*Melania Trump Says President Trump's Alleged Affairs 👀 Are 'Not Concern and Focus of Mine'⚠*

First lady Melania Trump said that she has "much more important things" to focus on than the alleged infidelities of her husband, President Donald Trump.

"It is not concern and focus of mine. I'm a mother and a first lady, and I have much more important things to think about and to do. I know people like to speculate and media like to speculate about our marriage," the intensely private first lady told ABC News in a taped interview last week during her first solo foreign trip. 
Asked if she's been hurt by the allegations, Trump, after a brief pause, said, "It's not always pleasant, of course, but I know what is right and what is wrong and what is true or not true." 
Asked by ABC News if they still have a good marriage and if she loves her husband, the first lady replied, "Yes, we are fine." 
"It's what media speculate, and it's gossip. It's not always correct stuff," she added in the clip released Friday.

*Poll: Melania Trump Favorability Ticks Up

Melania Trump’s favorability is on the rise, according to a poll released Friday.

The first lady’s favorability rating is at 54 percent, a CNN survey conducted by SSRS finds. That number is slightly higher than the 51 percent of those polled who gave Trump a favorable rating in CNN’s June poll.

Thirty percent of those surveyed last week had an unfavorable view of Trump.

Eighty-three percent of Republicans indicated they had a favorable view of the 48-year-old former model, compared to 28 percent of Democrats. Fifty-six percent of Democrats had an unfavorable view of President Trump’s wife.

The poll was conducted as Trump embarked on her first major solo international tour in Africa last week, in which she visited Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Egypt.

*Rates of Unvaccinated and Exempted Children on The Rise Says CDC*

The percentage of young kids in the US who received no vaccine doses has continued to rise, as have vaccine exemption rates, according to two reports published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While coverage for a number of vaccines "remained high and stable overall," the segment of unvaccinated kids under age 2 rose from 0.9% for those born in 2011 to 1.3% for those born in 2015, according to one report.

"Although the number of children who have received no vaccinations by age 24 months has been gradually increasing, most children are still routinely vaccinated," wrote authors from the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

While the report does not identify the reasons behind the trend, the authors say that it could have something to do with lack of knowledge about how to access free vaccines; transportation; how close clinics are and when they operate; child care; and a shortage of pediatricians and other health care providers in rural areas.

Of the states included in the kindergartener analysis (41 or 49 states depending on the vaccine, plus Washington DC), the nation's capital reported the lowest median rates of vaccine coverage for varicella; diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis; and measles, mumps and rubella.

*Pope Francis Accepts Cardinal Donald Wuerl's Resignation as D.C. Archbishop❗*

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl from his post as the archbishop of Washington, D.C. In a letter released Friday by the Vatican, from the pope to Wuerl, the pontiff confirms he has accepted the archbishop's resignation and lauds Wuerl for putting the church's interests over his own personal defense against claims he protected abusive priests.

Wuerl, who led the Pittsburgh diocese for 18 years, was implicated in a recent Pennsylvania grand jury report and had faced increased calls to step down over allegations he covered up for so-called "predator priests." He also has been accused of failing to act on accusations against his predecessor in Washington, former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick, who resigned in July over abuse charges.

"You have sufficient elements to 'justify' your actions and distinguish between what it means to cover up crimes or not deal with problems, and to commit some mistakes. However, your nobility has led you not to choose this way of defense. Of this, I am proud and thank you," Francis wrote in the letter.

Francis said he received Wuerl's resignation request on Sept. 21. The pope indicated his full support for the outgoing archbishop, saying Wuerl made his request to stand down -- amid mounting pressure -- based, "on two pillars that have marked and continue to mark your ministry: to seek in all things the greater glory of God, and to procure the good of the people trusted to your care."

*Facebook Has Lost 30% of Its Value Since July *

Facebook stock opened at $150.13 on Thursday, down more than 30% from the high it hit in July, as the company continues to grapple with privacy scandals, fake news and a broader market selloff hitting the tech industry particularly hard.

In fact, Facebook stock is hovering around its lowest point from the days after the Cambridge Analytica data scandal came to light in March and ignited a wave of consumer and regulatory scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic.

"For the first time, we've heard some grumblings from the advertiser community that the hot water that Facebook is in politically is creating some hesitation on budget allocations (for some)," Ross Sandler, an analyst with Barclays, wrote in an investor note this week.

Meanwhile, Facebook's long awaited push into hardware this week -- with a video calling device called Portal -- was mired by the same user trust issues over privacy concerns that have plagued the company all year.

Adding to Facebook's uncertainty right now: The company is making a big bet across its products on Stories, a visual format popularized by Snapchat, but one with unknown potential for advertisers.

*Russian FM Says Independent Ukrainian Church Is US-Backed 'provocation'*

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday said the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate's decision to recognise the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was a "provocation" backed by Washington.

He described the move as "provocation by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, undertaken with direct public support from Washington" during a media interview, according to a transcript of the exchange on the foreign ministry's website.

"Interfering in Church life is forbidden by law in Ukraine, in Russia and, I hope, in any normal state," he said.

The Holy Synod chaired by the Patriarch of Constantinople in Istanbul on Thursday said it had agreed to recognise the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has historically operated under Moscow's umbrella.

The move was met with fury by the Patriarch of Moscow, who would effectively lose influence over thousands of parishes if they decide to split off and join the new independent church.