Author archives: Faith Matters

Attack on Sikh Gurdwara May Indicate the Fusion of Criminality with Extremism
April 21, 2016 By Faith Matters

Attack on Sikh Gurdwara May Indicate the Fusion of Criminality with Extremism

News that the Sikh Gurdwara in the western German city of Essen may have been attacked by young people linked to a local fundamentalist extremist network has shifted focus away from far right groups, who were initially suspected for the attack. Police have suggested that the two suspects arrested have links to a local Salafist […]

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Israeli soldier who shot supine assailant charged with manslaughter
April 18, 2016 By Faith Matters

Israeli soldier who shot supine assailant charged with manslaughter

The Israeli military filed manslaughter charges on Monday against a soldier who shot a wounded Palestinian assailant as he lay on the ground in a killing a poll said many Israelis felt was justified. The defendant – a conscript infantry medic whose name has been barred from publication – was captured on video firing once […]

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New Zealand ‘Pastafarians’ tie knot in first recognised wedding
April 18, 2016 By Faith Matters

New Zealand ‘Pastafarians’ tie knot in first recognised wedding

Donned in eye-patches and a spaghetti bridal headdress, two New Zealanders have celebrated the first legally recognised ‘Pastafarian’ marriage on board a pirate ship, in a milestone of recognition for the bizarre global ‘religion’. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, whose stated beliefs are in a god made of spaghetti, have amassed followers around […]

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U.S. sends nine Yemeni prisoners to Saudi Arabia from Guantanamo
April 16, 2016 By Faith Matters

U.S. sends nine Yemeni prisoners to Saudi Arabia from Guantanamo

The Pentagon has sent nine Yemeni men to Saudi Arabia from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, including an inmate who had been on a long-term hunger strike, U.S. officials said on Saturday, the latest step in President Barack Obama’s final push to close the facility. The group was the largest shipped out of the […]

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Pope returns with 12 refugees after visit to Greek island
April 16, 2016 By Faith Matters

Pope returns with 12 refugees after visit to Greek island

Pope Francis took three families of Syrian refugees back to Rome on Saturday after visiting the frontline of Europe’s migrant crisis at a camp in Greece where migrants wept at his feet, kissed his hand and begged for help. At a sprawling fenced complex on the Aegean island of Lesbos, adults and children broke down […]

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Video of Chibok girls puts pressure on Nigeria’s Buhari
April 15, 2016 By Faith Matters

Video of Chibok girls puts pressure on Nigeria’s Buhari

A video showing 15 of the 219 schoolgirls held by the jihadist group Boko Haram has added pressure on the Nigerian government to secure their release, after activists accused authorities of mishandling the case in the two years since their mass kidnap. Weeping parents identified the girls captured by Boko Haram fighters, who want to […]

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Far-right Austrian leader visits Israel’s Holocaust memorial
April 13, 2016 By Faith Matters

Far-right Austrian leader visits Israel’s Holocaust memorial

The leader of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache, visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem on Tuesday, laying a wreath under the engraved names of towns in Austria from where Jews were expelled by the Nazis. He said anti-Semitism had no place in his party and urged a common front against Islamists. Strache’s […]

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German spy chief says Islamic State wants to attack but no specific plot known
April 10, 2016 By Faith Matters

German spy chief says Islamic State wants to attack but no specific plot known

Islamic State wants to carry out attacks in Germany and the security situation is “very serious”, the head of the country’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV) told a Sunday newspaper, adding that he knew of no concrete plot to strike. The militant group released a video on Tuesday suggesting it may carry out further attacks in […]

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Three years after Boston bombing, film shows distress of attacker’s friends
April 9, 2016 By Faith Matters

Three years after Boston bombing, film shows distress of attacker’s friends

A new short produced by high school classmates of one of the Boston Marathon bombers, depicts their lives following the attack. For days after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Americans were glued to the news, eager to know who had planted the homemade devices that ripped through the crowd at the finish line, killing three […]

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Pope calls for compassionate Church open to ‘imperfect’ Catholics
April 8, 2016 By Faith Matters

Pope calls for compassionate Church open to ‘imperfect’ Catholics

Pope Francis on Friday called for a Church that was less strict and more compassionate towards “imperfect” Catholics, such as those who divorced and remarried, saying “no one can be condemned forever”. Francis said gays should be respected but firmly re-stated the Church’s position that there are “absolutely no grounds” to equate gay unions to […]

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