Category Archives: news

Sydney – 22 February 2019 Upon request from the Hon Ray Williams MP, Minister for Multiculturalism and Minister for Disability Services and The Hon Tanya Davies MP, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Women, and Minister for Ageing, to meet with leaders of the Assyrian community. The Assyrian Universal Alliance-Australian Chapter (AUA) and the Assyrian…

Chris Mitchell If anything positive comes out of Syria’s civil war, it could be the new government formed in the northeast part of the country. It’s based on equal rights and religious freedom.…

Wladimir van Wilgenburg Former Swiss army officer Johan Cosar faces a military court for joining a foreign military force. (Photo: Social Media) Syria Syriac Christian ISIS Switzerland…

The five church group (see names at end of story) Source: ACN An action plan to enable thousands of Christians to return to their homes in the Syrian city of Homs was agreed in a house-repair scheme involving Church leaders and a leading Catholic charity.…

defendant arriving at court Swiss former army officer Johan Cosar, center, arrives at the Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland together with his lawyer Yasar Ravi, right, and the assistant of the defence lawyer, left, In Bellinzona. (Keystone)…

By Eno Adeogun The Government’s decision to revoke Islamic State (IS) bride Shamima Begum’s British citizenship has triggered a mixed response. The Home Secretary revealed on Wednesday that the 19-year-old won’t be allowed back to the UK after joining IS four years ago.…

By Tyler Newman Men sit around a table. Lebanese President Michel Aoun heads the first meeting of the new Saad al-Hariri’s cabinet at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Feb. 2, 2019. Mohamed Azakir/Reuters…

by Nabil Antaki* Western nations block the offensive against jihadist groups in Idlib, for fear of an exodus of militiamen. The reconstruction is at a standstill and the difficulties increase, with queues for fuel. It is still a regime of emergency aid instead of employment projects and reconstruction plans. Fears for the future of the…

By John Newton and Maria Lozano THE murder of a 72-year-old priest in Burkina Faso has caused panic among a Christian community already besieged by Islamist militia groups. Father Jacob Lompo, bursar of Fada N’Gourma Diocese, told Catholic charity Aid to the…

The Chaldean patriarch spoke at the 55th Munich Security Conference, from 15 to 17 February. The prelate insists on the need to counter “the jihadist ideology” and to reform Islam by eliminating the concept of “holy war”. Data on anti-Christian violence in the country.…

(Reuters) – Islamic State faces the total defeat of its self-proclaimed caliphate. This timeline chronicles its lightning rise, cruel reign and stubborn fall. FILE PHOTO – Militant Islamist fighters waving flags, travel in vehicles as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria’s northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo…

By Chas Sisk All Things Considered, · Immigration enforcement has increased under President Trump. As the pace of deportations has quickened, Iraqi nationals have seen their cases expedited even as their immigration status remains murky. Transcript…

By Associated Press BARTELLA, Iraq — In the main square in the northern Iraqi town of Bartella stands a large cross, one of the few overt signs that the northern Iraqi town was historically Christian. Nearby, a massive billboard shows Shiite Muslim martyrs alongside a picture of Iran’s…

Iraqi priest: “Bartella is the epicenter”, but threats also involve Karamles and Qaraqosh. A “demographic distortion” plan is underway, orchestrated by Shiite leaders and supporters in Baghdad. The Iraqi Church rejects armed response and continues in dialogue. We need an institutional police force open to Christians too.…

Top Iraqi Catholic says country’s Christians ‘really need’ a papal visit Pope Francis greets Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad, Iraq, during a meeting with Chaldean Catholics at the Church of St. Simon the Tanner in Tbilisi, Georgia, in this Sept. 30, 2016, file photo. CNS Letter from Rome…

John L. Allen Jr. Italian Jesuit Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, who disappeared in Syria in 2013. (Credit: Society of Jesus.) ROME – Last night, a torchlit rally took place in front of Rome’s Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, a native Roman and Jesuit missionary in Syria…

By IFP Editorial Staff – Undated photo of Siamak Morreh-Sedgh, the representative of the Jewish community at the Iranian Parliament, attending an anti-war demonstration of Iranian Jewish community.…

from Emirates News Agency ERBIL, 13th February, 2019 (WAM) — The Emirates Red Crescent, ERC, intensified its humanitarian efforts to help refugees in winter, as per the directives of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in Al Dhafra Region and…

Police in Antwerp yesterday carried out 46 house searches leading to 15 arrests, in an investigation of a criminal gang thought to be linked to the scandal of humanitarian visas granted to Syrian and Iraqi Christians. Last month a Mechelen city councillor was arrested and charged with corruption for…

By Lisa Stevens – BARTELLA: Only a fraction of Christian residents has returned to the northern Iraqi town of , two years since it was liberated from Islamic State militants. Many fear intimidation by the town‘s population of Shabak, a Shiite Muslim ethnic group that dominates the militias now running Bartella. The tensions are a…