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FILE PHOTO: Sen. Mitch McConnell listens to U.S. President Donald Trump at a meeting at the White House. Sept. 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis

President Donald Trump vowed on Thursday to declare a national emergency in an attempt to fund his U.S.-Mexico border wall without congressional approval, a step likely to plunge him into a court battle with Congress over constitutional powers.

The initials of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and a placard are placed on the fence at Park Trails Elementary School, following a mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., April 9, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlin

One year after the Valentine's Day massacre inside a Florida school, students and families leading a nationwide push for gun safety will pause on Thursday for the anniversary of the deadliest U.S. high school shooting.

Many students were expected to stay home from a shortened class day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where a former student with an assault gun killed 17 people on Feb. 14, 2018.

Jessica Floyd 2-12-2019

Image via Jessica Floyd 

“The timing is right,” said Espaillat, noting that a delayed State of the Union ended up being well-timed with this pre-planned event. “Immigration will obviously have a keen interest among the participants because many folks came here undocumented or many folks are still trying to reunite with their families or are in transition with regards to their DACA status.”

the Web Editors 2-08-2019

Light from the setting sun shines on the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

A Muslim man was executed in Alabama on Thursday, as originally scheduled, after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow the execution, denying his request for an imam's presence in the execution chamber.

Attorneys for Domineque Ray, 42, had argued that Alabama's execution policy favored Christian inmates because a chaplain is allowed in the room, often kneeling next to the death row prisoner, and praying with the inmate if requested.

the Web Editors 2-06-2019

Image via Vatican Media/­Handout via REUTERS

He pointed out that this is not a new problem, confirming that the Catholic Church knew about the abuses against nuns even if the public did not.

Pope Francis arrives at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 4, 2019. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Pope Francis denounced the "logic of armed power" in Yemen, Syria, and other Middle East wars on Monday on a landmark visit to the Arabian peninsula where Islam emerged, telling Christians and Muslims that conflicts brought nothing but misery and death.

Bryan Wood 2-01-2019

Image via Sandor Szmutko/Shutterstock 

“The queer community in Chechnya is small, so if one was reported by their family member, they would be tortured to release the information of other gay people,” said Lyosha Gorshkov, the co-president of the Russian LGBT Network. “Many were kept in a basement for a couple of weeks and subjected to humiliation, torture, rape, electric shock. Some reportedly committed suicide."

Expat worshippers pray at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic church in Jebel Ali, as Catholics are awaiting a historical visit by Pope Francis to the United Arab Emirates, in Dubai, UAE Jan. 18, 2019. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Pope Francis is hoping to persuade a country enmeshed in a regional war that he has condemned to give Catholics more freedom when he becomes the first pontiff to set foot on the Arabian Peninsula. 

Image via MDay Photography/Shutterstock 

The National Climate Assessment, jointly released by 13 federal agencies in November, affirmed this risk, noting that across all climate risks, “low-income communities, some communities of color, and those experiencing discrimination are disproportionately affected by extreme weather and climate events, partially because they are often excluded in planning processes.”

Tammy Joyner 1-31-2019

Scott DeAngelo, his 22-year-old girlfriend and their 1-year-old daughter ended up at the Western Carolina Rescue Mission after running out of money at a motel. Image courtesy Youth Today.

As thousands of tourists fawn each year over the opulent trappings of western North Carolina’s Biltmore Estates — a four football-field-sized homage to America’s Gilded Age — one of the starkest examples of the nation’s homeless problem endures less than a mile away.

Tammy Joyner 1-31-2019

Unique Glover, 21, is involved with The Relatives

Keiston Davis regained his life when he almost lost it. Davis was homeless and sleeping in his car in a parking lot of a Charlotte Walmart one night in January 2016 when a group of young men approached the car and ordered him to get out. He was shot in the face as he exited his car. The would-be robbers fled.

Kietryn Zychal 1-28-2019

Shutterstock 

While much of the nation’s attention was focused on the government shutdown, a milestone for women’s equality, The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) — first proposed in 1923 — came to the brink of being realized in Virginia only to be reported dead on Friday. Despite the apparent loss, ERA activists are not giving up on their goal of getting an ERA vote on the floor of the House of Delegates this session. 

Pope Francis arrives to hold a Mass during World Youth Day in Panama City, Panama Jan. 27, 2019. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

Pope Francis said an open-air Mass before a huge crowd on Sunday to wrap up a jamboree of Catholic youth, the last big event before he returns to Rome to prepare for a historic trip to the Arabian Peninsula in one week. 

the Web Editors 1-25-2019

At the end of a stormy day, the setting sun breaks through the clouds to illuminate the White House in Washington, D.C. Jan. 24, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden on Friday, President Trump announced that a deal had been reached to temporarily end the partial government shutdown.

Rishika Pardikar 1-25-2019

U.S. Representative-elect Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) arrives inside the House Chamber for the start of the 116th Congress, Washington, D.C., Jan. 3, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

On Jan. 3rd when Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, assumed office as a member of the House of Representatives, she became the first Somali-American woman, the first Minnesotan of color, and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.

the Web Editors 1-25-2019

Migrants from Central America are seen escorted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials after crossing the border from Mexico. Dec. 3, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

The U.S. government will return the first group of migrants seeking asylum in the United States to the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Friday, U.S. and Mexican officials said, marking the start of a major policy shift by the Trump administration.

The policy, dubbed the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and first announced on Dec. 20, will return migrants, including non-Mexicans, who cross the U.S. southern border back to wait in Mexico while their asylum requests are processed in U.S. immigration courts.

Raksha Kumar 1-25-2019

Protesters rally with various Hindu organisations after two women entered the Sabarimala temple in Kochi, India, Jan. 2, 2019. REUTERS/Sivaram V

India houses a potpourri of religions, castes, sub castes, and denominations. While 80 percent of Indians are considered ‘Hindus,’ many smaller denominations, castes, and tribes are clubbed under the term. When the Court passes a judgement on one particular religious group, it could have a bearing on other groups as well.

Activist Pastor Evan Mawarire is taken into a vehicle by police outside his home in Harare, Zimbabwe, Jan. 16, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo

A Zimbabwean activist pastor detained in a security crackdown following violent anti-government protests asked the High Court on Friday to release him on bail but the judge said he would only be able to make a decision next week.

Pope Francis waves from his Popemobile as he arrives for World Youth Day in Panama City, Panama, Jan. 23, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Romero

Pope Francis wasted no time wading in on the standoff over funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall on Wednesday as he started his trip to Panama, saying on the plane from Rome that hostility to immigrants was driven by irrational fear.

Volunteers and archaeologists work at an archaeological dig near caves in the Qumran area in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Jan. 15, 2019. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

In the cliffs high above the Dead Sea archaeologists chip away with pick axes, hoping to repeat one of the most sensational discoveries of the last hundred years - the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The scrolls, a collection of manuscripts, some more than 2,000 years old, were first found in 1947 by local Bedouin in the area of Qumran, about 20 km east of Jerusalem.

They gave insight into Jewish society and religion before and after the time of Jesus, and spurred a decade of exploration, before the search fizzled.

Recent finds have stirred fresh excitement however, and archaeologists are probing higher and deeper than before. Hundreds of caves remain unexcavated and the experts are racing against antiquities robbers.