Catholic News 2
BEIRUT (AP) -- The main Syrian Kurdish force fighting Islamic State militants in northern Syria claimed on Friday that it has enough fighters to take the extremists' de facto capital of Raqqa with the help of the U.S.-led coalition - remarks that reflected a veiled warning to Ankara and also to rival, Turkey-backed opposition forces making headway toward the city....
GENEVA (AP) -- The Turkish government should investigate hundreds of alleged killings and other rights abuses in Turkey's southeast, the U.N. human rights office said on Friday, releasing a report on an upsurge in violence there over 18 months....
LONDON (AP) -- A 2-year-old boy in England wasn't very impressed with a chance to meet Queen Elizabeth and showed it by throwing a tantrum in front of her majesty....
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- That Duindorp has no immigrant community to speak of is part of its charm for Willem van Vliet, who runs the "Willem and Toet" fish bar in the neighborhood's small parade of shops, serving crispy homemade shrimp croquettes and other Dutch snacks....
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- This was not supposed to happen in South Korea. It was too divided, too corrupt, too much in thrall to the rich and powerful who'd always had their way....
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea's Constitutional Court removed impeached President Park Geun-hye from office in a unanimous ruling Friday over a corruption scandal that has plunged the country into political turmoil and worsened an already-serious national divide....
Khartoum, Sudan, Mar 10, 2017 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians who are criticizing government action against churches are facing pressure from Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services.“They told me not to talk about the demolition of churches or the two church leaders who are in jail,” Rev. Mubarak Hamad, chairman of Sudan’s Council of Churches, told Radio Tamazuj, a broadcaster in Sudan and South Sudan.The Sudanese government plans to demolish 25 church buildings in and near the capital of Khartoum, which it says were built on illegal lands which are zoned for other uses. The targeted churches include both Catholic and Protestant buildings.The order to demolish the churches was made in June 2016. Government officials notified several congregations in September to vacate their property.Christian officials have challenged the claims, saying the properties were legally obtained and have legal titles.“This is not an isolated act but shoul...
Khartoum, Sudan, Mar 10, 2017 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians who are criticizing government action against churches are facing pressure from Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services.
“They told me not to talk about the demolition of churches or the two church leaders who are in jail,” Rev. Mubarak Hamad, chairman of Sudan’s Council of Churches, told Radio Tamazuj, a broadcaster in Sudan and South Sudan.
The Sudanese government plans to demolish 25 church buildings in and near the capital of Khartoum, which it says were built on illegal lands which are zoned for other uses. The targeted churches include both Catholic and Protestant buildings.
The order to demolish the churches was made in June 2016. Government officials notified several congregations in September to vacate their property.
Christian officials have challenged the claims, saying the properties were legally obtained and have legal titles.
“This is not an isolated act but should be taken with wider perspective,” Yahia Abdelrahim Nalu, moderator of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church's Sudan Evangelical Synod, told Morning Star News last month.
One Christian critic of the demolitions plan, Milad Musa, is allegedly facing retaliation. The security services have required him to report to their offices from 6 a.m. to midnight since Feb. 15. Sometimes he has food in his custody, sometimes he does not.
He is a member of the Sudanese Church of Christ.
Rev. Hamad faced similar requirements to report to the custody of the security services from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily after he held a press conference Feb. 11 calling on the government to reconsider the demolitions. He noted at the press conference that mosques in the same area were not ordered to be demolished.
Security services lifted that requirement Feb. 26, but then ordered him not to speak publicly about the persecution of Christians and the demolition of church buildings unless he had authorization from security forces.
Since 2012 Sudan has bulldozed church buildings and harrassed and expelled foreign Christians, according to Morning Star News. It was announced in April 2013 that no licenses would be granted to build new churches.
Two Christian leaders in Sudan have been sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of espionage.
At least 90 percent of Sudan's population is Muslim, and sharia is the source of the nation's legislation. Apostasy from Islam is punishable by the death penalty.
Since 1999, the U.S. state department has listed Sudan as a country of particular concern due to religious freedom violations.
International Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need noted in its 2016 Religious Freedom Report that Sudan's constitution was amended to “widen and increase” the power of the National Intelligence and Security Services, which has impacted “human resources issues and the prosecution of individuals, media outlets and organisations for alleged breaches of the law.”
Sudan scored a 12 out of 100 in Transparency International's 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking ahead of only Afghanistan, North Korea, and Somalia.
BEIRUT (AP) -- Rolling around 200 Marines backed with howitzers into northern Syria, the United States is shifting from working quietly behind the scenes in Syria's conflict, turning instead toward overt displays of U.S. force in an attempt to shape the fight....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Years after she left the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor remained enthusiastic about the early morning exercise class she started at the highest court in the land - the basketball court that sits one floor above the courtroom where she heard arguments for nearly a quarter-century....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. employers are thought to have hired at a brisk pace in February, and the unemployment rate is expected to stay low - a result that would provide further evidence of a consistently solid job market....
