News

‘We want to stay in Iraq, but can’t live like this anymore’

  September 1, 2014 Iraq Assyrians, Bashiqa, Christina Abada, Dohuk, Erbil, Islamic State, Kirkuk, Mosul, Qaraqosh

Tents in the yard of a church in Erbil. Pictured are some of the tents of the 216 displaced families who fled the violence of IS fighters. August 16, 2014 World Watch Monitor   When IS captured Mosul on June 10th the most devastating part of its seizure was its . . . Read More

Nepali pastor leaves prison after 2 years for killing a cow

  August 29, 2014 Nepal Beef, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Nepal, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, Sushil Koirala

We will no longer sit and watch as cows are slaughtered in our sacred land’: Shrinevasacharya. John Hill / Creative Commons   A Nepali pastor sentenced to 12 years in prison for slaughtering a cow has been released early after a court declared him not guilty on 17 July. Reverand . . . Read More

‘Future of Church in NE Nigeria also threatened’ says Chibok leader

  August 28, 2014 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Gwoza, Nigeria, Samuel Dali

Some Christian families displaced by violence in Yobe State, have moved to Jos. Nigeria, January 2014.World Watch Monitor   Nigeria’s radical Islamist sect, responsible for the kidnapping of nearly 300 girls in Chibok in April, appears relentless in its fight for the establishment of an Islamic state in Africa’s most . . . Read More

‘One week’ deadlines for Iraqi Christians to convert or ‘face the sword’

  August 22, 2014 Iraq Alqosh, Ankawa, Assyrians, Bartella, Dohuk, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Qaraqosh, Trauma, UN

A Christian Iraqi refugee sweeping the concrete floor of the unfinished building where she now lives. Ankawa; August 20 2014World Watch Monitor   An Iraqi Christian Mikha Qasha, fleeing from Qaraqosh, has given a personal account of members of the Islamic State, IS, coming to his house and threatening him . . . Read More

Pope’s Korean visit highlights plight of North’s Christians

  August 15, 2014 North Korea Jeffrey Fowle, Kenneth Bae, Kim Jong Wook, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Pope Francis, South Korea

Pope Francis has arrived in South Korea and is calling for peace and dialogue between the two Koreas instead of ‘displays of force.’ His five-day visit is the first time a Pope has visited the Korean Peninsula in 25 years. It coincides with the appeals of two detained American Christians, . . . Read More

China’s Nobel nominee lawyer released after three years

  August 15, 2014 China China, Gao Zhisheng, Heilongjiang, Human rights, Xinjiang, Zhang Kai

Geng He, wife of imprisoned Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng, speaks at a press conference. ‎January‎ ‎18‎, ‎2011Nina Lincoff/Medill News Service / Flickr / Creative Commons   Prominent defender of persecuted Christians, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Gao Zhisheng was released from prison last week after his most recent three-year sentence. . . . Read More

A timeline of ISIS terror

  August 15, 2014 Iraq Islamic State, Nineveh Plains

In June, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a splinter group of al-Qaeda known as ISIS, began an offensive across northern Iraq. It first seized Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, and a handful of smaller towns. Tens of thousands of Iraqis, many of them Christian, have fled their . . . Read More

Attack on nuns said to be first ever in Bangladesh

  August 12, 2014 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Islamic extremism, Rangpur

Bangladeshi nun describes the attack to the police.© Diocese of Dinajpur/Aid to the Church in Need   A mob of about 60 people armed with machetes, knives and iron rods raided a Catholic convent and beat up its nuns and priest – the Catholic mission in Rangpur district, 280 kilometers . . . Read More

CAR President names country’s first ever Muslim Prime Minister

  August 12, 2014 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bambari, Bangui, Bossangoa, Catherine Samba-Panza, Central African Republic, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, Seleka, UN

Portrait of a Fulani woman and her children in Central African Republic. May 19, 2014World Watch Monitor   The President of the Central African Republic has replaced the Christian Prime Minister with a Muslim as part of a peace deal to end deadly violence that has ravaged the country for . . . Read More

Boko Haram overruns town, kills 100

  August 11, 2014 Nigeria Abuja, Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Gwoza, Katsina, Nigeria, Sabon Gari

Some of the displaced children in Gulak Adamawa state. Christians in Gulak are caring for about 300 children orphaned or separated from their parents because of Boko Haram attacks. May 22, 2014World Watch Monitor   Suspected members of the radical Islamic group Boko Haram have taken over Gwoza, a major . . . Read More