Praying for the President would be apt the first Sunday of Lent. He is beset by challenges. So is the country as it mourns yet one more school shooting, this time in South Florida. But evangelical Christians in particular also face a time of reckoning as they populate the pews. How much longer can they support Donald Trump and face themselves in the mirror?
So far the religious revolt has not come. Asked recently how he reconciles his political support for Trump with his faith, notably in the light of reports of an affair 10 years ago between him and a porn actress, Jerry Falwell Jr (president of Liberty University – a Christian research institution) sort of shrugged. “We certainly don’t hold him up as the pastor of this nation and he is not,� he said. “We just have to give the man the benefit of the doubt.�
But the bargain evangelicals entered into – turn a blind eye to all else Trump does so long as he defends their rights as Christians against the incoming tide of progressivism – may not be immutable. The Pew Research Center found that support for Trump among white evangelical Protestants tumbled from 78 to 61 per cent between February and December last year.
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World news in pictures
1/50 14 February 2019
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama reacts as ink is thrown at him by members of the opposition during parliamentary session in Tirana
Reuters
2/50 13 February 2019
A man cleans a car from snow during a snowfall in Moscow, Russia
Reuters
3/50 12 February 2019
A general view shows the Hotel Arpit Palace after a fire broke out on its premises in New Delhi. At least 17 people died on February 12 as a fire tore through the budget hotel in Delhi before dawn, in the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India.
AFP/Getty
4/50 11 February 2019
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of India's main opposition Congress party and sister of the party president Rahul Gandhi, greets her supporters from atop a vehicle during a roadshow in Lucknow, India,
Reuters
5/50 10 February 2019
Female artists dominated the Grammys with Alicia Keys opening the show up by inviting her “sisters� Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Michelle Obama and Jada Pinkett Smith onto the stage. “Every voice we hear deserves to be honoured and respected,� said Pinkett Smith. “Tonight we celebrate the greatest in each other, through all of us, through music,� added Alicia Keys. “Who runs the world?� The most notable female triumph was Cardi B’s. The only woman in her category, competing against Nipsey Hussle, Pusha T, Travis Scott and Mac Miller, Cardi won Best Rap Album for her playfully inventive debut Invasion of Privacy. This made her the first female solo artist in history to win in the category
Reuters
6/50 9 February 2019
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren arrives to announce her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at Everett Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts
EPA
7/50 8 February 2019
Thai Raksa Chart Party leader Preechapol Pongpanich (C-L) submits the election registration form to an officer at the Election Commission in Bangkok, Thailand. A political party linked with Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Raksa Chart Party nominated Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, elder sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, as prime minister candidate for the upcoming general election. Thailand is set to hold a general election on 24 March 2019, the first poll in five years since the May 2014 military coup.
EPA
8/50 7 February 2019
Technicians set up material and work on the western section of the remains of the Morandi bridge in Genoa on the eve of the official start of the demolition work
AFP/Getty
9/50 6 February 2019
Rescue workers and people try to remove debris of an eight-story building which collapsed in Istanbul which killed at least one person and trapped several others inside the rubble, Turkish media reports said
AP
10/50 5 February 2019
For many President Trump's State of the Union address was overshadowed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's applause after his call for political unity, which many interpreted as "sarcastic"
AFP/Getty
11/50 4 February 2019
Thousands of Hindu devotees take dips at Sangam, the confluence of three sacred rivers the Yamuna, the Ganges and the mythical Saraswati, on Mauni Amavsya or the new moon day, the most auspicious day during the Kumbh Mela or the Pitcher Festival, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh state, India. The Kumbh Mela is a series of ritual baths by Hindu sadhus, or holy men, and other pilgrims at Sangam that dates back to at least medieval times. Pilgrims bathe in the river believing it cleanses them of their sins and ends their process of reincarnation. The event, which UNESCO added to its list of intangible human heritage in 2017, is the largest congregation of pilgrims on earth. Some 150 million people are expected to attend this year's Kumbh, which runs through early March
AP
12/50 3 February 2019
Tom Brady celebrates after New England Patriots won Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
USA TODAY Sports
13/50 2 February 2019
Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido waves to supporters during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela
Reuters
14/50 1 February 2019
Palestinians perform Friday prayers as smoke rises from burning tires during a protest against Jewish settlements, in al-Mughayyir village near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
AFP/Getty
15/50 31 January 2019
Ice covers the Lake Michigan shoreline in Chicago, US. Businesses and schools have closed, Amtrak has suspended service into the city, more than a thousand flights have been cancelled and mail delivery has been suspended as the city copes with record-setting low temperatures
Getty
16/50 30 January 2019
Man moves luggage in snow during a winter storm in Buffalo, New York
Reuters
17/50 29 January 2019
Firemen try to extinguish burning cars at the scene where a car bomb exploded in front of a restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia
Reuters
18/50 28 January 2019
A tornado and pounding rains smashed into the eastern part of Cuba's capital overnight, toppling trees, bending power poles and flinging shards of metal roofing through the air as the storm cut a path of destruction across eastern Havana
AP
19/50 27 January 2019
Policemen and soldiers keep watch as body bags (in white), containing the remains of blast victims, as seen in a cordoned area outside a church in Jolo, Sulu province on the southern island of Mindanao. At least 18 people were killed when two bombs hit a church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, days after voters backed the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region
AFP/Getty
20/50 26 January 2019
Aerial view showing firemen looking for people in heavy machinery (L and R) and a locomotive (C) after the collapse of a dam which belonged to Brazil's giant mining company Vale, near the town of Brumadinho in southeastern Brazil
AFP/Getty
21/50 25 January 2019
Indian police personnel block unemployed Indian teachers, as they march towards the residence of Punjab Education Minister Om Parkash Soni during a protest against the Punjab state government to demand jobs in Amritsar
AFP/Getty
22/50 24 January 2019
Supporters of newly elected President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi cheer as they arrive to attend his Presidential Inauguration in Kinshasa. Tshisekedi took the oath of office before receiving the national flag and a copy of the constitution from outgoing president Joseph Kabila, stepping aside after 18 years at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest country, marking the country's first-ever peaceful handover of power after chaotic and bitterly-disputed elections
AFP/Getty
23/50 23 January 2019
Demonstrators hold a huge banner reading 'Madrid's taxi demands that the law has to be enforced' as drivers protest outside IFEMA Convention and Congress Center, against the regulation of ride-hailing and car-sharing services such as Uber and Cabify
EPA
24/50 22 January 2019
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel shake hands after signing a French-German friendship treaty in the town hall of Aachen, western Germany. France and Germany signed a new friendship treaty seeking to boost an alliance at the heart of the European Union as Britain bows out and nationalism advances around the continent
AFP/Getty
25/50 21 January 2019
Target of a suicide bombing claimed by Isis, a military vehicle from a US-Kurdish convoy burns at the roadside in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province. Five people were killed and two US soldiers injured
AFP/Getty
26/50 20 January 2019
Protesters take part in a demonstration near the Greek Parliament against the agreement with Skopje to rename neighbouring country Macedonia as the Republic of North Macedonia, in Athens. The proposal faces resistance in Greece because of what critics see as the implied claims to Greek land and cultural heritage. For most Greeks, Macedonia is the name of their history-rich northern province made famous by Alexander the Great's conquests
AFP/Getty
27/50 19 January 2019
A man, injured during clashes with French police, is given help during a demonstration in Paris, called by the yellow vests (gilets jaunes) movement in a row of nationwide protest for the tenth consecutive Saturday against high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more "social and economic justice."
AFP/Getty
28/50 18 January 2019
Palestinian women from the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, scuffle with Israeli soldiers as they try to release a boy from their custody, during clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian lands by Israel
AFP/Getty
29/50 17 January 2019
Three people have been injured in a massive explosion on the roof of a La Doua university building in Lyon, France
AFP/Getty
30/50 16 January 2019
Sri Lanka's Special Task Force members perform during their passing out parade in Kalutara
Reuters
31/50 15 January 2019
Cars are seen on fire at the scene where explosions and gunshots were heard at the Dusit hotel compound, in Nairobi, Kenya
Reuters
32/50 14 January 2019
Emergency workers and people near the wreckage of a Boeing 707 military cargo plane which crashed on the west of the Iranian capital, near Fath airport. At least 15 people were killed
Tasnim News Agency/Reuters
33/50 13 January 2019
Thousands of people march during a demonstration organized by the citizen's network Sare, which is calling for an immediate end to the dispersal policy and the violation of rights suffered by ETA prisoners in Bilbao, Spain.
Getty
34/50 12 January 2019
Firefighters extinguish a fire after the explosion of a bakery on the corner of the streets Saint-Cecile and Rue de Trevise in central Paris
AFP/Getty
35/50 11 January 2019
Workers shovel snow out of a restaurant after an avalanche at Santis-Schwaegalp mountain resort, in Switzerland
Reuters
36/50 10 January 2019
Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Congolese main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress who was announced as the winner of the presidential elections; celebrate along the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Reuters
37/50 9 January 2019
Philippine Coast Guards keep watch as Roman Catholic devotees cross the bridge in a raucous procession of the Black Nazarene to celebrate its feast day in Manila. Tens of thousands of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics joined the annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene which usually ends before dawn the next day
AP
38/50 8 January 2019
A car trapped in snowdrifts in southeastern Poland. Many cities in whole Poland have been affected by snowfall
EPA
39/50 7 January 2019
Actor Kevin Spacey pleaded non-guilty to sexual assault charge at Nantucket District Court in Massachusetts. The Oscar-winning actor is accused of groping the teenage son of a former Boston TV anchor in 2016 in a crowded bar at the Club Car in Nantucket
Reuters
40/50 6 January 2019
A gentoo penguin is seen during a promotional event during an annual ice festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China
Reuters
41/50 5 January 2019
Snow covers the statue of Alexander the Great at the seaside promenade of Thessaloniki, Greece
Reuters
42/50 4 January 2019
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a commercial market in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Reuters
43/50 3 January 2019
AFP/Getty
44/50 2 January 2019
Two men walk past a damaged cargo train after an accident in Nyborg, Denmark. Several people were killed in the crash on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, police said
AFP/Getty
45/50 1 January 2019
Emergency officers transporting a baby survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia's Urals city of Magnitogorsk. Russian rescuers have been forced to temporarily halt the search for dozens of missing people in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise apartment block as the building risked crumbling further, officials said, with the incident claiming at least seven lives. Part of the 10-storey building collapsed following a gas explosion on the morning of December 31, in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, east of Moscow in the Ural mountains
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/AFP/Getty
46/50 31 December 2018
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour during New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney
AP
47/50 30 December 2018
Bangladeshi army personnel drive a military vehicle through a street adorned with election posters near a polling station in Dhaka. Bangladesh headed to the polls following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.
AFP/Getty
48/50 29 December 2018
Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli speaks to journalists as he arrives at the hospital where Vietnamese victims of an attack on a tourist bus where taken, in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo's western twin city of Giza. - Three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed on December 28 when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.
AFP/Getty
49/50 28 December 2018
Bright blue light is seen after a transformer explosion at an electric power station in the New York City borough of Queens
Reuters
50/50 27 December 2018
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a 'comprehensive investigation' into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
1/50 14 February 2019
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama reacts as ink is thrown at him by members of the opposition during parliamentary session in Tirana
Reuters
2/50 13 February 2019
A man cleans a car from snow during a snowfall in Moscow, Russia
Reuters
3/50 12 February 2019
A general view shows the Hotel Arpit Palace after a fire broke out on its premises in New Delhi. At least 17 people died on February 12 as a fire tore through the budget hotel in Delhi before dawn, in the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India.
AFP/Getty
4/50 11 February 2019
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of India's main opposition Congress party and sister of the party president Rahul Gandhi, greets her supporters from atop a vehicle during a roadshow in Lucknow, India,
Reuters
5/50 10 February 2019
Female artists dominated the Grammys with Alicia Keys opening the show up by inviting her “sisters� Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Michelle Obama and Jada Pinkett Smith onto the stage. “Every voice we hear deserves to be honoured and respected,� said Pinkett Smith. “Tonight we celebrate the greatest in each other, through all of us, through music,� added Alicia Keys. “Who runs the world?� The most notable female triumph was Cardi B’s. The only woman in her category, competing against Nipsey Hussle, Pusha T, Travis Scott and Mac Miller, Cardi won Best Rap Album for her playfully inventive debut Invasion of Privacy. This made her the first female solo artist in history to win in the category
Reuters
6/50 9 February 2019
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren arrives to announce her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at Everett Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts
EPA
7/50 8 February 2019
Thai Raksa Chart Party leader Preechapol Pongpanich (C-L) submits the election registration form to an officer at the Election Commission in Bangkok, Thailand. A political party linked with Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Raksa Chart Party nominated Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, elder sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, as prime minister candidate for the upcoming general election. Thailand is set to hold a general election on 24 March 2019, the first poll in five years since the May 2014 military coup.
EPA
8/50 7 February 2019
Technicians set up material and work on the western section of the remains of the Morandi bridge in Genoa on the eve of the official start of the demolition work
AFP/Getty
9/50 6 February 2019
Rescue workers and people try to remove debris of an eight-story building which collapsed in Istanbul which killed at least one person and trapped several others inside the rubble, Turkish media reports said
AP
10/50 5 February 2019
For many President Trump's State of the Union address was overshadowed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's applause after his call for political unity, which many interpreted as "sarcastic"
AFP/Getty
11/50 4 February 2019
Thousands of Hindu devotees take dips at Sangam, the confluence of three sacred rivers the Yamuna, the Ganges and the mythical Saraswati, on Mauni Amavsya or the new moon day, the most auspicious day during the Kumbh Mela or the Pitcher Festival, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh state, India. The Kumbh Mela is a series of ritual baths by Hindu sadhus, or holy men, and other pilgrims at Sangam that dates back to at least medieval times. Pilgrims bathe in the river believing it cleanses them of their sins and ends their process of reincarnation. The event, which UNESCO added to its list of intangible human heritage in 2017, is the largest congregation of pilgrims on earth. Some 150 million people are expected to attend this year's Kumbh, which runs through early March
AP
12/50 3 February 2019
Tom Brady celebrates after New England Patriots won Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
USA TODAY Sports
13/50 2 February 2019
Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido waves to supporters during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela
Reuters
14/50 1 February 2019
Palestinians perform Friday prayers as smoke rises from burning tires during a protest against Jewish settlements, in al-Mughayyir village near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
AFP/Getty
15/50 31 January 2019
Ice covers the Lake Michigan shoreline in Chicago, US. Businesses and schools have closed, Amtrak has suspended service into the city, more than a thousand flights have been cancelled and mail delivery has been suspended as the city copes with record-setting low temperatures
Getty
16/50 30 January 2019
Man moves luggage in snow during a winter storm in Buffalo, New York
Reuters
17/50 29 January 2019
Firemen try to extinguish burning cars at the scene where a car bomb exploded in front of a restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia
Reuters
18/50 28 January 2019
A tornado and pounding rains smashed into the eastern part of Cuba's capital overnight, toppling trees, bending power poles and flinging shards of metal roofing through the air as the storm cut a path of destruction across eastern Havana
AP
19/50 27 January 2019
Policemen and soldiers keep watch as body bags (in white), containing the remains of blast victims, as seen in a cordoned area outside a church in Jolo, Sulu province on the southern island of Mindanao. At least 18 people were killed when two bombs hit a church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, days after voters backed the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region
AFP/Getty
20/50 26 January 2019
Aerial view showing firemen looking for people in heavy machinery (L and R) and a locomotive (C) after the collapse of a dam which belonged to Brazil's giant mining company Vale, near the town of Brumadinho in southeastern Brazil
AFP/Getty
21/50 25 January 2019
Indian police personnel block unemployed Indian teachers, as they march towards the residence of Punjab Education Minister Om Parkash Soni during a protest against the Punjab state government to demand jobs in Amritsar
AFP/Getty
22/50 24 January 2019
Supporters of newly elected President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi cheer as they arrive to attend his Presidential Inauguration in Kinshasa. Tshisekedi took the oath of office before receiving the national flag and a copy of the constitution from outgoing president Joseph Kabila, stepping aside after 18 years at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest country, marking the country's first-ever peaceful handover of power after chaotic and bitterly-disputed elections
AFP/Getty
23/50 23 January 2019
Demonstrators hold a huge banner reading 'Madrid's taxi demands that the law has to be enforced' as drivers protest outside IFEMA Convention and Congress Center, against the regulation of ride-hailing and car-sharing services such as Uber and Cabify
EPA
24/50 22 January 2019
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel shake hands after signing a French-German friendship treaty in the town hall of Aachen, western Germany. France and Germany signed a new friendship treaty seeking to boost an alliance at the heart of the European Union as Britain bows out and nationalism advances around the continent
AFP/Getty
25/50 21 January 2019
Target of a suicide bombing claimed by Isis, a military vehicle from a US-Kurdish convoy burns at the roadside in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province. Five people were killed and two US soldiers injured
AFP/Getty
26/50 20 January 2019
Protesters take part in a demonstration near the Greek Parliament against the agreement with Skopje to rename neighbouring country Macedonia as the Republic of North Macedonia, in Athens. The proposal faces resistance in Greece because of what critics see as the implied claims to Greek land and cultural heritage. For most Greeks, Macedonia is the name of their history-rich northern province made famous by Alexander the Great's conquests
AFP/Getty
27/50 19 January 2019
A man, injured during clashes with French police, is given help during a demonstration in Paris, called by the yellow vests (gilets jaunes) movement in a row of nationwide protest for the tenth consecutive Saturday against high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more "social and economic justice."
AFP/Getty
28/50 18 January 2019
Palestinian women from the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, scuffle with Israeli soldiers as they try to release a boy from their custody, during clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian lands by Israel
AFP/Getty
29/50 17 January 2019
Three people have been injured in a massive explosion on the roof of a La Doua university building in Lyon, France
AFP/Getty
30/50 16 January 2019
Sri Lanka's Special Task Force members perform during their passing out parade in Kalutara
Reuters
31/50 15 January 2019
Cars are seen on fire at the scene where explosions and gunshots were heard at the Dusit hotel compound, in Nairobi, Kenya
Reuters
32/50 14 January 2019
Emergency workers and people near the wreckage of a Boeing 707 military cargo plane which crashed on the west of the Iranian capital, near Fath airport. At least 15 people were killed
Tasnim News Agency/Reuters
33/50 13 January 2019
Thousands of people march during a demonstration organized by the citizen's network Sare, which is calling for an immediate end to the dispersal policy and the violation of rights suffered by ETA prisoners in Bilbao, Spain.
Getty
34/50 12 January 2019
Firefighters extinguish a fire after the explosion of a bakery on the corner of the streets Saint-Cecile and Rue de Trevise in central Paris
AFP/Getty
35/50 11 January 2019
Workers shovel snow out of a restaurant after an avalanche at Santis-Schwaegalp mountain resort, in Switzerland
Reuters
36/50 10 January 2019
Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Congolese main opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress who was announced as the winner of the presidential elections; celebrate along the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Reuters
37/50 9 January 2019
Philippine Coast Guards keep watch as Roman Catholic devotees cross the bridge in a raucous procession of the Black Nazarene to celebrate its feast day in Manila. Tens of thousands of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics joined the annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene which usually ends before dawn the next day
AP
38/50 8 January 2019
A car trapped in snowdrifts in southeastern Poland. Many cities in whole Poland have been affected by snowfall
EPA
39/50 7 January 2019
Actor Kevin Spacey pleaded non-guilty to sexual assault charge at Nantucket District Court in Massachusetts. The Oscar-winning actor is accused of groping the teenage son of a former Boston TV anchor in 2016 in a crowded bar at the Club Car in Nantucket
Reuters
40/50 6 January 2019
A gentoo penguin is seen during a promotional event during an annual ice festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China
Reuters
41/50 5 January 2019
Snow covers the statue of Alexander the Great at the seaside promenade of Thessaloniki, Greece
Reuters
42/50 4 January 2019
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a commercial market in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Reuters
43/50 3 January 2019
AFP/Getty
44/50 2 January 2019
Two men walk past a damaged cargo train after an accident in Nyborg, Denmark. Several people were killed in the crash on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, police said
AFP/Getty
45/50 1 January 2019
Emergency officers transporting a baby survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia's Urals city of Magnitogorsk. Russian rescuers have been forced to temporarily halt the search for dozens of missing people in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise apartment block as the building risked crumbling further, officials said, with the incident claiming at least seven lives. Part of the 10-storey building collapsed following a gas explosion on the morning of December 31, in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, east of Moscow in the Ural mountains
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/AFP/Getty
46/50 31 December 2018
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour during New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney
AP
47/50 30 December 2018
Bangladeshi army personnel drive a military vehicle through a street adorned with election posters near a polling station in Dhaka. Bangladesh headed to the polls following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.
AFP/Getty
48/50 29 December 2018
Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli speaks to journalists as he arrives at the hospital where Vietnamese victims of an attack on a tourist bus where taken, in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo's western twin city of Giza. - Three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed on December 28 when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.
AFP/Getty
49/50 28 December 2018
Bright blue light is seen after a transformer explosion at an electric power station in the New York City borough of Queens
Reuters
50/50 27 December 2018
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a 'comprehensive investigation' into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
Politically, the evangelicals continue to matter a great deal. Any further drift from Trump could doom his re-election. More immediately, disaffection with him could ricochet onto a Republican Party already fearful of losing its majorities in Congress this November. But this should not make them flinch. The evangelical community was born of the old Moral Majority. Herewith, 10 reasons why that heritage and backing this White House can longer go together.
1. A lawyer for the President conceded last week he had paid $130,000 (£93,000) in hush money to the porn star, Stormy Daniels, just weeks before the 2016 election. On Friday, a report in the New Yorker alleged Trump entered into another sexual relationship in 2006 with Playboy model, Karen McDougal. In what sense is Trump a role model to America’s youth?
2. When serial allegations of inappropriate sexual liaisons threatened the Senate campaign of Roy Moore, the former attorney general of Alabama, Trump stood by him. “We need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama,� he tweeted. (The voters baulked where Trump didn’t.)
3. Trump promised during his campaign not to tamper with the core social safety net programmes for the poor, notably Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. His latest budget proposal, however, would slash Medicare by $554bn and Medicaid by around $250bn over 10 years. Is this the teaching of the church, to lie and withdraw support from the disadvantaged?
White House refuses to release photo of Trump signing bill weakening gun laws for mentally ill
4. He vowed to “drain the swamp�. But allegations of malfeasance, from pocket-stuffing to lying to investigators, shroud the administration. The Washington Post says nine of Trump’s original 22 cabinet members have come under scrutiny for ethical lapses of some sort, most recently Scott Pruitt, his environment chief, for first-class travel for him and his wife billed to the taxpayer.
5. The Tea Party was born in 2010, powered in particular by evangelical Christians furious about out-of-control government spending and spiralling national debt. In the last weeks, Trump and the Republicans have entirely abandoned all pretence of being interested in reducing the deficit, slashing taxes on corporations and the rich and promising record resources to the military.
6. Trump’s stance on immigration and his campaign to bar refugees according to the countries they come from, blocked by the courts, is antithetical to Christian teaching. A diverse group precisely of evangelical leaders urged Congress to act on both issues, including steps to allow young Dreamers to stay in the country, in a full-page advert last week in the Washington Post.
7. The moral rot in the White House has now been manifested by its failure to act on warnings it received from the FBI about the history of spousal abuse by Staff Secretary Rob Porter, months before he was finally exposed by media reports and shown the door. Chief of Staff John Kelly at first defended Porter as a man of “true integrity�. Trump said he hadn’t been given due process.
8. One of Trump’s first acts was to undo Obama regulations to keep guns from the mentally ill. The White House refuses to release pictures of him signing the bill that did so. Speaking after the Florida tragedy, Trump made no mention of gun control. Politicians grubbing money from the National Rifle Association, NRA, do not deserve Christian votes. Or anyone’s.
9. Determined to tilt the American judiciary to the right, Trump is populating the federal courts with justices openly opposed to Christian values of diversity and tolerance. “Calls for diversity� are “code for relaxed standards (moral and intellectual)�, Gordon Giampietro, nominated for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, wrote in 2014, BuzzFeed reports.
10. “S***hole countries�.
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