News

As Boko Haram violence continues, Christians and Muslims talk peace

  May 28, 2014 Nigeria Berom, Boko Haram, Borno, Christian Association of Nigeria, Jos

Jos market bombing. May 20 2014.World Watch Monitor   More than 100 people have been killed in three bombings in a span of four days, all suspected to be planted by Boko Haram, in the Nigerian city Jos. On May 24, three people – including the suicide bomber – were . . . Read More

Eritrea turns 21

  May 28, 2014 Eritrea Abune Antonios

The tiny state of Eritrea, flanked by Ethiopia on one side and the Red Sea on the other, celebrated its 21st birthday May 24, its Independence Day a public holiday. Yet beneath the official festivities, Eritrea’s 6 million people live under a regime that has earned a reputation as the . . . Read More

Pakistani blasphemy law used against popular TV channel, Jehovah’s Witnesses and more

  May 27, 2014 Pakistan Blasphemy, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Multan, Shahbaz Bhatti

Pakistani Christians and supporters protest the use of blasphemy laws in Pakistan. London, December 2009. helen.2006 / Flickr / Creative Commons   With several Christians on trial awaiting potential death sentences for allegedly committing blasphemy – tensions are increasingly high across the nation with a record breaking amount of blasphemy . . . Read More

Uganda churches warned of Al-Shabaab ‘threats’

  May 22, 2014 Uganda Al-Shabaab, East Africa, Islamic extremism, Kampala, Kenya, Somalia

Uganda and Kenya authorities have scaled up security in recent days in response to warnings from Western countries that a jihadist group is planning to attack churches in Uganda. The U.S. embassy in Uganda warned that churches there may face “specific threats” from Al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based militant Islamist terrorist group. . . . Read More

Bombs kill dozens in Nigerian Christian district and Jos

  May 20, 2014 Nigeria Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Goodluck Jonathan, Hisbah, Jos, Kano, Nigeria, Sabon Gari, Sharia

At least five people were killed May 18 by a bomb blast in the Christian district of Kano, in Northern Nigeria. That attack was followed by an even more deadly one on May 20, when two bomb explosions rocked the city of Jos, in Nigeria’s heartland. Two bomb blasts were reported, one . . . Read More

Nigerian government ‘sympathises’ with Boko Haram

  May 20, 2014 Nigeria APC, Borno, Samuel Dali

New claims that parts of the Nigerian government share the anti-Christian convictions of Boko Haram have emerged since the group’s abduction of hundreds of school girls, most of who were Christian and are still missing, one month after the incident. “Many Nigerians will tell you that they don’t trust the . . . Read More

Documents indicate Turkey connection to bishops’ kidnappers

  May 19, 2014 Syria Al-Nusra Front, Boulos Yazigi, Greek Orthodox, Syria, Turkey, Yohanna Ibrahim

When police arrested Magomed Abdurrahmanov in Turkey about a year ago, word spread quickly that the suspected kidnapper of two prominent Syrian bishops had been caught. The Turkish government, however, said the man they had arrested, and his companions, were nothing to worry about. Officials said they were foreigners with . . . Read More

Condemned to hang, pregnant Sudanese doctor refuses to recant

  May 16, 2014 Sudan Apostasy, Mariam Ibrahim, Sharia, Sudan

Mariam Yahia Ibrahim, a 27-year-old Sudanese doctor due to have her second baby next month, has been condemned to death by hanging, after yesterday (Thursday May 15th) refusing to renounce her Christian faith, despite pressure on her to do so, even in court. Her lawyer reported that, after the court . . . Read More

Sudanese pregnant mother sentenced to death for ‘apostasy’

  May 14, 2014 Sudan Apostasy, Mariam Ibrahim, UN

Western Embassies have expressed deep concern for a Sudanese woman pregnant with her second child, who has been sentenced to death in Khartoum, for ‘apostasy’ [converting to Christianity] as well as to 100 lashes for committing adultery. Mariam Yahia Ibrahim, who is 27-years-old and 8-months pregnant with her second child, . . . Read More

South Sudan’s fragile peace deal still threatens famine

  May 13, 2014 South Sudan Darfur, Dinka, Juba, Nuer, Riek Machar, Salva Kiir, South Sudan, SPLM-N, Sudan, UN

Three years after gaining independence, the rebel movement that propelled South Sudan into statehood has degenerated into ethnic bloodletting verging on civil war. South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has agreed to form an interim government with his political adversary, Riek Machar following pressure from the United Nations Secretary General Ban . . . Read More