 2022. Apart from him, the current Russian team also includes Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin and the head of Russia’s military intelligence, Igor Kostyukov. The negotiators are accompanied by a group of experts which includes senior military and civil officials, as well as diplomats.

Speaking to journalists in Istanbul, Medinsky said that the delegation includes “senior officials from all the relevant government agencies.” He also stated that Moscow is ready to renew its dialogue with Kiev and to discuss “potential compromises.” 

The two sides are now expected to meet in Istanbul after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested resuming the direct negotiations disrupted in 2022 to find a lasting solution to the Ukraine conflict.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky initially ruled out any talks with Moscow unless a 30-day ceasefire is agreed upon first. He then changed his stance after US President Donald Trump expressed his support for Putin’s initiative.

Zelensky, who has arrived in Türkiye’s capital Astana, insisted that he would only speak to the Russian president directly but eventually decided to send a team led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to meet the Russian negotiators.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ridiculed Zelensky’s demands by calling him a “pathetic person,” who was acting “foolishly.” His words came after the Ukrainian leader initially branded the Russian delegation a “prop.”

There is a major battle in the U.S. House over negotiations this week on the federal budget. Lawmakers are making key decisions to either keep the abortion defunding language in the 2026 budget or remove it and continue funding Planned Parenthood and Big Abortion.

The result of this debate will determine whether nearly 800 million dollars in taxpayer funding continues flowing to Planned Parenthood. This is just the amount Planned Parenthood received in the last year. This figure does not include ALL abortion funding. The total amount of funding for Big Abortion is likely more than 1 TRILLION DOLLARS!

The latest annual report from Planned Parenthood reveals it raked in nearly 800 MILLION dollars in taxpayer money last year — that’s more than 2.1 million dollars every day — courtesy of you and me. That’s an increase of 100 million dollars from the prior year. And this money raised their annual abortion rate to 402,230 babies!

Demand Congress stop paying Planned Parenthood over 2 million dollars every day to kill babies.

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The good news is that defunding Planned Parenthood and Big Abortion language is included in the funding bill. The challenging news is that we need every vote to pass the bill, and some are on the fence. These members need to hear from you!

Planned Parenthood has become America’s #1 taxpayer-funded propaganda machine for child murders, overt sexualization, gender confusion, and political manipulation.

+ + Nearly 40% of PP’s total income comes from taxpayers.

According to Planned Parenthood’s 2023–2024 annual report, a staggering 39% of their total revenue — 792.2 million dollars — came from government reimbursements and grants.

That’s our tax dollars, and they are not slowing down. That number has grown year over year. In 2024 alone, they hauled in 2.17 million dollars per day from federal and state coffers — all while over 402,000 babies were slaughtered.

Planned Parenthood’s annual report calls itself a “force for hope,” but that slogan is a cruel distortion of the truth. There is no hope in an organization that profits from killing over 402,000 unborn children a year, mutilating the bodies, and leaving countless women emotionally scarred and spiritually devastated.

Hope builds the future — but Planned Parenthood destroys it, one child, one mother, one family at a time. Their evil deeds cause depression, grief, and irreversible harm. To parade that destruction under the banner of “hope” is not just hypocritical — it’s demonic.

Remember that these staggering numbers apply just to Planned Parenthood. Our federal dollars also fund other abortions. THIS EVIL MUST STOP!

Indoctrinating Children in Classrooms

Planned Parenthood is embedding itself in school curricula across the country. The group boasts about developing and distributing classroom materials so extreme, so vile, we refuse to reprint them in this email.

They’re pushing explicit content and dangerous ideologies to children as young as elementary school. The materials promote promiscuous activity, gender confusion, and radical autonomy — all under the banner of “health.”

They launched a video series that mocks virginity and family values. It claims that “virginity is a completely made-up concept” and teaches minors how to hide promiscuous activity from parents.

And you paid for this … and more.

Last year, Planned Parenthood gave 175,000 dollars in “Brave Awards” to LGBTQ youth organizations to target confused children.

Make no mistake: This is grooming, and it’s funded by you. We are being forced to pay for a destructive agenda that leads to depression, mutilation, and suicide that is recast as “hope.”

This is government-subsidized destruction of life, family, and moral order.

LifeNews Note: Mat Staver is the Chairman of Liberty Counsel Action and Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel.

The post Tell Congress to Stop Sending Planned Parenthood $2 Million Every Day to Kill Babies appeared first on LifeNews.com.

No casualties or significant damage have been reported

A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Türkiye on Thursday, shaking the capital Ankara as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.

The quake hit at 3:46pm local time in the Kulu district of Konya province, according to Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Authority (AFAD). The tremor was also reportedly felt in the surrounding provinces.

Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas confirmed that the quake was felt in the capital, saying authorities were “closely monitoring developments.”

Zelensky, who had announced his intention to visit Türkiye following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal that Moscow and Kiev participate in direct talks, reportedly flew to Albania, having despatched a team of negotiators to Istanbul.

READ MORE: Putin proposes unconditional peace talks with Ukraine (FULL SPEECH)

Last week, Putin proposed resuming direct dialogue to find a lasting settlement to the Ukraine conflict. The talks, which are expected to take place imminently in Istanbul, would mark the first such meeting between Russia and Ukraine since 2022, when the peace process was aborted by Kiev.

Zelensky, who had previously said he would only talk directly with Putin, said later in the day on Thursday that he would send a delegation led by Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Bonta, a case where California Attorney General Rob Bonta is attempting to silence pro-life pregnancy centers from informing women about progesterone therapy as a means to reverse the abortion drug Mifepristone. In March 2025, a federal judge denied a motion to stop the censorship against two pregnancy center chains, Heartbeat International and RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics, allowing the state to use fraud and false advertising laws to stop the centers from promoting that an abortion in progress can be safely reversed.

Liberty Counsel argues this “weaponization” of fraud laws to censor pregnancy centers is viewpoint-based discrimination and an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. Liberty Counsel has represented pro-life pregnancy centers and submitted the brief to help these organizations retain the freedom and autonomy to protect life for unborn children. This includes the right for these pregnancy centers to speak and promote the treatment known as “abortion pill reversal” (APR).

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The APR protocol uses progesterone, a safe and naturally occurring hormone that has been used safely and effectively for decades to prevent miscarriage and preterm labor. Progesterone can potentially reverse the effects of the abortion pill Mifepristone if a woman changes her mind within 72 hours after taking the drug. Mifepristone starves the baby to death by blocking the naturally-occurring progesterone that helps a woman’s body sustain the baby.

Despite the pregnancy centers offering APR services free of charge for no economic gain, AG Bonta claims “someone must bear the cost,” and has accused the centers of fraudulent business practices and false advertising. He claims that APR is “commercial speech” that can be regulated by business laws.

However, in an October 2023 press release, AG Bonta revealed his ideological viewpoint claiming advertisements for APR contained “lies and misinformation” and that most women “do not regret their abortion.” Yet, statistics show that 70 percent of women experience grief and regret after an abortion, and that the APR protocol has likely saved more than 6,000 unborn babies with a success rate of up to 64-68 percent.

In the brief, Liberty Counsel noted the context makes clear that AG Bonta rejects pro-life speech related to saving unborn children and conveys a message that because most women allegedly do not regret their abortions, then none of his constituents should have the choice to reverse an abortion, wrote Liberty Counsel.

AG Bonta supports women having the choice to seek a chemical abortion, yet wants to prohibit the same women having the knowledge of the choice to potentially reverse the abortion with progesterone.

“That unconstitutional dichotomy is plainly viewpoint discrimination and violates the First Amendment,” wrote Liberty Counsel.

Liberty Counsel also stated that APR-related speech is not based on commerce, and to classify it as both “commercial” and “false or misleading” contradicts 80 years of commercial speech precedent.

Notably, when the district court allowed AG Bonta’s censorship to stand, it not only treaded over First Amendment protections, but essentially outlaws off-label pharmaceutical use. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved progesterone about 50 years ago to help maintain healthy pregnancies, prevent miscarriages, and for other uses, the district court took issue with this approval because there are not many studies assessing progesterone’s safety for use in APR. Despite decades of safe progesterone use, the district court deemed it unsafe for APR.

However, as Liberty Counsel explains, the FDA does not need to approve progesterone for every conceivable use, and healthcare providers can generally prescribe the drug for an unapproved use when they judge that it is medically appropriate for their patient.

“The district court’s sweeping ruling eliminated First Amendment speech protections for non-profits, while simultaneously outlawing off-label pharmaceutical marketing for other entities not espousing a pro-life viewpoint, and contradicting decades of legal precedent regarding the definition of commercial speech. It cannot stand under Supreme Court precedent,” wrote Liberty Counsel.

According to Dr. William Lile, who is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and who has delivered thousands of babies, progesterone is “bio-identical” and “as natural as it can possibly be” to what a pregnant woman produces. Dr. Lile told Liberty Counsel that he has personally reversed the abortion pill 15 out of 19 times (a 78 percent success rate) and that abortion pill reversal protocol has safely reversed Mifepristone thousands of times across the nation.

More information about reversing the abortion pill can be viewed here.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The abortion pill reversal protocol gives a woman a chance to save her unborn baby by safely reversing an abortion. The government does not have the power to chill the free speech of pregnancy centers and take away a woman’s option to safely stop an abortion. California has deemed the off-label progesterone use and promotion as unfavored speech and pro-abortion use and advertisement of Mifepristone as favored speech. This attempt to weaponize business laws to censor live-saving treatment is blatantly unconstitutional and should be permanently struck down.”

The post California Censors Free Speech at Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers appeared first on LifeNews.com.

On Tuesday, the City Council of the City of Big Sandy (pop. 1,343), passed an “Ordinance Outlawing Abortion, declaring Big Sandy a Safe Haven for the Unborn” in a unanimous 4-0 vote. The vote made the City of Big Sandy, located between the cities of Hawkins (pop. 1,278) and Gladewater (pop. 6,441) on State Highway 80 and between Winona (pop. 623) and Gilmer (pop. 5,216) on State Highway 155, the 58th city in the State of Texas and the 75th city in the nation to pass an ordinance prohibiting abortion.

After the vote, Mayor Linda Baggett shared, “I am blessed to serve with a City Council that is brave and stands together to protect our precious babies and their mothers. My prayer is that more communities take the same action making all of Texas a SAFE HAVEN FOR THE UNBORN.”

East Texans for Liberty Executive Director Stacy McMahan shared, “I am thankful for Mayor Linda Baggett and the Big Sandy City Council for their unwavering support in preserving innocent life and standing with State Senator Bryan Hughes and House Representative Cole Hefner in the fight for life.”

At the council meeting, Upshur County Republican Party Chairman Carl Byers shared that the majority party of the state of Texas supports the sanctity of innocent unborn human life. Byers referenced Proposition 5 placed before voters in the 2022 Republican Party Primary, which stated, “Texas should enact a state constitutional amendment to defend the sanctity of innocent human life, created in the image of God, from fertilization until natural death.” 83% of Republican Party Primary voters across Texas embraced the statement.

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In Upshur County, the proposition had 92% support. After the council meeting, at Big Sandy’s famous Circle M Crawfish restaurant, Byers shared, “I am so proud of the Big Sandy City Council for voting unanimously for the Pro-Life ordinance that will save innocent life. God Bless Big Sandy.” Byers now wants to see his hometown of Union Grove (pop. 357) become a sanctuary for the unborn.

Big Sandy is the third city in Upshur County to pass such an ordinance and the fourteenth city in the Tyler-Longview Area Region to pass a “Sanctuary City for the Unborn” ordinance. Other cities in the region to have passed such ordinances include: Athens (pop. 13,503), Lindale (pop. 6,923), Rusk (5,664), Gilmer (pop. 5,216), Waskom (pop. 2,190), Naples (pop. 1,378), Omaha (pop. 1,021), East Mountain (pop. 899), Wells (pop. 853), Murchison (pop. 606), Avinger (pop. 371), Gary (pop. 335), and Poynor (pop. 314). Out of all of the cities to have passed the ordinances in Texas, Omaha is the only city to have recanted their ordinance.

Big Sandy’s ordinance is enforced in the same manner as the Texas Heartbeat Act — through a private enforcement mechanism. The ordinance reads, “Any person, other than the city of Big Sandy, and any officer or employee of the city, has standing to bring and may bring a civil action against any person or entity that: violates any provision” of this ordinance. The ordinance does not penalize the mother of the unborn child.

The six provisions of the Big Sandy Safe Haven for the Unborn ordinance: (1) prohibit performing an elective abortion and aiding or abetting elective abortions within the city limits of Big Sandy, (2) prohibit elective abortions on residents of Big Sandy – regardless of where the abortion takes place, (3) prohibit abortion trafficking through the City of Big Sandy, (4) prohibit the mailing of abortion-inducing drugs into the City of Big Sandy, (5) prohibit criminal organizations from doing business inside the city limits of Big Sandy, and (6) prohibit through or in the City of Big Sandy the transportation and disposal of the remains of unborn children who have been killed by an elective abortion across state lines and carried into Texas by waste management companies.

In addition to providing protections for pregnant mothers and their unborn children, the ordinance also educates about the Thriving Texas Families Program and directs people to the Texas Pregnancy Care Network website and The Pregnancy Network website operated by Human Coalition to be connected to these services.

The two other cities in Upshur County to have passed similar ordinances are the cities of Gilmer (pop. 5,216) and East Mountain (pop. 899). The Gilmer City Council adopted their ordinance on September 24, 2019 while the East Mountain City Council adopted their ordinance on July 20, 2020. Other cities in Upshur County which could consider the measure in the future include: Gladewater (pop. 6,441), Ore City (pop. 1,108), Clarksville City (pop. 865), Union Grove (pop. 357), and Warren City (pop. 298).

Big Sandy is not expected to be the last Sanctuary City for the Unborn in Texas, residents from all over the state are packing their local council chambers to advocate for further protections for pregnant mothers and their unborn children to spare them from the tragedy of abortion. Those who are interested in seeing their city pass an ordinance going as far as they can to end abortion are encouraged to sign the online petition found at the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn website.

LifeNews Note: Mark Lee Dickson lives in Texas and is the founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative.

The post Big Sandy, Texas Becomes 75th City in America to Ban Abortions appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Finland has proposed raising the maximum age of reservists from 50 to 65 amid wider militarization within the EU

The Finnish Defense Ministry has submitted a proposal to raise the maximum age for military reservists to 65, according to a press release published on Wednesday. The move is part of a broader militarization trend among European NATO member states.

The proposed reform would apply to all citizens liable for being called up who were born in 1966 or later, potentially adding 125,000 personnel to Finland’s reserve forces over a five-year transition period. If enacted, the total number of reservists is projected to reach one million by 2031, the Defense Ministry noted.

Currently, rank-and-file soldiers are removed from the reserves at age 50, while officers exit at 60. The proposal would not apply retroactively to those already over 60.

According to the ministry, refresher training for 50–65-year-olds would be organized for those assigned wartime duties. No upper age limit would be set for military service volunteers.

The bill is expected to be submitted to the Finnish Parliament before its summer recess begins in late June.

The EU countries, including Finland, have been militarizing amid persistent claims that Russia could attack the bloc in the coming years. Moscow has denied having such intentions and has accused NATO and EU officials of “irresponsibly stoking fears” of a fabricated threat.

Finland, which shares a long land border with Russia, applied for NATO membership in 2022 following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict and formally joined the US-led military bloc in 2023. Since then, Helsinki has supported Kiev politically and militarily, with Finnish President Alexander Stubb backing its bids to join both NATO and the EU.

In March, during US-mediated ceasefire negotiations, Stubb called on Kiev’s Western backers to pump Ukraine with weapons and money “to its teeth.”

Helsinki exceeded NATO’s spending target by shelling out approximately 2.41% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on the military last year. Finland also formalized an agreement with the US that allows American forces access to Finnish bases near the Russian border.

Russia has lamented that Finland’s NATO accession has effectively erased beneficial bilateral ties between the two neighbors which had lasted decades. Moscow has condemned the US-led military bloc’s expansion towards its borders, viewing it as a threat to its national security.

READ MORE: Germany could reintroduce military draft – defense minister

In March, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the EU had “degraded into an openly militarized entity,” accusing the bloc of “inciting war” through its rearmament strategies.

Planned Parenthood’s leaders launch into its 2023-2024 annual report with a markedly sad tone: “It’s been over two years since the U.S. Supreme Court took away our constitutional right to abortion.”

Very quickly, however, readers can see the truth: that never before in its history has the abortion giant been so well-funded by American taxpayers, and never before has it ended more unborn lives than this past year – nearly three years since the Supreme Court held there is no right to abortion in the US Constitution.

“Abortion bans have made pregnancy more dangerous, put patients and providers at risk for criminalization, and even caused some women to lose their lives,” Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson and Board Chair Tanuja Bahal claim, repeating an already-debunked narrative in the report’s introduction.

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According to the report released Monday, in year 2023-2024, America’s largest abortion provider ended 402,230 pregnancies – its highest number yet – and took in $792.2 million in taxpayer funds in the form of government health services reimbursements (such as through Medicaid) and grants.

Those taxpayer funds provided 39% of Planned Parenthood’s total revenue of $2 billion – its single greatest source of income during the past year.

In comparison, Planned Parenthood’s prior year annual report showed it performed 392,715 abortions, with 34% of its revenue provided by taxpayer funds.

“The more it collects, the more it kills,” Catholic pro-life nonprofit American Life League (ALL) posted Tuesday.

“Leave it to Planned Parenthood to reveal their billions of dollars in abortion income on the heels of Mother’s Day weekend,” said ALL National Director Katie Brown Xavios, who referred to the move as “horrifically inappropriate.”

“We didn’t need any other concrete reasons to defund them,” Xavios added, “but $792,200,000 in federal tax dollars should tip the scale. We revealed in our recent 2025 Report on Planned Parenthood CEO Compensation that these abortion executives reside in the 98th percentile of American wage earners, earning an average of $317,000 annually. Their new annual report shows just how much the American people have helped to line the pockets of the Planned Parenthood elite.”

Among Planned Parenthood’s boasts in its latest report is the area of “education,” where the abortion vendor touts “1.31 million participants in education programming, outreach, and training.”

The organization claims to have “conducted nationally representative research assessing parents’ awareness, beliefs, and attitudes about K-12 school-based sex education.”

“The results confirmed that parents overwhelmingly want their children to get sex education that covers a comprehensive range of topics and is age-appropriate and fact-based,” Planned Parenthood asserts.

The abortion provider also celebrated that failed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris “became the first sitting vice president to visit an abortion provider when she visited Planned Parenthood North Central States’ health center in St. Paul, MN.”

In addition, Planned Parenthood has become one of the nation’s largest distributors of cross-sex hormones.

Lila Rose, foundress of Live Action, recently exposed Planned Parenthood’s alleged prescriptions of cross-sex hormones for minors via virtual appointments.

Former Planned Parenthood facility director Abby Johnson, who has since founded And Then There Were None and ProLove Ministries, called the “sky high number of abortions” both “sickening” and “revolting.”

“How our government, and Republicans who have for years claimed to want to defund Planned Parenthood but who are backing down when it’s time to put words into action, can possibly continue to give almost $2 million a day to this organization is beyond reason,” Johnson said in a press statement.

House Republicans are pushing to end federal funding of abortion providers in their reconciliation bill.

Meanwhile, other pro-life leaders are urging Americans to call upon their lawmakers to stop funding Planned Parenthood and other abortion vendors:

Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand that “Planned Parenthood carries out over 1,100 abortions per day and receives over $2 million a day in taxpayer funding.”

“This should absolutely disgust Americans,” Szoch added. “It’s past time for Congress to say, ‘American taxpayers will not be forced to pad the wallets of Planned Parenthood executives while women receive shoddy treatment in unsanitary conditions and their unborn children are killed.’”

LifeNews Note: Susan Berry writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.

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What if the writ of habeas corpus has been guaranteed to the British since 1215 and to Americans since 1789? What if this encompasses the right of every person who is confined by the government against his or her will to compel the jailer to justify the confinement before a neutral judge?

What if this right is personal and individual and applies to all persons at all times? What if the right can be exercised by anyone who is arrested, whether it be for spitting on the sidewalk or murder? What if this right — to be free from an unjust confinement; to be free from arrest without trial — is one for which the Founders and the Framers fought the American Revolution?

What if habeas corpus is today recognized by all judges in the United States? What if judges actually stop court proceedings when a habeas corpus petition is received in order to hold a hearing and compel the government to lay out the evidence against the accused and justify his or her confinement, lest he or she spend one minute more behind bars than is lawful?

What if British monarchs and their subjects believed that the monarchy was divinely created? What if they actually believed that God the Father chose whomever was the king at a given moment to rule over them? What if they called this the divine right of kings? What if the divine right of kings enabled the monarch to write any law, prosecute any person and impose any punishment he wished for real or fanciful or even imagined crimes?

What if even this divine right of kings nonsense — once universally accepted and now universally rejected — had an exception to it? What if that exception was habeas corpus? What if even the most tyrannical and absolute of monarchs in Britain recognized and respected habeas corpus for their subjects in Britain?

What if British kings failed to recognize habeas corpus for the colonists in America? What if their governments arrested folks here and then brought them months later to London for trial? What if there was no mechanism for habeas corpus in the colonies to protect one from the wrath of the British government?

What if on the few occasions where habeas corpus was recognized, the colonial judges — who were dependent on the king for their jobs and their salaries — persistently ruled in favor of continued confinement, no matter how flimsy the evidence against the accused or how unlawful the charges?

What if Thomas Jefferson condemned this practice in the Declaration of Independence? What if the failure of colonial judges to recognize here in America the same rights recognized of Englishmen in Britain played a significant role in arousing the colonists to revolution in 1775 and 1776?

What if colonial revulsion at the refusal to recognize habeas corpus was so great that James Madison — who wrote the Constitution — insisted that this right be preserved in the Constitution? What if this was done before the Bill of Rights was added?

What if Madison recognized that in cases of invasion or rebellion, Congress might want to suspend habeas corpus until the rebellion or invasion subsided? What if Congress — in order to prevent frivolous or politically based suspensions of the right — defined invasion or rebellion as a state of affairs of such calamity that the federal courts are unable to conduct proceedings?

What if Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the War Between the States in certain regions in the north so he could arrest his critics without trial? What if the Supreme Court ruled that under the plain meaning and recognized structure of the Constitution, only Congress — not the president — can suspend habeas corpus? What if, before the court invalidated Lincoln’s tyranny, thousands of folks were arrested and confined without charges, appearances before judges, trials or any meaningful opportunity to be heard — in the North where there was no invasion or rebellion?

What if Franklin D. Roosevelt did the same based on race during World War II and he claimed he did so based not on invasion or rebellion but on the fear of invasion or rebellion? What if — in one of its lowest moral rulings in history, at a time of anti-Japanese racial animosity in America — the court permitted the suspension?

What if subsequent Congresses and presidents and courts condemned this ruling and this suspension? What if Congress — 40 years later — compensated those still living and their offspring for these arrests without trial?

What if George W. Bush tried to suspend habeas corpus in the months following 9/11? What if on the day after the attacks of 9/11 in lower Manhattan the federal courts were able to conduct proceedings? What if the Supreme Court ruled against him? What if Congress tried to implement arrest without trial and the Supreme Court ruled that there was no invasion or rebellion of such chaotic magnitude that the federal courts could not conduct proceedings, and so it invalidated the suspension of habeas corpus?

What if here we go again? What if the White House announced last week that it — not Congress — is contemplating the suspension of habeas corpus, but only for certain persons?

What if the concept of arrest without trial in America is unfathomable? What if the cornerstone of American jurisprudence is the existence of an independent judiciary to which all persons may turn for relief when being pursued by the government, justly or unjustly?

What if suspending this right attacks the core values of America — fairness, equality, rule of law? What if the right to fairness from the government is the realistic expectation and historical lesson understood and expected by all in America?

What if arrest without trial transforms our democracy into a monarchy? What if this happens right before our eyes? What do we do about it?

To learn more about Judge Andrew Napolitano, visit https://JudgeNap.com.
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