General

Nigerian bishops accuse government of failing to protect citizens from ‘terrorist’ herdsmen

February 9, 2018 Nigeria Adamawa, Benue, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Taraba, Terrorism

Nigeria’s Catholic bishops have told President Muhammadu Buhari that attacks attributed to members of the Fulani pastoralist tribe have been carried out by “terrorists masquerading as herdsmen” and accused the government of being “incapable or unwilling” to protect citizens from them. A delegation of 11 bishops delivered a strongly worded . . . Read More

Otto Warmbier’s father joins Pence at Olympics to highlight North Korean abuses

February 9, 2018 Kim Jong-Un, Mike Pence, North Korea, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, South Korea

As the Winter Olympics kick off in Pyeongchang, US Vice-President Mike Pence has arrived in South Korea with a guest – the father of Otto Warmbier, the American student who died shortly after being sent home from a North Korea prison in June last year. But, as the BBC reports, Mr. . . . Read More

UN denies complicity in Central African Republic massacres, but questions remain

February 9, 2018 Central African Republic Alindao, Bangassou, Bangui, Basse-Kotto, Bocaranga, Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Gambo, Kaga Bandoro, Paoua, Seleka, UN, UPC, Zemio

The UN has rejected allegations of complicity with armed groups in a string of massacres last year in the Central African Republic. A UN Special Investigation team, led by Brigadier General (rtd) Fernand Amoussou and including legal, political and human-rights experts, looked into attacks between 1 May and 31 August . . . Read More

Ethiopian Evangelical sent to prison for ‘insulting’ Orthodox Church

February 9, 2018 Ethiopia Arba Minch, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Mahibere Kidusan, Protestants

A judge in southern Ethiopia has sentenced an Evangelical Christian to seven months in prison for “causing outrage to religious peace and feeling” following accusations believed to come from members of the predominant Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC). The judge in the city of Arba Minch handed down the sentence on . . . Read More

Malaysia’s reputation as moderate Muslim nation hangs by a thread

February 9, 2018 Malaysia Children, Churches, Converts, Donald Trump, Hudud, Islamic extremism, Joshua Hilmy, Kidnapping, Malaysia, Minorities, Najib Razak, PAS, Raymond Koh, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Sharia, UMNO, USA, Wahhabism

Malaysia is seen by most Western countries as one of the moderate Muslim nations, an ally to be cultivated and befriended in the battle against militant Islam. The country’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, was among one of the leaders to visit US President Donald Trump in his first year of . . . Read More

Two priests murdered in Mexico as gang attacks against religious leaders continue

February 8, 2018 Mexico Coahuila, Guerrero, Juarez, Latin America, Mexico, Nayarit, Veracruz

In the early morning of Monday 5 February, two priests were shot dead while travelling on the Iguala-Taxco highway of Mexico’s notorious Guerrero state. Fr. Germain Muñiz Garcia and Fr. Iván Añorve Jaimes, from a church in Veracruz state, were reported killed by the Catholic News Agency. Their attackers fled . . . Read More

Syria’s second city begins long road to recovery

February 8, 2018 Syria Aleppo, Bashar al-Assad, Boulos Yazigi, Churches, Civil War, Greek Orthodox, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

Flag of Syria is waving as sign of victory over the destroyed heavily damaged city of Aleppo. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Since the battle for Aleppo ended over a year ago, Syria’s historic second city has fallen out of the headlines. The rebuilding of shattered, impoverished lives is a slow process, but it has presented the churches there with opportunities, says one aid worker with the Christian charity Open Doors. On . . . Read More

Sudanese church leaders back in court

February 7, 2018 Sudan Atbara, Bahri, Churches, Kadugli, Khartoum, Kosti, Port Sudan, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Sudanese Church of Christ

While church properties were returned to the SCOC, other church bodies like SPEC are also in conflict with the government over the ownership of their properties in Bahri (Khartoum North) and Omdurman. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

There have been new developments in two ongoing court cases against Sudan’s two main church denominations. On 5 February, a court fined seven leaders from the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) for their “objection to the authorities”. Yohanna Tia, a church elder, was fined 5,000 Sudanese Pounds ($275). Rev. Dawoud . . . Read More

The woman who lost half her face in Cairo church attack

February 7, 2018 Egypt Cairo, Copts, Egypt

Samiha Tawfiq Awad and her husband, Qalini, were seated in the respective women’s and men’s sections of Cairo’s St Peter’s Coptic Orthodox Church on 11 December, 2016, when a man ran into the women’s section and detonated the bomb strapped to his chest. The attack, which claimed 27 lives, also . . . Read More

New report finds ‘flicker of hope’ in North Korea

February 7, 2018 North Korea Human rights, North Korea

A new report on North Korea finds that over the last decade there has been a shift in people’s attitudes away from being “passive recipients” serving the regime to being motivated “change-makers” shaping their own destiny. Movies, markets and mass surveillance: human rights in North Korea after a decade of . . . Read More

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