Monthly Archives: December 2016

Gesture meant as a symbol of peace and love in solidarity with Iraqi Christians For love and peace: Iraqi businessman erects tallest Christmas … – hindustantimes.com Baghdad, Iraq may be the last place where one might find the Christmas spirit, but it is now the scene of an 85 foot #Christmas tree, thanks to Yassir…

Do not expect to achieve your wish, you are ruled by a blind monster, When His stomach is deeper than any sea, His mind is more desolate than any grave,…

Ramzi Naeem, back, third from left, and his extended clan. Picture: Kym Smith Captain Nicol Peace and joy at Christmas: those greeting-card words will have true meaning this year for four generations of the Naeem family, Iraqi Assyrian Christians who will celebrate together in Canberra after fleeing first Islamic State in Baghdad and then exile…

Armenia, Christianity, International News, Middle East Armenian soldiers in Havresc NEW YORK — It’s a remarkable Armenian village somewhere in Iraq with about 200 to 500 people. And it is surviving through courage, faith, fortitude and about 22 dedicated men against the massive force of the Islamic State. Its name, Havresc, translates to big…

Associated Press BAGHDAD – A Muslim businessman says he has erected the tallest Christmas tree in Baghdad as a show of solidarity with Christians during the holiday season. Yassir Saad told The Associated Press on Thursday that the initiative aims at “joining our Christian brothers in their holiday celebrations and helping Iraqis forget their…

The General Assembly , Reaffirming that one of the basic aims of the United Nations, as proclaimed in the Charter, is to promote and encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion, Reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth…

El Cajon City Council By Jonathan Goetz Photo, left: El Cajon’s new City Council, left to right: Gary Kendrick, Bob McClellan, Mayor Bill Wells, Ben Kalasho, and Steve Goble December 14, 2016 (El Cajon) — Businessmen Ben Kalasho and Steve Goble were…

By Moni Basu, CNN Irbil, Iraq (CNN)In the offices of a Kurdish government ministry created to promote ethnic and religious harmony, a Jewish man — one of the last in Iraq — reflects on his nation’s past of persecution and a future darkened by ISIS. “Iraq,” says Sherzhad Memsani, “is a graveyard for ethnic and…

By Geoffrey Johnston Commander of Canadian Special Operations Forces, Major General Mike Rouleau (left) and Lieutenant Stephen Bowes (right), Commander of the Canadian Joint Operations hold a news conference in Ottawa, Wednesday November 16, 2016 to give an update on Canada’s ongoing strategy to counter Daesh in Iraq. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand…

By Slewo Oshana It’s a tough time to be a minority in America currently. While in fairness, it’s always difficult to be a minority at any time, but you can take for granted that things can always be worse. Ever since the election of Donald Trump into the presidency, race relations in the United States…

By John Newton MIRACULOUSLY no one was killed when Aleppo’s Jesuit monastery was hit during the battle for Aleppo – as the Sunday vigil Mass was moved to another church. A Church worker who was in the monastery in the west of the city when it was shelled told Catholic charity Aid to the Church…

By Associated Press MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — She survived the first stone that struck her, then the second. One of the Islamic State group’s fighters bent down and pressed his fingers to the side of her neck to check her pulse. As her horrified neighbors watched, extremists threw a third stone at the young woman,…

In 2003, there were around 1.6 million Christians in Iraq, today there are less than 150,000 Christians remaining. Iraqis crowd the area after an explosion in the car park outside an ancient Chaldean monastery in the Baghdad suburb of Al Doura.. (photo credit:REUTERS) In one of the oldest lands of Christianity, Assyrian Christians are awaiting…

Statement Issued by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch Damascus, December 11, 2016 Upon hearing about the terrorist attack on St. Peter Church near St. Mark Cathedral in Cairo on Sunday December 11, 2016, which resulted in 25 martyrs and many injured, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the…

Iraqi Christians come to visit the heavily damaged Church of the Immaculate Conception after Iraqi forces recaptured it from Islamic State in Qaraqosh, near Mosul, Iraq, December 9, 2016. Picture taken December 9, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani By Patrick Markey | QARAQOSH, Iraq…

Three of the 12 speakers at a Dec. 5-6 conference at Villanova University discuss Christians and religious minorities in the Middle East during a panel forum. (Photo by Villanova University) By Matthew Gambino • Posted December 8, 2016 Consensus about the Middle East and its long-simmering tensions might seem hard to…

By Nina Shea FoxNews.com Pres. Trump must act fast to save Iraq’s Christian genocide victims; Obama policies have been epic fail By Nina Shea, Director of Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom. This piece is adapted from remarks given at the Anglosphere conference at the NY Catholic Archdiocese’ Sheen Center, on December 5.…

by Reuters From major disaster, conflicts and under-reported stories, we shine a light on the world’s humanitarian hotspots By Patrick Markey QARAQOSH, Iraq, Dec 11 (Reuters) – For decades, the Immaculate Conception Church in Qaraqosh was the heart of Iraq’s largest Christian town. After two years under Islamic State rule, it lies scarred and desecrated.…

By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter As the world marks the U.N.’s International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of Genocide, persecution watchdog groups are warning that Christians continue to be some of the most widely targeted people.…

Dancers from the Circassian minority perform dances from their old folklore heritage at the Southern Theater during the Jerash Festival in the ancient city of Jerash, Jordan, July 26, 2011. (photo by REUTERS/Stringer) SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — Three Iraqi Caucasus tribes are uniting to seek recognition…